On the last day of 2017, militants in Syria launched a mortar attack on the Russian airbase in Khmeimim. Moscow lost four Su-24 bombers, two Su-35S fighters, and an An-72 transport aircraft, as reported by the newspaper Kommersant, citing two military-diplomatic sources. The newspaper added that more than ten servicemen may have been wounded.

The newspaper called it “one of the most serious incidents” during the entire time of the Russian operation in Syria. Kommersant’s sources did not …

Ukraine’s representative in a subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group, the former Prime Minister, former Minister of Defense, and former Chairperson of the National Security and Defense Council, Yevhen Marchuk, does not see the possibility a United Nations peacekeeping mission being deployed to the Donbas, as he discussed on the Fifth channel on Tuesday, January 2.

“Frankly speaking, I have little hope that the peacekeeping personnel will help resolve anything in the immediate future,” …

During an 11 month period in 2017, Ukraine increased its imports of goods from Russia (in monetary terms, compared to the same period in 2016) by 38.6%, to $ 6.3 billion, the National Bank of Ukraine reports.

At the same time, exports of goods to Russia during this period increased by 11.9% to $ 3.06 billion, while overall trade turnover increased by 28.6% to $ 9.36 billion.

The balance of trade with the Russian Federation for the first 11 months of last year was negative for Ukraine and …