The number of civilian victims in the Donbas has reached its highest point since August 2015, as stated in the latest report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs which was made public on Friday, 8 July. According to the UN, in June, clashes continued in the conflict zone in eastern Ukraine.  Just this month 12 people were killed and another 57 were injured in the Donbas.

As noted in the report, most victims were injured by artillery shells, as attacks were carried out …

According to Ukraine’s presidential press service, during a meeting between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Italy promised to maintain sanctions against Russia if Moscow does not implement the Minsk Agreements. Poroshenko and Renzi agreed that it is important now to remain united in supporting Ukraine.

The Regional Council of Lombardy, a province in northern Italy, has passed a resolution calling for lifting the anti-Russian sanctions and …

In an interview with Interfax, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev shared concerns that NATO made a step towards preparations for war, and called on Russia to immediately resume the dialogue with the Alliance that was lost.

Commenting on the results of the NATO summit in Warsaw on Saturday, July 9, Gorbachev said that "NATO has begun preparations for the escalation of the Cold War into the hot one." He believes that though the Alliance "only talks about defense” it is in reality “preparing …

On Saturday, July 9, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) reported the discovery of a mechanism that signs petitions for the President of Ukraine. The SSU claims that Russian special services are behind these operations. In particular, the Security Service employees’ suspicions were raised by a petition about the introduction of “a special developmental area” in the territory of the Kharkiv region, filed by one of the members of the former Communist Party of Ukraine. As of May 10, 2016, the …

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated at a joint press conference with Petro Poroshenko in Warsaw that the NATO countries have approved a new comprehensive assistance package for Ukraine to reform the defense sector,  Evropeyskaya Pravda reported.

"The Trust Funds we set up at our last Summit are already assisting Ukraine in areas such as cyber-defense, logistics and the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers," the Secretary General noted.

Stoltenberg added that Ukraine has already …

Speaking at the NATO Summit in Warsaw on Saturday, US President Barack Obama said that relations with Moscow cannot normalize until Russia implements the Minsk agreements, Radio Svoboda reported.

“Our 28 nations [NATO] are united in our view that there can be no business as usual with Russia until it fully implements its Minsk obligations,” Obama said.

At his first NATO summit in 2009, Obama stressed that one of the Alliance’s main goals should the pursuit of “a constructive relationship with …

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of two employees from the US Embassy in Moscow, identified as CIA agents. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said this on Saturday, July 9. According to him, it’s a response to the US having reported the expulsion of two Russian officials from the US the day before.

Ryabkov added that the two US Embassy employees have been declared persona non grata.

Moscow called these diplomats CIA agents.

Earlier on July 8, the US …

The spokesperson for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mariana Betsa, stated during a briefing that the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the Russian opposition to the proposal to extend the OSCE's Observer Mission at Russian Checkpoints Gukovo & Donetsk in eastern Ukraine is another example of Russia’s failure to implement the Minsk Agreements.

“Another example of Russia’s failure to implement the Minsk Agreements is their blocking of the OSCE proposal to extend the …