Section: The Washington Times (USA)
Ukraine rebels warn they could abandon cease-fire
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine threatened Wednesday to abandon a cease-fire following changes to a law granting their regions self-rule. Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky said in a statement that legislation giving areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions special status has been weakened by the …...
Air Force suspected of intentionally delaying rocket to thwart lawmakers
Top lawmakers are angrily accusing the Air Force of slow-walking a congressional mandate to stop using Russian rocket engines for spy satellite launches up through 2019, a move driven by Capitol Hill outrage over the Kremlin’s actions in Ukraine. Sens. James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma Republican, and Bill Nelson, Florida Democrat, …...
Obama to provide more non-lethal aid to Ukraine
Brushing aside a bipartisan call from Congress to send arms to Ukraine, the Obama administration said Wednesday it will instead provide an additional $75 million in non-lethal military equipment to Kiev in its fight against Russian-backed rebels. The military aid will include counter-mortar radar, drones, radios and medical equipment, a …...
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russian official, claims Moscow’s right to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea
A Russian Foreign Ministry official said on Wednesday that Moscow has the right to put nuclear weapons in the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. “I don’t know if there are nuclear weapons there now. I don’t know about any plans, but in principle Russia can do it,” said Mikhail Ulyanov, … …read more Source: The...
Obama slammed for delay in arming Ukraine
Lawmakers from both parties on Tuesday slammed President Obama’s continuing refusal to approve lethal arms for Ukraine, saying Tuesday that U.S. credibility is falling as Russian-backed rebels gain ground in their fight against the former Soviet republic’s government. Mr. Obama has not ruled out providing defensive weapons, which...
Russia opts out of European arms control treaty
MOSCOW (AP) – Russia says it will no longer attend consultations related to a key European arms control treaty, accusing the West of stonewalling its demands. The move comes as Russia-West relations have plunged to their lowest point since the Cold War times over the Ukrainian crisis. The 1990 Conventional … …read more Source:...
Boehner, top Democrats demand Obama arm Ukraine
House Speaker John A. Boehner and top Democrats and Republicans on all of the key security committees called on President Obama to provide lethal American arms to Ukraine, firing off a bipartisan letter Thursday saying Congress has already given him permission, and he needs to act soon to stop Russian … …read more Source: The...
12K Russian soldiers in Ukraine: Ben Hodges, U.S. Army Europe commander says
U.S. Army Europe Commander Ben Hodges said Tuesday there are roughly 12,000 Russian soldiers in eastern Ukraine in support of pro-Moscow separatists. While speaking to an audience in Berlin, the officer added that 29,000 Russian soldiers were stationed in the Crimea peninsula annexed in 2014 and another 50,000 were deployed … …read...
Coal mine blast in eastern Ukraine kills 1, traps dozens
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament says he can confirm only one death in a coal-mining accident in the war-torn east, pedaling back on an earlier claim that 32 laborers had died. Volodymyr Groysman told lawmakers that he understood that 32 miners were still unaccounted-for, however, following … …read...
Ukraine’s leader urges peacekeeping mission for the east
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine’s president signed a decree Monday opening the way to a formal request for international peacekeepers to be stationed in eastern regions where government forces are battling Russian-backed separatists. President Petro Poroshenko’s office said the appeal for a contingent of peacekeepers will be...
