BRUSSELS – The European Union on Monday extended its economic sanctions against Russia for six months, after the Kremlin had failed to fully respect a peace agreement in east Ukraine.

The sanctions target Russia's financial, energy and defense sectors as well as some dual-use goods.

Despite a cease-fire declared in February, Ukraine says it still has not regained complete control over its border with Russia and that Russian-backed rebels are not respecting the cease-fire conditions.

The …

Illegally armed pro-Russian rebels continue trying to provoke Ukrainian Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) forces, according to the operation's press center.

"Since the beginning of the day nearly 35 cases of ceasefire violations by the Russian-terrorist gangs have been reported," according to a post by the official press center on Facebook on Sunday.

The press center sayid that the majority of the attacks have occurred around the Donetsk airport where small arms and grenade launchers of various …

“The United States and Russia can work together,” said U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry.  The main focus of American-Russian cooperation is the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis.

"In September (during a speech by the U.S. President, Barack Obama, at the UN General Assembly) the main issue was the Ukrainian crisis, but since then we have made considerable progress.  I am now in Moscow, proving that, despite differences, Russia and the United States are able to and want to work together. We …

The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has promised that authorities will not take into account the interests and suggestions of Russian leaders when selecting the pace and direction for the development of the state.

"Our choice to integrate into Europe will be discussed exclusively with the Ukrainian people. It's not the Kremlin's business, no one is going to ask for their permission or their counsel on the development of the state," he said in an interview with Inter TV on Sunday …

The Prime Minister of Ukraine has cited ‘political bribery’ as the rationale for the suspension of payments on the Ukrainian debt to Russia in the amount of $3.5 billion. This was stated during his "10 minutes with the Prime Minister about unity" speech on the 5th channel, as reported by the Ukrainian news agency UKRINFORM.

"This debt was nothing more than a political bribe by Moscow to its puppet who ruled Ukraine.  This bribe was to ensure that Ukraine would not have a visa-free regime or …