Section: National Post (Canada)
Leonid Bershidsky: Battered shell of Donetsk’s ruined airport reflects hopelessness of Ukraine conflict
Donetsk Airport has become a dystopian ruin, with its runways so cratered, only a helicopter could land. Yet both sides in the fight over it keep claiming to control it. Ukrainians consider it a symbol of their military resurgence since last summer’s painful defeats. Instead, it is coming to embody the senselessness of seeking any military...
11 civilians killed in attack on commuter bus near army checkpoint in eastern Ukraine
DONETSK, Ukraine — An attack on a passenger bus in eastern Ukraine killed 11 people Tuesday, likely dealing the final blow to hopes that a short-lived and shaky cease-fire could take hold. Across Donetsk, the city that Russian-backed separatists call their capital, explosions and the sound of shells whistling overhead are again unnerving the...
Russia’s body count is rising in Ukraine, despite army officials’ denials
Anton Tumanov gave up his life for his country, but his country won’t say where and it won’t say how. His mother knows. She knows that Mr. Tumanov, 20, a junior sergeant in the Russian army, was killed in eastern Ukraine, torn apart in a rocket attack on Aug 13. Yelena Tumanova, 41, learned these bare facts about her son’s death...
Putin signs new military doctrine naming NATO as Russia’s top military threat
MOSCOW — President Vladimir Putin has signed a new military doctrine that describes NATO’s military buildup near the Russian borders as the top military threat amid Russia-West tensions over Ukraine. The document released by the Kremlin on Friday maintains the provisions of the previous, 2010 edition of the military doctrine regarding the...
Christmas under fire: Conditions increasingly dire for citizens of rebel-held Ukrainian town
DONETSK, Ukraine — The blasts were so powerful they nearly knocked Antonina Sumina off her feet and shattered windows on the opposite side of the apartment. But after five months living under fire, the Grad rocket strike that slammed into the courtyard of her home in Pervomaisk, 80 kilometres north-east of Donetsk, was a familiar event. Vasily...
Ukraine abandons nonaligned status in possible step towards NATO membership, Russia not happy
KYIV, Ukraine — The vote by Ukraine’s parliament to drop its nonaligned status, which could pave the way for a bid to join NATO, challenges the Kremlin’s ardent desire to keep NATO from taking a giant step toward the Russian heartland. The move is likely to add difficulties to Wednesday’s round of talks aimed at resolving the...
Rockets kill 30 in Ukrainian city as rebels launch offensive
KYIV, Ukraine — Indiscriminate rocket fire slammed into a market, two schools, homes and shops Saturday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, killing at least 30 people, authorities said. Ukraine’s top rebel leader said an offensive had begun on the strategically important port. Ukraine’s president called an emergency meeting of...
Pro-Russian Ukraine rebels rip up current ceasefire deal, launch new offensive
DONETSK, Ukraine — Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine rejected a previously signed peace deal Friday and launched a new multipronged offensive against Ukrainian government troops, upending recent European attempts to mediate an end to the fighting. The main separatist leader in the rebellious Donetsk region vowed to push Ukrainian soldiers out...
Ukrainian rebels threaten an all-out offensive, defying agreement to return to ceasefire positions
Russian-backed separatists promised Thursday to follow up a devastating victory over Ukrainian forces at Donetsk airport with a further advances, defying an agreement between Moscow and Kiev to return to a previous ceasefire line and raising fears of an all-out offensive. The threat came after a mortar attack on a bus and tram in Donetsk killed...
Leonid Bershidsky: In 2015, Putin will be an outright dictator
BERLIN — I hated what happened to Russia in 2014 so much that I decided to move away. It’s safe to say, however, that 2015 will be worse. President Vladimir Putin’s regime is one the verge of transitioning from mild authoritarianism to outright dictatorship. The country’s newly amended military doctrine is an especially ominous...
