• EU will consider implementing visa free regime with Ukraine in the spring

    The EU Foreign Ministers will consider opening a visa-free regime for Ukrainians in March or June.  Olena Zerkal, the Ukrainian Minister for the European Foreign Affairs Council told TV Channel 5, that the process will depend on how quickly the necessary reforms can be implemented.

    "It depends on how quickly we will be able to convince the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council that we have fulfilled all the requirements and are continuing to improve legislation,” she said.  

    Ukraine has …

  • Several Popular Ukrainian Contributors Banned by Twitter

    On the 30th of December, the popular social network, Twitter, issued an update to their terms of service agreement. These changes are directed at preventing insults, threats and intimidation. Some of the networks’ users attest that there are errors in this new system that can result in the locking of practically any account, Radio Svoboda reported.

    “The updated rules stress that Twitter will not allow the use of insults, intimidation and threats in order to force other people to be silent. As …

  • Pushylin: Peacekeepers are not included in Minsk Agreement

    According to Denis Pushylin, a representative of the so-called ‘Donetsk Peoples Republic’ (DPR), the self-proclaimed republic is against the engagement of the UN Security Council members in peacemaking efforts in the Donbas as requested by Kiev, reports the Donetsk News Agency (DNA), a separatist media outlet."I would like to reiterate that there is a plan for the implementation of the Minsk Agreements signed on February 12, 2015. And according to Section Three of this document, the OSCE …

  • Dutch Government Plans to Campaign for Ukraine before Association Vote

    The Dutch Government plans on conducting a campaign in support of Ukraine before the referendum on the Association Agreement (AA) between Ukraine and the EU, Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands stated.

    As reported by EUobserver, an independent online newspaper, Rutte, who is currently the president of the EU Council of Ministers, stated at a press conference in Amsterdam on Thursday, January 7th, that the Association Agreement is positive for both Europe and the Netherlands.

    "I …

  • OSCE observers detained in eastern Ukraine

    The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) reported on Friday that a group of their observers was detained by pro-Russian separatists of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) near the city of Horlivka, 40 kilometers northeast of Donetsk.

    “In Horlivka… armed ‘DPR’ members stopped an SMM patrol and forced the SMM monitors to the ground. The SMM vehicle was searched for video material and SMM monitors were taken to a ‘military- …