Both servicemen and civilians are being held captive

On the 6th of June, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Iryna Herashchenko, reported that 113 Ukrainian citizens are still held captive by separatists supported by Russia in the Donbas, Radio Svoboda reports.

"There are both servicemen and civilians. Separatists are trying to exchange the release of hostages for amnesty and are demanding that their leaders are pardoned.  They have not provided any information as to where the …

Ukraine plans to completely abandon the practice of purchasing military equipment and spare parts manufactured in Russia by 2018. These plans are outlined in the Strategic Defense Bulletin approved by the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, TASS reports.

By the end of this year, Kiev also plans to adopt a law which will provide for a law enforcement body within the Ukrainian army. The new agency will be able to conduct pre-trial investigations of crimes committed by servicemen.

By the end …

Central and Eastern Europe need real military power to deter Russia, according to the Commander of US Army Europe, General Ben Hodges, Delfi reported.

“I will not speculate on the decisions that will be made at the NATO summit with regard to the strengthening of the presence of the Alliance. However, I have advised, and I believe, that we need to achieve a real deterrence against Russia’s actions, and not a symbolic one,” Hodges said.

He also said that the international community needs Russia …

The Polish Minister of National Defence, Anthony Macierewicz, said that the Russian Federation asked the Former Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, to "deal" with the journalists who reported on the Smolensk disaster, stating that it was an assassination attempt, as Radio Poland reports.

"According to the report as well as the reports of the investigative groups and ambassadors, Russia demanded that both the parliamentary groups and journalists who said that the Smolensk disaster was an  …

During an interview with Radio Era, Nadiya Savchenko proposed holding direct talks with the leaders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, RBC-Ukraine reported.

Savchenko stressed that she wants “to find understanding with these people.”

“We need to learn to forgive... not everything can be forgiven, but everything can be dealt with and backed up by the laws later,” Savchenko said.

Savchenko outlined three steps to end the war in eastern Ukraine, including …

According to RBC, the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation confirmed its refusal of Ukraine’s request for the extradition of the former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, which had been received by the Russian authorities in February 2015.

The petition for Yanukovych’s extradition was left without execution "by virtue of Article 3 of the European Convention on Extradition of 1957,” stated a response from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office. This article prescribes the …

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Kremlin will take certain measures in response to increased NATO activity in the Baltic region. According to Reuters, he said this at a meeting with Finland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Timo Soini, in Moscow.

Lavrov said this on the same day as NATO’s large-scale BALTOPS 16 exercises began. These involve NATO troops landing on Finnish soil for the first time.

“We do not hide our negative attitude towards the fact that NATO is moving their …

The Canadian government has received a petition calling to abolish short-term visas for Ukrainian citizens, Ukrinform reported.

“E-petition e-33, submitted by the House of Commons, came today to the government,” a statement issued by the Canadian Parliament read.

The petition to abolish visas for trips up to 90 days for Ukrainian citizens travelling to Canada was filed with the Parliament by a Canadian citizen of Ukrainian descent, Nikolai Kravets.

The government has 45 days to prepare a …