• Ukrainian ambassador to the US: at the next meeting Poroshenko and Trump will discuss implementation of joint agreements and outline the road ahead

    President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and US President Donald Trump will meet during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday, September 21. There they will discuss the results of the agreements reached at the meeting in June, wrote Valery Chaly, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, on his Facebook page.

    The two heads of state intend to outline plans for cooperating in global and regional security, defense, and economic and energy ventures. The ambassador thanked his …

  • Lutsenko: Saakashvili will not be expelled from Ukraine over incident at Shehyni border checkpoint

    Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuri Lutsenko has made assurances that Mikheil Saakashvili, leader of the party "Movement of New Forces" (Rukh Novykh Syl) and former head of the Odessa regional administration, will not be expelled from Ukraine and will not be arrested in connection with the incident at the Shehyni border checkpoint.

    "As Prosecutor General, I tell you clearly: Saakashvili will not be arrested in relation to this case, [and] Saakashvili cannot be extradited from this country while …

  • Poroshenko: peacekeepers have to be in all of the Donbas including the areas where Russia stores weapons

    The UN peacekeeping mission should be deployed throughout the Donbas, including the territories where the Russian Federation stores weapons, as expressed by President Petro Poroshenko on his Facebook page.

    "Peacekeepers should be present everywhere, including the territories where Russia keeps weapons and on the uncontrolled part of the Ukrainian-Russian border," he wrote.

    "It would stop the flow of Russian troops, weapons, and ammunition very quickly. The potential for aggression would have …

  • Volker: deployment of peacekeepers in Donbas according to Russia’s proposal will further divide Ukraine

    The introduction of UN peacekeepers into the conflict zone in the Donbas according to the scenario proposed by Russia will aggravate the division of Ukraine, as stated by Special Envoy of the US State Department on Ukraine Kurt Volker, who arrived in Kyiv to participate in the forum "Yalta European Strategy" on Saturday, September 16.

    Volker stressed that the dispatch of peacekeepers by itself is an "interesting offer" but the international forces should replace the Russian troops in the …

  • Ukraine plans to attract $2 billion in borrowings on foreign markets in 2018 and 2019

    Ukraine plans to attract $4 billion in borrowings on foreign markets in 2018 and 2019, Finance Minister Oleksandr Danylyuk told reporters at the 14th annual Yalta European Strategy meeting.

    “We plan, and this is in the IMF program, to raise $2 billion in 2018 and another $2 billion in 2019. This is our benchmark. Of course, the amounts could ultimately differ,” the minister said.

    Next week Ukraine is scheduled to issue the first eurobonds in 3 years. The proceeds are expected to be used to …

  • New wave of phone calls about bomb threats causes mass evacuations in major Russian cities

    Three nightclubs were evacuated in Moscow after phone calls of bomb threats, RIA Novosti reported.

    "The verification continues in the nightclubs located at the Bolotnaya Embankment. The night clubs ART{el}, Bessonniza, ICON and RED are being checked for explosives," the news agency's source at emergency services said.

    600 people were evacuated from just one nightclub at the Bolotnaya Embankment. The police received information about the threat of an explosion in the building.

    On Saturday, …

  • UN delays discussion on withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria

    According to UN Press-Secretary Brenden Varma, consideration of including an item on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria in the agenda of the UN General Assembly has been postponed until October.

    The General Committee decided to postpone discussions on this issue in connection with an agreement between the parties concerned. Varma said that the "concerned parties" are Russia and Moldova.

    In August, Moldova asked the UN Secretary General in an official letter to include the …

  • Russia uses its newest T-27B3 tanks at Zapad 2017 military exercises

    The forces of Russia’s Western Military District (WMD) have mobilized T-72B3 tanks with the latest modifications as part of the Zapad 2017 strategic exercises. The maneuvers were the first time the tanks were tested on a large scale, the military district’s press service announced this on Sunday.

    “The Zapad 2017 joint strategic exercises were the first large-scale test for the crews of the T-72B3 tanks with the latest modifications, which became part of the armament of the Western Military …

  • US special representative for Ukraine Volker and Putin’s aide Surkov to meet in October

    US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker will meet with Russian Presidential Advisor Vladislav Surkov again in October.

    Volker mentioned this while speaking at the 14th annual Yalta European Strategy (YES) session, organized by the Viktor Pinchuk Foundation, LB.ua reported.

    “I have visited the conflict line in Adviivka… I hope to go to the city again on the Ukrainian side… As for the other side of the demarcation line, we will need to coordinate with those people – that’s why I met …

  • Ukraine has increased its dairy exports by 5 times over the current year

    By July 2017, Ukraine had exported $23.6 million worth of dairy products. The output is five times larger than July of last year, according to Business.ua’s reports quoting the analytical department of the Food Export Council (Ukrainian Food Export Board or UFEB).

    According to the report, July’s traditional export groups include butter (41% of export earnings), condensed milk and cream (36%). Cheese exports brought 11% of the revenue, whey comprised 8%, milk and cream made up 3%, and fermented …