Contents tagged with Donbas

  • US representative for Ukraine Volker and Putin’s aide Surkov held talks in Belgrade

    Negotiations between Russian Presidential Assistant Vladislav Surkov and US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker were constructive, RBC news agency reports quoting Surkov as saying.

    "We discussed the draft resolution of the UN on the Donbas proposed by Russia, and understanding was found on a number of positions. Most of which were recognized as surmountable," Surkov said.

    He added that both sides stressed the need to carry out the Minsk deals, with the Normandy …

  • Ukraine accuses Russian private military company Wagner of involvement in Donbas conflict

    The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, participated in conflicts in the Donbas in 2014, and subsequently in Syria.

    “An evidence base has been collected on the activity of Russian soldiers in the Donbas and in Syria, the activity of the Wagner Group. The campaign’s leader is Dmitry Utkin. This project makes it possible for the Kremlin to tell the international community that there are none of its soldiers there [in Eastern Ukraine],” …

  • Poroshenko: new law on the Donbas will allow Ukraine to receive Western weapons

    A bill on the reintegration of the Donbas, which was adopted on its first reading, will provide an additional argument for the provision of Western weapons to Kyiv, as stated in the message of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko published on website of the presidential administration.

    "This [draft law] further strengthens the legal framework for the use of the Armed Forces, expands their capabilities in the region. This strengthens the arguments in favor of providing Ukraine with defensive …

  • Muzhenko: Ukraine could lose 12,000 soldiers in 10 days in Donbas power struggle

    Chief of General Staff of Ukraine Viktor Muzhenko pointed out that the Armed Forces are ready for a forceful resolution of the Donbas issue, if the matter is considered in terms of weaponry and control systems. According to preliminary estimates, ten days of an operation using aircraft could result in the loss of 10-12,000 soldiers, 3,000 of whom will be killed. He explained this to reporters on Thursday, Ukrayinska Pravda reports.

    However, Muzhenko doubts that the Ukrainian society is ready …

  • Ukraine: meetings of US representative for Ukraine Volker and Putin’s aide Surkov are an addition to Normandy talks

    The meeting of the Special Representative of the US State Department Kurt Volker, and a personal advisor to the Russian President, Vladislav Surkov, is an additional platform for negotiations, which complements the Minsk and Normandy formats, the Political Director of the Directorate General for Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleksii Makeiev said, as reported by Radio Liberty. According to him, the Ukrainians were informed in advance about the details of this planned …

  • Ukraine asks Poland to stop buying coal from LPR separatists

    Poland must stop buying coal from the occupied Donbas, said Ukrainian Minister of Energy and Coal Industry Ihor Nasalyk.

    “This is not at all partnership-like, and we hope that the Polish government will react to this situation,” Nasalyk said on Wednesday during a meeting with a Polish business in Warsaw, Ukrinform reports.

    According to the minister, the origin of the coal can easily be tested with chemical indicators. Nasalyk reiterated that Ukraine does not use anthracite coal from the …

  • Ukrainian Parliament publishes draft bill on integration of Donbas

    The main highlights of the new Presidential bill on the Donbas were published on the web site of the Verkhovna Rada.

    The purpose of the Bill is stated to be “the liberation of the territory of the Donbas”.

    The word "aggression" and its derivatives occur 42 times in the text of the Bill. At the same time, the Bill does not call Russia an "aggressor country." Nevertheless, the authors directly declare that it is the Russian Federation that has been carrying out armed aggression on the territory …

  • Russian soldiers captured by ISIS in Syria previously fought in eastern Ukraine

    One of the Russian soldiers who were captured in Syria by ISIS terrorists fought previously in the Donbas in the ranks of the LPR (Luhansk People’s Republic), and another is connected to the so-called “Domodedovo” military brotherhood, as reported by Russian blogger Anatoly Nesmiyan (El Murid) in his LiveJournal.

    As evidence, he released a photo which may shed light on Roman Zabolotny’s connection to the LPR, and Gregory Tsurkanov’s connection to the Domodedovo military brotherhood.

    Nesmiyan …

  • Herashchenko: Ukraine is conducting international negotiations on peacekeeping mission in the Donbas

    Ukraine intends to bring its position in line with partnering countries before submitting a resolution on promoting the peacekeeping mission in the Donbas, and is currently negotiating on this topic, according to the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Iryna Herashchenko.

    "The issue is not the submission date for the resolution. It could have been submitted three years ago. The question is that the …

  • Kyiv: the presence of Russians at the OSCE mission has doubled in one year

    The number of representatives of the Russian Federation and countries friendly to it that are part of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has increased significantly over the past year, notes Iryna Herashchenko, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Tripartite Contact Group.

    "Very often in the mission there are representatives of those countries that have special sentiments towards Moscow, and sometimes they do not …