Section: The Frontier Post (Pakistan)
War in Eastern Ukraine has only just begun
Pyotr Romanov The time has come to admit that diplomacy is not all-powerful, and that endless calls for peace, in the absence of real conditions for peace, eventually devolve into demagoguery. Such calls are outwardly very humane, but inwardly devoid of content. Of course, even a “bad peace” is better than a “good war,” but … …read...
Managing Ukrainian conflict
THE growing spate of verbal war between the leaders of the European Union and Russia is quite unnerving. In reply to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks that the Ukrainian army is acting like a foreign legion for Nato, Brussels is up in arms. This trading of allegations has incidentally come at a time when Kiev … …read...
Mariupol is Ukraine’s Kobane
Luke Coffey Since the so-called ceasefire agreement was signed last September, fighting had continued in eastern Ukraine but on a low and localised level. However, with renewed fighting in Luhansk, the recent capture of Donetsk airport by the rebels, and the new offensive to capture the important city of Mariupol, it looks like the Russia-...
Ukraine needs the West’s help now
Steven Pifer and Strobe Talbott The new year has brought more misery to Ukraine. Separatist fighters, supported by Russian troops, have launched attacks in Donetsk and Luhansk. Diplomatic efforts have made no progress towards a settlement — or even towards firming up a ceasefire that has all but collapsed. The West, including the US, needs...
Sergey Bubka to challenge for IAAF presidency
LONDON (BBC): Ukrainian Sergey Bubka will challenge fellow Olympic champion Sebastian Coe for the presidency of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Bubka, a former pole vaulter, won an Olympic gold in 1988 as well as six consecutive world championship titles. The 51-year-old, who also set 35 world records, wants to replace...
Poroshenko vows to calm Mariupol fighting
KIEV (BBC): Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has vowed to “calm” fighting with pro-Russia rebels in east Ukraine after 30 people were killed there on Saturday. Speaking after an emergency meeting of Ukraine’s security council, Mr Poroshenko said that a peace deal signed in September in Minsk was the only solution to the conflict....
Russia in risky bet on Ukraine talks
Mike Smith It seems to have played out exactly as Western powers hoped: Sanctions and falling oil prices have hit Russia hard, presumably making Moscow more willing to compromise on the conflict in Ukraine. But as is often the case with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the reality is far more complex. Despite its economic woes …...
Ukraine battle for Donetsk airport rages on
Donetsk (BBC): Ukrainian government troops are still battling for control of Donetsk airport with pro-Russian rebels, reports say. The rebel military command said its forces had halted a government offensive at a key bridge between the airport and the city. The Putylivskiy bridge was destroyed in the fighting. The airport in eastern Ukraine is in...
Oil price plunge drags down Russian economy
LONDON (APP/AFP): Russia’s battered economy will shrink by a far worse-than-expected 4.8 percent this year, as plunging oil prices add to fallout from the Ukraine crisis, the EBRD development bank forecast Monday. The London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development sharply revised its September prediction for a 0.2-percent...
Ukraine summit called off over lack of progress
BERLIN/KIEV (Reuters): Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France have scrapped plans for a summit this week on the conflict in Ukraine because of a lack of progress in implementing a four-month-old ceasefire agreement. With bloodshed continuing between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists, there was no sign when a new attempt at a...
