The president of the self-declared pro-Russian People's Republic of Donetsk claimed on Sunday French military "experts" were joining separatist forces battling government troops in eastern Ukraine. 

"Tomorrow, we will receive officers from France. They are specialists ready to fight with us," Alexandre Zakhartchenko said at a Sunday press conference. 

A solution must be found to the Ukraine crisis that does not hurt Russia and which the Ukrainian people must choose for themselves, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday.

"I want to find a way that doesn't harm Russia," Merkel told German ARD public television in her traditional summer interview.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday decried Russian "aggression" as Kiev staged a symbolic Independence Day parade while battling pro-Moscow rebels in the east of the country. 

Face covered in soot, a grandfather sits in front of the three bodies of his loved ones muttering again and again his lament.

They only stayed behind in Ukraine's war-torn city of Donetsk because of him, he mumbles. His failing health had not permitted them to get away when they could.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel pushed for a new ceasefire in crisis talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday, as a controversial Russian convoy returned home.

The visit by Merkel -- the most influential Western leader to call on Kiev since the crisis erupted in the ex-Soviet state -- came ahead of crunch talks next Tuesday between Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin alongside top EU officials.

Russia's decision to ignore warnings from Kiev and the West and force a disputed aid convoy into Ukraine reflects the Kremlin's urgent need to retain influence over the splintered ex-Soviet state, analysts say.

Although Moscow cited a critical lack of humanitarian aid for populations cut off by fighting, President Vladimir Putin had his own reasons for wanting the convoy to break through ahead of a crucial meeting next week with his Ukrainian counterpart.

Ukrainian forces may be pummeling them daily and key leaders might have just quit but defiant pro-Russian rebels say any talk of them being on the back foot is just crude propaganda from Kiev.

Manning a barricade on the eastern edges of the besieged rebel bastion Donetsk insurgent fighter Grozny is categorical that the separatist forces will ultimately prevail.

Lithuania's Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said Friday that the country's honorary consul in eastern Ukraine's Lugansk has been kidnapped and killed by the pro-Russian rebels there.

"With deep sorrow just learned about Lithuania's honorary consul in Lugansk Mr. Mykola Zelenec kidnapped and brutally killed by terrorists there," Linkevicius, who is on a visit to Kiev, wrote on his Twitter blog.

Forensic experts have identified 46 additional victims of the downed MH17 flight, bringing to 173 the total number of passengers killed whose identity has been verified, the Dutch justice ministry said Friday.

"Among the 46 victims, 26 were of Dutch nationality," the ministry said in a statement.

Almost two thirds of Germans fear Russia plans further land grabs in Ukraine, according to an opinion poll released on the eve of Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to the conflict-torn country.

And 60 percent of respondents said they worried that the crisis will lead to a direct military confrontation between Russia and its former Soviet satellite, according to the Politbarometer survey by public broadcaster ZDF.