In a meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church did not agree that the Ukrainian Church is outside Moscow’s jurisdiction, and is convinced that the leaders of Ukraine need the church’s autocephaly in order to remain in power. The Greek news outlet Orthodoxia.info published fragments of the meeting’s minutes.

Bartholomew, on the other hand, considers Ukraine outside Moscow’s jurisdiction.

“We have never stopped being aware that we …

The Ukrainian Naval Forces conducted the command-staff exercises Cossack Will-2018  in the Black and Azov Seas, reported the press service of the Ukrainian Navy.

“The main goal of the exercises is to increase the military command and control bodies’ capability of conducting defensive stabilization actions by the troops, as well as planning and implementing counter-offensive operations,” the statement reads.

According to reports, personnel of the six tactical groups of the Ukrainian Naval …

The former Defense Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Igor “Strelkov” Girkin stated on his VKontakte post that the audio recording published by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) was authentic. The recording captured an assistant to Denis Pushilin discussing the assasination of then DPR head Alexander Zakharchenko with unknown people.

Pushilin was chosen to succeed Zakharchenko a week after the latter was assassinated on August 31.

“I have just received confirmation …