Section: Cyprus
Merkel says “not there yet” on lifting of Russia sanctions
German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused Russia on Thursday of violating Europe’s peaceful post-war order with its interventions in Ukraine and said Europe could not consider lifting economic sanctions against Moscow until it changed course. “The annexation of Crimea is not just any annexation. It is a violation of the values that created a...
At least six civilians killed in shelling attack in Donetsk
At least six civilians were killed on Thursday when a shell or a mortar hit a trolleybus stop in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a Reuters witness said. The Reuters cameraman said he saw six bodies on the ground near, and inside, a trolleybus in a southern district of the city. Windows of shops nearby had been blown out...
Ukraine says its forces attacked by Russian troops, Lavrov seeks immediate ceasefire
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was cutting short a foreign trip on Wednesday after Kiev accused Russian regular forces of attacking its troops in the country’s east. The accusation against Moscow on Tuesday was one of the boldest assertions yet by Ukraine of direct Russian military involvement since the conflict between pro-Russian...
Fighting rages near airport as Russia and Ukraine bicker
By Richard Balmforth Pro-Russian separatists renewed attacks on Ukrainian forces at an airport complex in the east on Monday after Kiev launched a mass operation to reclaim lost ground there that Russia called a “strategic mistake”. Ukrainian officials said three soldiers had been killed and 66 wounded over the past 24 hours, during which they...
Ukrainian troops retake most of Donetsk airport from rebels
By Natalia Zinets and Lina Kushch Ukrainian troops have recaptured almost all the territory of Donetsk airport in eastern Ukraine they had lost to separatists in recent weeks and thousands gathered in Kiev for a state-sponsored peace march. Sunday’s offensive brought fighting close to the industrial city of Donetsk, centre of a pro-Russian...
Police stand by for now as Kremlin critic defies house arrest
By Timothy Heritage Ten days after cutting off his monitoring tag and declaring he would not stay under house arrest, Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny says Russian police are standing by while he walks out of his door. Although the house arrest order has not been lifted since an embezzlement case against him ended in a suspended sentence on Dec. 30,...
Fighting intensifies at Ukraine airport, two soldiers killed
By Natalia Zinets Fighting intensified around the international airport in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Thursday as pro-Russian separatists stepped up efforts to dislodge government forces and Ukraine’s military said two of its soldiers had been killed. The complex, a battered wreck with its runways cratered by shell explosions, has not...
Ukraine steps up mobilisation, warns of renewed Russian ‘aggression’
By Richard Balmforth Ukraine’s parliament voted on Thursday to refresh its front-line forces and resume partial conscription after a top security official warned that Russian forces backing separatist rebels had sharply increased military activity in the east. “Russian aggression is continuing. There has been a significant surge in the...
EBRD faces rare loss due to Russia, Ukraine crisis
By Marc Jones The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will probably report its first loss since the global financial crisis due to turmoil in Russia and Ukraine, the development bank’s Vice President Andras Simor said on Wednesday. Simor told Reuters that a fall in the value of its Russian equity investments due to the...
Ukraine summit blocked by failure to implement truce fully
By Stephen Brown Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France have decided not to hold a summit on the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday because of a lack of progress in implementing a four-month-old ceasefire agreement. The Russian, German and French leaders had been invited to talks in the Kazakh capital Astana by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. But...
