Contents tagged with Donetsk

  • Ukrainian Prosecutor insists on 14 years imprisonment for Brazilian citizen suspected of fighting on DPR side

    The press service of the Kyiv Prosecutor Office announced that the prosecutor requested to sentence the Brazilian citizen Rafael Lusvarghi to 14 years in prison on charges of participating in the battles in the Donbas together with the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) militants.

    On March 19, the Pavlohrad district court in the Dnipropetrovsk region held another hearing in the Lusvarghi case. He is charged with participating in terrorist organizations and non-statutory armed groups.

    During the …

  • Ukrainian Security Service uncovers Russian intelligence group in Donbas

    The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced that it has uncovered a Russian military intelligence group code-named “Sapphire” operating in Luhansk.

    Information about the Sapphire group was disclosed by SBU head of military counterintelligence Serhiy Levchenko during a press briefing. The SBU believes that the intelligence group was established by Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).

    According to Levchenko, the Sapphire group was involved in preparing and carrying out anti- …

  • Financial problems force former DPR commander Girkin to sell gold medal for Crimean operation

    Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, the former ringleader of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) militants, will be auctioning the gold medal he was awarded for his role in the occupation of Crimea.

    According to Novaya Gazeta, the auction will be held on 13 April on a Russian website. Girkin hopes to fetch at least 1 million rubles ($15,000) for his 79 gram, 18 karat medal.

    “Yes, it is my medal, a non-state [medal]. It was awarded to me by [Konstantin] Malofeev in the spring of 2014, before the start of …

  • Kyiv denies Austrian pro-Russian journalist entry to Ukraine

    The Head of Ukrainian Bureau of the Austrian television channel ORF, Christian Vershutsu has been banned from entering Ukraine.  According to the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU)The reason is the threat he poses to national security.

    “The head of the Ukrainian bureau of the Austrian television channel ORF, Christian Vershutsu, was banned from entering Ukraine for one year. This is reported by my sources in the Ukrainian Security Service,” the first deputy head of the Rada Committee on Freedom …

  • Orthodox Church of Ukraine fears for property and priests in Donetsk

    The Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine, the primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine or OCU is concerned about the total prohibition of OCU community activities and the deportation of priests from the territory of the Donetsk region that is not controlled by Ukraine. 

    “From March 1, 2019, there will be a threat of total prohibition of activities of the communities and clergy of our Church, full confiscation of communities' property and deportation from the territory controlled by …

  • Three explosions set off near DPR leader’s residence in Donetsk

    Three powerful explosions blasted in the center of Donetsk. Two of them took place not far from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) leader’s residence building, reports RIA Novosti, citing the DPR authorities. 

    DPR's Ministry of Internal Affairs clarified that one of the explosions was set off several hundred meters from the hotel where the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission staff is stationed. Another one went off nearby on a vacant lot. According to preliminary data, nobody was hurt. 

    The DPR …

  • OSCE spots new Russian Torn radio intelligence systems in the Donbas

    An OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) drone recorded images of the newest Russian radio intelligence system Torn in the territory of the Donbas which is not under Ukraine’s control, according to the report of the OSCE SMM in Ukraine.

    “On February 10, the short-range, unmanned aerial vehicle spotted two BMP-1 fighting vehicles and a truck mounted with the Torn radio intelligence system, all parked in a residential area in Novohryhorivka in the Donetsk region,” the report reads.

    The Torn …

  • Russian media: ‘DPR representative office’ opened in Verona, Italy

    Russian media reported the second “representation” of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People's Republic” (DPR) in Italy, which opened in Verona, writes TASS with reference to the head of the representative office "Palmarino Zoccatelli.

    The opening ceremony took place on Saturday.

    "Our task will be to disseminate truthful information about what is happening in the Donbas, which is still ignored by the official media. Our goal is to draw public attention to the problem that remains unsolved," said …

  • Co-founder of the DPR denied DPR citizenship

    The former speaker of the parliament of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), Andrei Purgin, reported in VKontakte social network that he was denied a DPR passport.

    “My saga with a passport is over. I have been denied the right to life, the basic human right. Simply and casually, I was deprived of all documents ... By the way, my wife was denied a passport too, and she pays taxes,” wrote Purgin. The ex-speaker of the DPR parliament published an official document dated July 4, 201 …

  • Ukraine offers Russia to exchange three Russian convicts for participants in the Debaltseve Battle

    Ukraine offers Russia to exchange Alexander Korinkov, Sergei Glondar and Bogdan Pantyushenko, Ukrainian prisoners of war, for three Russians convicted of crimes in the Donbas, stated Iryna Heraschenko, Ukraine’s representative in the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk.

    Special forces soldiers Korenkov and Glondar were captured by pro-Russian militants in February 2015, when the detachment was leaving Debaltseve. Tank operator Patyushenko was captured in January 2015 near the Donetsk airport.

    “ …