Contents tagged with Ukraine

  • Latvia builds a 93 km fence on the border with Russia

    The news outlet f Delfi reports that Latvia has completed the construction of a 93-kilometer stretch of barbed wire fence on the border with Russia.

    The construction project includes a fence with a length of 193.6 km, and also wooden footpaths, patrol booths, and culverts. The height of the fence is 2.7 meters, and the total cost of construction is 21.168 million euros.

    As of December 31, 2018, 207 km of border zone was equipped and 93 km of the fence. The entire border zone is expected to be …

  • Ukrainian President wants Ukroboronprom audited by 'Big Four' accounting firms

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wants to have the Ukrainian state defense concern Ukroboronprom audited by one of the “Big Four” accounting firms – Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

    “The audit, in order to ensure that our international partners also trust it, should preferably be done by one of the four world-renowned auditing companies. With others there is a lower level of trust,” he told ICTV in an interview.

    Poroshenko also noted that the Ukrainian state …

  • Austria summons Ukrainian ambassador after journalist Christian Wehrschütz banned entry to Ukraine

    The Ukrainian ambassador in Vienna, Olexander Scherba, was summoned to the Austrian Foreign Ministry because of a one-year ban for Austrian journalist Christian Wehrschütz to enter Ukraine.

    According to the report published on the Austrian Foreign Ministry’s website, the Ukrainian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Ministry for a talk with the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Johannes Peterlik, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

    "Peterlik demanded to lift the entry ban, …

  • US to give Ukraine intelligence data about Donbas

    The US Air Force intends to give Ukraine the intelligence data that will be gathered during flights by the RQ-4 Global Hawk strategic surveillance drone over the region, Radio Liberty reports.

    The Pentagon refused to provide any specific details, noting only that all the flights will be coordinated with Ukraine.

    “The gathering of information, surveillance and intelligence carried out by the US Air Force will provide enough for our allies and partners to make decisions… Because this is a …

  • Kyiv: 3,233 people released from militants’ captivity since the beginning of war in Donbas

    The Anti-Terrorist Center of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that since the beginning of the armed conflict in the Donbas, 3,233 people have been released from the militants’ captivity.

    "According to the information records of soldiers and civilians who were unlawfully imprisoned or went missing in the anti-terrorist operation zone, starting April 7, 2014, 3233 people are listed as found or released," said the Anti-Terrorism Center representatives, as quoted Novosti Donbasa news …

  • US State Department announces a tender to promote Internet freedom in Ukraine

    The US Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Affairs published  tender requirements for programs that promote Internet freedom in Ukraine.

    US authorities have yet specified the exact amount of the grant, though the department’s press service says it could range anywhere from $500,000 to $1.18 million US dollars. The winner or winners will enter into a one-to-three-year contract with the government and will receive a grant or a cooperation agreement. The winner will …

  • Ukrainian President promises zero tolerance for corruption

    During an interview on ICTV on Sunday 10 March, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised to guarantee zero tolerance for corruption and punishment for anyone who steals.

    Poroshenko said that for five years, constant, systematic work has been done to combat corruption, and that today the situation has improved considerably.

    “I want to remind everyone what the situation was like in the defense industry and the army in 2014 – everyone had been stealing the entire time since the start of …

  • Russian militant explains how Russia started war in Donbas

    Without the Russian invasion, there would have been no war in the Donbas, because the local population did not want to be separated from Ukraine. They had neither the human resources nor adequate leaders to stage a full-fledged rebellion, writes the Russian militant Alexander Zhuchkovsky in his book “85 days of Sloviansk”.

    The book states that Russia needed the Donbas in order to divert the world’s attention away from the occupation of Crimea and to further destabilize the situation in Ukraine. …

  • President Poroshenko: Russia unlikely to release Ukrainian prisoners before elections

    During an interview on ICTV, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that he does not expect Russia to release the Ukrainian soldiers it is holding prisoner before Ukraine’s presidential elections on 31 March, the Presidential pres-service reports.

    “Putin clearly stressed that he will not take a single step,” Poroshenko said, adding that work to have the Ukrainians released is still underway.

    “Not a single international meeting happens on the highest level where the matter of the release of …

  • Poroshenko: Ukraine has been liberated from 'cultural occupation'

    The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko stated that the country has been liberated from “cultural occupation.” According to him, since 2014, when “separatism” started in the southeast of Ukraine, the Ukrainian language strengthened more than ever.”

    “For the last five years, the Ukrainian language, songs, books, films, have taken a reliable position in the space around us, the President said. The same thing, he noted, happened “in the hearts of all Ukrainians.”

    Poroshenko concluded that …