The Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzō Abe, said during a joint press statement with the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, that Japan promises to provide support to Ukraine in the amount of $1.85 billion if Kiev shows pregress in implementing reforms, Ukrainian News reported.

“For our part, I have the following intention: We will keep our promises on provision of financial support to Ukraine in the amount of $1.85 billion for the implementation of reforms. The Prime Minister added that they …

The leaders of Transdniestria appealed to Russia for financial assistance to pay public sector wages, according to the Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed republic, Pavel Prokudin, TASS reported.

“The government has requested that Russia allocate funds for the repayment of debt owed to state employees,” Prokudin stated.

According to the Prime Minister of the breakaway region, last week, Transdniestria’s cabinet decided to start negotiations on a loan worth $26.5 million.

Transdneistria is …

The founder of the Vostok separatist battalion, Alexander Khodakovsky, acknowledged that 13 in his unit were killed and 90 were wounded between March 7th and April 7th.

“The biggest losses were suffered in the industrial zone between Yasynuvata and Avdiivka. This is becoming, as our fighters say, the second Airport*,” he wrote on his LiveJournal page.

“I do not have the information about the losses in the other units, but I can guess that they are considerable too… Only the Vostok battalion …

Negotiations are also under way for the return of Olexandr Kolchenko, Gennady Afanasyev and Yuri Soloshenko

The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has started negotiations on the return of four Ukrainian political prisoners from Russia: Oleg Sentsov, Olexandr Kolchenko, Gennady Afanasyev and Yuri Soloshenko, TSN reports.

The Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Sergiy Petukhov, said that the prisoners have agreed to undergo a legal procedure for the transfer of sentenced persons from Russia to …

The official representative of the European Commission, Margaritis Shinas, stated that the EC confirmed its intention to propose the introduction of a visa-free regime with Ukraine to the European Parliament and the EU Council. “Last month, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, announced that visa-free proposals will be filed this month,” the representative of the European Commission said.

On the 17th of March, Juncker stated that the progress towards reforms and …

The so-called Supreme Court of the Russian Crimea held a session on Friday regarding the prohibition of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People on the occupied peninsula. As Krym.Realii reported, the session lasted a mere 10 minutes and resulted in a postponement of the hearing.

The next session is scheduled for April 15th.

Crimean Prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya initiated proceedings to ban the Mejlis, accusing the representative body of engaging in extremist activity.

On Friday, …

According to several Ukrainian soldiers, heavy fighting has erupted near Avdiivka, where a separatist offensive involving members of the Russian Special Forces (GRU) was launched, CRiMe reported.

The Ukrainian servicemen told the online publication that the offensive includes the use of tanks and other heavy weapons that are banned by the Minsk agreements. They also stated that Russian GRU forces were involved in the fighting.

“Before the offensive we managed to intercept their radio …

According to Radio Svoboda, the special representative for the organization in the Trilateral Contact Group on the settlement of conflict in Donbas, Martin Sajdik, stated that as a result of the meeting of the Contact Group in Minsk, the parties discussed the proposal of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to provide the police mission during the coming election in Donbas.“Security issues during the elections were not discussed. But unfortunately, the secretariat and the German Government …