Section: The Gulf Today (United Arab Emirates)
EU sees ‘positive signs’ from Russia over Ukraine
Brussels: The European Union sees some “positive signs” from Russia over the crisis in Ukraine ahead of a mooted summit of key leaders in Kazakhstan, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Thursday. Mogherini insisted, however, that Moscow would have to meet the terms of last year’s Minsk peace agreement before...
13 Ukraine soldiers killed in road crash
KIEV: Thirteen Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 17 injured when the bus they were travelling in collided with military trucks in bad weather in the war-torn east, officials said on Tuesday. The collision on Monday night was due to bad weather and took place during the rotation of professional soldiers and volunteers deployed in eastern Ukraine...
Germany, France cast doubt on Ukraine summit
PARIS: Germany cast doubt on Monday on whether a four-way summit on the Ukraine crisis in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on Jan.15 would take place and France’s president said the meeting would depend on the likelihood of “new progress” being made. More than 4,700 people have been killed in fighting between Kiev’s forces and...
Ukraine reports first military death of 2015
KIEV: Ukraine on Friday reported its first military death of 2015 in its conflict with pro-Russian separatists, saying a soldier had been killed and five others wounded in attacks by the rebels. “In the past 24 hours one Ukrainian serviceman has been killed and another five have been injured because of provocative actions (by separatists),”...
France ties warships to Ukraine deal
PARIS: France would only deliver two warships ordered by Russia if there were concrete signs of lasting peace in Ukraine, the French defence minister said on Thursday. Russia has been accused by the West of arming and bankrolling a rebellion in eastern Ukraine, a charge Moscow denies. But sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United...
Putin calls annexation of Crimea a historic landmark
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin has used his New Year’s speech to hail his country’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula as an achievement that will “forever remain a landmark in the national history.” Putin’s comment in his pre-recorded annual address on Wednesday already has been broadcast in Russia’s...
Poroshenko hails Ukraine ‘warriors’ freed by rebels
KIEV: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Saturday welcomed home as heroes 145 soldiers freed by pro-Russian rebels during the largest prisoner swap of the eight-month separatist war. The Western-backed leader, beaming and wearing a black bomber jacket, walked up to the back cargo bay of a military transport plane that landed at a military...
Ukraine, rebels try to revive peace talks
KIEV: Ukrainian and pro-Russian rebel leaders tried on Friday to revive peace talks that stalled after just one round due to stark difference over how to end the eight-month separatist war. A tense meeting mediated by European and Russian envoys in the Belarussian capital Minsk on Wednesday was due to have been followed by a final one on Friday...
Moscow warns Kiev against Nato bid
MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine’s pursuit of Nato membership posed a danger to European security and that the West was using Kiev’s bid to join the Atlantic alliance as a way to fuel confrontation between Russia and Ukraine. The Kiev parliament’s renunciation of Ukraine’s neutral status this...
Crimea hit by outages amid Ukraine electricity crisis
KIEV: Crimea on Wednesday suffered massive blackouts after Ukraine unexpectedly stopped supplies, sparking traffic jams, hospital closures and panic across the peninsula. Train stations, businesses and the airport had to close down, traffic lights went dark causing huge snarls in the main city of Simferopol, and several people were stuck in...
