Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
Ukraine village hopes for chance to rebuild
Renovated and brightly decorated with money provided by German donors, its classrooms were opening the doors of education to 120 pupils at a time. Widespread, indiscriminate rocket attacks destroyed the school, many homes and the local hospital. Novosvitlivka’s great misfortune was to lie next to a highway used by separatist rebels to...
OSCE team in east Ukraine comes near shelling
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe say they were just 200 meters (650 feet) away from four shell-bursts in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has continued despite a cease-fire agreement. …read more Source: San Francisco...
Heavy fighting breaks out in Ukraine, killing at least 6
Heavy fighting broke out Sunday between Ukrainian and rebel forces on the north side of Donetsk, killing at least six people in one of the most serious clashes since the 10-day-old cease-fire came into force. Tanks were on the streets mid-afternoon, and pro-Russia rebel fighters raced reinforcements along the main boulevard in civilian cars...
Russia-annexed Crimea votes for legislature
A spokesman for Ukraine’s national security council, Volodymyr Polyovyi, told reporters Sunday that Ukraine considers the election illegal and that those responsible for holding them could be charged with seizing state power, which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years. …read more Source: San Francisco...
Shells rock east Ukraine city despite cease-fire
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Several residential neighborhoods in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk have come under repeated shelling, imperiling a fragile cease-fire agreement imposed last week. Volodymyr Polyovyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, told journalists Sunday that Ukrainian troops had repelled an...
Aid convoy crosses into Ukraine from Russia
A convoy of more than 200 white trucks crossed the Russian border to deliver humanitarian aid to a battered Ukrainian city on Saturday, a move made without Kiev’s consent yet met with silence by Ukraine’s top leaders. The much-needed aid arrived as fighting flared again between pro-Russia rebels and government forces, further...
Pope urges world to shed apathy toward new threats
Francis’ aim in recalling those who died in the Great War that broke out 100 years ago was to honor the victims of all wars, and it came at a time when his calls for peace have grown ever more urgent amid new threats in the Middle East and Ukraine. Standing at an altar beneath the sloping Redipuglia memorial entombing 100,000 Italian...
Ukraine PM says country still in “state of war”
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s prime minister says his country is “still in a state of war” with neighboring Russia despite a cease-fire between the government forces and Moscow-backed rebels in the east. …read more Source: San Francisco...
Ukraine, rebels trade 67 prisoners in peace deal
In the dead of night, Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed rebel forces on Friday exchanged 67 prisoners who had been captured during fighting in eastern Ukraine, part of a cease-fire deal that has struggled to succeed. The transfer, including Russian citizens who served as insurgents, took place outside the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk under...
EU sanctions hit Russian oil majors, lawmakers
BRUSSELS (AP) — New European Union sanctions curbing access to western financial markets for some of Russia’s largest firms are targeting banks, arms manufacturers, the country’s leading oil company, Rosneft, as well as the crude subsidiary of its state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The sanctions curbing access to Europe’s...
