Contents tagged with Donbas

  • Security Service of Ukraine is negotiating for the release of 25 prisoners

    The advisor to the Chairman of the Security Service of Ukraine, Yuriy Tandit, said that Ukraine is negotiating the early release of 25 Ukrainian prisoners held in the Donbas. This was reported by Interfax-Ukraine with reference to the ICTV channel.

    "We are ready to compromise and the exchange of 25 hostages for 50 is now being discussed," Tandit said. According to him, Kiev is making a maximum effort to release the prisoners.

    Recently, there had been no progress in the negotiations on the …

  • Three Ukrainian soldiers killed in the Donbas

    On Saturday, three Ukrainian soldiers were killed in action and one was injured in the Donbas region, RBC-Ukraine reported.

    Alexander Motuzyanik, the head of the press center staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the conflict zone, said that the casualties occurred in the course of two separate incidents.

    "Over the past day three Ukrainian soldiers were killed. One soldier received fatal injuries during the shelling of positions near Talakovki. Two defenders were killed by an enemy mine …

  • WIthdrawal of heavy weapons agreed on in several areas in the Donbas

    Advisers to the heads of the sates of the Normandy quartet agreed on three pilot sites for troops and weaponry withdrawal in eastern Ukraine.

    The Deputy Head of Administration of the President of Ukraine, Kostiantyn Yeliseyev, met with the advisers to the heads of the Normandy Four states and an OSCE Representative in Minsk.

    "The meetings were held with the advisers to the heads of the Normandy Four states. Participating in the meeting with me were the advisers to the German Chancellor, the …

  • Ukraine wants UN response to calls for peacekeepers in the Donbas

    The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Kislitsa, stated during his speech on the 10th of June at the UN Security Council that Ukraine holds the United Nations accountable for ignoring the direct request for the deployment of a peacekeeping mission in the Donbas, Ukrinform reported.

    “It is difficult to explain the lack of response by the Council to the direct request concerning a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Donbas, whose presence in the field would ensure the additional …

  • Ukrainian losses continue on the front line in eastern Ukraine

    According to a report released by the press service of the Ukrainian President’s administration, separatists continue ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine.

    On Friday, two Ukrainian servicemen were killed and ten were injured, according to the press secretary of the administration of the Ukrainian President, Andriy Lysenko.

    “Over the previous day one Ukrainian soldier was killed in the course of the hostilities on the front line in eastern Ukraine. Another servicemen was killed as a result …

  • US: Separatists are trying to 'blind' OSCE observers in the Donbas

    The U.S. Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Daniel Baer, stated during an OSCE Permanent Council meeting that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine has been subjected to a deliberate attempt to ‘blind’ it by blocking or destroying the Mission’s means of surveillance in the Donbas.

    “Within one week, militia forces shot down two of the SMM’s long endurance UAVs near Horlivka and threatened to shoot down the other UAVs which were looking for the …

  • The United Nations believes that conflict in the Donbas was called an anti-terrorist operation in vain

    The United Nations believes that the interpretation of the conflict in the Donbas as an anti-terrorist operation has resulted in considerable confusion, as mentioned in the report of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions, Christophe Hynes, following his official visit to Ukraine in September 2015.

    According to UNIAN, the report was submitted by the UN General Assembly Secretariat to the UN Human Rights Council. The 32nd session of the UN Human Rights Council …

  • Report on crimes in the Donbas region was presented in the Polish Sejm

    On Wednesday, a report about Russian crimes in Donbas in 2014 was presented in the Lower House of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland. The report was based on over 60 interviews of prisoners, conducted by Ukrainian and Polish volunteers. UKRINFORM reports that the document was presented by the Deputy Head of the Sejm Commission for Foreign Affairs and one of the initiators of its creation, Małgorzata Gosiewska.

    "I hope that criminals will be punished as the war crimes have no statute of …

  • Herashchenko: 113 Ukrainian prisoners are held by separatists in the Donbas

    Both servicemen and civilians are being held captive

    On the 6th of June, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Iryna Herashchenko, reported that 113 Ukrainian citizens are still held captive by separatists supported by Russia in the Donbas, Radio Svoboda reports.

    "There are both servicemen and civilians. Separatists are trying to exchange the release of hostages for amnesty and are demanding that their leaders are pardoned.  They have not provided any information as to where the …

  • Savchenko proposes holding direct talks with separatist leaders

    During an interview with Radio Era, Nadiya Savchenko proposed holding direct talks with the leaders of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, RBC-Ukraine reported.

    Savchenko stressed that she wants “to find understanding with these people.”

    “We need to learn to forgive... not everything can be forgiven, but everything can be dealt with and backed up by the laws later,” Savchenko said.

    Savchenko outlined three steps to end the war in eastern Ukraine, including …