Category: Ukraine

Pro-Russian rebels killed at least 19 Ukrainian troops Thursday, a setback for Kiev’s military forces after they  made significant headway  in recent weeks against a dogged insurgency in the country’s restive east. Separately, Ukrainian border guards began inspecting a Russian truck convoy carrying aid earmarked for humanitarian relief in eastern Ukraine. The convoy has been  stranded at the border between the two countries  for more than a week. Ukrainian government officials said the troops died in intense battles in the strategically important town of Llovaisk, near the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, the BBC reported. Donetsk was the  site of heavy shelling that hit residential neighborhoods  on Wednesday. Rebel and government forces fought street battles there and in other towns across the east. The forces of the Western-backed government have been  steadily gaining the upper hand  over the separatists in eastern Ukraine and are tightening the noose around the main rebel bastions […]

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MOSCOW (Reuters) – About twenty trucks from a Russian aid convoy have crossed the Russia-Ukraine border and are heading in the direction of the Ukrainian city of Luhansk, a Reuters witness said. He added that the trucks were accompanied by a small number of pro-Russian rebels. The trucks were previously in the no-man’s land between the Russian and Ukrainian border posts, but have now moved past the Ukrainian border post. (Writing by Katya Golubkova)

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KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) – Heavy shelling hit residential neighborhoods in Ukraine’s rebel stronghold of Donetsk and government forces fought street battles in other towns on Wednesday as they sought to crush a four-month-old separatist rebellion. The forces of the Western-backed Kiev government are steadily gaining the upper hand over the separatists in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine and are tightening the noose around the main rebel bastions of Donetsk and Luhansk. Reuters reporters in Donetsk said mortar bombs had struck Chelyuskintsev Street in the north of the city, a few km (miles) from the frontline of the conflict, shattering the windows of several five-floor apartment buildings and shearing off the branches of trees and downing power lines. The attack left large craters in the street and a meter-wide hole in the first floor of one of the apartment buildings. "The Ukrainian army or whoever they are – they’re bombing us again. […]

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Ukraine ’s armed forces said they continue to push back separatists in fighting in the country’s east, as the death toll from the conflict, already more than 2,000, mounted further. Ukraine’s National Guard captured the city of Ilovaysk, leading rebels to counter-attack with tanks and artillery, the force said today on its website. Nine Ukrainian servicemen died and 22 were wounded in the past 24 hours, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in Kiev. He later told reporters that government troops control a “significant” part of Luhansk, one of the main separatist strongholds. Thirty-four civilians were killed and 29 hurt in Donetsk, the other redoubt, in the past 24 hours, the regional administration said. “It’s a question of the next month for the rebels to either be defeated or for Russia to send in far larger forces to stop their defeat,” Joerg Forbrig, senior program officer for central and eastern […]

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Slovakia and Ukraine have laid the preliminary groundwork for a long future in the natural gas sector, the Slovakian minister of economy said from Kiev. The Ukrainian government this week said testing began to send 70 million cubic feet per day from Slovakia to Ukraine through the joint work of transit companies Uktransgaz and Eustream. Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan hosted Slovakian Minister of Economy Pavol Pavlis in Kiev to discuss the prospects of a new relationship in the natural gas sector . "Small reverse flow will become a basis for further collaboration between Slovakia and Ukraine," Pavlis said in a statement. Russian energy company Gazprom in June cut gas supplies to Ukraine because of lingering contractual disputes. Most of the Russian gas sent through Ukraine heads to European consumers and the Ukrainian energy minister said his country was still a reliable transit nation. "The Ukrainian side stands technologically […]

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DONETSK, Ukraine — To outward appearances, Fyodor D. Berezin is the picture of a senior military commander. He wears camouflage, has bodyguards and confidently gives orders as the newly named deputy defense minister of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic. Yet, just four months ago he was an obscure author of 18 science fiction novels, one play and a dozen or so short stories. In an interview, Mr. Berezin said he was as surprised as anybody by his rapid promotion through the rebel ranks. “Reality became scarier than science fiction,” he said in an interview over iced tea at the Havana Banana bar, a favorite rebel haunt. “I live in my books now. I fell right into the middle of my books.” In the real war in eastern Ukraine, it is an inauspicious time to hold a high command in the separatist forces. Under relentless pounding by the Ukrainian military, […]

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Ukrainian soldiers walk in a trench as they guard their position in the Luhansk region on Monday. AFP/Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Ukrainian counterpart next week for the first time in two months, officials in both countries said, intensifying a fresh diplomatic push that could force Ukraine’s government to choose between pressing ahead with its military campaign against pro-Russia separatists or making concessions to Russia to stop the bloodshed. Calls for a cease-fire are growing louder from both Moscow and Europe amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. But Ukrainian politicians and voters are deeply skeptical of agreeing to a truce now, since doing so could give separatists the chance to consolidate control over some territory and provide Russia with a long-term mechanism to influence events in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said the meeting in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 26 could lead toward a peace plan to end […]

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Ukrainian soldiers walk in a trench as they guard their position in the Luhansk region on Monday. AFP/Getty Images Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet his Ukrainian counterpart next week for the first time in two months, officials in both countries said, intensifying a fresh diplomatic push that could force Ukraine’s government to choose between pressing ahead with its military campaign against pro-Russia separatists or making concessions to Russia to stop the bloodshed. Calls for a cease-fire are growing louder from both Moscow and Europe amid a deepening humanitarian crisis. But Ukrainian politicians and voters are deeply skeptical of agreeing to a truce now, since doing so could give separatists the chance to consolidate control over some territory and provide Russia with a long-term mechanism to influence events in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said the meeting in Minsk, Belarus, on Aug. 26 could lead toward a peace plan to end […]

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| License Photo The Ukrainian government confirmed Monday testing was under way for the reversal of gas flows from Slovakia to Ukraine. Russian energy company Gazprom in June cut gas supplies to Ukraine because of lingering debt disputes. The Ukrainian government said testing began to send 70 million cubic feet per day from Slovakia to Ukraine through the joint work of transit companies Uktransgaz and Eustream. Commercial operations from the Slovakian transit system could start as early as Sept. 2. Uktransgaz Chairman Igor Prokopiv credited his company’s professionalism with keeping energy issues in Ukraine in check . "Ukrtransgaz will have a lot of strategic objectives ahead, but I am convinced … we will be able to comply with them," he said in a statement. German energy company RWE in April said it reversed the flow of natural gas from Poland to supply a Ukrainian market under the Kremlin’s influence. […]

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