Section: The Japan Times (Japan)
One month in, Ukraine truce exists in name only
Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels marked a month since the signing of a Kremlin-backed truce on Sunday by engaging in one of the most heated battles of their six-month war over the ex-Soviet state’s eastern rustbelt. The artillery blasts that rocked the front line city of Donetsk were yet another blow to the 12-point peace […] The...
Latvia’s ruling coalition wins in election dominated by security issues
Latvia’s ruling center-right coalition parties have won a majority of seats in a parliamentary election dominated by security issues and the Ukraine crisis. With more than 90 percent of votes counted, the opposition pro-Russian Harmony party won most votes in Saturday’s election with 23 percent, while the Western-oriented three-party...
Ukraine truce strained amid airport battle
Despite a cease-fire declared a month ago between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels, the biggest city in eastern Ukraine remains embroiled in fighting that includes daily artillery and rocket barrage hitting residential areas. The fighting focusing on the airport of the rebel-held city of Donetsk shows the difficulties of enforcing a truce...
First shelling in heart of Ukraine’s Donetsk rebel hub interrupts truce
The heart of Ukraine’s main pro-Russian separatist city came under heavy shelling Thursday for the first time since Moscow and Kiev struck a truce aimed at ending Europe’s worst crisis in decades. Parts of the eastern coal mining hub of Donetsk, which was once home to nearly a million Russian speakers but now stands half-abandoned,...
Ukraine troop withdrawal in doubt after 12 people are killed
The shaky truce between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military was challenged Monday when 12 soldiers and civilians were reported killed in a surge of fighting across the separatist east. A week after talks in Minsk yielded an agreement for a cease-fire and the withdrawal of heavy weapons and troops from the front line, a […] The post...
Ukraine leader clings to goal of joining EU despite Putin
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has secured a temporary peace in the troubled east which he says gives him a chance to move Ukraine toward its dream of a place in Europe, but Russia’s Vladimir Putin still holds cards that could thwart him. And, a month away from a parliamentary election which he hopes will bring […] The post Ukraine...
Ukrainian prime minister: Russia to halt natural gas so we ‘freeze’ over winter
The prime minister of the Kiev government accused Russia on Thursday of attempting to freeze Ukraine in the coming winter by using natural gas as a weapon to subjugate the former Soviet Republic. “They want us to freeze. This is the aim and this is another trump card in Russian hands. So, except military offense, […] The post Ukrainian prime...
Ukrainian rebels plan votes for regional leaders, ‘Supreme Soviet’ legislatures in blow to offer of limited self-rule
Pro-Russian rebels defiantly announced Tuesday they will stage their own elections in just six weeks, raising the stakes in a standoff with Kiev despite both sides moving to end five months of deadly fighting. The self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics said they would hold simultaneous votes on Nov. 2 to choose their leaders...
Poland stages major military maneuvers amid Russia tensions
Poland kicks off major military exercises involving eight NATO partners on Wednesday amid the West’s worst standoff with Russia since the end of the Cold War sparked by differences over the Ukraine crisis. Organized every two years since 2006, this year’s Anaconda maneuvers involve 12,500 soldiers, with 750 from NATO members the U.S....
Thousands march in Moscow against Ukraine fighting
Tens of thousands of people marched through central Moscow on Sunday to demonstrate against the fighting in Ukraine and Russia’s alleged complicity in the conflict. An Associated Press reporter estimated the crowd at about 20,000, although the city police department put the number at about 5,000. The demonstrators chanted slogans including...
