Section: The Gulf Today (United Arab Emirates)
Ukrainian pilot behind MH17 crash: Russia
MOSCOW: Russian investigators on Wednesday said they had new proof from a witness that a Ukrainian pilot fired a missile on the day of the Malaysia Airlines crash which killed 298 people. The witness, who was not named, worked at an airfield in the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk where he claimed to have seen a warplane take off on July 17 with...
Ukraine takes historic step towards Nato
KIEV: Ukraine took a historic step towards Nato on Tuesday in a parliamentary vote that stoked Russia’s anger ahead of talks on ending the ex-Soviet state’s separatist war. Lawmakers in the government-controlled chamber overwhelmingly adopted a bill dropping Ukraine’s non-aligned status — a classification given to states such as...
Belarus leader looks to revive Ukraine peace talks
KIEV: The authoritarian leader of Belarus visits Kiev on Sunday hoping to revive stalled Ukrainian peace talks he has been hosting in order to calm Europe’s volatile eastern edge. But a high-ranking Ukrainian official said Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko will be just as keen to use the trip to build bridges to Europe that ease...
Russia warns against new US sanctions
WASHINGTON: New US legislation authorising sanctions on Russia over the Ukraine crisis could undermine relations between Moscow and Washington for a long time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Friday. In a phone call with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Lavrov said that the new legislation “threatening new...
Mogherini says detects some willingness’ from Russia to resolve Ukraine conflict
KIEV: The European Union’s foreign policy chief said on Wednesday that she and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko had detected signs of greater willingness from Russia to resolve the crisis in Ukraine’s pro-separatist eastern territories. But Poroshenko balanced this judgment by saying Ukraine was in a virtual state of war with...
Ukraine’s Poroshenko hails first full overnight truce in rebel east
KIEV: Ukraine’s separatist east passed the night into Tuesday without any shooting, President Petro Poroshenko said, hailing the first such stretch of calm as a positive sign for the next steps in a peace plan. Ukraine is under pressure from Western backers to defuse the conflict, which has left many people struggling to survive the frigid...
UN accuses Ukraine forces and rebels of ‘torture’
GENEVA: The United Nations on Monday released a damning report accusing Ukranian forces and Russian-backed rebels of torturing and indiscriminately shelling civilians in the bloody conflict in the separatist east. Its global governing body believes the eight-month conflict has killed at least 4,634 and wounded 10,234 people — although...
German lawmaker and Russia expert Schockenhoff dies
BERLIN: German conservative lawmaker Andreas Schockenhoff, a foreign policy expert on Russia and France, has died at age 57, his party said on Sunday. Schockenhoff was deputy chairman of the parliamentary group of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and their Bavarian allies. A lawmaker since 1990, he had also coordinated...
Ukraine conflict toll tops 4,600: UN
KIEV: Fighting between government troops and pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine has left more than 300 people dead in less than a month, taking the overall toll to 4,634, the UN said on Saturday in its latest report on the conflict. Some 10,243 people have been wounded since the conflict erupted in the ex-Soviet republic’s east in April,...
Poroshenko says ceasefire in Ukraine is now ‘real’
KIEV: President Petro Poroshenko on Friday said a “real” ceasefire was in place in Ukraine after the first 24 hours in seven months without a military casualty, although he admitted the truce was fragile. “I have positive news. Today is the first 24 hours for seven months… when we have a real ceasefire in Ukraine,” he said in a speech...
