MOSCOW/KYIV. Dec 9 (Interfax) – Militiamen of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic will not open fire on Ukrainian government forces as long as the Ukrainian army observes the ceasefire, DPR People’s Council Speaker Andrei Purgin told Interfax on Friday. “No shelling can be heard at the moment. Obviously, the truce is holding. Our forces have been ordered not to open […]
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BASEL. Dec 5 (Interfax) – There is information that foreign forces have pushed for Kyiv’s economic siege on southeastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “I really do not want to suspect anyone but there is information that such an aggressive treatment of the aforementioned territories has been encouraged from abroad,” Lavrov said at a press conference on Friday […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – bne IntelliNews – December 5, 2014) Kyiv has started talks with Russia as well as with Russian-backed rebels in East Ukraine in order to source electric power and coal, as Ukraine’s national grid faces a critical shortage of fuel, Ukraine’s new energy minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn said on December 4. Demchyshyn said that Ukraine is […]
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(Interfax – December 5, 2014) The administration of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) says it is ready for negotiations with Ukraine on economic issues, but a political union is impossible. “The issue of giving Donbas autonomous status as part of Ukraine is out of date. We are now saying that a political union with Ukraine is impossible. However, we […]
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DONETSK. Dec 5 (Interfax) – The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) says the date of the next negotiations between the militia and Kyiv has not been determined yet. “The working group composed of our and Ukrainian military meets weekly when the need arises. The new meeting of the group has not been scheduled yet and the date of the meeting […]
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KYIV. Dec 4 (Interfax) – Kyiv-controlled areas of the Luhansk region have been shelled 55 times in the past 24 hours, the press service of Luhansk region state administration head Hennadiy Moskal said on Thursday. “The towns of Stanitsa Luhanska, Shchastya, Trekhizbenka, Chornukhyne, Zolote and Olkhove have been shelled. No local civilians were killed or wounded,” the press service reports. […]
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KYIV. Dec 1 (Interfax) – The leaders of a joint center for control and coordination of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine have travelled to the Donetsk Airport where the situation has aggravated over the past 24 hours. “This morning, Ukrainian and Russian leaders from the joint center have travelled to the area. The Ukrainian side is represented by Lt. Gen. […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, November 25, 2014) The leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic [DPR] has suggested that a mixed Russian-European peacekeeping contingent should be sent to eastern Ukraine. “We urge the United Nations to send a mixed peacekeeping contingent including Russian and European peacekeepers,” the deputy speaker of the supreme council of the DPR, Denys Pushylin [Denis Pushilin], told […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – November 21, 2014) Russian national Igor Strelkov, a former commander of pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine, has claimed “personal responsibility” for unleashing the conflict across the border, in which 4,300 people have been killed since April. “I was the one who pulled the firing trigger of this war,” Strelkov said in an […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, November 18, 2014) Kiev should conduct negotiations on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis not with Moscow, but with the militia from southeast Ukraine, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigoriy Karasin has said. “The Kiev government should conduct negotiations not with Moscow, but with representatives of southeast Ukraine,” he told Interfax. This was how the high-ranking diplomat commented […]
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(Voice of America – Jamie Dettmer – November 19, 2014) Ukraine’s government is threatening to stop funding hospitals and medical services in areas in the east of the country controlled by Moscow-backed separatists. This is leaving the insurgents scrambling to make up for the shortfall amid signs that some locals want a return to normal. The health minister of the […]
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(RIA Novosti – Donetsk, November 13, 2014) Representative of the DPR [Ukraine’s self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic] at the tripartite negotiations Denys Pushylin [Denis Pushilin] has called for a new meeting of the Minsk Group with the participation of the OSCE, Ukraine and Russia as soon as possible. “We insist that the Minsk Group should meet immediately and invite representatives of […]
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(RFE/RL News Analysis – rferl.org – Robert Coalson – November 11, 2014) Fighting in eastern Ukraine — and particularly around the city of Donetsk — has flared up again, more intensely than at any point since the shaky cease-fire was agreed in Minsk on September 5. Journalists and other observers on November 7 reported seeing dozens of military vehicles, including […]
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(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 11, Issue 199 – Mairbek Vatchagaev – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – November 7, 2014) Reading the Ukrainian media earlier this year gave one the impression that Ukraine was fighting not Russia, but Chechnya (vesti.ru, May 28). Few doubted that Chechens were fighting on the Russian side in eastern Ukraine, but their numbers were greatly exaggerated. […]
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(mccain.senate.gov – November 7, 2014) Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today released the following statement following reports that Russia has violated its ceasefire agreement and again supplied pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine with military equipment and arms: “No one should be surprised by reports today that large columns of Russian tanks, artillery, and military personnel have moved back […]
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(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Kateryna Choursina, Daryna Krasnolutska – November 7, 2014) Ukraine’s military said its forces killed as many as 200 rebels in fighting in Donetsk as dozens of tanks and other military vehicles crossed the border into Ukraine from Russia. “Insurgents who were shelling Ukrainian troop positions at Donetsk Airport yesterday were killed by government troop artillery strikes,” […]
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MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s official stance on the recent elections in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics (DRP, LPR) in eastern Ukraine expressed by the country’s Foreign Ministry as “respecting” them does not mean Moscow “recognizes” them, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said Friday. “Russia’s official position on the results of the elections is expressed compactly, […]
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(RIA Novosti – November 5, 2014) The One Russia and A Just Russia factions in the State Duma believe that the LDPR’s initiative to recognize the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics (DPR and LPR) is not relevant at the moment, the Russian RIA Novosti reported on 5 November. Even the Communist Party, although it supports the LDPR’s proposal, wants […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexey Eremenko – November 6, 2014) Women in Ukraine’s separatist-held Luhansk region will be arrested if they are seen in cafes, an insurgent warlord has said. “A woman should be the keeper of the hearth, a mother,” Wraith Brigade commander Alexei Mozgovoi says in a video recently posted on YouTube. “If you want to be […]
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[“Mr. Putin resumes his chipping away at Ukraine” – Washington Post editorial – Nov. 3, 2014] The Washington Post editors characterize unauthorized elections held by pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine as another stage in Russian aggression: Russia has taken another significant step toward creating a puppet state inside Ukraine. Over the weekend the Moscow-controlled cities of Donetsk and Luhansk and nearby […]
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[“Ukraine PM says rebel-led regions will never receive funds from Kiev” – Reuters – Nov. 5, 2014] Reuters covers the aftermath in Ukraine of unauthorized would-be local or regional elections held by separatists, and Ukraine’s decision to cut off central government funding of Donetsk and Luhansk until the areas return to government control. Yatseniuk said the government would ordinarily have paid […]
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[“Ukraine peace plan in tatters, ‘frozen conflict’ takes shape” – Reuters 11.5.14] Reuters covers the aftermath in Ukraine of unauthorized elections staged by pro-Russia separatists in parts of the Ukrainian east. Kiev said on Wednesday it would halt payment of state funds in areas controlled by pro-Moscow rebels, as both sides hardened positions in what is rapidly becoming a “frozen […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Carl Schreck – November 05, 2014) Ukraine has pledged to recapture them. Separatists vow to expand them. But even as hostilities rage on despite a shaky cease-fire, the areas in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed rebels appear to be drifting inexorably toward the “F” word, analysts say. “For the foreseeable future — let’s say at least […]
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(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Glenn Kates – November 3, 2014) The elections held in eastern Ukraine by the pro-Russian separatists may not have been recognized by anyone but Russia, but that may be all that matters. Here are some more takeaways from the November 2 vote. Western nonrecognition is a moot point for separatists The November 2 elections in Ukraine’s […]
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(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – UNITED NATIONS, November 4, 2014) Russia has blocked a UN Security Council statement accusing Ukrainian separatists of breaching a peace agreement with Kiev, as Western governments continue to denounce Sunday’s vote as illegitimate. The draft document – the result of two-day long discussions between the 15 members of Security Council up until […]
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KIEV, November 4 (RIA Novosti) – The government in Kiev believes that the recent elections in eastern Ukraine have derailed any future talks between the two warring parties, a deputy chief of President Petro Poroshenko’s staff said late on Monday. Speaking on the Ukraina TV channel, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Valeriy Chaly accused the opposition forces in eastern […]
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MOSCOW. Nov 3 (Interfax) – Russia is prepared to do everything it can to help launch dialogue between Kyiv and representatives of Ukraine’s southeastern regions. “Today it is important to take active measures in order to ensure a sustainable dialogue between Kyiv and representatives of Donbas. And we are help in every possible way,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin […]
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LUHANSK, November 2 (RIA Novosti) – Voter turnout in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in eastern Ukraine is about 38 percent as of 5 p.m. local time (14:00 GMT),Luhansk election commission chief Sergei Kozyakov told journalists Sunday. “As of 5 p.m. local time [14:00 GMT] the turnout totaled 129,395 voters, i.e. 37.83 percent of the total,” Kozyakov said at […]
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NOVOAZOVSK (Ukraine), October 30 (RIA Novosti) – The self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk (DPR) will stipulate its own conditions on if it were to sign a demarcation line agreement with Kiev, DPR Prime Minister Alexander Zakharchenko said Thursday. “There will be new conditions [on the signing of the demarcation line agreement], ours. We consider the entire Donetsk region DPR territory,” […]
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(Business New Europe – bne.eu – October 28, 2014) Russia will recognize elections to be held by rebels in Ukraine’s Donbass region on November 2, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told newspaper Izvestiya in an interview. The move will likely worsen Russia’s already strained relations with the West, which has demanded that Russia withdraw support for the rebels and assist […]
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(Interfax – Moscow, October 19, 2014) First deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic Andriy Purhin [Russian: Andrey Purgin] rejects German intelligence allegations of militia members’ involvement in the crash of the Malaysian Boeing, suggesting that Ukrainian troops may have shot down the airliner in error, mistaking it for a reconnaissance aircraft. “These allegations against us make no […]
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