Section: Voice of America (USA)
Giant Protective Arch Slides Over Chernobyl Site
In the middle of a vast exclusion zone in northern Ukraine, the world’s largest land-based moving structure has been slid over the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site to prevent deadly radiation spewing from the stricken reactor for the next 100 years. On April 26, 1986, a botched test at the Soviet nuclear plant sent clouds of smoldering...
Peace Talks on Ukraine End Without Agreement
Four-way talks on ending a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine finished without a breakthrough Tuesday, with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier declaring that “lip service” statements were not enough to achieve lasting peace. Amid low expectations, the foreign ministers of Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia met in the...
Ukraine’s Yanukovych Blames Radicals for Bloodshed During 2014 Protests
Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych on Monday blamed armed nationalist radicals for fomenting violence in the 2014 Maidan protests that led to scores of protesters being killed and ultimately prompted him to flee into exile. His testimony to a Ukrainian court via a video link from neighboring Russia was the first time Ukrainian...
Ukraine’s Yanukovych Blames Radicals for Bloodshed During 2014 Protests
Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych on Monday blamed armed nationalist radicals for fomenting violence in the 2014 Maidan protests that led to scores of protesters being killed and ultimately prompted him to flee into exile. His testimony to a Ukrainian court via a video link from neighboring Russia was the first time Ukrainian...
Leading Merkel Ally Urges Sanctions Against Russia over Syria
The head of Germany’s foreign affairs committee, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, called Monday for Berlin to impose sanctions on Russia because of its supporting role in the war in Syria. The Syrian army and its allies announced the capture of a swathe of eastern Aleppo from rebels Monday in an accelerating attack that threatens to...
Germany Has Only Modest Hopes for Ukraine Talks Tuesday
There is little chance of major progress on ending fighting in eastern Ukraine, Germany’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday, ahead of international talks. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is due to meet his counterparts from France, Ukraine and Russia in Minsk on Tuesday to review progress on implementing last year’s...
French Conservatives to Pick a Former PM as Presidential Nominee
French conservatives Sunday are choosing their nominee for next year’s presidential election from two former prime ministers with deep experience in government and differing views on how to prevent more terror attacks on French soil. The contenders in the conservative’s primary runoff — Francois Fillon, 62, and 71-year-old Alain Juppe...
Foreign Ministers to Meet in Minsk to Discuss Ukraine
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine will meet in Belarus next week to discuss the implementation of a cease-fire agreement in eastern Ukraine. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexandre Giorgini said on Friday the meeting on Tuesday would “allow us to go over what has been done and what has not been done since the...
Ukraine’s Ex-President Accuses Kyiv of Sabotaging His Testimony
Ukraine’s ousted President Viktor Yanukovych has accused Kyiv of “setting up a provocation” to “sabotage” his video testimony in a Ukrainian court trial of five former policemen charged with fatally shooting scores of antigovernment protesters in Kyiv in 2014. Yanukovych, now living in exile in Russia, briefly...
EC: Russia, Ukraine to Meet in Brussels for Gas Talks
Russia and Ukraine are about to meet in Brussels with officials from the European Commission to discuss the resumption of gas supplies to Ukraine, halted after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014, the EU Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maros Sefcovic said on Friday. “A three-way meeting will take place in Brussels in the...
