• As head of the OSCE, Austria will seek to ease the sanctions against Russia

    Austria intends to take advantage of the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in order to ease the European Union’s sanctions against Russia. "We must restore trust in Europe, and transform the sanctions from a system of punishment to a system of incentives," the Foreign Minister of Austria, Sebastian Kurz, said in an interview with Der Spiegel, excerpts of which were published on the website of the edition on Friday, December 30th.

    Since the beginning …

  • Massive power outages started in the Crimea

    Power outages started in the Crimea because of the wind that has a speed of up to 15 m/s and snow. These outages started in the electric networks of 35 kW and massive emergency outages also started in the 610 kW distribution networks, the Russian Ministry of Energy reports.

    As a result, about 27,800 people were left without power supply in the towns of Sudak and Dzhankoy, and 88 settlements in Simferopol, Krasnoperekopsk, Feodosia, Kerch, Yevpatoria and Pervomaisky districts were also left …

  • Ukraine accused France of delaying visa-free regime

    The Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, Kostiantyn Yelisieiev, stated in an interview with Obozrevatel that the implementation of a visa-free policy for Ukrainian citizens has been delayed by France.

    “The delay has occurred due to the position of individual member countries that are having difficulties crossing the psychological boundary regarding visa liberalization with one of the largest countries in Europe. And I would like to mention France. This [the visa-free regime] has to …

  • Ukraine handed over 15 prisoners to separatists

    On the 29th of December, the Ukrainian authorities unilaterally returned 15 people who were subject to criminal persecution in Ukraine, to the representatives of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. The Security Service of Ukraine and the DPR confirmed the transfer of the 15 people, eight men and seven women.

    According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), they were previously detained for their participation in illegally armed groups. The transfer took place between Horlivka and …

  • Cabinet of Ministers authorized illegal aircraft to be shot down over the territory of Ukraine

    The Cabinet of Ministers authorized the Ukrainian military to open fire on aircraft that illegally violate the state border of Ukraine or are suspected of committing acts of terrorism. This is stated in the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers, the press service of the Cabinet reports.

    The peacetime duties and tasks of the air defense forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were complemented by the following paragraph:

    "Destruction of aircraft of the armed forces of other states, which have …