• Kyiv: Russian passports will be issued primarily to ‘power structures’ of LPR and DPR militants

    Russian passports in LPR and DPR will be issued primarily to representatives of the "power structures" of militants, said the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine for European Integration Anatolii Petrenko.

    "We have reasons to believe that first of all passports will be issued to the so-called "power structures" of the occupation administrations. Therefore, both de facto and de jure, the use of weapons in the illegally occupied territories will be carried out by citizens of the Russian …

  • Russian S-300 missile systems spotted at US testing range

    A military enthusiast who goes by the name of Ivan O’Gilvi on Twitter recently published a satellite photo which supposedly shows a Russian S-300 aerial defense system at an American testing ground.

    On the photograph, O’Gilvi identified two 5P85PT launchers mounted on semitrailers and a 30N6 fire control system consisting of a mobile command point and trailer with a radar antenna.

    According to Defence Blog, the US Air Force frequently uses Russian-made aerial defense systems in its drills. …

  • Russia jamming Ukrainian radio stations in northern Crimea

    The Russia-controlled Crimean authorities are deliberately jamming the signals of Ukrainian radio stations in the north of the peninsula, primarily by using the same frequencies for Russian stations, the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG) reports.

    According to monitoring conducted by the group between March and April this year, the signals of seven Ukrainian radio stations are being entirely or partially jammed by the signals of Russian FM stations in 20 settlements in northern Crimea.

    The …

  • Ukraine accuses Russia of violating rights of indigenous peoples

    The Ukrainian political party the “Petro Poroshenko Bloc” intends to approach the UN, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO and the OSCE, and various national parliaments, to urge them to condemn Russia’s “systematic violation of the rights of indigenous peoples”. A draft of the corresponding resolution will be put on the agenda of Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on 14 May.

    The document was authored by MPs Refat Chubarov, Oksana …

  • Former Ukrainian Joint Forces commander: Russia has more than 70,000 regular troops in Crimea and Donbas

    There are nearly 75,000 Russian career soldiers in Crimea and the Donbas, Serhiy Nayev, former commander of Ukraine’s Joint Forces, told TSN in an interview.

    “In Crimea there are 40,000 Russian soldiers, and 35,000 in the Donbas, where Russians hold all the leading military positions and are part of the so-called precision divisions. The special divisions and instructors are also from Russia. There are generally between 2,100 and 2,300 of them there. In the ‘army ranks’, there are around 11,000 …

  • Estonia calls on EU to respond to Russia's 'anti-Ukrainian actions'

    Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu takes part in a meeting of the EU Council on Foreign Affairs in Brussels May 13, ERR news agency reports.

    As noted, he plans to call on European colleagues to respond to the "anti-Ukrainian actions" of Russia.

    According to Reinsalu, the recent decision of Moscow to grant passports to residents of self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s using a simplified procedure is another "destabilizing" step.

    He added that he intends to raise this issue at …

  • US Secretary of State heads to Russia for talks with Putin and Lavrov

    US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week. Pompeo’s visit to Russia will take place in a time of discord between the two countries on a number of critical issues, including the situation in Venezuela and Iran as well as Russia's interference in the 2016 US elections.

    Pompeo left for Moscow on Sunday. This will be his first visit to Russia as the leading representative of American diplomacy.

    Top US …

  • Ukrainian National Guard tests an American grenade launcher

    The military personnel of the National Guard of Ukraine tested the PSRL-1 grenade launcher that was received from the United States of America, RBC-Ukraine reports with reference to the message of National Guard on Facebook.

    The military noted that the American grenade launcher has advantages over the RPG-7 hand grenade launcher. PSRL-1 strikes armored vehicles, fortifications, and troops of the enemy with one shot of the grenades of 40 mm caliber.

    The National Guard currently has in service …

  • Japanese Foreign Minister: Peace treaty negotiations with Russia must be accelerated

    Tokyo would like the peace treaty negotiations with Russia to be concluded as soon as possible, said Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in a press conference in Sapporo, Hokkaido, after returning from a visit to Moscow.

    The foreign minister stressed the importance of finding an arrangement that satisfies both parties.

    “We would like to conclude these negotiations as quickly as possible, taking into account the old age of the former inhabitants of the four northern islands. We must conclude …

  • Kyiv: Russian warships block Ukrainian maritime economic zone in the Black Sea

    The Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense for European Integration, Anatoliy Petrenko, stated Russian warships are blocking the maritime economic zones of Ukraine, reports the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

    He noted that the control of the Kerch Strait passage remains the prerogative of Russia which violates international law regarding free civil shipping.

    “The Russian Federation is especially active in the western part of the Black Sea, namely around the illegally seized our …