Tag Archives: Ukraine

Russian soldiers detained in Ukraine

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Ten Russian soldiers were detained in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, that country’s Security Service said Tuesday, as tensions simmered over the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels.

The Russian soldiers were captured with documents and weapons on them, the Security Service said.

Russia has repeatedly denied claims by Kiev that it has sent troops and weapons over the border into Ukraine, where the Ukrainian military is fighting pro-Russian rebels.

Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying the soldiers had been patrolling the border and “most likely crossed by accident” at an unmarked point.

 

Russia: EU Sanctions Weaken Anti-Terrorism Efforts

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Russia is lashing out at the latest round of Ukraine-related sanctions imposed by the European Union, saying they endanger the fight against international terrorism.

The sanctions, announced on Friday, impose travel bans and asset freezes on 15 people, including the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service and the head of the agency’s department overseeing international operations and intelligence. Four members of Russia’s national security council are also on the list.

A Foreign Ministry statement Saturday denounced the sanctions, saying they show the EU is taking “a complete turn away from joint work with Russia on international and regional security, including the fight against the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism (and) organized crime.”

“We are sure the decisions will be greeted enthusiastically by international terrorists,” the ministry said.

Ukraine forces take control of Donetsk airport, military spokesman says

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Ukrainian forces have taken full control of Donetsk airport as they continue to fight pro-Russian rebels in the eastern Ukraine city, a Ukrainian military spokesman says.

Meantime, two people were killed in fighting in the city, the Donetsk City Council said in an online statement.

The council warned residents not to leave their homes.

Donetsk is west of the area where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed Thursday, with the loss of 298 lives. The United States says a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired from pro-Russian rebel territory took down the Boeing 777.

Since the crash, Ukraine’s government and rebels have traded bitter accusations over who was responsible.

 

Russian television reporter killed in Ukraine

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Ուկրաինայում ռուս լրագրող է զոհվել

 

 

A Russian television reporter was killed Tuesday while covering the crisis in Ukraine, according to state-run media.

 

Igor Kornelyuk, a correspondent with Russia’s state-run VGTRK, came under mortar fire along with his crew near the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, a regional security bloc.

 

Kornelyuk later died at a Luhansk hospital, said ITAR-Tass, a Russian government news agency.

 

“This death is yet another horrid reminder that not enough is being done to protect journalists who risk their lives reporting from conflict zones in Ukraine,” said Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE’s representative on freedom of the media.

 

Mijatovic also said the crew’s sound engineer, Anton Voloshin, is missing.

 

Much of the conflict has been centered in Luhansk. On Monday, hundreds of pro-Russian militants carried out a coordinated assault on a border guard base there. Five of those militants were killed in the attack, said Oleg Slobodyan, the spokesman for the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service. Seven people were also killed Monday in a separate attack at a Luhansk government building, health officials said.

 

 

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Obama vows to stand with Ukraine as he meets President-elect

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U.S. President Barack Obama voiced his support for Ukraine’s newly elected President and called for the international community to “stand solidly behind” him Wednesday, on a visit to Europe dominated by the crisis in Ukraine.

Obama’s meeting with President-elect Petro Poroshenko can be seen as a sign of U.S. support for the government in Kiev as it battles to quell a pro-Russia separatist uprising in Ukraine’s east.

The two leaders were expected to talk about much-needed financial and political support for Ukraine, as well as its security concerns in the face of Russia’s activities.

The U.S. President will head to Brussels, Belgium, later Wednesday for a meeting of the G7 group of industrialized nations.

 

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Ukraine FM: We Are Ready to Fight Russia

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Ukraine’s foreign minister has blasted the Russian decision to start military maneuvers along Ukraine’s border and said his country will fight any invading troops.

Andriy Deshchytisa said Russia’s decision Thursday to launch the military exercises “very much escalates the situation in the region.”

Talking to The Associated Press in Prague, Deshchytisa says his country has been taught a lesson by Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. He says “having this experience, we will now fight with Russian troops if … they invade Ukraine.”

Deshchytisa says the new Russian military exercises are taking place “even closer to the Ukrainian border than it was planned earlier” and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops.

 

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NATO, Ukraine Join Military Exercise in Bulgaria

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Bulgaria's Defence Ministry

 

Ukraine has joined two weeks of multinational military exercises that involve troops from 12 NATO member and partner nations, and demonstrate that cooperation continues between the alliance and the crisis-torn former Soviet republic.

The drills, dubbed Saber Guardian, began Friday at the Novo Selo training facility in eastern Bulgaria and will include some 700 troops from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United States, as well as representatives from NATO.

The exercise, planned before the current East-West standoff over Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, is aimed at increasing regional flexibility, preserving and enhancing NATO interoperability, and facilitating multinational training, U.S. Army Europe spokesman Jesse Granger said.

 

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OSCE Sending Military Observer Mission to Ukraine

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զինվոր

 

A U.S. official says the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe will send a military observer mission to Ukraine at its request.

Daniel Baer, the chief U.S. representative to the OSCE, said 15 of its nations, including the United States, decided in Vienna on Tuesday to volunteer members for the mission, which Ukraine had asked for. He said it will head to Ukraine as early as Wednesday, with the goal of then traveling to Crimea.

On Saturday, heavily armed pro-Russian forces took over the strategic peninsula in Ukraine, surrounding its ferry, military bases and border posts. Two Ukrainian warships remained anchored in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, blocked from leaving by Russian ships.

The U.S. is preparing economic sanctions against Russia amid worries that Moscow is ready to stretch its military reach further into the mainland of the former Soviet republic.

The OSCE includes Russia, the United States, and all European countries.

 

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Ukraine: Opposition Agrees to Deal With President

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ուկրաինա

European officials say Ukrainian protesters have agreed to a deal with Ukraine’s president on defusing a deadly political crisis.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry tweeted Friday afternoon that the Maidan council, which has been leading the protest movement, “has decided that opposition leaders can sign the agreement.”

An opposition spokeswoman in Kiev said opposition leaders were heading to the president’s office and had agreed to a deal.

It is unclear whether the protesters are putting any conditions on the deal.

Earlier Friday President Viktor Yanukovych announced early elections and promised to invite the opposition into the government.

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Skier out of Olympics, Citing Violence in Ukraine

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դահուկորդ

 

A Ukrainian skier has withdrawn from the Olympics to protest the deaths of anti-government protesters in her country.

Bogdana Matsotska tells The Associated Press “I don’t want to participate when in my country people die.”

The 24-year-old skier is refusing to ski in Friday’s slalom, her third and best event at the Sochi Olympics.

Matsotska says Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych “has to be jailed, and for a long time … for all the lives that he took.”

Matsotska wants to join protesters in Kiev’s Independence Square but says she’s been unable to book a flight home.

 

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EU Urges New Government, Elections in Ukraine

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Կիև,ցույցեր

 

In a sharp rebuke to Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, the European Union on Monday called for the formation of a new, inclusive government and constitutional reforms that would pave the way to “free and fair presidential elections.”

The bloc’s 28 foreign ministers said in a joint statement they were “alarmed by the human rights situation, including violence, cases of missing persons, torture and intimidation” as part of the authorities’ crackdown against the ongoing protests, reflecting an “atmosphere of impunity.”

The ministers at their meeting in Brussels reiterated the EU stands ready to assist Ukraine financially, provided a new, inclusive government will be formed to “pursue economic and political reforms.”

The EU has so far shied away from imposing sanctions such as travel bans or asset freezes against the Ukrainian leadership, but the foreign ministers’ demand for constitutional reform and fresh elections on Monday reflected the bloc’s growing impatience.

 

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Ukraine: Medic Says 3 Dead in Clashes With Police

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Three protesters have died in clashes with police in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday, according to a medic for the protesters.

Oleh Musiy, coordinator of the medical corps for the anti-government protesters, told The Associated Press said one activist died Wednesday morning in the hospital after falling from a high altitude at the site of the clashes.

Musiy suggested two other protesters died after being shot.

 

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Lenin statue toppled in Ukraine protest

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Protesters knocked down a statue of Vladimir Lenin on Sunday as outrage mounted over the Ukrainian government’s push for closer ties with Russia.

A crowd of cheering protesters chanted “Good job” after the statue fell in Kiev’s Bessarabska Square.

Some pounded the monument with hammers, leaving pieces of the statue scattered on the ground. Only parts of the Soviet hero’s legs remained at the base.

Police said they were investigating but did not know know who had toppled the monument. Ukraine’s government news agency said a lawmaker with the nationalist Svoboda party claimed responsibility for the incident.

“This is the end of Soviet occupation,” the party’s Twitter account said. “End of (the) regime of shame and humiliation.”

The Communist Party decried the attack on the statue Sunday.

The toppling of the statue on Sunday came as 100,000 protesters took to the streets of Kiev, according to police estimates, piling more pressure on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych after he turned away from integration with Europe.

 

Boxer Klitschko to Run for Ukraine Presidency

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Vitali Klitschko, a heavyweight boxing champion and top Ukrainian opposition leader, says he will run for the ex-Soviet nation’s presidency in 2015.

The 42-year-old was elected to parliament last fall as the head of his pro-Western party Udar (“Punch” in English). Since then, Klitschko, the reigning WBC heavyweight champion, has campaigned against what he calls authoritarian moves by President Viktor Yanukovych.

He particularly criticized the jailing of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, which was seen as politically motivated by the West.

Klitschko announced his widely expected presidential bid Thursday in response to efforts by pro-government forces to pass a bill that could prevent him from running because he has permanent residency status in Germany.

Klitschko vowed that he “will not be frightened or stopped by this.”