Contents tagged with Donbas

  • ‘Georgian Legion’ leaves Ukrainian Armed Forces

    The Georgian National Legion, which is fighting in the Donbas as part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, declared they were withdrawing from the 54th brigade because of the "incompetence and illegal actions of its command", as stated in a Facebook post of the military the unit.

    "On December 20, 2017, the entire Georgian Legion left the 54th Brigade because of the incompetence of commander Oleksiy Maystrenko and his entourage, as well as illegal orders issued by him. We will relay the details of …

  • Polish Prime Minister: Poland accepted 1.5 million Ukrainians, most of them are from the Donbas

    Poland has accepted 1.5 million Ukrainians, most of them from the territories where fighting is still going on, as stated by the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, during a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orbán, in Budapest, Polskie Radio reports.

    "We have received 1.5 million Ukrainians, with the majority of them being people from the territories where military activities have been continuing. We estimate that at least several tens of thousands are people who have …

  • German Foreign Minister: Berlin does not believe American weapons will resolve Donbas conflict

    At a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on Wednesday in Kyiv, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that Germany is skeptical that the weapons provided by the United States of America will help resolve the situation in the Donbas.

    "If there is something of which the region [Donbas] is full, it’s weapons. We in Germany are rather skeptical about the idea that arms supplies could help resolve the conflict," Interfax-Ukraine quotes Gabriel as saying. "But …

  • German Foreign Minister: peacekeepers must be present in all separatist-held territory of Donbas

    At a joint press conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Pavlo Klimkin, in Kyiv on Wednesday, the German Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, stated that the mandate of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbas should be extended to the separatist-controlled territory and its members must be armed.

    "This has to be an armed, powerful UN peacekeeping mission that is present across the entire separatist-held territory and not only one guarding the OSCE observers as a small group," …

  • Klimkin insists that US weapons are needed only for the defense of Ukraine

    At a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on January 3, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said that the lethal weapons that the US will provide to Ukraine will be used only when provoked by Russia and the separatists, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

    Klimkin stressed that the weapons will not be used to contribute to the escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

    "We are talking about defense weapons. These weapons can and will be used in the event of …

  • Ukrainian official: there are no prospects for peacekeeping mission in Donbas

    Ukraine’s representative in a subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, the former Prime Minister, former Minister of Defense, and former Chairperson of the National Security and Defense Council, Yevhen Marchuk, does not see the possibility a United Nations peacekeeping mission being deployed to the Donbas, as he discussed on the Fifth channel on Tuesday, January 2.

    “Frankly speaking, I have little hope that the peacekeeping personnel will help resolve anything in the immediate future,” …

  • Polish Foreign Minister: there are three options for the deployment of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbas

    There are three options for the deployment of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbass, said Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski in an interview with Polish media, Ukrinform reports. In contrast, the Russian Federation insists that there should not be any NATO countries participating in the mission and that the leadership of the separatist-held territories must become a subject of dialogue, to which many countries cannot agree, Poland included.

    "The first option provides for the …

  • Ukrainian Presidential advisor: some soldiers freed from separatist captivity in Donbas suspected of desertion

    According to Ukrainian Presidential Advisor, Yurii Biriukov, 14 of the 73 freed prisoners of war were suspected of being deserters as indicated on Facebook. The soldiers suspected of desertion will not be able to access financial compensation until a court hands down a verdict.

    This came after veterans of the antiterrorist operation [the armed conflict between government troops and Russian-backed separatist forces in Donbas] became frustrated when recognizing deserters among the soldiers who …

  • Zakharchenko: DPR cannot export any goods because no country recognizes it

    The head of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic), Alexander Zakharchenko, said that he does not like the state of industry in the separatist-controlled territory of the Donetsk region.

    "Any enterprise - machine building, machine tool construction - assumes a certificate. These are documents that are recognized throughout the world. Unfortunately, at the moment we do not have this. The development of our industry is hampered not only by a lack of finance - we don’t have that either. But …

  • Fake ‘Starbucks’ coffee shop to open in separatist-held Makiivka

    In the center of Makiivka, a town situated in the separatist-held territory of Ukraine, local entrepreneurs plan to open a pseudo Starbucks coffee shop, reports Novosti Donbasa (Donbas News) news website, citing residents of the city and employees of the establishment. According to the staff, preparatory work is underway now and on New Year’s Eve the coffee shop should be open. An ‘Apple’ store is already in operation in the same building.

    Starbucks is an American chain store coffee house …