Contents tagged with Donbas

  • US Representative for Ukraine Volker: sanctions against Russia may be eased if it contributes to peace in Donbas

    According to RIA Novosti, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, stated that western countries can ease sanctions against Russia if Moscow contributes to the achievement of peace in the Donbas region.

    He also added that only a slight easing of restrictive measures is possible, but even this can become a valuable factor in the relations between the Russian Federation and the United States, as it will demonstrate their ability to negotiate.At the same time, Volker noted the lack …

  • Ukrainian military detects Serbian snipers near Bakhmut highway in the Donbas

    A group of Serbian snipers have been noticed around the 31st checkpoint on the Bakhmut highway, according to information received by the Ukrainian volunteer organization “Come Back Alive" from Ukrainian intelligence officers.

    "They arrived a couple of weeks ago. There is information that these are Serbs for sure. In December last year, this group operated in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions," one of intelligence officers said.

    These are allegedly the same Serbian mercenaries responsible for …

  • OSCE detects about 60 armored vehicles belonging to separatists in Donetsk industrial zone

    On Tuesday, February 27, observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) sighted a total of 28 tanks and over 30 armored vehicles in an industrial area of Donetsk. According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian contingent in the Joint Centre for Control and Coordination of the ceasefire in the Donbas (JCCC) reported this in a statement released that same day.

    According to the report, despite the requirements of the Minsk agreements …

  • Russian Gazprom stops charging Ukraine for gas supplies to separatist DPR and LPR

    At the 2018 Ukrainian Energy Forum in Kyiv, Yuriy Vitrenko, Chief Commercial Officer of Naftogaz Ukraine, has announced that Russian conglomerate Gazprom has stopped invoicing Naftogaz Ukraine for gas supplies sent to self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR) , Interfax reported.

    According to Vitrenko, Gazprom did not bill Naftogaz for the entire period of 2017, nor the beginning of 2018.

    Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller said that between January 2015 and June 2017, the …

  • Ukrainian President is against participation of Belarus peacekeepers in Donbas mission

    Former Chair of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus Stanislav Shushkevich said that President Petro Poroshenko does not support the idea of deploying ​​peacekeepers from Belarus in the Donbas, writes the Belarus Partisan.

    Speaking about a discussion regarding the participation of Belarus in the Donbas peacekeeping mission during an earlier meeting with the Ukrainian President, Shushkevich said: "This was categorical: Poroshenko said that there can be no peacekeepers from a country that is an ally of …

  • Kyiv: if Russia holds presidential elections in annexed Crimea it will not be allowed to open polling stations in its consulates in Ukraine

    The Foreign Minister of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, stated that if Russia holds the presidential elections in the annexed Crimea, it will not be allowed to conduct the elections at the Russian embassy and consulates in Ukraine.

    Klimkin also emphasized that Ukraine is against the presidential elections in uncontrolled territories of the Donbas. The Ukrainian Foreign Minister added that if the elections in the Crimea and the Donbas still take place, Kyiv won’t allow elections in the Russian …

  • DPR Minister of Coal and Energy arrested in Donetsk

    Separatists arrested the so-called Minister of Coal and Energy, Eduard Golenko in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), as reported on Facebook by Konstantin Dolgov, a former spokesman of the so-called Foreign Ministry of the DPR. According to Dolgov, the "arrest" was authorized by Alexander Zakharchenko and his "purse,” the Vice Prime Minister for Economy, Alexander Timofeyev, known also as "Tashkent.”

    "Golenko was inconvenient because he proposed to establish a state enterprise for the sale …

  • Ukrainian intelligence reports arrival of 200 Russian soldiers in Donbas

    Around 200 Russian soldiers have arrived in the separatist-held territory of the Donbas, the press center of the Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Donbas reported on Facebook.

    “In order to avoid losing control of the temporarily occupied portion of the Donbas and the illegal armed formations, the Kremlin handlers recently sent several unusual humanitarian loads – roughly two hundred officers,” the post reads.

    According to the intelligence, these are most likely representatives of …

  • Former head of LPR Plotnitsky jailed in Russia

    Novosti Donbassa news outlet reported that Igor Plotnitsky, the former head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, is in St. Petersburg's Kresty prison, as indicated by Vladlen Zaruba, a colleague of Valery Bolotov, the late ex-head of the LPR.

    According to Zaruba, in the detention facility, Plotnitsky has provided evidence and testimony. Bolotov’s associate also suggested that it was because of these statements that Oleg Mkrtchian, General Director of the Industrial Union of Donbas, …

  • Ukrainian President Poroshenko signs the Donbas Reintegration Bill

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the Donbas reintegration bill.  “As I promised, I am signing the law on the reintegration of the Donbas.” He stated that the bill would not affect any of Ukraine’s international commitments, including the Minsk agreements. "Ukraine remains committed to a peaceful settlement of the situation in occupied Donbas, as envisioned by our international obligations,” the President wrote on his Facebook page.

    On January 18, 2018, 280 people's deputies voted …