Category: Ukraine

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Monday shied away from slapping new economic sanctions on Russia right away over its actions in eastern Ukraine. Instead, the 28-nation bloc said the punitive measures will come into force "in the next few days" depending on how well the cease-fire agreement in eastern Ukraine will be upheld. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said in a statement delaying the sanctions would leave time for "an assessment of the implementation of the cease-fire agreement and the peace plan." "Depending on the situation on the ground, the EU stands ready to review the agreed sanctions in whole or in part," Van Rompuy said. Ukraine, Russia and the Kremlin-backed separatists agreed Friday to an immediate cease-fire and an exchange of prisoners. While the truce appeared to hold on Monday, the agreement seemed fragile over the weekend when occasional fighting occurred. The EU sanctions are […]

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Europe ’s reliance on Russian natural gas shipments via Ukraine is declining after the region pumped a record volume of the fuel into underground inventories, minimizing the risk of shortages during the coming winter. The blue line on the CHART OF THE DAY shows average daily flows at Velke Kapusany on the Slovakian-Ukrainian border, the biggest single entry point for Russian gas into the European Union, last month fell to a record, according to data from Slovak grid operator Eustream AS going back to 2011. The red histogram shows the 28-nation bloc has pumped a record volume of gas into storage, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe, a lobby group in Brussels. Russia, which meets about 15 percent of Europe’s gas demand through Soviet-era pipelines across Ukraine, halted supplies to its neighbor on June 16 in a dispute over debt and prices, echoing similar spats in 2006 and 2009 that […]

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MOSCOW — Scattered fighting threatened a shaky cease-fire in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as officials now confront a task even more formidable than maintaining the truce: fashioning some form of decentralized governance in the war-ravaged region that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will accept and that President Petro O. Poroshenko of Ukraine can deliver without turning his country against him. But just two days after the truce was signed in Minsk, Belarus, calling for “decentralization of power” as the most important step after a halt to the violence, Yuri V. Lutsenko, an influential adviser to Mr. Poroshenko, published an article on Sunday denouncing the idea of creating a special autonomous zone in the east — which Russia has demanded — saying it would be “a cancerous tumor in the Ukrainian organism.” The article on the Ukrainska Pravda news site by Mr. Lutsenko, who is leading Mr. Poroshenko’s political […]

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Ukraine signed a cease-fire with the pro-Russian rebels on Friday. This could be a real move into ending the five-month conflict. WSJ’s Moscow Bureau Chief Greg White joins Lunch Break’s Tanya Rivero with the details. Photo: Getty MOSCOW—A tentative peace deal for Ukraine reached Friday raised hopes for a resolution of the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, even as the U.S. and Europe beefed up sanctions aimed at pressuring Russia to leave the battlefield. After a day of continued fighting, Ukrainian forces and the pro-Russia separatists in the east of the country said they had stopped their military operations when the cease-fire went into effect at 6 p.m. local time. The deal was described as a series of 12 steps toward ending the five-month conflict that has cost at least 2,000 lives. The first step, the cease-fire, was to be followed by a prisoner exchange and delivery […]

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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaks during talks with the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, on Thursday. Zuma Press KIEV, Ukraine—Ukraine and Russia-backed rebels both said Thursday they are ready for a cease-fire in the country’s war-torn eastern provinces if a peace deal is signed at talks on Friday. At a summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Wales, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he hoped a cease-fire would be agreed to at the meeting of negotiators in the Belarusian capital of Minsk. But the most important details of the plan were still unclear—particularly the contentious issue of how much territory the Ukraine government could effectively have to cede to rebels. Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented a plan that would call for Ukraine to pull back forces and leave the rebels in control of some territory. Mr. Poroshenko hasn’t made public exactly what he […]

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A volunteer of the Ukrainian paramilitary Azov battalion waits on an armoured vehicle, as pro-Russian separatists fire heavy artillery, on the outskirts of the key southeastern port city of Mariupol, on September 5, 2014. NATO leaders are expected to announce a raft of fresh sanctions against Russia on Friday over its actions in Ukraine, although hopes remain that a ceasefire can be forged at peace talks in Minsk on the same day. AFP PHOTO/PHILIPPE DESMAZES The sound of shelling rattled Mariupol in southeast Ukraine on Friday morning, sparking fresh fears that Russian-backed separatists were plotting to seize the strategic Azov Sea coast city hours before ceasefire talks and a looming EU decision to expand economic sanctions against Moscow. Nato leaders, holding their second day of summit talks in Wales, were considering their response to Russian aggression against Ukraine. More On this story On this topic IN Europe Witnesses reported […]

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Vladimir Putin will continue his shadow war until he’s created quasi statelets in Ukraine’s easternmost regions with veto power over the country’s future, five current and former Russian officials and advisers said. Even after Putin and his counterpart Petro Poroshenko agreed on steps to end more than five months of fighting, the Russian president won’t settle for less than broad autonomy for Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, including the right to reject key decisions at the national level such as joining NATO, according to the people. Putin is willing to wait until November, after Ukraine elects a new parliament and the heating season starts, to ensure his goals are met, in part by extending a natural gas cutoff to force a compromise if needed, one official said on condition of anonymity after speaking with Putin last week. Related: “Putin’s goal is to force Ukraine to its […]

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The Ukrainian President’s office said that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to a cease-fire regime in eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin took issue with that wording, saying the two leaders only discussed steps towards peace. WSJ’s Paul Sonne joins Simon Constable on the News Hub with more on this. Photo: Getty MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed a cease-fire deal with Ukraine that would freeze in place gains made by Russian-backed separatists, setting the stage for the kind of partitioning Moscow has used to tame other neighbors. Mr. Putin said he and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko were "very close" on agreeing to a path for resolving the nearly five-month conflict. The Russian leader proposed an end to the rebel offensive, but also a pullback of Ukrainian troops, which would be a major concession for Kiev. Mr. Poroshenko said he "supported Russia’s readiness to implement a joint plan for peaceful […]

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BRUSSELS/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) – EU officials proposed sanctions on Tuesday to starve Russian firms of cash as punishment for Moscow’s role in Ukraine, where rebels said they were storming Donetsk airport, potentially their biggest prize since turning the war’s tide last week. Western countries accuse Moscow of sending armored columns of troops into Ukraine, where the momentum in a five-month war shifted last week decisively in favor of pro-Russian rebels, who are now advancing on a new front towards a major port. Russia denies its troops are involved in fighting on the ground, in the face of what Western countries and Ukraine say is overwhelming evidence. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby estimated there were thousands of Russian forces inside Ukraine. “You want to talk provocative? Let’s talk about a few thousand Russian troops inside eastern Ukraine, continuing to support separatists, with heavy weapon systems, and more […]

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