Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Ukrainian President: Russia will be forced to consent to UN peacekeepers in Donbas

    Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is confident that Russia will be forced to support the deployment of an international UN peacekeeping contingent in the Donbas and to withdraw its own divisions from the occupied regions of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk provinces.

    “The UN peacekeepers, when they come into the Donbas, will force Russia’s occupation forces out of the Ukrainian territories, disarm the illegal armed formations, and ensure the withdrawal of the heavy weaponry and safety for the …

  • Ukrainian Security Service officer defects to Russia

    A self-professed “renegade from the Security Service of Ukraine” (SBU) named Vasyl Prozorov has shown up in Moscow, speaking at a press conference organized by the government news agency Rossiya Segodnya on Monday 25 March, the date on which Ukraine honors its security service.

    “My name is Prozorov Vasyl Nikolayevich. Between 1999 and 2018 I was an employee of the SBU. As of May 2014, I worked in the Central Apparatus, specifically in the headquarters of the SBU’s Anti-Terrorist Center. As of …

  • Ukrainian presidential elections front-runner Zelensky would consider negotiating with Moscow over Donbas

    Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian actor who is one of the leading candidates in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election, would be willing to negotiate with Moscow in order to obtain a ceasefire in the Donbas.

    “I would like to do everything in order to stop the shooting in eastern Ukraine, so that our people stop being killed… On the diplomatic front we must lead the attack, and not wait until this is done for us. We need to negotiate. We need to reestablish meetings in the Normandy Format and …

  • UK urges Ukraine to amend law on demining Donbas

    The UK urges the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to urgently make amendments to the new law on demining, and to allow donors to directly fund the organizations that carry out mine clearance activity, British Ambassador to Ukraine Judith Gough wrote in a blog post on Ukrayinska Pravda.

    According to her, the international efforts to demine Ukraine could break down if the Verkhovna Rada does not quickly make amendments to the new law on demining.

    “At the end of last year, the international community …

  • Ukrainian President to discuss 'June package' of sanctions against Russia with EU leaders

    President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, said that he will discuss the "June package" of sanctions against Russia with the leadership of the European Union, reports Radio Liberty.

    "We will discuss the June package of sanctions," Poroshenko told journalists in the Belgian capital, Brussels.

    Representatives of the European Union have not yet commented on Poroshenko’s statements.

    Earlier, Petro Poroshenko, by his own decree, approved the National Security and Defense Council decision to impose …

  • Kyiv: 10 DPR and LPR militants surrendered to Ukrainian authorities since the beginning of the year

    The press service of the National Police of Ukraine stated that from the beginning of 2019, ten militants from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have surrendered to the Ukrainian authorities.

    Among them are those who “were at the origin of occupation [of the Donbas]” in 2014 as well as new participants of the armed conflict, who were “disappointed” and decided to return to the territory controlled by Ukraine.

    Among those who surrendered are propagandists, employees of correctional …

  • Girkin: No militia in Donbas – only contractors

    There is no militia in the Donbas – all the fighters there are paid to fight against Ukraine, said Igor “Strelkov” Girkin, former head of the so-called the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), during an interview on Roy TV. The video was uploaded on Facebook by Anatoly “Shtefan” Shtirlitz, an officer in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

    “They do not receive money from the treasury of the ‘republic’. They are not a ‘militia’, there is no more ‘militia’. The ‘militia’ ended after Debaltseve [battle]. They …

  • OSCE calls on the parties in Donbas conflict to come to a sustainable ceasefire

    Following the meeting of the Tripartite Contact Group, Martin Sajdik, the OSCE Special Representative for the Tripartite Contact Group on Ukraine, said that the armistice from March 8 was unsatisfactory, Interfax Ukraine reported.

    “A few days ago, the Security Working Group reached a decision on recommitment to the ceasefire, starting from 8 March 2019,” Sajdik told the reporters.

    “Although the first days that followed showed a reduction of ceasefire violations by 61% as compared with the …

  • US to give Ukraine intelligence data about Donbas

    The US Air Force intends to give Ukraine the intelligence data that will be gathered during flights by the RQ-4 Global Hawk strategic surveillance drone over the region, Radio Liberty reports.

    The Pentagon refused to provide any specific details, noting only that all the flights will be coordinated with Ukraine.

    “The gathering of information, surveillance and intelligence carried out by the US Air Force will provide enough for our allies and partners to make decisions… Because this is a …

  • Kyiv: 3,233 people released from militants’ captivity since the beginning of war in Donbas

    The Anti-Terrorist Center of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that since the beginning of the armed conflict in the Donbas, 3,233 people have been released from the militants’ captivity.

    "According to the information records of soldiers and civilians who were unlawfully imprisoned or went missing in the anti-terrorist operation zone, starting April 7, 2014, 3233 people are listed as found or released," said the Anti-Terrorism Center representatives, as quoted Novosti Donbasa news …