Tag Archives: Eastern Ukraine

On Monday, Russia brought to an end its military exercises near the Ukrainian border, days ahead of a vital Presidential vote in Ukraine which aims to end the crisis in the country. The office of Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had ordered several thousand Russian soldiers stationed near the Ukrainian border to return to their barracks as the …

Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday launched round-table “Unity” talks as a part of a Western push to prevent the country from falling apart. They vowed that they wouldn’t bow to “blackmail” by pro-Russian forces waging an insurgency in Eastern Ukraine. The “Unity” talks do not involve the pro-Russian forces battling in Eastern Ukraine, and are being held two weeks before Ukraine …

Six Ukrainian military troops were killed by separatist forces near the city Krematorsk in eastern Ukraine, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday. Eight more soldiers were wounded in the separatist “ambush” in the outskirts village of Oktyabrske near the city Krematorsk. The statement, released on the Defense ministry’s website, said that the attack was “cynical and dangerous”, and had occurred …

On Thursday, spiritual lead of the Crimean Tatars Mustafa Dzhemilev appealed to the West to not forget the Crimean Peninsula as it turned its attention to the increasing violence in Eastern Ukraine. “We are concerned that because of Russia’s recent actions, the issue of Russia’s occupation of Crimea has become secondary in light of the potential threat of Russian forces …

On Monday, Refat Chubarov, a leader of the minority Muslim group the Crimean Tatars, said that the new Russian leadership had threatened to prosecute them “for extremism”. Chubarov, who leads the ethnic minority’s assembly, said that the Chief Regional Prosecutor on Sunday gave him an official warning to stop “extremist activities”. During the weekend, hundreds of pro-Ukraine Tatars clashed with …

Acting President of Ukraine Olexander Turchynov on Thursday reinstated military conscription to help deal with the deteriorating security situation in Eastern Ukraine. The move was announced in a decree, and comes after pro-Russian forces seized a regional prosecutor’s office in Donetsk. Ukraine has blamed Russia for organizing the capture of government offices in Eastern Ukraine, a claim the Russian government …

On Wednesday, pro-Russian forces lifted an armed siege on a regional police headquarters in Lugansk in Eastern Ukraine after the chief officer of the station agreed to resign. Meanwhile, The Ukrainian government said that its army is “on full combat alert” against a potential Russian invasion. Rebels already control the regional administration building and the SBU security services building. A …

On Monday, heavily armed pro-Russian forces took over another town in Eastern Ukraine by storming into its town hall, setting up barricades and attacking an anti-Moscow billionaire’s bank in the town. Kostyantynivka has a population of 80,000 and is located between Donestsk and the town Slavyansk, both currently under insurgent control. Later in the day, around 300 masked pro-Russian troops, …

In the Ukrainian city Donetsk, the split between pro-Russians and nationalists exists on a religious level as well, with a sharp disconnect between churches seeking to Ukraine united and churches with ties to Moscow. Priest of the local Greek Catholic church 43-year-old Father Tikhon said “we should say thank you to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, who helped us to understand …

On Monday, Pro-Russian insurgents covered even more Ukrainian separatist territory, as the new western-backed government in Ukraine looked for a way out of the international crisis by seeking UN help and proposing a referendum. Russia added a perilous tone to the escalation, saying that President Putin had received “a lot” of requests from the Russian-majority rust belt in Ukraine, “to …