Contents tagged with Donbas

  • DPR head Pushilin announces integration with LPR and accession to Russia

    Newly-elected leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin claimed that borders and customs between territories controlled by the DPR and LPR would be removed, and that in the future, the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions which are controlled by pro-Russian militants will become a part of Russia, the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reports.

    “We can speak about a single Donbas, but it happened so in 2014 l, that it was split into two Republics. We didn’t …

  • Slovakia opens the first criminal case for participation in the war in Donbas

    For the first time, a citizen of Slovakia has been charged for taking part in the war in the East of Ukraine, Slovak police reported on Facebook.

    According to the investigation, Mario, a local resident whose last name was not disclosed, has been fighting on the side of pro-Russian militants since July 2015. He has been charged in absentia with taking part in hostilities as part of an organized armed group in the territory of another state. If Mario returns to Slovakia, he may face up to eight …

  • Ukraine initiates criminal proceedings against organizers of LPR elections

    The Prosecutor’s office of the Luhansk region initiated criminal proceedings for organizing and holding the “regular elections for the head of the LPR and deputies of the People’s Council” by the separatist administration of Russia on the temporarily annexed territories of the Luhansk region, reported the press service of the Prosecutor’s Office. 

    The criminal proceedings are based on articles on forcible change or overthrowing constitutional order, violation of the territorial integrity of …

  • Putin's aide Surkov congratulates Pushilin and Pasechnik on their election victory

    Vladislav Surkov, aide to the Russian President congratulated the leaders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik on their election victory, said Alexey Chesnakov, the Director of the Political Conjuncture Center as quoted by TASS.

    “The congratulatory letter said that the high voter turnout showed the world that proud and smart people, who believe in themselves and can defend themselves, live in the Donbas, and strongly …

  • US reconnaissance drone flies over Donbas

    On Saturday, November 10, a US RQ-4A Global Hawk surveillance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flew for several hours along the demarcation line in the Donbas, Interfax-Ukraine reported, citing aircraft tracking data.

    The long-range American reconnaissance plane reportedly took off at the Sigonella air base in Sicily and spent roughly eight hours moving along the demarcation line in the Donbas. It made its observations ahead of the illegitimate “elections” to be held in the self-declared Donetsk …

  • Poland urges the European Union to punish Russia for elections in LPR and DPR

    In a statement published on the Polish Foreign Ministry’s website, Warsaw stated that Russia must be punished for conducting  elections in the Donbas.

    “These “elections” in the so-called DPR and LPR are part of the policy of a forced change of the status quo carried out by Russia, that is also manifested in promoting the militarization of the Crimea as well as aggressive activities in the Azov Sea,” stated the Polish Foreign Ministry.

    The Foreign Ministry notes that these “elections” go …

  • Volker: New US sanctions acknowledge Russia’s control over Donbas

    The financial sanctions on Russia which the US Treasury Department announced on November 8 are the first to officially recognize that Russia has complete control over the situation in the Donbas, said Kurt Volker, The US State Department’s Special Representative for Ukraine, Voice of America reports.

    For the first time, the sanctions are also being placed on private entities who are “facilitating the integration of Crimea” through their financial investments, as well as persons complicit in …

  • Poroshenko urges Ukrainians not to participate in the LPR and DPR elections

    During a press-connference in Paris, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko urged Ukrainians, who live in the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk which are controlled by pro-Russian militants, not to participate in the elections in the  so-called Luhansk and the Donetsk People’s Republic.

    “Russian Federation does [the elections] in its usual manner and only to eliminate former puppets first, who took part in murders, torture, law violations… Russia is accomplishing this step just to choose …

  • EU allocates 25 million euro to the UN development program in Donbas

    The European Union will allocate €25 million to the United Nations development program in Ukraine to support the Donbas. The European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn signed an agreement in Kyiv with the Permanent Representative of the UN Development Program in Ukraine, Osnat Lubrani.

    In 2017, the EU decided to allocate 50 million euro for the reconstruction of the Ukrainian conflict-stricken regions. These funds will be distributed to four …

  • Ukrainian politician: Russia offered to ‘solve’ Donbas problem in exchange for Crimea

    Yevhen Marchuk, Ukraine’s representative in the security subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG), told reporters that in other work groups he receives offers to deal with the situation in the Donbas by Ukraine officially renouncing its claims to Russia-annexed Crimea.

    “I am involved in another two (aside from the TCG) international platforms on the Donbas. In the coffee breaks, they say to me that if Ukraine officially renounces Crimea, and takes away the Crimean problem, it could be a …