Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
Heavy shelling shakes Ukraine’s main city in east
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The heaviest shelling in recent weeks has shaken the main city in Ukraine’s rebel-held east, heightening worry about the renewal of full-scale conflict despite a cease-fire signed two months ago between Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists. A city council statement said four residential buildings were destroyed, but...
Ukraine: 80-plus military vehicles seen in rebel-held area
SNIZHNE, Ukraine — Associated Press reporters saw more than 80 unmarked military vehicles on the move Saturday in rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, indicating that intensified hostilities may lie ahead. Separatists have always insisted they are armed with equipment captured from Ukrainian forces, but the sheer scale and quality of their...
Ukraine rebels seen moving large military convoys
SNIZHNE, Ukraine (AP) — Associated Press reporters have seen more than 80 unmarked military vehicles on the move in rebel-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine, indicating that intensified hostilities may lie ahead. Despite a cease-fire being reached in September, Ukrainian and rebel troops engage on a regular basis, with some of the heaviest...
Ukrainian war escalates as more plane crash remains are found
Ukrainian authorities claimed Friday that government forces killed as many as 200 pro-Russia gunmen in the previous 24 hours and that Moscow had sent in an armored column including 32 tanks and 30 truckloads of fighters. Reports of intensified fighting across separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine threatened to force another suspension of the...
Ukraine rebels say more remains found at MH17 site
The transportation ministry of self-declared separatist government of the Donetsk People’s Republic said work on removal of wreckage has been suspended and may resume Sunday. Dutch air crash investigators have said it was likely struck by multiple “high-energy objects,” which some aviation experts say is consistent with a...
Ukraine accuses Russia of sending dozens of tanks
National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Friday at least 32 tanks, 16 artillery systems and 30 trucks loaded with fighters and ammunition had crossed into eastern Ukraine from Russia. Russia’s Defense Ministry had no immediate comment on Lysenko’s statement but earlier it again rejected Western allegations...
Ukraine says it will probe school shelling in east
Security spokesman Andriy Lysenko said Thursday that preliminary information indicates the shells flew into the schoolyard in Donetsk from a location controlled by separatist forces. …read more Source: San Francisco...
How the Ukrainian peace deal is faring
Despite persisting hostilities, Russia and Ukraine have struck a multibillion-dollar gas deal that has eased fears that Russian gas supply to Europe might be disrupted. Negotiators from Russia, Ukraine, the pro-Russian rebels and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe signed a cease-fire deal in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on...
Effigies of Scottish leader spark complaints
Each year the town’s Bonfire Societies torch elaborate likenesses of prominent people to mark the anniversary of Guy Fawkes’ failed 1605 plot to blow up Parliament. The Lewes event also included an effigy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, topless, riding the Malaysia Airlines jet downed over Ukraine. …read more Source: San...
Russia explains why it would snub nuclear summit
The ministry claimed that the U.S. along with the Netherlands and South Korea that hosted the previous summits would play a dominant role in preparing the summit’s documents, something that Moscow considers unfair. The ministry said that Moscow will focus instead on expanding cooperation within the International Atomic Energy Agency, a U.N....
