Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Head of DPR Zacharchenko wants to introduce death penalty for corruption

    The head of the separatist, self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko, said during the broadcast of Donetsk Format TV program, that he plans to introduce the death penalty for corrupt officials.

    "I have been thinking about it and I'm going to do it in the near future. I will toughen laws that deal with corruption and the punishment will be very serious. We will issue an order imposing the death penalty if necessary. More precisely this will be the highest measure …

  • Security Service of Ukraine reported that the separatists released two Ukrainian prisoners

    Vitaliy Rudenko, acting judge of the Luhansk Court of Appeals, was released from captivity by separatists, announced the press service of the Security Service of Ukrain. According to the SBU, Rudenko was returned to Ukrainian-controlled territory the day before with the assistance of the Patriot volunteer group.

    "For nine months he was illegally detained and subjected to torture by the LPR (Lunahsk People’s Republic) MGB. The leadership of the SBU informed the President of Ukraine about the …

  • Russia released the commander of the DPR suspected of murdering a 16-year-old Ukrainian

    Russian security forces released Vadim Pogodin, the former commander of the Kerch battalion of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic). He is suspected of murdering Stepan Chubenko, a 16-year-old resident of Kramatorsk, as well as of other murders and robberies in the Donbas.

    Pogodin was arrested on June 20 in Yalta at the request of the Ukrainian Interpol National Central Bureau. According to one of his supporters who writes on Facebook under the name of Ioann Semenov, Ukrainian law enforcement …

  • Kyiv: Separatist republics owe Ukraine $96 million for electricity

    The separatist-held territories of the Donbas owe about 2.5 billion hryvnia ($96.3 million) to Ukraine for electricity supplied since March 2015, as stated by the Acting Director of Ukrenergo, Vsevolod Kovalchuk, in his commentary on Espreso TV.

    He noted that separate accounting records for the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were only introduced in May 2015.

    "If we are talking about the debt that is guaranteed to be confirmed as of the introduction of separate accounting, it amounts to about 2.5 …

  • The US State Department doesn’t discount the possibility of arms supplies to Ukraine

    The United States has not provided defensive weapons to Ukraine yet, however they have not ruled out the possibility. The head of the US State Department's press service, Heather Nauert said this on Tuesday in response to a request to comment on the statements made by US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker in an interview with the BBC, who confirmed that Washington is considering giving American weapons to Ukraine.

    "We are not doing that yet," she answered on the …

  • The Kremlin: US weapons will hinder the peace process in the Donbas

    The possible supply of US weapons to Ukraine would only postpone the settlement of the conflict in the Donbas, stated Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for Russian President Putin while commenting on the statement of the US State Department's Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations, Kurt Volker.

    "We have repeatedly said that any actions provoking tension on the line of demarcation and provoking the situation, which is already difficult, will only distance us from settling this intra- …

  • Volker: Russia has more tanks in the Donbas than Western Europe combined

    US States Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said that possible shipments of weaponry to Ukraine cannot provoke Russia, because Russia has already concentrated a large military contingent in the Ukrainian territory.

    In an interview for Radio Svoboda’s “Current Time” project on July 25 in Paris, Volker emphasized that the current US government is discussing the matter of shipping lethal weapons to Ukraine.

    “Russia is already in Ukraine with all its heavy weapons. Right …

  • Ukraine: pro-Russian separatists are testing a new kind of Multiple Rocket Launch system in the Donbas

    Pro-Russian separatists used a new type of weapon while shelling the positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of Krasnohorivka in the Donetsk region on July 20, 2017. According to the Ukrainian contingent of the Joint Center for Control and Coordination (JCCC), they used a mobile, four-barrel rocket launcher system.

    "The Ukrainians of the JCCC received information on the illegal armed groups’ use of mobile four-barrel rocket launchers developed in 2015 by the so-called ‘Republican …

  • Mother of the Russian soldier detained in the Donbas went to visit Ukrainian President’s office

    Russian military contractor Viktor Ageyev’s mother, Svetlana and their lawyer visited the Administration of the President of Ukraine. Afterwards, they went to the Russian Embassy in Kyiv, as reported by Ageyev’s lawyer, Viktor Chevguz to Hromadske radio.

    "The conversation was mainly about legal issues," Chevguz noted. When asked whether the diplomats promised to help, he replied that they said, "This is our duty. Yes, we addressed it. They refused to meet us at first..."

    The lawyer clarified …

  • Merkel and Macron call to stop violation of ceasefire in Donbas

    In a joint statement by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron following a telephone conversation in the “Normandy” format, the leaders of the “Normandy Four” countries have urged an immediate stop to the violation of the ceasefire in the Donbas and insisted on the continuation of the truce.  

    “Violations of the ceasefire must be stopped immediately. State and government leaders demand the implementation of the ceasefire agreement of July 21st, 2017 agreed upon by …