After the separatist attack that occurred on Sunday morning, the Ukrainian armed forces counterattacked and manage to take control of a strategic position in the area of Avdiivka industrial zone, as stated by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense citing the head of the Ministry, Stepan Poltorak.

Poltorak made this statement while visiting wounded servicemen at the Lviv Military hospital.

“Today we have witnessed aggravation of the situation at Avdiivka. In the morning, the separatist have started …

A column of Russian military equipment entered the city of Simferopol in the annexed Crimea, according to a report by the Human Rights Information Center in the Crimea.

There were at least five armored personnel carriers and no less than ten trucks in the motorcade. "The motorcade entered from the side of the highway to Mykolayivka and proceeded along Heroyiv Stalingrada Street through a densely populated residential district. The military vehicles were escorted by traffic police cars, …

The Russian Federal Security Service detained the alleged founder of the Shaltay-Boltay (Humpty-Dumpty) website, Vladimir Anikeev, who gained notoriety after publishing the correspondence of high-level officials. The detention took place in October 2016. On the 28th of January 2017, Rosbalt reported on this event with a reference to its own source. Anikeev was taken into custody in Saint Petersburg after arriving from Ukraine.

According to the edition, he was engaged in publishing the …

The command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reports that on Sunday, January 29, at around 7:00 am, separatists, after a massive artillery barrage, attacked Ukrainian positions near Avdiivka industrial zone.

According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, the attack on the Ukrainian positions was repelled.

“As a result of a successful defensive maneuver, the Ukrainian forces stopped the enemy attack and prevented them from taking over the Ukrainian positions. The separatist forces suffered heavy …

The Norwegian Police Security Service stated that the Russian special services attempted to influence the Nobel Committee in order to avoid awarding the Peace Prize to the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, as reported by the Norwegian public broadcasting company NRK.

To discredit Poroshenko, in the summer of 2015, the Russian TV channel Sputnik disclosed a letter signed by the then Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Groysman, addressed to the U.S. Ambassador to Norway.

According …

The head of Germany’s Christian Social Union in Bavaria party and Bavaria’s Prime Minister, Horst Seehofer, stated that sanctions on Russia should be lifted as early as this year, TASS reported.

Seehofer’s party is an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.

Speaking during an interview with Bild am Sonntag, Seehofer said, "The sanctions against Russia should be lifted as early as this year. Russia should also return to the G8 circle.”

"We need to abandon the bloc mentality as …

On January 27, the State Duma of Russia passed a law on the decriminalization of domestic violence on the third and final reading. 380 deputies voted for and only three opposed it.

According to the bill, one-time blows inflicted by close relatives are no longer criminal offenses, but will now be administrative offenses. Criminal responsibility will only ensue from repeated beatings. Supporters of these changes in the legislation believe that they will protect traditional family values. …

Serbia is sending weapons and military to northern Kosovo with the aim of dividing the country, as stated by the President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, in an interview with Deutsche Welle.

"We know that Serbia has a plan for Kosovo’s division and that Belgrade is arming Serbs in the north," he said. He also noted that he has evidence that Serbia is sending weapons there as well as people, both civilian and military.

Thaçi added that Russians are actively helping Serbia by preparing paramilitary …