Section: Daily News & Analysis (India)
Putin says war between Russia and Ukraine unlikely
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday war with neighbouring Ukraine was unlikely. “I think that such an apocalyptic scenario is unlikely and I hope this will never happen,” he told a reporter with Russia State TV company, when asked if he expected a war between Russia and Ukraine. A transcript of the interview was published...
Kiev says cannot withdraw heavy weapons as attacks persist
Kiev accused pro-Russian rebels of opening fire with rockets and artillery at villages in southeastern Ukraine on Monday, all but burying a week-old European-brokered ceasefire deal. The Ukrainian military said it could not pull weapons from the front as required under the tenuous truce, as long as its troops were still under attack. The...
France to host ministerial meeting on Ukraine crisis
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine will meet on Tuesday in Paris in an effort to get a stalling peace deal between the central authorities and separatists rebels back on track, a French diplomatic source said. More than a week after a ceasefire agreement that Moscow-backed rebels ignored to capture a strategic town, Kiev...
Ukraine, pro-Russia rebels swap dozens of prisoners
Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists have exchanged dozens of prisoners in east Ukraine, a Ukrainian Security Council aide confirmed on Sunday, a step towards implementing an internationally brokered peace deal. Reuters reporters in the village of Zholobok, 20 km (12 miles) west of the rebel stronghold of Luhansk, saw more than...
Pope calls for Ukraine cease-fire to be respected
Pope Francis has called for Ukraine’s cease-fire to be respected amid fresh reports by the Ukrainian military that separatist rebels were still firing on government positions and that Russia was sending in more tanks. Francis delivered the plea for peace today during a meeting with Ukrainian bishops visiting Rome. He said he was praying for...
Merkel says new Russia sanctions an option but not the goal
New sanctions against Russia are an option if a peace deal to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine is violated, though that is not the goal, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday. Merkel told a joint news conference with French President Francois Hollande in Paris that the European Union “could raise the issue of sanctions” if...
France, Germany want Ukraine ceasefire fully observed: Hollande
France and Germany are more convinced than ever that the Minsk agreements aimed at resolving an ongoing crisis in Ukraine should be fully implemented and a ceasefire observed, French President Francois Hollande said on Friday. “With the (German) Chancellor we have never stopped speaking since the (September 2014) Minsk agreements and we are...
Two thirds of Russians see threat from other countries, poll suggests
More than two-thirds of Russians believe other countries pose a military threat to their nation’s security and more Russians now believe in the likelihood of war than at any time this century, a research group said on Friday. The Russian Public Opinion Research Centre said 68% of respondents to an opinion poll believed other countries pose...
Ukraine military says Russian tanks, missile systems cross border
Ukraine’s military said on Friday more than 20 Russian tanks, 10 missile systems and bus-loads of fighters had crossed Ukraine’s border and headed towards Novoazovsk, a rebel-held town east of the strategic southeastern port city of Mariupol. “In recent days, despite the Minsk (ceasefire) agreement, military equipment and...
White House says ‘deeply troubled’ by Ukraine fighting
The White House said on Thursday that it was “deeply troubled” by reports that fighting continued in eastern Ukraine in spite of a cease-fire agreement signed last week. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said Moscow and other parties to the Minsk agreement need to abide by all their commitments. “What was agreed to last week...
