Section: Africa&ME
Half a million displaced in eastern Ukraine as winter looms, warns UN refugee agency
5 December 2014 – The fighting in eastern Ukraine this year has internally displaced over half a million people leaving them vulnerable to the harsh winter months ahead, the United Nations Refugee (UNHCR) warned today as aid workers race against the clock to distribute essential cold-weather supplies. In a Geneva briefing today, UNHCR...
Kerry To Hold Talks In Ukraine
As fighting intensifies in Ukraine, the Unites States Secretary of State, John Kerry, is expected to arrive in the country to hold talks with President Petro Poroshenkom, and his Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatseniuk. A superior source said that Kerry would offer U.S. support for efforts by Ukraine to negotiate a new ceasefire. The issue of weapon...
Merkel warns against military answer to Ukraine crisis
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that it is uncertain whether a flurry of diplomacy aimed at resolving the crisis in Ukraine will succeed, as fighting resumed in eastern Ukraine after a brief and fractious truce ended. After returning from talks in Moscow with French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Merkel...
Leaders to put peace plan to Ukraine
The leaders of Russia, France and Germany have agreed in Moscow to work on a peace plan they will put to Ukraine’s president on Sunday. Russian President Vladimir Putin, France’s Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel talked for more than four hours on Friday. All three parties described the meeting as...
Amid ongoing hostilities, UN warns of ‘life-threatening’ conditions for Ukraine’s civilians
15 December 2014 – As the conflict in eastern Ukraine heads into its tenth month, continued fighting and bitter cold temperatures are placing more than five million people at risk, the top United Nations human rights official warned today as he described conditions for those still living in conflict-affected areas as becoming “increasingly dire.”...
Kerry denies US, Europe differences over Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Kerry has dismissed talks of split between US and Europe over providing arms to Ukraine, and says Washington is up for diplomacy. …read more Source: World...
Ukrainians escape encircled strategic town
Kramatorsk, Ukraine – Elina, 28, lived without water or electricity for two weeks amid the winter cold on eastern Ukraine’s new front line. She fled the strategic city of Debaltseve, which has been the focus of a pro-Moscow rebel offensive. According to Amnesty International, only 7,000 people are left in Debaltseve, which used to...
Four-way emergency Ukraine summit planned for Wednesday
French, German and Ukrainian leaders are planning a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin for Wednesday … …read more Source: Gulf...
Europe and US clash over how to confront Putin on Ukraine
Germany’s Angela Merkel warns that sending arms to help Ukraine fight pro-Russian separatists will not solve the crisis there, drawing a sharp rebuke from a leading US senator …read more Source: Business...
Ukraine leader sees prospects of ceasefire from next Minsk meeting
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and leaders of Russia, France and Germany expect their talks in Minsk, Belarus, on Wednesday to lead to a “swift and unconditional ceasefire”, his website said. A statement from Poroshenko’s administration said progress had been made during a phone call between him and Russia’s Vladimir Putin,...
