Section: US & Canada
Documentary Captures Searing Images of Ukraine’s 2014 Pro-democracy Uprising
In the Oscar-nominated documentary Winter on Fire, filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky chronicles the massive 2014 mobilization of one million Ukrainians against what they saw as a corrupt political regime and their bloody clashes with security forces. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more. …read more Source: Voice of...
Russia’s Internet Censorship Grew Nine-Fold in 2015 Says Rights Group
Internet censorship in Russia soared last year as the government stepped up efforts to filter content online, a report by a rights group has said. Titled “The Triumph of Censorship”, the report by Agora, a respected group of human rights lawyers, counted media reports and government statements about blocked web pages as well as prosecutions of...
Coalition near collapse after failed no-confidence vote
KYIV – Ukraine’s coalition government approached the brink of collapse after the Verkhovna Rada failed on February 16 to muster enough votes to dismiss the highly unpopular prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and his Cabinet of Ministers. The Samopomich and Batkivshchyna parties announced in the following days that they were exiting the...
Foreign ministers discuss eastern Ukraine conflict, implementation of Minsk II
MUNICH – Senior diplomats from Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France met in Munich on February 13 to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine and implementation of the Minsk II agreement on steps to end the conflict there. The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The foreign affairs ministers of Ukraine, […]...
Wristwatch given to wounded soldier points to Russian role in Ukraine war
MOSCOW – A cybersleuthing group says it has uncovered new evidence pointing to deep, direct Russian involvement in the battle of Debaltseve in early 2015, a turning point in the conflict in eastern Ukraine that weakened Kyiv’s hand at peace talks. Using posts and photographs gleaned from the Russian social networking site VKontakte, the...
Ukraine cuts Russian gas imports to a minimum
Ukrainian gas consumption fell significantly last year, as GDP declined by more than 10 percent, and the output of the domestic industry in particular, which is heavily depends on natural gas, plunged by more than 13 percent. This allowed Ukraine to reduce gas imports from Russia to a minimum. Moreover, Ukraine is going to further […] …read...
Senators reaffirm commitment to help Ukraine tackle corruption
Letter to Poroshenko expresses concern WASHINGTON – Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), co-chairs of the bipartisan Senate Ukraine Caucus, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on European Affairs, on February 12 spearheaded a letter expressing concern to Ukrainian President Poroshenko regarding the...
Cardin expresses concerns on implementation of Minsk II
WASHINGTON – Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, expressed his concerns for the status of the implementation of the Minsk II agreement, which was meant to calm tensions in eastern Ukraine. Agreed to one year ago, Minsk II is a package of security and political measures negotiated by Ukraine, […]...
Photography exhibit: “Life in Transition through the Eyes of Youth”
KYIV – The U.S. Agency for International Development on January 15-30 sponsored an exhibition here at America House of photos taken by young people internally displaced by the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The young photographers produced the images on display during a National Geographic Photo Camp held in Kharkiv during the summer of 2015....
Joint statement by G-7 ambassadors on principles of public policy in Ukraine
The following statement was issued jointly by the G-7 ambassadors to Ukraine. (Source: U.S. Embassy in Ukraine) 1. G-7 ambassadors welcome the announcement made by the Cabinet of Ministers on the basic objectives and principles of public policy on February 11, 2016, in particular, zero tolerance to political interference and corruption. However,...
