Contents tagged with Ukraine

  • Lavrov: Russia ready to pull out of April Normandy summit

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia is ready to pull out of the Normandy Format summit scheduled for April. He said that the date of the next summit has not been finalized, RBC news agency reports.

    “When we hear our Normandy Format colleagues speaking about April as the date for convening the summit, it’s their wishes, their ideas that they are voicing. But not more than that,” said Lavrov on Monday, February 17.

    He added that there are currently “no reasons to hold a …

  • LPR militants attack Ukrainian positions in Donbas

    Command of the Ukrainian Joined Forces Operation has reported a significant escalation at several sections of the demarcation line in the Donbas.

    According to the report, "armed formations of the Russian Federation" stationed in the territory of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), went on an offensive near the settlements of Novotoshkivske, Orikhove, Krymske and Khutir Vilny in the early morning of Tuesday, February 18.

    According to the Ukrainian military command, LPR militants, …

  • US not planning to appoint special representative for Donbas

    Former US ambassador to Ukraine (2003-2006) John Herbst told Radio NV in an interview that he considers it unlikely that the US will appoint a special representative for the Donbas.

    “Volker is a very talented diplomat… and the fact that he has left is a certain loss. As far as I know, they have decided not to replace him, there will not be a new extraordinary ambassador for this matter – not for Ukraine, but for Donbas affairs,” said Herbst.

    With respect to the appointment of a new US …

  • Ukraine's Naftogaz demands $8 billion from Russia for loss of Crimean assets

    The Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftogaz has responded to Russia’s counterclaim regarding the compensation amount for Naftogaz’s loss of assets in Crimea, the company announced on Twitter.

    According to Naftogaz’s statement, Russia filed a claim in December 2019.

    Naftogaz also confirmed the amount of damage compensation it is demanding – around $8 billion, a figure which includes net losses and interest.

    The company said in its tweet that the losses were caused by the illegal expropriation …

  • Ukraine suspends prosecutors investigating MH17 case

    All of the Ukrainian prosecutors who had been investigating the MH17 catastrophe have been suspended from work as part of departmental reforms, the Dutch newspaper NRC Next reports, citing one of the dismissed prosecutors.

    A total of six prosecutors were involved in the investigation on Ukraine’s behalf, two of them as part of the Joint Investigation Team. In recent months, the JIT has not had a single participant from Ukraine.

    Commenting on the dismissal of the prosecutors, Ukrainian Foreign …

  • Zelensky: Ukraine proposed new procedure for withdrawal of troops in Donbas

    The Ukrainian side has proposed a new procure for withdrawal of forces in the Donbas, announced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Ukraynska Pravda reports.

    The Ukrainian President said that Kyiv suggested a so-called sector-based withdrawal. According to him, the line of demarcation will be divided into several sectors and the troops in them will be withdrawn    gradually.

    The transition from one sector to the next will be made only …

  • Ukrainian President: Kyiv prepares for dialogue with residents of Donbas

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr  Zelensky said that the Ukrainian authorities are ready for a dialogue with the residents  of the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as with those who left the territories of the Donbas which are not under Kyiv’s control, reported the President 's press service with reference to his speech at the Munich Security Conference.

    According to Zelensky, Ukraine has initiated the creation of a dialogue platform "Peace of Donbass" in which both …

  • Kyiv to count population in Donbas and Crimea using satellite images

    Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers is investigating the possibility of conducting a census of the population in the Donbas and Crimea using satellite images, Dmytro Dubilet, Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers, told Ukrainian Radio.

    He said that he has already met with UN representatives who will assist with the satellite imagery project, which is very challenging.

    “A similar project was carried out in Afghanistan, where a significant portion of the territory is not controlled by the government. …

  • Putin not opposed to ‘commercial’ water deliveries to Crimea

    Russia is willing to consider the possibility of commercial water deliveries from mainland Ukraine to Russia-annexed Crimea, said Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, as cited by Interfax.

    Davyd Arakhamia, leader of Ukraine’s Servant of the People party, had recently suggested that Ukraine supply water to Crimea in exchange for concessions in the Donbas.

    However, Peskov remarked that Crimea cannot be the object of any exchanges, including concessions in negotiations on the Donbas.

    He …

  • Russia arrests DPR’s ‘Black Lenin’ at Ukraine’s request

    Beness Aijo, a militant from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) who also goes by the name of “Black Lenin”, has been arrested in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region, the Russian news agency Regnum reports, citing Russian Communist Party member Dmitry Saraev.

    Beness Aijo is a Latvian national who studied in the UK and has spent several years fighting for the terrorists in eastern Ukraine.

    Saraev said that the militant was arrested at around 7:30 PM in the town of Yarensk, where he had gone “to …