Section: Voice of America (USA)
US Sounds Warning Over New Ukraine Clashes, Casualties
The U.S. State Department is voicing “deep concern” about renewed fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and government troops, saying the fighting near the Russian border has caused dozens of military and civilian casualties. A statement Tuesday said the fighting, which erupted Sunday near the rebel stronghold city of...
Trump Presidency Thus Far? Russia, for One, Is Pleased
Russians have largely greeted Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the White House with high hopes for a new era of improved relations with the United States. And judging by this week’s reaction, the first telephone call between Presidents Trump and Putin has done nothing to diminish those expectations. In his influential weekly news program...
EU Condemns Ukraine Clashes
The European Union on Tuesday condemned recent clashes in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian rebels and government forces, calling the fighting a “blatant violation” of the Minsk truce. “The intense fighting around Avdiivka in the last few days, involving heavy shelling with proscribed weapons and leading to a considerable number of...
Seven Troops Killed in Fighting in Eastern Ukraine
Fighting between government troops and separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine escalated on Tuesday, killing at least seven people overnight, injuring many more and trapping 200 coalminers underground, the warring sides reported. Rebels in Donetsk said an electricity sub-station was damaged in shelling, cutting power to the Zasyadko coal mine in...
Ukraine Reports Surge in Deadly Fighting with Russian Separatists
Ukraine says at least seven people have been killed in a two-day outbreak of fighting between pro-Russian separatists and government troops in war weary eastern Ukraine. Both sides blame the other for the latest violence, which the government said erupted Sunday on several fronts in the Russian-speaking east, including the rebel controlled...
Trump-Putin Phone Call: ‘A Toe in the Water’
Saturday’s phone conversation between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has raised the hopes of many Russian politicians for a U.S.-Russian rapprochement. But other observers in Moscow remain more cautious about the prospects for bilateral relations in the Trump era. According to the White House, the two leaders discussed topics...
Trump Reaches Out to Japan’s Abe, Other World Leaders
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke by phone Saturday morning with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with whom Trump will seek a new bilateral trade agreement that would replace the broader Trans-Pacific Partnership Trump abandoned earlier this week. A Trump administration official said Thursday the president will pursue a new trade deal with...
Britain’s Top Diplomat Hints Assad Could Remain Syria’s President Under Peace Deal
Britain’s foreign minister says Bashar al-Assad should be allowed to seek another term as Syria’s president if any agreement is reached to end the country’s nearly six-year-long civil war. The United States and its Western allies have long insisted that Assad must relinquish power in Syria as part of any peace agreement. But the...
US President Popular in Russia — With Caveats
As President Donald Trump prepares to speak by telephone Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the newly installed U.S. leader finds himself more popular in Russia than in the United States. That unusual situation owes much to the positive coverage Trump has received in Russia’s state-controlled media. While a recent Gallup poll...
Trump, May Stress Common Interests, Values
In his first meeting with a foreign leader, President Donald Trump spoke of the two nations’ “special relationship,” and British Prime Minister Theresa May agreed, mentioning common economic interests and shared values, but pointedly saying the new president had pledged he is “100 percent” behind NATO. Trump has...
