Last week, leaders in the Defense Ministry of Ukraine were informed that Russian scouts had appeared in the village of Kominternovo near Mariupol.  As of today, Russian infantry have occupied the village.

When journalists commented on the presence of Russian scouts in the village last week, leaders of the Ukrainian Armed Forces dismissed the reports, with one Ukrainian general saying "You guys are confused, this is our position."  

According to media reports, on the morning of December 22nd, …

In response to U.S. sanctions against Russia, the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mikhail Emelyanov, proposed imposing sanctions against Coca-Cola, as well as Visa and MasterCard payment systems.

“We conduct business with some American companies that will be susceptible to these sanctions.  This applies primarily to the audit companies, financial companies and, of course, Coca-Cola," the Russian Deputy said.

Emelyanov …

The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine (TCG) called for the parties in the conflict in the Donbass region to agree to a ceasefire beginning on December 23rd.  The last meeting of the year between Ukraine, Russia and OSCE ended on Tuesday in Minsk.

According to Daria Olifer, Press Secretary for former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, "There is an agreement on a full and unconditional silence starting at midnight on December 23, 2015. This initiative is needed primarily for the civilians in …

In the occupied city of Dzhankoy, the Federal Security Bureau of the Russian Federation illegally detained and tortured a Crimean Tatar, trying to persuade him to cooperate. The Commissioner for the President of Ukraine for the Affairs of Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, wrote about this incident on his Facebook page.

"On December 16, 2015 a resident of Dzhankoy, Enver Crosh, born in 1991, was illegally taken to the district police station of Dzhankoy and then transferred to the FSB in the …

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, stated that on December 20th 200 civilians were killed during Russian airstrikes in the Syrian province of Idlib.  The Ministry has accused the Russian Federation of the murder of more than 600 Syrian citizens as a result of these air strikes, as reported by the Turkish Press Agency Anadolu. Cavusoglu also noted that 90% of the areas bombed by Russian aircraft are held by the Syrian opposition and include residential neighborhoods. …