• OSCE urges parties to pull back from the contact line in eastern Ukraine

    On both sides of the contact line, the distance between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and pro-Russian fighters was reduced to a few hundred meters. The Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug, said that the Army of Ukraine and the Russian fighters have to move further away from the contact line in the Donbas region.

    According to mass media, in some places the distance between the opponents is reduced to only hundreds of meters. "They are so …

  • Bezsmertnyi: Ukraine distributed 34 billion hryvnia in welfare to the breakaway regions in 2015

    In 2015 Ukraine distributed a total of 34 billion hryvnia ($1.2 billion)  in the form of pensions and other welfare benefits to the inhabitants of the occupied parts of the Donbass region. The representative of Ukraine in the political subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, Roman Bezsmertnyi, reported this data on Radio Freedom.

    According to Bezsmertnyi, the budget funds work on the Russian economy. "500 billion is the country's budget and 34 billion went nowhere, in the 'hole'. In the end, …

  • McCain fears that Russia will again focus on Ukraine after withdrawing troops from Syria

    US Senator John McCain is worried that Russia will turn its resources and attention to Ukraine following the Kremlin’s announcement that the main part of Russian troops will withdraw from Syria, Glavnoe reported with reference to Ukrainian TV channel “112”.

    According to McCain, Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria destroyed enough of the opposition to ensure that the al-Assad regime will stay in power.

    The US Senator and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee also accused the White …

  • Poroshenko's press secretary denies reports of Saakashvili's dismissal

    The Press Secretary of the President of Ukraine, Svyatoslav Tsegolko, wrote on Facebook that reports of Mikheil Saakashvili's dismissal as Governor of the Odessa region are untrue.

    "The President had a telephone conversation with Mikheil Saakashvili about the future projects of the development of Odessa region. All 'messages' on the resignation of the Head of the Odessa Regional State Administration are not true," he wrote.

    Earlier, Saakashvili’s advisor, the former Consul General of Georgia …

  • Poroshenko considering Jaresko or Sadovyi for next Prime Minister

    A spokesman for President Petro Poroshenko announced that he is considering current Minister of Finance Natalie Jaresko or mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, for the position of Prime Minister.

    On Monday, March 14, the President held meetings with leaders of factions and with Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi, the leader of the Self-Reliance (Samopomich) political party, aiming to fast-track the solution to the political crisis. Svyatoslav Tseholko, spokesman for the President, posted the details on his …