The conflict area in Donbass continues to be heavily militarized, and the threat of conflict escalation remains, the First Deputy Secretary General of the UN, Jan Eliasson, said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Dec 11.

"The conflict area remains heavily militarized. We see that a serious threat of escalation remains there," he said. According to Eliasson, most of the items of the "Minsk agreement" have not been achieved. And this situation jeopardizes the political process in …

Online voters suggest that former President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich, is the third most corrupt official in the world. Transparency International, the NGO who organized the poll, published a preliminary list of the 15 most corrupt officials and organizations in the world, though votes will continue to be cast for another two months.

On December 11th, the third day of open internet voting, Yanukovich took third place on the list. Polling began December 9th, and will continue until February …

In his address to the UN Security Council on December 11th, the Director of Operations for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, John Ging, called on the pro-Russian separatists in the Donbas region to allow free access to humanitarian missions in the area.

According to Ging, there are currently only two international humanitarian organizations that are allowed to operate in the regions of Eastern Ukraine that are controlled by pro-Russian separatists, the AFP …