Contents tagged with Volker

  • Volker on escalation in Donbas: This is part of the cycle

    Deterioration of the situation in the Donbas before a ceasefire begins is cyclical, US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker told Voice of America in an interview.

    “This is part of the cycle: the situation escalates, then it calms down. A ceasefire agreement has been reached for the end of August. Often, before the ceasefire starts to come into effect, there are efforts to capture additional territory, to straighten the line,” Volker said.

    On August 22, the …

  • Kremlin announces new negotiations between Surkov and US special envoy Volker on the Donbas

    The new meeting on the Donbas between Kurt Volker, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine and Vladislav Surkov, the aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin is being prepared, stated the Russian President’s Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov.

    He said that the forthcoming meeting will be held “to synchronize their watches” because there were no advance plans for resolving the situation in the Donbas. The details and time of the meeting remain unknown.

    Last week, Volker and Surkov failed to …

  • Volker compares the situation in Eastern Ukraine to the annexation of Crimea

    Special representative of the U.S. State Department for Ukraine Kurt Volker compared the situation in eastern Ukraine with the annexed Crimea and called it “a state to state conflict.” “In the case of Ukraine, what we see here is not an ethnic conflict, it’s not an indigenous conflict that grew up internally, it’s not a civil war, it’s not a conflict between Russians and Ukrainians ethnically. It is a State to State conflict. It is a conflict in which Russia has put its forces onto the …

  • Ukrainian Security Service gives Volker evidence of Russia's involvement in shelling of Mariupol

    Vasyl Hrytsak, Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), gave US State Department Special Representative Kurt Volker and US Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch evidence of Russia's involvement in crimes against humanity on Ukrainian territory.

    The SBU Press Center reports that Hrytsak specifically transmitted materials about the involvement of the Russian army in the shelling of Mariupol and Volnovakha in 2015, an event that resulted in the deaths of 48 Ukrainians.

    "Along with the escalation of …

  • US Representative Volker meets with Ukraine's Joint Forces Commander Sergei Naev in Donbas

    The Joint Forces Operation press service announced via its Facebook page that U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, met with the Joint Forces Commander, Lieutenant-General Sergei Naev, to discuss the Donbas security situation.

    “We are glad to welcome you in the operation area,” Naev stated. “We thank our partners for their support in the fight against the Russian aggressor.”

    The Joint Forces Operation’s press service reported that the Joint Forces Commander will acquaint …

  • Putin's aide Surkov and US representative for Ukraine Volker temporarily suspend negotiations about the Donbas

    Russia and the United States have taken a break from discussing the Donbas, stated the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Grigory Karasin.

    “We have taken a break. However, Russia expects that it will not be a long break. We are interested in resuming negotiations,” Karasin said.

    According to Karasin, “both sides need the desire to resume” in order for talks to restart. So at the moment there are not even approximate dates for the next meetings between the representative of the U.S. …

  • US Representative for Ukraine Volker to visit Donbas next week

    US State Department Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker will visit eastern Ukraine next week, according to his message on Twitter. "Next week I will visit the east of Ukraine to see the situation on the ground and learn about the humanitarian crisis in the Donbas," he wrote.

    This will be Volker's seventh visit to Ukraine in the last eight months of his term as a special representative. Last time, he visited Ukraine in January. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said …

  • Ukrainian Foreign Minister calls the meeting between US representative Volker and Putin's aide Surkov fruitless

    At a joint briefing with the Italian Foreign Minister, OSCE Chairman Angelino Alfano in Kyiv, Pavlo Klimkin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said that the last meeting of Kurt Volker, US State Department Special Representative, and Russian Presidential Assistant Vladislav Surkov was fruitless, Ukrinform reports.

    "I am in constant contact with our American friends and allies. Several times I spoke with Kurt Volker before meeting with Surkov and yesterday too. Unfortunately, during …

  • Media: Surkov and Volker were unable to agree on Ukrainian ‘law on Donbas’ while in Dubai

    Assistant to the Russian President Vladislav Surkov and US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker did not reach a unified position on the Ukrainian bill on the reintegration of the Donbas at the meeting in Dubai, reported Interfax citing a source familiar with the negotiations. "The main issue was the bill on the reintegration of the Donbas, however the parties continue to demonstrate different views to this issue," the source said. According to Interfax’s source, no concrete decisions …

  • US representative for Ukraine Volker and Pitin's Aide Surkov to meet in Dubai

    US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker plans to visit Ukraine this week, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

    “In order to familiarize himself with the situation in the region, on Wednesday January 24, Volker will travel to eastern Ukraine, and on January 25 he will meet with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv,” the report states.

    On Friday, January 26, Volker plans to meet with Russian Presidential Advisor Vladislav Surkov. The meeting will take place in Dubai instead of Serbian Belgrade, where the …