Contents tagged with Kyiv

  • Kyiv accuses DPR of shelling Ukrainian positions and disrupting withdrawal of forces in Donbas

    The withdrawal of forces and weapons near the village of Bogdanivka in the Donetsk region has been postponed again for at least a week. According to the Command of the Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation, "militants of illegal armed groups opened fire using grenade launchers and small arms in the area," UNIAN news agency reports.

    As a result, three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded, one was killed, the Ukrainian military command said.

     According to Kyiv, before the withdrawal of troops the near …

  • Kyiv denies resuming gas supply to LPR and DPR

    Naftogaz of Ukraine has refuted reports of it resuming the natural gas supply to the temporarily occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

    “The news that we are going to supply gas to the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) is a fake. If we are ordered to supply gas to these Ukrainian territories before they are liberated and without the ability to collect money for this, we’ll tell you,” Naftogaz wrote on Facebook.

    At present, decree No. 867 …

  • Kyiv: Russia planning large-scale military aggression, Ukrainian Armed Forces prepare to defend

    Oleksiy Taran, Deputy Chief of Ukraine’s General Staff, told Tyzhden.ua in an interview that Russia is preparing for large-scale military aggression.

    “These plans are completely obvious. Accordingly, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing to repel military aggression along Ukraine’s entire border,” Taran remarked.

    He said that this applies not only to the demarcation line, but also to other regions, including the border with Belarus and around Crimea and Bessarabia. The “prepared governing …

  • Kyiv demands dissolution of DPR and LPR as condition for Minsk Agreements

    Ukraine is willing to implement the political part of the Minsk Agreements only after the dissolution of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) and the withdrawal of troops along the demarcation line in the Donbas, said Darya Olifer, spokesperson for Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s representative in the Trilateral Contact Group, in a Facebook post.

    Before the “political section” of the Minsk Agreements can be implemented, the shooting must also cease completely, the …

  • Ukrainian Foreign Minister explains failure to withdraw troops in Donbas

    The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko, in an interview with Ukrinform, provided the reasons for the failure to withdraw forces in the Donbas.

    Prystaiko admitted that in Ukrainian society withdrawal of the troops deeper into Ukraine is perceived as a retreat. "To move away deeper into our territory is painful," he said. The Minister noted that now it is "a hot topic that causes a lot of emotions" in Ukraine.

    "The Ukrainian Armed Forces were withdrawing, but the Ukrainian government, …

  • Kyiv: Ukraine is preparing another prisoner swap with Russia

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said that Ukraine is in a crucial stage of preparing an exchange of three groups of prisoners with Russia, reports Radio Liberty.

    "This process is at a crucial stage. But I can't report either how many people or the dates of the exchange," said Prystaiko.

    Prystaiko added that he does not talk about the dates and number of citizens for exchange because, in such a process, any word can "play a dramatic role," not in favor of the prisoners. Answering …

  • Kyiv: Extending old Russian gas transit contract would be pointless

    It would make no sense for Kyiv to extend the current gas transit contract with Moscow beyond January 1, 2020, said Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev while speaking at the Ukrainian Gas Forum, UNIAN reports.

    “It’s hard for me to imagine why the new gas transport system operator, why the Ukrainian party would be interested in extending the old contract,” he said.

    In Kobolyev’s opinion, there should be a new contract exclusively with the new operator and based solely on European regulations.

    In …

  • China thanks Kyiv for passing on military technologies

    An article in the Chinese media has caused widespread expert and public discussion, especially in China itself. Even the title of the article being circulated by the Chinese press is controversial: “Thank you Ukraine. Over more than 20 years, this country has passed on so many major military technologies to China”.

    The article notes that China’s military industry has undergone considerable development in recent years. Notably, China is now producing its own aircraft carriers, 5th generation …

  • Ukraine intends to resume train traffic to Donbas

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko said during the talk show “Freedom of Speech by Savik Shuster” that in the future new Ukrainian government plans to resume railway traffic with areas of the Donbas that currently are not controlled by Kyiv.

    Discussing restoration of the bridge in Stanytsia Luhanska (to the North of Luhansk), Prystaiko assured that car traffic will be resumed on the bridge in a month and a half. He said, there will be other bridges, new crossing points. "Perhaps there …

  • DPR and LPR demand a say in new Donbas special status law

    The ringleaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) have demanded that certain conditions be met before local elections can be held. In particular, they want to be involved in the formulation of the new law on the special status of the Donbas that was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.

    “Otherwise we will consider them a direct and gross violation of the Minsk Agreements, and they will be legally null and void to us. We want …