Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Czech Republic investigates its citizens’ involvement in Donbas war

    The Czech Republic is investigating the involvement of at least 10 of its citizens in combat in support of the so-called Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics (LPR & DPR) in eastern Ukraine.

    The Czech news outlet Denik N reported that a Czech by the name of Pavel K traveled to the Donbas through Russia at 22 years of age, and stayed there between the summer of 2015 and May 2016.

    The news outlet would not disclose the suspects’ names or cities of origin before the trial, in order to protect …

  • Ukrainian Prosecutor General: Yanukovych’s trial is also Putin’s trial

    Yanukovych’s trial is also Putin’s trial, because the court ruling clearly states that Russia’s  used Yanukovych‘s letter to Putin for occupation of Crimea and part of the Donbas, says Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.

    The prosecutor was commenting on the verdict recently given by the Obolonskyi District Court of Kyiv on Yanukovych’s case for high treason and complicity in aggressive warfare, in which the former Ukrainian president was sentenced in absentia to 13 years in prison. …

  • Czech and Danish Foreign Ministers to visit Donbas

    The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported on their website that on January 29, the Czech Foreign Minister, Tomash Petrschíček and Denmark’s, Anders Samuelsen, accompanied by their Ukrainian colleague,  would visit Mariupol to get acquainted with the situation in the region.

    As noted, the visit will consist of receiving relevant information about security policy, the humanitarian and socio-economic situation in the area of operations of the Ukrainian Joint Forces, the Russian military …

  • Ukrainian President signs draft law on mine clearance in the Donbas

    On Tuesday, January 22nd, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko  signed draft law №9080-1 “On mine action in Ukraine.” Relevant information is listed on the draft law card on the Verkhovna Rada website. 

    At the beginning of December, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading and in general the law on mine action in Ukraine, 242 deputies supported it. 

    The draft law defines the list of objects and subjects of mine action, the order of completion and rules of engagement, requirements for …

  • Poroshenko: We will restore Donetsk airport under the Ukrainian flag

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stated that Ukraine would liberate the Donbas and would be able to restore the Donetsk airport, Interfax-Ukraine reports. 

    “Defenders of the Donetsk airport laid the foundation for our victory and it will come. And God willing, one peaceful day, in the peaceful and liberated Donbas we will all gather on the runway of the Donetsk airport, near its terminals, near the famous tower just to stand there in silence listening to the echoes of relentless fighting …

  • Klimkin: Foreign Ministers of Denmark and the Chezch Republic to visit Donbas

    At a press conference on Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin announced that the Foreign Ministers of Denmark and the Czech Republic are going to visit the Donbas in late January.  

    “At the end of this month, we will have another strong group of our friends, ministers of foreign affairs. The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, who will visit Mariupol and the Ukrainian Donbas and inform of their visit at the next meeting of the ministers of foreign affair of the European Union,” …

  • New OSCE head shocked by life in Donbas

    OSCE Chairman Miroslav Lajčák said he was shocked by the alarming living conditions of people living near the contact line in the Donbas, and called on the parties to “intensify efforts for a peaceful political settlement of the crisis,” reports the OSCE press service.

    “The crisis in Ukraine and around it is the top priority for the Slovakian chairmanship. Being on site, I see the critical work that the OSCE is doing, and how much more there is to do. For the victims, this conflict dictates …

  • Russian Foreign Minister rules out possibility of UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas

    Commenting on the differences between Russia and the West’s approaches to the peacekeeping mission, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a press conference on Wednesday that no UN peacekeeping mission will be sent to the Donbas in the form that Ukraine wants to see.

    “When the OSCE observers’ mission began to experience safety problems – there were incidents, one mission member was killed – in response to the alarm from Germany and France, we proposed to arm the observers with light …

  • Ukrainian General: Kyiv has a plan for liberation of Donbas

    The Lieutenant General of Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence, Vasily Bogdan stated in an interview with the news outlet Fakty that Ukraine has a plan to liberate the territories of the Donbas which are held by the pro-Russian militants, and the country’s leadership hopes this will be achieved without the use of force. 

    “As far as I know, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces prepared a plan for the return of Donbas to Ukraine. A military operation is also being considered. However, …

  • Ukrainian Minister: Russia exports tons of coal worth millions of dollars from Donbas

    Russia exports from the territories of the Donbas, which are controlled by pro-Russian militants, amount to almost 2.8 million tons of anthracite coal worth $288 million annually, stated the Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine Vadym Chernysh. 

    “Russians are trying to find sources to support the occupation administration and the occupied territories… They take Ukrainian coal and Ukrainian gas from the Black Sea shelf, using it to support the …