Ukrainian Prime Minister tenders his resignation in parliament

Artillery fire echoed in the south and northwest of rebel-held Donetsk in eastern Ukraine overnight and one district near the city was without electricity as Ukrainian forces pressed a military campaign against pro-Russian separatists.      

The rebels ordered the removal of all vehicles in a square near the train station, and local authorities said damage to dozens of electricity substations had left at least one district, called Petrovsky, without electricity.       

Ukraine's army has forced the rebels back to their two main strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk, taking villages and suburbs around them, and officials said they were continuing to abandon positions outside the cities.           

"We are noticing the further strengthening ... of attacking positions and defense, as well as the movement of armored vehicles into towns around Donetsk, in Horlivka and Ilovaisk," the Ukrainian military said in a statement on Thursday.     

Two Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down on Wednesday, not far from the site where a Malaysian airliner was brought down last week, killing all 298 people on board.         

Citing preliminary information, Kiev said the missiles that brought down at least one of the fighter jets on Wednesday could have been fired from Russia.        

On Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry denied the accusation, saying it was an attempt "to mislead the public", Russia's Interfax news agency reported, citing an official.

Ukrainian PM's resignation:

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk tendered his resignation to parliament after upbraiding politicians for failing to pass laws on energy and on the budget to increase financing for the army.
 
"I announce my resignation in connection with the collapse of the coalition and the blocking of government initiatives," he told parliament.
 
EU sanctions:

Proposed European Union sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy will not be adopted before next week, the European Commission said.        

EU ambassadors were discussing Commission proposals to restrict Russian access to EU finance and defense and energy technology on Thursday. 
       
EU diplomats also said the possible European Union ban on purchases of new shares or bonds issued by Russian banks would apply only to institutions in which the Russian government has more than 50 percent.          

The ban, which would include also the possibility of listing of any new instruments of Russian state-owned banks on EU stock exchanges, would be part of a list of new sanctions on Moscow over its role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.           

"Restricting access to capital markets for Russian state-owned financial institutions would increase their cost of raising funds and constrain their ability to finance the Russian economy," one EU diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.