Contents tagged with War in Ukraine

  • Barack Obama called on Putin to withdraw Russian forces from Ukraine

    While meeting with President Putin at the G20 Summit, President Obama raised the issue of withdrawal of the foreign troops from Ukraine, the release of hostages and return of the control over the Ukrainian border. The information on the meeting of the two Presidents has been made available through an official report of the US National Security Council.According to the White House, the talks between Putin and Obama lasted about 35 minutes.Talking about the situation in Ukraine, the US President …

  • Ukraine may return heavy weaponry if situation escalates.

    According to Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko, Ukraine could return its heavy weaponry to the frontlines if fighting with pro-Russian separatists escalates further. "Our military commanders will be forced to return artillery and mortars to defend Ukrainian positions and protect the lives of our servicemen," he said in a daily televised briefing.

    Five Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the past 24 hours during fighting in the east of Ukraine, its highest death toll since a …

  • U.S. Treasury Secretary to visit Ukraine

    The U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will visit Ukraine on Friday to discuss the results of the reforms in the country.

    In Kyiv on November 13-14 Mr. Lew will meet with the Finance Minister and other senior government officials to discuss Ukraine’s ongoing reforms to strengthen economic governance, repair the financial sector, and tackle corruption.  He will also meet with several members of the Verkhovna Rada. At the same time an International Monetary Fund mission will arrive in Kiev to …

  • Ukrainian Army Commandment: Russian Separatists concentrate weapons in Donetsk region

    "Pro-Kremlin separatists are concentrating weapons and military personnel in the areas of Donetsk and Luhansk" – stated the press center of the Ukrainian Army commandment.

    The Press center officials note that in violation of the Minsk agreement there is a growing number of ammunition and weapons in the territories held by the separatists.Ten tanks and ten infantry personnel carriers, as well as seven trucks, have recently been observed moving from Shachtersk to Donetsk.

    According to …

  • Ukraine needs 6 years to join NATO

    In an exclusive interview with DW, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko commented about the continuing fighting in Ukraine despite an official ceasefire and discussed Ukraine's chance of becoming a NATO member.Mr. Poroshenko said he's optimistic about the European Union's solidarity with Ukraine and that he believes Kyiv will eventually join NATO. "Our position is to reform the country. We need at least six or seven years to meet the criteria. The world would be more secure if Ukraine had an …

  • Lethal Aid to Ukraine bill passed at U.S. Congress

    WASHINGTON - U.S. Congress has passed a defense policy bill that authorizes up to $50 million in lethal military aid for Ukraine and mandates a White House response if Russia is deemed to be violating a key arms control treaty.

    The White House said hours after the $607 billion bill was passed by the Senate on November 10 that President Barack Obama was likely to sign the legislation.

    The House of Representatives passed a similar version of the bill last week.

    Among other things, the package …

  • Name of Putin's daughter revealed

    As reported by Reuters, Putin's daughter Katerina uses the last name of Tikhonova.Katerina's identity was revealed by Andrey Akimov, deputy chairman of Russia's Gazprombank.Reuters has also learned that earlier this year Katerina, 29, described herself as the “spouse” of Kirill Shamalov, son of Nikolai Shamalov, a longtime friend of Putin. Shamalov senior is a shareholder in Bank Rossiya, which U.S. officials have described as the personal bank of the Russian elite. Katerina and Kirill, 33,   …

  • Worsening situation in the East of Ukraine

    On November 7, 2015, Ukrainian Army positions were attacked with heavy artillery, the calibre of which is greater than 100 mm. The same day 15 Ukrainian servicemen were killed. The information was shared by the Ukrainian army servicemen and the Director of the Department for Cooperation with Volunteers, Yuri Danilov“The situation hasn’t changed over the year. We just got used to it. By the way, we have 15 people killed. They (the separatists) shelled us with mortars with the calibre greater …

  • Ukrainian Officials: Multiple ceasefire violations put Minsk agreement at risk.

    Ukrainian authorities confirm their withdrawal of heavy armor from the areas around Mariupol. Although due to the continuing ceasefire violations from the areas controlled by Pro-Russian separatist the withdrawal may be reversed.In his statement, the spokesman for the Ukrainian army stated that while Ukrainian military continues the withdrawal stipulated by the Minsk Agreement  there are multiple violations of ceasefire from the Separatist controlled areas. In the past day, militants opened …

  • Foreign ministers meet in Berlin on Ukraine crisis

    The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine met Friday in Berlin to further discuss steps required to end the conflict in east Ukraine.Germany‘s Frank-Walter Steinmeier said: "We can be glad that the ceasefire regime has been observed to a certain extent." He said " the progress has been made, but some serious challenges" remained, including organizing fair local elections in separatist-held areas.

    Also in attendance at the Villa Borsig, in north-west Berlin were France's …