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More than 2,700 soldiers have been killed and over 10,000 have been injured since conflict begun in eastern Ukraine three years ago, the vice defence minister says.

At a seminar in Kiev, Ivan Rusnak said areas in the midst of the conflict, which covers the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk bordering Russia, were still in a difficult situation but were controllable.

The signs of stabilisation were related to the agreements reached in Minsk for a ceasefire starting from April 1 this year, he said.

According to Rusnak, eastern Ukraine has seen a destruction of its social, transport and energy infrastructure and citizens have been left without jobs, with losses estimated to be at $US50 billion ($A66 billion).

He denounced Moscow, who the Kiev government accuses of aggression, had deployed some 60,000 troops to the occupied territories of Lugansk and Donetsk, as well as the region of Crimea - annexed by Russia in 2014 - and all along the Ukrainian border.

The conflict broke out in April 2014, after a revolution in the country saw the pro-Russian government overthrown and replaced with one in favour of closer relations with the European Union.

In the eastern regions, pro-Russian rebels backed by nationalist militias staged an uprising, leading to a conflict which the United Nations estimates has killed at least 10,000 people.

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Ukraine conflict 'claims 2700 soldiers' - NEWS.com.au

Donald Trump will soon come face-to-face with the man US intelligence services believe directed an unprecedented plot to meddle in the 2016 presidential election and help the US leader take power, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It is believed that the war in Syria and the conflict in Ukraine will be the main talking points when Mr Trump meets with Mr Putin later this week at the G20 summit in Germany. But it is uncertain whether Mr Trump will bring up how Russian attackers attempted to interfere in the US election. The Russian President continues to deny any involvement in the cyber attacks.

Mr Trump warmed up his visit to Hamburg by speaking to both German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni over the telephone on Monday. Ms Merkel has made it clear that she is displeased with the US's withdrawal from the Paris climate change agreement, and climate was one of the main topics on the call. She and Mr Trump may also clash over the issue at the summit.

However, it appears that Mr Trump's sideline meeting with Mr Putin will be the main attraction at the summit for many. Mr Trump whose campaign advisers are facing several investigations into whether they colluded with the Russian government has a difficult task. If he appears too friendly, critics will leap on the meeting as an example of the President being too soft with Mr Putin and the Kremlin. However, if he is too frosty, Mr Trump could lose the chance to try and repair relations that he has admitted are at a low.

But, it is not clear whether this will even be the first meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin. During a presidential debate in October, Mr Trump denied that he has ever met the Russian President, despite having claimed several times in the past that they have crossed paths. Mr Trump has previously praised Mr Putin in public, and the Russian president has described the US leader as bright and talented.

The White House has, perhaps understandably, been cagey about discussing the subject matters potentially on the table. Two Trump administration officials told CNN that the main issues Mr Trump and Mr Putin will discuss will be the complex civil war in Syria and the situation in Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, eliciting international outrage that led to the Obama administration and other countries sanctioning Russia.

Mr Trumps national security advisor HR McMaster told reporters last week: Theres no specific agenda. Its really going to be whatever the president wants to talk about.

Mr McMaster did say administration officials had instructed to draw up options to confront Russia over destabilising behaviour such as cyber threats and political subversion. Other topics of conversation could include how the two countries might cooperate over North Korea.

While the White House has mostly been tight-lipped about what the two leaders will discuss in Germany, the Russians have offered more hints.

The Kremlin has said Mr Putin will demand the return of two diplomatic compounds that were closed by the US last December as part of the retaliation over the election meddling.

The Russian Presidents foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said on Monday that his government had shown unusual flexibility by not retaliating when then-President Obama confiscated the two compounds in New York state and Maryland and expelled 35 Russian diplomats, but that Moscow's patience "has its limits".

Mr Ushakov urged Washington to free Russia from the need to take retaliatory moves.

The compounds were formally used by the Russian embassy as recreational facilities, but US intelligence agencies have asserted they were bases for espionage.

A statement from the Russian government said the Kremlin expected that Mr Putin would convey the need to find the most rapid resolution on the issue, describing it as an irritant in Russian-US relations.

During Mr Obama's presidency, relations between Moscow and Washington were described as their worst since the Cold War and they do not appear to have warmed much under the Trump administration.

Congress is currently attempting to pass legislation that would toughen sanctions onRussia.The Senate's bill would also establish a new congressional review process that would allow Congressto blockMr Trumpif hetries to ease sanctionson Moscow.

However, despite the tension between the two governments,the Kremlin haslisted areas in which it believes Russia could cooperate with the US. These issues include Russias dissatisfaction with US sanctions, its desire to cooperate on international terrorism, the crisis in Syria and improving efforts around nuclear arms control.

There is significant potential for coordinating efforts, the Kremlin said, adding our countries can do much together in resolving regional crises.

In Syria, Russia and the US are on opposite sides of the war, with the Kremlin supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Last month, Russian officials threatened to treat US-led coalition planes flying in Syria, west of the Euphrates River, as targets after the US shot down a fighter jet belonging Syrian Government.

But not all may be lost, with work already beginning on ties ahead of the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin.

Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, under immense scrutiny in the US over his contacts with Trump campaign associates, met in Washington with Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon on Monday. Their meeting focused partially on preparations for the G20 summit meeting.

Mr Shannon and Mr Kislyak also used their time together to discuss the possibility of a new meeting between Mr Shannon and Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergey Ryabkov, the State Department said, a move that would signal the two powers were again focused on trying to establish a functioning relationship. It was unclear if and when such a meeting would take place.

Mr Ryabkov and Mr Shannon had been slated to host an ongoing series of discussions aimed at addressing irritants that have thwarted efforts to get the US-Russia relationship back on track. The goal was to resolve smaller issues first, in hopes of restoring a base level of trust that could clear the way for broader discussions about Syria, Ukraine and other global crises. But Moscow nixed the second session last month to protest against new Trump administration sanctions over Russia's actions in Ukraine.

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Trump expected to bring up Syria and Ukraine in Putin meeting, but not Russian election hacking - The Independent

The incident occurred as anti-Semitic slogans appear on Jewish community buildings in a different Ukrainian city

Unidentified individuals hurled a firebomb at a synagogue in Lviv and, in a separate incident, wrote anti-Semitic slogans on another Jewish community building in the western Ukrainian city.

The incident involving a firebomb occurred on June 30 but was discovered only Monday, according to the Strana news site. The perpetrators may have aimed the firebomb at a window of the synagogue on Mikhovsky Street but missed it, hitting the building facade, the director of the Chesed-Arieh Jewish group, Ada Dianova,toldStrana.

The contents of the firebomb fell to the foot of the building and burned there, resulting in no damage to the interior, she added. No one was hurt in the incident.

The anti-Semitic slogans painted on a former building of the community on Sholem Aleichem Street included the words Down with Jewish power and: Jews, remember July 1, an apparent reference to a pogrom that took place in Lviv on that date in 1941.

In recent days, Jewish groups in Ukraine and abroad protested the municipalitys sponsoring of a celebration of Roman Shukhevych, a collaborator with the Nazis whose troops perpetrated the July 1 pogroms.

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In Ukraine, many people admire Shukhevych because he fought Russian domination, alongside the Germans, before his UPA militia group turned also against the Germans.

Shortly before the celebration, titled Shukhevychfest and held on the nationalists 110th birthday, city officials in Lviv published online security camera footage of vandals painting Nazi symbols on a Holocaust memorial in a bid to identify them.

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Unidentified Individuals Hurl Firebomb at Ukraine Synagogue - Haaretz

The Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague says that it has jurisdiction and will hear the case of a Ukrainian company seeking to recover damages for property lost when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

PJSC Ukrnafta, one of Ukraine's largest oil and gas companies, launched the case and is seeking damages for expropriated gas stations.

The Hague-based court ruled on July 4 that the case was covered by a 1998 bilateral investment treaty between Ukraine and Russia that was meant to encourage economic cooperation and expansion.

In a related decision, the court said it would also hear claims brought against Russia by Stabil LLC and 10 other companies.

An attorney who filed the cases for the Ukrainian firms, John Townshend, said the private gas stations and Ukrnafta made "the same claim that by April 2104, thugs organized by the Russian Federation seized the administrative office" that ran the firms and "took the stations, took the cash, took the petrol [gasoline], [and] kicked our people out."

Russia previously told the court that it had no authority to form an arbitral tribunal to settle the claims and that Russia did not consent to participate in arbitration proceedings.

But the court ruled that the bilateral investment treaty permitted investors of one country whose property has been appropriated by the other country to launch private arbitration proceedings.

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Hague Court Will Hear Case Brought By Ukrainian Firms Against Russia - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

"What has been established in these days, when no one slept and only worked? We studied and analysed our product for signs of hacking - it is not infected with a virus and everything is fine, it is safe," said Olesya, managing partner at Intellect Service.

"The update package, which was sent out long before the virus was spread, we checked it 100 times and everything is fine."

Little known outside Ukrainian accounting circles, M.E.Doc is an everyday part of life at around 80 percent of companies in Ukraine. The software allows its 400,000 clients to send and discuss financial documents between internal departments, as well as file them with the Ukrainian state tax service.

POLICE INVESTIGATING

Investigators have said M.E.Doc's expansive reach is what made it a prime target for the unknown hackers, who were looking for a way to infect as many victims as possible.

"These malware families were spread using Ukrainian accounting software called M.E.Doc," researchers at Slovakian security software firm ESET said in a blog post on Friday.

"M.E.Doc has an internal messaging and document exchange system so attackers could send spearphishing messages to victims."

Ukrainian police said on Monday the Linniks could now face criminal charges if it is confirmed they knew about the infection but took no action.

"We have issues with the company's leadership, because they knew there was a virus in their software but didn't do anything ... if this is confirmed, we will bring charges," Serhiy Demedyuk, the head of Ukraine's cyber police, told Reuters in a text message.

Speaking before Demedyuk's comments at the company's modest offices on an industrial estate in Kiev, Sergei, Intellect Service's general director, raised his voice in frustration.

"We built this business over 20 years. What is the point of us killing our own business?"

Olesya said the company was cooperating with investigators and the police were yet to reach any conclusions.

"The cyber police are currently bogged down in the investigation, we gave them the logs of all our servers and there are no traces that our servers spread this virus," she said.

"M.E.Doc is a transportation product, it delivers documents. But is an email program guilty in the distribution of a virus? Hardly."

(Writing by Jack Stubbs; Editing by Anna Willard)

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Family Firm in Ukraine Says It Was Not Responsible for Cyber Attack - New York Times