Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Tensions rise as separatist 'nationalize' Ukrainian companies in the Donbas

    On March 1, separatists introduced "external management" to Ukrainian enterprises located in the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions not controlled by Kyiv. This action is the fulfilment of an ultimatum given the day before to the organizers of the trade blockade of the Donbas. The blockade is has been manned by veterans of the war in eastern Ukraine since the end of January.

    The separatists placed about 40 Ukrainian companies under "external management." This was stated by the head of …

  • Media: Poroshenko and Putin continue communication

    Despite the tough political situation between Russia and Ukraine, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko have maintained continuous contact, according to the newspaper Kommersant.

    Citing sources in Kyiv and Moscow Kommersant reported that the two leaders have spoken on the phone four times since the beginning of the year.

    The penultimate call was on February 11, the day after the President of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, visited Moscow. The most recent conversation took place on February 21, …

  • How Ukraine finances separatists

    Author: Dmytro Snegiryov, Head of Prava Sprava public initiative.

    The trade blockade with separatists is necessary in order to cease trade relations with territories that are beyond Ukraine’s control. Unfortunately trading is the business of law enforcement agencies and it involves large sums of money. The trade blockade should be carried out at the government level but not by volunteers and veterans of the war in the Donbas.

    The fact that the so-called masses took the initiative demonstrates …

  • Russia threatened Kyiv with retaliatory measures for the blockade of the Donbas

    The permanent representative of Russia to the Trilateral Contact Group on the peaceful settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine, Boris Gryzlov, stated that Ukrainian authorities should take measures to cease the blockade of the occupied territories of the Donbas.

    “Today, on the eve of the meeting of the Trilateral Contact Group, I urge Kyiv to take immediate effective measures to stop the transport and economic blockade of the Donbas,” Gryzlov said in his interview with journalists. …

  • Unknown persons tried to capture the Donbas blockade activists’ redoubt

    On the 28th of February, unknown persons stormed two redoubts of the Donbas blockade in the Donetsk region: the “16 volunteer battalion” in Kryvyi Torets and “Zaporizhia” in Bakhmut [at the end of January, war veterans in Eastern Ukraine blocked several railway crossings, demanding that Ukrainian prisoners in the Donbas be freed and trade with separatists halted]. The blockade Headquarters posted on its Facebook page about the attacks on the redoubts.

    The blockade Headquarters claims that the …

  • Turchynov: A month would be enough to liberate the Donbas

    National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov declared that Ukrainian troops have waited enough months to liberate the Donbas.

    According to Secretary, the battles for the Svitlodarsk salient and Avdiivka have shown that the Ukrainian army is stronger than the "hybrid Russian troops".

    "With today's balance of forces, we need only a month to completely clear the area of ​​the Donbas," said Turchynov during an interview with Censor.net.

    At the same time, the NSDC …

  • The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine reveals plans to regain control over the Donbas

    Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov said that Kyiv has a plan to regain sovereignty over the Donbas. "We have a very specific plan with regard to the Donbas, which has nothing to do with the concessions to Putin's regime," the head of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine stated in an interview with TSN news program on Sunday evening, February 26, Deutsche Welle reported.The Minister added that the strategy will be implemented if Russia, "under the pressure from the West" shows …

  • Leonid Kuchma: Russia is freezing the conflict in the Donbas

    The representative of Ukraine to the Trilateral Contact Group on the resolution of the situation in the Donbas, former President of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, stated that Russia’s recognition of documents issued by the separatist areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions will lead to the freezing of the conflict in the same way it did in Transnistria, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

    “In my view, Russia made the decision long ago to create conflict in the post-Soviet area, similar to their intervention …

  • Kremlin unhappy with U.S. reaction to separatist attacks on OSCE observers in Ukraine

    The Press Secretary to the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, did not like how the United States responded to insurgent attacks on the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in the area of military activity in eastern Ukraine, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.

    "We believe that it is necessary to be more careful in the assessment of the situation, especially in determining the source of provocation ... these same OSCE observers recorded repeatedly that the source of provocative …

  • Separatist leaders threaten Ukraine with the nationalization of companies because of the trade blockade

    On the 27th of February, Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, leaders of the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions not controlled by Ukraine, sent an ultimatum to Kyiv. If on the Ukrainian side the blockade of the Donbas [which was started by war veterans in Eastern Ukraine with the goal of freeing Ukrainian prisoners and putting an end to trade with the separatists] continues, the separatist leaders will take control of the companies under Ukrainian jurisdiction which are in …