During a meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale in Minsk, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said, that the United States could contribute to the settlement of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, reports BelTA news agency.

"Speaking about the problems of Europe, and especially Eastern Europe, in particular, Ukraine, I am convinced that it would be impossible to resolve this conflict without the participation of the United States," said Lukashenko. …

Russia has expedited its issuance of Russian passports to inhabitants of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement, citing intelligence data.

According to the statement, the command of the Russian Armed Forces is “taking measures to expedite the so-called passportization of the population”. Ukrainian intelligence believes that this is so that, as of October 1, the armed divisions in the Donbas will contain “only soldiers with …

Free and fair local elections cannot be held in the Donbas until Ukraine regains full control over the territories, said OSCE Chairperson Miroslav Lajcak in an interview with BBC.

“I think that free elections could only take place in a free situation, and, of course, in accordance with Ukrainian laws and with observation by international observers – the OSCE, other international organizations, that is, within the Ukrainian jurisdiction system. Only afterwards, when we attain such a situation, …