• Berlin: Germany supports deployment of peacekeepers throughout the Donbas

    The German government believes that a possible UN peacekeeping mission should be deployed throughout the Donbas region, and not just on the contact line, as stated by Deputy Speaker of the German government Ulrike Demmer while speaking to reporters in Berlin, Deutsche Welle reported.

    According to the spokesman, Berlin in general welcomes the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin to send a UN mission to the Donbas. However, Berlin is skeptical of some details of Moscow's proposal. …

  • Switzerland requires Ukraine to prove that detained gold belongs to 'Yanukovych's circle'

    Switzerland has demanded evidence for the transfer to Ukraine of more than half a ton of gold stolen and exported by the circle of fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, TSN reported, citing the press service of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).

    "To date, Ukrainian assets estimated at about 70 million Swiss francs have been frozen in Switzerland. The assessment of the amount may change depending on a number of criteria, such as currency fluctuations, the cost of equity, …

  • German Foreign Ministry: Unacceptable for UN to involve separatists in negotiations about peacekeepers in Donbas

    It is unacceptable for the United Nations to involve separatists in the negotiation process on peacekeeping activity in the Donbas, said German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer, UNIAN reports.

    “It is unacceptable and unheard of for the UN to involve separatists in the negotiation process on peacekeeping activity in any region,” Schaefer emphasized.

    According to him, it is inappropriate to talk only about the contact line, since the separatists obstruct the OSCE SMM in all Eastern …

  • Herashchenko: Ukraine knows the location of 88 prisoners out of 144 held captive by separatists

    The representative of Ukraine in the humanitarian sub-group of the Tripartite Contact Group for the settlement of the situation in the Donbas, First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Iryna Herashchenko stated that Ukraine knows where 87 out of the 144 Ukrainian prisoners are held in the Donbas. However, according to her, the separatists have confirmed only 71 hostages, Radio Liberty reports.

    "In the last year, the key theme of all the meetings of the humanitarian subgroup has …

  • Separatist DPR puts forward its conditions for peacekeepers in Donbas

    The proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin to deploy peacekeepers to the Donbas should be discussed, stated the head of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Alexander Zakharchenko.

    According to Zakharchenko, the residents of the Donbas "like no one else are interested in the beginning of the process of settlement of our conflict with Kyiv." He also says that the DPR is ready to consider any initiatives while also putting forward their own.

    The head of the DPR asserted that the …