Category: Ukraine

ENLARGE A Ukrainian soldier strikes a victory sign on the road between the towns of Debaltseve and Artemivsk in Ukraine on Monday. Photo: Associated Press In the railway town of Debaltseve, Ukraine’s cease-fire lasted all of 40 minutes. “We were surprised when the firing stopped, and hoped it would be the cease-fire,” said Albert Sardaryan, a 22-year-old combat paramedic in the town, by telephone. “But then it started again.” Fighting for Debaltseve has become the biggest challenge to the cease-fire that went into effect at midnight Saturday and was supposed to end months of conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed militants in Ukraine’s east. A separatist advance supported , according to U.S. and Ukrainian officials, by Russian army units, has all but cut off thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in the town. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday described the situation in Ukraine as “fragile” and called on all sides […]

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VUHLEHIRSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Separatists are keeping up attacks on the strategic railway junction of Debaltseve despite a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, a Kiev military spokesman said on Monday, and witnesses reported heavy shelling in the area. "The illegal armed groups are not supporting the ceasefire," military spokesman Anatoly Stelmakh told reporters, adding that the Russian-backed rebels were using Grad rockets and tanks to attack government forces holding the town. "The number of attacks on Debaltseve has even increased in comparison to previous days and they are using all types of weapons," he said. "The terrorists have been given the order to take Debaltseve at all cost." A Reuters correspondent at Vuhlehirsk, about 10 km (some six miles) to the west of Debaltseve, reported heavy shelling from the direction of the town, with blasts around every 10 seconds. Underscoring the fragility of the ceasefire, which was negotiated by Ukraine, […]

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ENLARGE Ukrainian soldiers make their way on the road leading to the embattled town of Debaltseve on Saturday, after a cease-fire came into effect. Photo: Getty Images The cease-fire between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists was largely being observed on its first day despite sporadic exchanges of fire, the head of an international monitoring mission said Sunday. Ertugrul Apakan, the chief monitor of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, said in a news conference in Kiev that the cease-fire was observed throughout east Ukraine overnight and during the first half of Sunday, with the exception of the area around the city of Debaltseve, where fighting had been heaviest in recent days. The separatists claim that the area should be under their control under the cease-fire agreement, and that thousands of government forces were surrounded there. Kiev officials deny the claim of […]

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DONETSK, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels fought fiercely across the east of the country on Friday despite a new peace deal brokered by Germany and France. A ceasefire is due to come into effect from Sunday under the agreement, which also envisages a withdrawal of the heavy weapons responsible for many of the 5,000 casualties in the conflict that broke out almost a year ago. Kiev said pro-Russian rebels had built up their forces across separatist-held zones since the deal and both sides accused each other of killing civilians. Two people were killed and six wounded when a shell hit a cafe in the Kiev-controlled town of Shchastya near rebel-held Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, a local official said, adding other shells had struck elsewhere in the town. "The town’s heating system is broken, power lines are damaged as well as the water supply … So this is […]

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Despite a looming cease-fire deadline, Ukraine said Friday that at least 11 people were killed and dozens wounded in fighting in the past 24 hours. Photo: AP. Ukraine descended into further violence on Friday as Kiev and Russia-backed separatists tried to expand and defend their territory before a cease-fire brokered by European leaders was due to come into effect. Eleven Ukrainian soldiers died and 40 more were wounded in the past 24 hours in the eastern battle zone , military spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said. Battles were fierce near the Ukrainian-held cities of Debaltseve and Mariupol. At least 10 people were killed elsewhere, including a 7-year-old boy, according to local officials. The truce , seen as a possible last chance to put an end to a surge in the deadly fighting, is set to come into effect Sunday. But a previous deal in September collapsed, and doubts about the […]

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Ukraine’s president has warned that a deal to end the war in the east is in "great danger" after heavy fighting ahead of Saturday night’s ceasefire. Petro Poroshenko also accused Russia of "significantly increasing" its offensive despite the peace agreement reached in Minsk on Thursday. The US ambassador to Ukraine tweeted a satellite image that he said showed Russian artillery near Debaltseve. Shelling was heard in the rebel-held city of Donetsk early on Saturday. Fierce battles are said to be continuing around Debaltseve – a strategic government-held town almost encircled by rebel forces – and outside the southern port city of Mariupol. The BBC’s David Stern in Kiev says that as the clock ticks down to the ceasefire, fears are rising that it won’t be observed. More than a dozen civilians are said to have died in shelling in eastern Ukraine on Friday. It is unclear who was behind […]

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With cease-fire deal, and IMF package in hand, Russian energy company Gazprom says it’s time Ukraine settle its debt. UPI/Ivan Vakolenko MOSCOW, Feb. 12 (UPI) — With a $17.5 billion agreement from the International Monetary Fund in hand, Russian gas company Gazprom said Thursday it was time Ukraine settled its debt. "The economic reform program focuses on immediate macroeconomic stabilization as well as broad and deep structural reforms to provide the basis for strong and sustainable economic growth over the medium term," IMF Mission Chief for Ukraine Nikolay Gueorguiev said in a statement. Political upheaval that followed Kiev’s pivot toward the European Union in November 2013 left an already-battered Ukrainian economy in shambles. The IMF said Ukraine’s economy contracted by about 7 percent in gross domestic product last year as conflict drags on in the east of the country. This, in turn, has taken its toll on industries and […]

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After 17 hours of negotiations, the leaders of France and Germany brokered a renewed cease-fire deal to end Ukraine’s 10-month conflict with pro-Russia separatists. MINSK, Belarus—Germany and France brokered a deal with Russia on Thursday to end nearly a year of fighting in Ukraine, but warned there was still much to do to ensure that it doesn’t fall apart the way the last one did. The revived cease-fire—to start Sunday—offers new hope for peace between Kiev and Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine, although many questions remained following more than 16 hours of overnight negotiations. The rebels appeared to have won significant gains, including control over much of the ground they have taken in recent months and over the border with Russia, at least through the end of this year. For Kiev, the deal offers a chance to end a costly and bloody conflict in which Moscow has shown it […]

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko stands in an elevator after peace talks on resolving the Ukrainian crisis in Minsk, February 12, 2015. The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine have agreed a deal to end fighting in eastern Ukraine, participants at the summit talks said on Thursday. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko (BELARUS – Tags: POLITICS) T he deal agreed by Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko in Minsk on Thursday provides a ray of hope that the conflict in eastern Ukraine might be moving towards a settlement. But it would be foolish to view the pact more optimistically than that. After a testy 16-hour negotiation, the Russian and Ukrainian presidents have at least settled on a framework to end the fighting that has taken more than 5,000 lives. However, a similar agreement signed in the Belarusian capital last September swiftly collapsed. And any optimism about Minsk II requires a leap of faith […]

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