Section: South Africa Today (South Africa)
Berlin Expects New Donbass Truce to Be Effective
BERLIN (Sputnik) — Berlin hopes that the new ceasefire agreement in Ukraine’s eastern Donbass region will work effectively and be “more than a verbal statement,” German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Thursday in a statement, published on the ministry’s website. On Wednesday, the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine held a meeting...
Kiev Forces Attempted to Capture DPR Militia Positions Near Donetsk
DONETSK (Sputnik) — Basurin added that the attempted attacks on DPR positions were accompanied by shelling of Donetsk outskirts. He also recommended for the command of Kiev forces to comply with the Minsk agreements. “Ahead of the Independence Day of Ukraine, subdivisions of the 57th separate mechanized infantry brigade … attempted to capture our...
New OSCE Bases in Donbass Help Little in Reducing Ukrainian Shelling
LUHANSK (Sputnik) — On Friday, the SMM OSCE press service said that observers resumed round-the-clock monitoring of the situation on the site of the planned withdrawal of forces in the area of Stanytsia Luhanska. “We recently saw a similar forward patrol base opened by SMM in Popasnaya. As experience has shown, shelling in this area on the part...
US Aware of Reports on Ukraine Providing Rocket Technology to North Korea
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The United States is aware of reports that Ukraine transferred sensitive rocket technology to North Korea but believes the country has a very strong non-proliferation record, US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said at a press briefing on Tuesday. “We’re certainly aware of those reports that have come out....
Ukrainian Military Says Agent Detained in Crimea Was Dismissed From Army in May
KIEV (Sputnik) — The Ukrainian agent detained in Crimea earlier this month over plotting acts of sabotage on the peninsula was dismissed from the Ukrainian Armed Forces in May 2017 for professional incompetence, Yuzef Venskovych, the deputy head of the Public Relations Department of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on...
Ukraine’s Economy Shrinks by 1.5% Over Southeast’s ‘Blockade’ – Deputy Minister
KIEV (Sputnik) — The blockade has been in place since early January. The activists — military veterans and lawmakers — claimed any trade with the self-proclaimed republics was illegal and described freight traffic coming from the east as smuggling. “The GDP [gross domestic product] grew by roughly 2.3 percent in the first quarter, down from the...
Ukraine’s Economy Shrinks by 1.5% Over Southeast’s ‘Blockade’ – Deputy Minister
KIEV (Sputnik) — The blockade has been in place since early January. The activists — military veterans and lawmakers — claimed any trade with the self-proclaimed republics was illegal and described freight traffic coming from the east as smuggling. “The GDP [gross domestic product] grew by roughly 2.3 percent in the first quarter, down from the...
Kiev Court Extends Arrest of Russian Troop Abducted on Crimea’s Border
KIEV (Sputnik) — In November 2016, the Russian Defense Ministry said two contract servicemen Aleksander Baranov and Maksim Odintsov had been kidnapped and whisked across the border to the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine with an apparent goal to press criminal charges against them. The SBU said later that the detained Russian servicemen had previously...
Kiev Lodges Protest Against Warsaw Plans to Depict Lviv Chapel in Passports
KIEV (Sputnik) — Poland is planning to issue the new version of the country’s passports with depictions of several historical figures and places to commemorate the centennial anniversary of its independence in 2018. One of the proposed historical places is a chapel located at the place of the Polish war graves at Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv....
Power Supply in Crimea Restored After Scheduled Power Blackouts
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, the ministry announced introduction of temporary power blackouts due to extremely high levels of electricity consumption because of unusually hot weather in the region. “At 10:25 p.m. [local time, 19:25 GMT]… all consumers that have been cut off from the network during the scheduled blackouts were...
