Three powerful explosions blasted in the center of Donetsk. Two of them took place not far from the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) leader’s residence building, reports RIA Novosti, citing the DPR authorities. 

DPR's Ministry of Internal Affairs clarified that one of the explosions was set off several hundred meters from the hotel where the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission staff is stationed. Another one went off nearby on a vacant lot. According to preliminary data, nobody was hurt. 

The DPR …

The United Arab Emirates has signed a contract with Russia for the purchase of Kornet-E anti-tank missile systems and Pantsir anti-aircraft missile systems, UAE Brigadier General Mohammed Hassaini stated at the international exhibition of weapons and military equipment IDEX in Abu Dhabi. 

“The cost of the contract amounted to 146.92 million dirhams ($ 39.7 million) and more than 45 million dirhams ($ 12.1 million) for Kornet-E and Pantsir, respectively,” TASS quoted the general as saying. He …

Ukraine insists on a permanent observation mission in the Kerch Strait, and Russia does not agree with this, Interfax Ukraine quoted Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin as saying. 

“We are now talking about making this mission permanent and observing both from space and from water in order to know exactly what Russia is doing and not doing there... We need to get a permanent mission. Russia refuses it,” the minister told reporters in Munich. 

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister noted that he …

Aleksandr Mikheev, the Director General of Russia's state agency for exports/imports of defense-related and dual use products (Rosoboronexport), stated at the IDEX arms exhibition that Russia has begun supplying Kalashnikov automatic weapons (AK-103) to Saudi Arabia, RIA Novosti reports. 

According to him, the next stage is creating a new licensed production automatic weapon for Saudi Arabia and also for other third world countries. 

In the next three to four months, the two parties will …

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov stated that there are no prospects for normalizing the relationship with the US for now, reports Interfax-Ukraine. 

“In my opinion, everything is already bad. Prospects are not being considered for now,” said Ushakov responding to a question if a new series of sanctions will worsen Russian-American relations, or things can’t get worse. 

He added that Moscow’s reaction to the possibility of new American sanctions would follow after analysis. 

“We will …

US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said that Moscow is not showing any interest in arranging a meeting between Russian Presidential Aide Vladislav Surkov and himself or in taking action to resolve the conflict in the Donbas during the presidential campaign in Ukraine.

“We are always in favor of meeting and talking. Russia is not showing any interest or progress whatsoever in this regard. In fact, they said that they don’t want to do anything during the presidential elections,”  …

The head of the Donbas Volunteers Union, former Prime Minister of the so-called Donetsk People’s Rebublic Alexander Borodai stated during the congress of the Council of Donbas Volunteer Commanders in Moscow that more than 400 members of pro-Russian armed groups that are fighting in the Donbas could have been deported from Russia at Ukraine’s request.

He alleged that thanks to the activities of the Russian organization Donbas Volunteers Union (DVU), they avoided getting deported. Its members …

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine reports that five LPR militants from the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) opened fire on drone of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in the presence of observers.

The incident occurred on February 15 in a disengagement area in the village of Zolote. While at the LPR checkpoint, observers warned the militants that an SMM mid-range UAV was flying in the area. However, the armed formations opened fire on the UAV from ten meters away …