Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Kyiv: DPR head Pushilin intends to ask Putin for military assistance and accession to Russia

    The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, intends to address Russian President Vladimir Putin in the near future. Pushilin is currently preparing a letter to Putin, reports Dzerkalo Tyzhnia.

    According to the publication, there are three versions of Pushilin's letter. Ukrainain Special Services managed to get a hold of the three draft letters prepared by the so-called "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

    In the first version of …

  • U.S. General Hodges: deployment of Russian troops to Donbas is only a distraction, the Kremlin is preparing a different attack

    The buildup of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border is a very alarming signal. Although, the Russian operation can be just used as a destruction, said the former commander of the United States Army Europe, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, in an interview with Espresso TV.

    He drew attention to the fact that the transfer of Russian military equipment and soldiers is accompanied by a stream of disinformation from the Kremlin.

    "The speaker of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who we call among …

  • Kremlin: war in Ukraine can resume any time

    Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov believes that a "civil war" could soon start in Ukraine.

    Peskov said that next to Russia is a country in which the authorities can allegedly "start to solve the problems by force". According to him, this poses a threat to Russia and therefore the Kremlin has to take certain measures to ensure its security.

    According to Peskov, the movements of troops is Russia’s "internal business" that should not cause any concern.

    In addition, Putin's spokesman …

  • Kyiv: Ukraine is not planning an offensive in Donbas

    The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak, said that Russia tries to intimidate Ukraine with use of its military force, thereby artificially exacerbating the situation in order to achieve its own geostrategic goals.

    According to him, Russia is conducting a disinformation campaign, claiming that Ukraine is preparing an offensive on the Donbas. The purpose of this campaign, Khomchak says, is to discredit Ukraine in the international arena, to stir …

  • American warships heading to Black Sea as Russia amasses troops on Ukrainian borders

    The U.S., in accordance with the Montreux Convention, notified Turkey that two warships would pass through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles in the direction of the Black Sea.

    RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, that the American warships will enter the Black Sea in a week and will stay there until May 4.

    A Pentagon source told CNN the day before that the U.S. plans to send a naval flotilla to Russian shores.

    According to him, at the moment, the navy …

  • Russia building large military field camp near Ukrainian border

    Russia is building a new military camp near Voronezh, close to the Ukrainian border, said the head of the Conflict intelligence Team (CIT) Ruslan Leviev in an interview with BBC Ukraine.

    "People took a walk in the forest and, when they reached the field, they saw a large number of heavy equipment, including tanks," Leviev said, adding that the 3-by-4 km field is filled with military equipment.

    In a video taken by the local residents, CIT investigators also saw a tent city, a kitchen and a …

  • Kremlin rejects possibility of U.S. joining Donbas talks

    U.S. policy towards Ukraine precludes this country from joining the "Normandy format" negotiations to resolve the situation in the Donbas, said Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, RIA Novosti reports.

    "With the approaches that Washington demonstrates and applies, it has no business in the Normandy format," Ryabkov said, commenting on the words of Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Reznikov that Kyiv is interested in involving the United States and Poland in the negotiations. …

  • Kremlin promises to defend residents of Donbas and predicts ‘the end of Ukraine’

    Russia will stand up for the residents of the Donbas if it is forced to do so, said Dmitry Kozak, the deputy head of the Russian presidential administration.

    The decision, he said, will be made "depending on the scale of the conflict."

    Kozak said that Russia intends to protect Russian citizens in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, where the Kremlin issues Russian passports en masse.

    Back in 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on granting Russian …

  • Kyiv: Ukraine will no longer continue Donbas talks in Minsk

    After the lockdown, which is in force during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kyiv will not send its delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) in Minsk for talks on settlement in the Donbas, stated the Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied, Oleksii Reznikov, on air of the Ukrainian TV channel ICTV, adding that Ukraine intends to look for another platform to continue negotiations.

    "We have firmly informed that we will not participate in the TCG meetings if the quarantine is …

  • Russia begins combat readiness check of its entire armed forces

    The Russian Defense Ministry announced the beginning of a large-scale inspection of the combat readiness of the armed forces, which will span all Russian military districts and the Northern Fleet.

    According to Interfax, during the month of April, the Russian armed forces will hold 4,048 exercises of various scale at a hundred training sites and 520 training facilities. "All types of troops of the Armed Forces will be involved in the readiness checks," the Defense Ministry said.

    The beginning …