Section: The Japan Times (Japan)
Ukraine frontline city of Mariupol on edge after night of violence
It didn’t take long for the guns to roar into action again on the edge of the Ukrainian flash point city of Mariupol, with the ink barely dry on a shaky truce plan between the government and rebel forces. Terrified residents were abruptly woken late Saturday when pro-Russian insurgents began bombarding a government-held checkpoint on […]...
Iran arrests suspected nuclear plant saboteur
Iranian authorities have arrested a Ukrainian national suspected of sabotage at the country’s sole nuclear power plant, an Iranian newspaper reported Sunday. The report in the Hamshahri daily said the “Ukrainian expert” was affiliated with a Russian contractor that works in Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, which went online in 2011...
Kiev church leader says Putin is under Satan’s influence
Russian President Vladimir Putin has fallen under the spell of Satan and faces eternal damnation unless he repents, a top Ukrainian clergyman said Saturday in an unusually blunt statement that squarely blamed the Russian leader for the war in Ukraine. Patriarch Filaret heads the Kiev Patriarchate, a branch of the Orthodox Church that broke away...
Ukraine, pro-Russian rebels reach cease-fire deal
Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels reached a cease-fire agreement on Friday, the first step toward ending fighting in eastern Ukraine that has caused the worst standoff between Moscow and the West since the Cold War ended. The cease-fire deal was struck in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, along with a deal allowing for prisoner exchanges, deliveries of...
Ukraine, rebels vow to back peace plan, cease-fire
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and the main pro-Russian rebel leader said they would both order cease-fires on Friday, provided that an agreement is signed on a new peace plan to end the five-month war in Ukraine’s east. The breakthrough came after a week in which the pro-Moscow separatists scored major victories with what NATO says...
Russian forces near Ukraine ‘more lethal’ than ever: Pentagon
Russian forces deployed near Ukraine’s eastern border are “more lethal” than before and heavily armed with artillery and air defense weaponry, the Pentagon said Thursday. “The force that we see arrayed on the border is exceptionally capable, probably more capable, more lethal than anything that we’ve seen up until now,” spokesman Col....
Obama calls Ukraine ‘a moment of testing’ for West
President Barack Obama on Wednesday harshly condemned Russian aggression in Ukraine as a threat to peace in Europe and pledged that NATO will protect allies who fear they will be Moscow’s next target. Standing on Russia’s doorstep, Obama declared “this is a moment of testing” for the Western alliance to stand up to the Kremlin. […]...
Putin upstages NATO summit by unveiling Ukraine peace plan
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday unveiled a broad peace plan for Ukraine that could be agreed by the weekend to end a bloody pro-Kremlin uprising that has all but severed East-West ties. The surprise announcement could take the wind out of the sails of a high-stakes NATO summit on Thursday where Western leaders led […] The post Putin...
Paris suspends delivery of warship to Russia over Ukraine
France said Wednesday “conditions” were not in place to deliver the first of two Mistral-class warships to Russia, a move planned later this year that has sparked controversy given the crisis in Ukraine. Paris agreed in 2011 to build and sell the two advanced helicopter assault ships to Russia for a total of €1.2 billion […] The post Paris...
Ukraine agrees to ‘permanent cease-fire’ with Russia
Ukraine’s beleaguered President Petro Poroshenko announced on Wednesday that he and Russia’s Vladimir Putin had agreed to a “permanent cease-fire” in the east of the former Soviet country. Poroshenko’s office said the agreement was reached in a telephone exchange that was preceded only a few hours earlier by U.S. President...
