Section: Cyprus
Separatist commander says can fire on Ukrainian transport hub town despite truce
A senior pro-Russian separatist commander said on Sunday that, despite a ceasefire, rebels have the right to fire on the town of Debaltseve in east Ukraine as it is “our territory.” The truce between government troops and rebels came into force at midnight. The Ukrainian military have since reported shelling around Debaltseve, a strategic...
Even with Turkish Stream, Russia can’t avoid sending gas via Ukraine
By Barbara Lewis, Nina Chestney and Katya Golubkova Russia’s plan to cut out Ukraine as a gas transit route is unrealistic because the EU will seek non-Russian gas rather than build the links it would need to Moscow’s proposed new pipeline to Turkey, industry sources and analysts say. Last year, as violence flared in eastern Ukraine...
Eight Ukrainian servicemen killed in past 24 hours despite peace deal
By Richard Balmforth Eight Ukrainian service personnel have been killed and 34 wounded in fighting against separatists in eastern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, a Kiev military spokesman said on Friday, despite a four-power peace deal worked out in Belarus. “In the Donbass (eastern Ukraine), this night was not a calm one. The enemy shelled...
ECB raises pressure on Greece as Tsipras meets EU peers
By Renee Maltezou and John O’Donnell The European Central Bank raised the pressure on Greece to extend an international bailout deal on Thursday, as new leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told EU leaders austerity was killing his economy and an alternative had to be found. After euro zone finance ministers failed to agree a joint...
Greek PM Tsipras in Brussels as clock ticks on EU bailout (Updated)
By Alastair Macdonald and Foo Yun Chee Greece’s radical new prime minister Alexis Tsipras was in Brussels on Thursday to lay out his case for more financial help to fellow EU leaders following finance ministers’ failure to narrow differences overnight. The summit chairman, conservative former Polish premier Donald Tusk, confessed to...
Hopes of agreement after Ukraine peace talks, source says
By Pavel Polityuk and Elizabeth Pineau The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France may be close to agreement following all-night talks on resolving the Ukraine conflict, diplomatic sources said on Thursday. Details remained unclear after more than 12 hours of peace talks in the Belarus capital Minsk, with one source saying there was hope...
Greek finance minister enters euro zone lions’ den
By Costas Pitas and Alastair Macdonald Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis headed for a showdown with euro zone finance ministers on Wednesday after his new leftist-led government won a parliamentary confidence vote for its refusal to extend an international bailout. The former academic said he was ready for a clash with euro zone paymaster...
Ukraine peace summit overshadowed by some of war’s worst fighting
By Aleksandar Vasovic The leaders of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine were due to attend a peace summit on Wednesday, but Ukraine’s pro-Moscow separatists diminished the chance of a deal by launching some of the war’s worst fighting in an assault on a government garrison. Kiev said 19 of its soldiers were killed in a day of...
Cypriot-flagged freighter runs aground off a Greek Aegean island
Greek authorities have rescued 11 crew members of a Cypriot-flagged freighter which ran aground off a Greek Aegean island early on Wednesday, the Greek coastguard said on Wednesday. The “Goodfaith” cargo ship, which was sailing empty from the port of Elefsina – close to Athens – to Odessa, Ukraine, was driven ashore off the island of Andros and...
Rockets hit Kiev military HQ and town, many wounded
Rocket strikes hit Ukraine’s military headquarters in the east of the country and a nearby residential area on Tuesday, wounding many army personnel and civilians, President Petro Poroshenko said. A Reuters photographer saw a dead woman’s body after one rocket attack in Kramatorsk, a town about 50 km (30 miles) from front-lines and...
