The Commissioner of the President for the peaceful settlement of the situation in Donetsk and Lugansk regions and Ukraine’s representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group (Ukraine-Russia-OSCE), Iryna Herashchenko, stated at a press conference on the 17th of February that 127 Ukrainians are held captive by militants.

“Currently, we have 137 Ukrainians, who are illegally held captive. Ten of them are held in Russian prisons,” the Ukrainian news quoted her as saying. …

Finland advocates full implementation of the Minsk Agreements. This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Timo Soini, during his working visit to Ukraine on February 17th at a meeting with Pavel Klimkin.

During the meeting of the Ministers, the Finnish side assured the Ukrainians that they would continue to adhere to the EU's common positions. However, the full implementation of the Minsk Agreements will be a precondition for the lifting of sanctions against Russia.

In …

Lawyer Mark Feygin believes that it is the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who prohibits Dzhemilev from entering Crimea. In January 2016, the Simferopol Court arrested the ex-leader of the Crimean Tatars in absentia.

Mark Feygin, a lawyer of the former chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, said the lawsuit was filed against the FSB. According to his statement on Twitter, it's the FSB who prohibits Dzhemilev entry into Crimea, and therefore (from the …

The Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East has supported the initiative of the Deputies of the State Duma.  The latter was asked to develop a federal target program on the voluntary resettlement of persons who were forced to leave Ukraine for territories of Siberia and the Far East.  On the 16th of February, Izvestia reported that more than 50,000 employment opportunities will be created for Ukrainians in the Far East Federal District by 2020.

The preferential mode of stay of …

According to official sources, large-scale military exercises were scheduled to be carried out on in Crimea, and Russia continues to transfer military equipment to the occupied Peninsula.

During the last week a dozen military aircraft (IL-76) of the Russian Armed Forces were transferred to the peninsula, as stated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).  14 helicopters and one battalion tactical group of the Russian Army were transferred as well.

According to the Ukrainian officials, on the …

Ukrainian Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has to either establish a Cabinet of Ministers that the Verkhovna Rada would support or resign, as stated by the leader of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party in Parliament, Yuriy Lutsenko, after a meeting held by the President, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine.

"In sports terminology, the ball is now in the Prime Minister’s court. Yesterday he formally managed to retain his position, although he lost the support of four of the five factions. That is why …

Russian presidential aide, Vladislav Surkov, has visited the occupied region of Donetsk.

This was reported by the Chief of Staff of the Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), Alexander Tkachuk.

“On the 16th of February, Putin’s personal adviser, Vladislav Surkov, was in Donetsk.  Russia was very careful in trying to hide the preparations for his visit,” Tkachuk said.

“During his visit, Surkov received reports from the heads of local administrations of the so-called Donetsk People’s …

A private company in the Netherlands, Raspoetin BV, has received a €50,000 grant from Dutch authorities to produce toilet paper with calls to vote against the referendum of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

The company is one of 72 organizations and individuals to whom the Commission for the Referendum has provided grants from a total fund of €2 million.  An amount of €47,973 has been allocated for the "manufacture, transportation and distribution of the toilet paper, which is printed with …