The bodies of two soldiers killed in the Svitlodarsk salient area near Debaltseve were returned to Ukraine five days after the engagement, the press service of the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced.

"On December 25, in the town of Shchastya (Luhansk region), Ukraine received the bodies of two Ukrainian soldiers killed in the Svitlodarsk salient area on December 18th. This occurred as part of the "Evacuation 200" humanitarian project of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after five days of negotiations …

S-300 surface-to-air missile, which were supplied by Russia, are being used in large-scale air defense exercises that began on Monday in the south of Iran.

The exercises will last for three days and will take place in the areas adjacent to the Persian and Oman Gulfs as well as the provinces of Khuzestan, Fars and Kerman.

According to Iranian media, Iranian Air Force, Navy and the Air Defense units of the Iranian Army will take part in these exercises.

Recently, Russia fulfilled a contract on …

Nadiya Savchenko, a Verkhovna Rada deputy, gave a testimony to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) after her meeting with the leaders of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.

This was stated by the head of the SBU, Vasyl Hrytsak, on channel 112.

"The Security Service invited Nadiya, and she gave a testimony in the framework of criminal proceedings," he said.

At the same time, Hrytsak was critical of the fact that an MP negotiated with the separatists.

"I cannot forbid a …

Knesset deputy and former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Naetanyahu's policies towards Russia, saying they are harmful for the Israeli state.

"Why was it necessary to cancel the visit of the Prime Minister of Ukraine to Israel and how will this help our country? Netanyahu has a close relationship with Russia and he appealed to President Putin to veto an anti-Israel resolution but he received Putin’s refusal," the press release stated, which …

Russia’s Federal Security Service, the FSB, stated that they have no indications that the crash of the Defense Ministry’s Tu-154 aircraft that killed 92 was an act of terrorism, TASS reported.

"We have got no signs or facts indicating that an act of terrorism or sabotage was committed onboard," the FSB said.

The security service noted that they are pursing four main lines of inquiry, none of which suggests terrorism or sabotage.

"The four main versions are an engine being hit by a foreign …

The Russian Navy will receive two new nuclear submarines in 2017, as stated by the Russian Navy’s Deputy Commander-in-Chief, Vice-Admiral Viktor Bursuk, TASS reported.

“In 2017, the first improved Project 955-A submarine and the Yasen-M will be floated out," Bursuk stated.

Work began on the Project 955A Prince Vladimir nuclear submarine in 2012 and, upon its completion, it will become Russia’s fourth Borey-class underwater cruiser. Russia plans to eventually acquire eight such submarines. …

The independent MP, Nadiya Savchenko, who left the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party, has announced the creation of her own political party. The new party is RUNA, which stands for Movement, Reforms and Revolution of Ukrainian people. Savchenko will present her party to Ukrainians at the conference entitled “The concept of systemic changes of Ukraine as a unitary decentralized Republic” on 26th of December.

Nadiya Savchenko left her old party due to scandal that started after her meeting with …

On Saturday, December 24th the Ministry of Defense of Poland demanded that Russia provide the transcript of the communication between the aircraft carrying former Polish President Kaczynski and the Smolensk tower before the aircraft crashed in 2010. Excerpts from the decrypted recordings were quoted by the Russian President Vladimir Putin at the annual press conference on December 23rd.

"The speech of the Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated that the Russian authorities possess the text …