Contents tagged with Ukraine
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Poroshenko awards 300 medals to Ukrainian servicemen
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko recognized soldiers who demonstrated heroism, courage and professionalism during combat missions in the Donbas region, the president’s press service reported. Of the 300 medals given by Poroshenko, 22 were awarded posthumously.
Of those honored 282 were members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (including 22 killed and 51 wounded), 17 were members of the National Guard, and one was a serviceman of the State Border Service.
All awarded soldiers proved …
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Turchynov proposes changing date of Christmas in Ukraine
Secretary of the National Security Service of Ukraine, Aleksandr Turchynov, has proposed changing the date of Christmas in Ukraine to December 25th.
"Perhaps the time has come for Ukraine to start celebrating Christmas on December 25th with the majority of civilized countries. But a decision on this matter should come first of all from the Council of Christian Churches of Ukraine. During the transition, I think we could celebrate both, on December 25th and January 7th,” he said.
The Orthodox …
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Ukraine to expand tank and guided missile production
Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak announced that the UkrOboronProm state arms manufacturer plans to expand production of guided missiles and T-84 Oplot tanks next year.
"For the first time in the history of Ukraine, we'll start manufacturing almost completely new aircraft for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to government contract, including the production of guided missiles, and Oplot tanks. I wish this contract took effect today, but the appropriate decision has already been …
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Ukrainian Rada allows foreign troops in military drills
On Friday night, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed legislation allowing for foreign troops to participate in military exercises on Ukrainian territory next year.
239 deputies voted in favor of the draft submitted by President Petro Poroshenko.
"The adoption of the law will ensure the implementation of tasks in the sphere of security and defense in the entire context of fulfilling the foreign policy priorities of the state," the bill’s summary reads.
The document states that Ukraine will host …
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OSCE granted limited access to Kominternove
The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE said that armed members of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic did not allow observers to go past the main street of the village of Kominternove during the mission’s investigation on Thursday.
The SMM had been trying to reach the village for two days to follow-up on reports that DPR militants had occupied the village. The mission had not been able to investigate due to security concerns, and was denied access by armed DPR militants at a …
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Santa Claus visits Ukrainian troops
Santa Claus visited the soldiers of the 42nd Battalion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Thursday. The battalion is stationed near the city of Horlivka, which is currently occupied by fighters of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic.
The Chairman of "Freedom to Ukraine", Vadim Dmitruk, decided to raise the spirits of the Ukrainian soldiers by having a volunteer dressed as Santa hand out more than 500 boxes of chocolate. Volunteers also brought the soldiers more than 200 kilograms of Olivier …
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Prisoners in Ukraine won’t be exchanged before 2016
A prisoner exchange between the Ukrainian government and the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) won’t happen before the New Year, despite the fact that the two sides agreed on the need carry out an such an exchange during a video conference on November 24th.
At the time, both parties agreed on the need to complete this process by late 2015, according to Daria Olifer, spokeswoman for Leonid Kuchma, Kiev’s envoy to the negotiations. “First, the exchange should take place for the most …
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Ukrainian Ambassador: UN needs to address conflict in Ukraine
According to Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Volodymyr Yelchenko, the UN has done very little to solve the Ukrainian conflict. During an interview with European Truth, the new ambassador, appointed two weeks ago, stressed that he will put forth every effort necessary to make the international community pay more attention to the situation in Ukraine.
"For example, look at the role of the UN Secretary General in resolving our conflict. Frankly, it is close to zero," Yelchenko said. …
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Russians who fought in Donbass want veteran status
The "Donbass Volunteers Union" hopes that during the next session of the Russian State Duma their members will be granted the status of combat veterans, reports TASS.
"We are applying all efforts to assign the Donbass conflict parties a status of war veterans. We prepared an appeal to MPs and hope that the Duma will respond to this during the new session,” the Head of the Union, Andrey Pinchuk, said. He went on to stress that “volunteers” need to be provided with medical assistance.
The …
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Vishnevsky: The Kremlin wants to keep the situation in eastern Ukraine unresolved
For Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of the main reasons for starting the war in the Donbas region was the ease with which Russian Special Forces were able to occupy and annex the Crimean peninsula in early 2014. This opinion was expressed by Russian opposition leader Boris Vishnevsky in an interview with Apostrophe.
"The hypothesis that seems plausible to me is that Vladimir Putin doesn't consider Ukraine to be a state, and it's possible that he seriously considered a scenario in which a …