Section: The Japan Times (Japan)
Learning from Uncle Sam: to Russia’s annoyance, U.S. hones Ukrainian fighting skills
Tense Ukrainian soldiers with assault rifles creep stealthily around mock houses before bursting in to clear out gunmen, while others practice setting ambushes or infantry assaults, all under the watchful eyes of U.S. Army trainers. Dotted around the vast, wooded Yavoriv military training area in western Ukraine, soldiers of the U.S. 173rd...
U.S. Navy secretary: Cyberthreats getting ‘whole lot of attention’
The U.S. Navy is working hard to improve the cybersecurity of its computer networks and weapon and communications systems, while bracing for potential attacks on power grids and fuel supplies, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said Wednesday. Mabus said cyberwarfare was a clear threat, given Russia’s use of cyberattacks before its physical invasions...
Poroshenko: Ukraine’s war is with Russians and it could intensify quickly; tech sales halted
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko sparked fresh Kremlin fury on Wednesday by warning that his crisis-torn country was fighting a “real war” against Russian aggressors that could escalate at any time. The pro-Western leader said the weekend capture of two purported Russian special forces members proved that the separatist uprising in the...
EU, ex-Soviet states meet in Putin’s shadow
European Union leaders and six ex-Soviet states hold a summit Thursday focused on the bloc’s Eastern Partnership project, which was designed to bolster mutual ties but has been undermined by Russia’s intervention in Ukraine. The No. 1 question at the two-day meeting in the Latvian capital Riga will be how the 28-member EU should...
Moscow demands access to two Russian ‘citizen’ prisoners in Ukraine
Russia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday demanded the right to visit two citizens detained last week in eastern Ukraine who Kiev says are Russian soldiers guilty of carrying out “terrorist acts” on its territory. Kiev said on Monday the two men had killed Ukrainian troops and would be prosecuted. It has used them to support its […] The post...
Four Ukraine soldiers killed as fighting erupts in east
Fighting erupted between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday and four Ukrainian servicemen have been killed, the regional administration chief said. Gennady Moskal, governor of Luhansk region on the border with Russia, said on his website that separatists opened fire on government positions...
Russian soldiers wounded, captured in Ukraine face trial for terrorist acts
Ukraine on Monday showed two prisoners it said were Russian soldiers who had killed Ukrainian troops in fighting in its east and said they would be prosecuted for “terrorist acts.” The Ukrainians seized on the capture of the two Russians, both wounded, to support their accusations of direct Russian involvement in the separatist conflict despite...
Russian officers captured near rebel area in east Ukraine, Kiev says
The Ukrainian government on Sunday claimed to have captured two Russian officers who were operating in the rebel-controlled area. Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on Sunday the two Russian officers have been taken prisoner by the volunteer Aidar battalion in the town of Shchastia, not far from the front line. He would not provide...
Ukraine erases communist reminders as it tries to ditch past
A hulking steel statue of a victorious female warrior bearing aloft sword and shield looms in dour majesty over the Ukrainian capital. The Motherland Monument’s shield bears the communist hammer-and-sickle, but maybe not for much longer. Ukraine’s leaders are eager to be seen as reinventing the nation. And erasing all visible...
NATO worried by ‘wide-ranging’ Russia Crimea buildup
NATO on Wednesday expressed alarm over a “wide-ranging” military buildup by Russia in Crimea, as well as talk that Moscow could even install nuclear weapons on the annexed Black Sea peninsula. A statement issued during two days of talks by the military alliance’s top diplomats in the Turkish resort of Antalya said, “we do not […] The post...
