Section: South Africa Today (South Africa)
Number of Civilians Affected by Donbass Conflict Shows Decrease in April
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — A decrease in civilian casualties linked to the Ukrainian conflict has been noted in April, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Monday in a statement. “A slight decrease of conflict-related civilian casualties was recorded in April, with 66 casualties (13 deaths and 53 injuries) reported compared to...
Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Ridicules New Kiev’s Sanctions Against Agency
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko enacted the National Security and Defense Council’s (NSDC) decision to expand the list of Russian individuals and legal entities, against which sanctions were imposed, and to extend the duration of the sanctions. The appendix to the NSDC decision mentions the...
Ukrainian Sanctions Not to Have Negative Impact on Yandex Business in General
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia’s technology giant Yandex said Tuesday that the sanctions, imposed on it by Ukraine, in overall will not have a substantial negative impact on the company’s business. “While Ukraine is a small part of our business and the sanctions will not have a material negative impact on our consolidated results, we...
Ukraine Teeters on the Brink of Default as Kiev Struggles to Repay Debts
S&P Global Rating estimated Ukrainian debt repayment in 2017-2020 at over $20 billion, which exceeds the country’s current gold and exchange reserves. According to a report by Ukraine’s National Bank, as of May 1, the gold and exchange reserves are $17.2 billion. Ukraine began negotiations on the restructuring of its $19.3 billion...
Poroshenko Says US Engaged in Normandy Format on Donbass Conflict Settlement
KIEV (Sputnik) — The United States is engaged in the work of the Normandy format on settling the conflict in Donbass, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Sunday. The Normandy Four contact group on Ukraine crisis comprises Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine. “I want to stop any discussions that it would be more effective for us to bring the...
Kiev’s Plan to End Reliance on Russian Nuclear Fuel May End in Rolling Blackouts
Kiev has moved to accelerate the construction of a spent nuclear fuel storage facility in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Minister of Ecology Ostap Semerak said Thursday. The facility will allow Ukraine to repatriate its spent radioactive materials from Russia, where they are currently being stored. “We must take [our] radioactive waste materials...
Ukraine Receives $11 Million From EU for Public Administration Reform
KIEV (Sputnik) — Ukraine has received 10 million euros ($11 million) from the European Union as the first tranche within the EU program supporting the reform of the public administration in the country, the press service of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers said Saturday in a statement. “The European Union adopted the decision on payment of the...
Portugal Wins 2017 Eurovision Song Contest
KIEV (Sputnik) — Portugal’s Salvador Sobral won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest narrowly beating Bulgaria and Moldova, a Sputnik correspondent reported from the scene. The WINNER of the #ESC2017 is Portugal! CONGRATULATIONS Salvador Sobral!!! #CelebrateDiversity pic.twitter.com/uMvU4fFf9Z — Eurovision (@Eurovision) May 13, 2017 The...
Ukraine’s Poroshenko Cancels Visit to Eurovision Due to Shelling of Avdiivka
KIEV (Sputnik) — Poroshenko said he had canceled his visit to the final of the 2017 Eurovision song contest set for May 13 because of the shelling of the town of Avdiivka in Donbas, resulting in casualties among civil population. Earlier in the day, Pavlo Zhebrivskyi, the governor of the Kiev-loyal Donetsk region administration, said that at...
234 Years of Naval Glory, and Counting: Russian Black Sea Fleet Marks Birthday
Following Crimea’s absorption into the Russian Empire in 1783, it quickly became apparent to Empress Catherine the Great that the peninsula on the Black Sea required a fleet to defend it. Ahtiar Bay, a sparsely populated area located in the southwest of the peninsula, was chosen to serve as the base for the fleet, and it was here that the...
