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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 …
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Herashchenko: 140 Ukrainians Held by Donbas Militants
Militants of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) are holding 140 Ukrainian prisoners, many of whom are sick or wounded. This information was posted on the Facebook of the Commissioner of the President for the Peaceful Settlement of the Situation in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Iryna Herashchenko.
"We presented the full information on all our efforts to release the hostages—according to SBU the number is 140 Ukrainians—among whom are many people …
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Pro-Russian Separatists Occupy Village near Mariupol
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, …
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Trilateral Contact Group Calls to Enact Ceasefire Starting Wednesday
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 …