• Small missile boats from Russia’s Caspian Flotilla enter Sea of Azov

    On Monday, October 21, two small missile boats from Russia’s Caspian Flotilla, “Uglich” and “Velikiy Ustyug”, passed through the Kerch Strait and entered the Sea of Azov, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on its website.

    The crews of the two vessels are known to have carried out assignments as part of the Russian Navy’s permanent Mediterranean Sea unit. Velikiy Ustyug completed its mission in June and Uglich in July. The boats are now returning to their permanent base.

    The Uglich …

  • Kremlin recognizes Ukrainians and Belarusians as ‘native Russian speakers’

    The Russian government has decided to recognize Ukrainians and Belarusians as native Russian speakers and allow them to forego the language interview when applying for Russian citizenship, the Russian government announced in a statement on its website.

    “The draft of the federal law On introducing changes to article 331 of the federal law On Russian citizenship has been approved and will be introduced in the State Duma in the established manner,” the statement reads.

    The bill will allow …

  • Kyiv: Russia planning large-scale military aggression, Ukrainian Armed Forces prepare to defend

    Oleksiy Taran, Deputy Chief of Ukraine’s General Staff, told Tyzhden.ua in an interview that Russia is preparing for large-scale military aggression.

    “These plans are completely obvious. Accordingly, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing to repel military aggression along Ukraine’s entire border,” Taran remarked.

    He said that this applies not only to the demarcation line, but also to other regions, including the border with Belarus and around Crimea and Bessarabia. The “prepared governing …

  • Deputy commander of Ukrainian Joint Forces Operation: We will not surrender our positions in Donbas

    Bohdan Bondar, the Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces Operation, said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces would not surrender their  their positions, reports Hromadske TV channel.

    "We will not surrender and will not give up our positions. What is being carried out now and what is proposed to be carried out in the future are certain steps towards a real cessation of hostilities. Five years is a period that has sufficiently shown that it is necessary to use other options to end the hostilities," …

  • Kyiv to demand compensation from Gazprom for gas transit termination

    "Naftogaz of Ukraine intends to demand from Gazprom compensation for alleged losses from the termination of gas transit from Russia to Europe. On November 1, we will send our claims to Gazprom for more than $11 billion," wrote Chief Commercial Officer of Naftogaz Yuriy Vitrenko on his Facebook page.

    A day before, during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, Gazprom's CEO Alexey Miller stressed the need to settle legal disputes before the conclusion of a new contract with Kyiv. …