Section: Voice of America (USA)
Donetsk Governor: Truce Not Implemented
VOA’s Henry Ridgwell interviews the governor of Ukraine’s embattled Donetsk region, Serhiy Taruta, who has moved his whole office to Mariupol. Q1: What is the current security situation in the Donetsk region? Unfortunately, a real truce has not been accomplished. Of course the level of casualties that we had before has declined, the...
Rebel Attacks Test Shaky Ukraine Truce in Key City of Mariupol
There are growing fears that the ceasefire deal signed between pro-Russian rebels and the government in Ukraine may be falling apart. The separatists have launched several attacks on Donetsk airport. In the southeast, troops say rebel forces are launching daily attacks on their positions. Henry Ridgwell reports from the frontline city of...
Muižnieks: Biggest Concern in Ukraine is Plight of Crimean Tatars
The Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights has expressed deep concern over the conflict in Ukraine, in particular for the situation of Tatars in Crimea, which Russia annexed in March. Speaking Wednesday to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, Nils Muižnieks said a “reign of...
IOC: Oslo 2022 Games Pullout No Blow but Changes Needed
Oslo quitting the race to stage the 2022 Winter Olympics has not hurt the International Olympic Committee but it has underlined that changes are needed to make the Games more attractive to bidders, president Thomas Bach told Reuters on Thursday. IOC head Bach said Norway’s decision to pull out was mainly “a political one” given the...
Putin Says He Hopes Election Will Bring Ukraine Stability
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he hoped Ukraine’s parliamentary poll, scheduled for October 26, would help restore stability in the country, saying that such a development would also be welcomed by Russia. Relations between Moscow and Kyiv have been teetering on the brink since Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in...
IMF Cuts Russian GDP Forecast in Half
The International Monetary Fund halved its forecast for Russia’s 2015 gross domestic product to 0.5 percent on Wednesday, saying that international tensions had created downside risks to its estimates. “Geopolitical uncertainties are having a big direct impact on the Russian economy,” Antonio Spilimbergo, the IMF’s mission head to...
At Least 10 Killed in Eastern Ukraine Shelling
At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when shells hit a school playground and a minivan on a nearby street in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, city authorities and witnesses said. A shell hit a playground near school No. 57 on the first day of the school year in Donetsk. No children were among those killed. Witnesses and city officials told...
Developments in Ukraine – Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Rebels in eastern Ukraine appear to be successfully closing in on the government-held airport of Donetsk, a strategic victory for the pro-Russian separatists that further undermines a shaky cease-fire in the region. At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday when shells hit a school playground and a mini van in a nearby street in Donetsk in...
Deadly Attacks In Donetsk Test Ukraine Peace Deal
After a series of attacks by pro-Moscow militia, Ukraine’s prime minister has accused Russia of failing to honor the cease-fire agreement signed on September 5. At least nine Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the last two days. As Henry Ridgwell reports for VOA from near the frontline in eastern Ukraine, the tentative peace deal...
EU Keeps Russia Sanctions in Place
European Union envoys decided to keep in place several rounds of sanctions the bloc imposed on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and what the West says is Moscow’s direct support of separatists in the country’s east. “We are keeping the status quo,” one official said after EU ambassadors, meeting Tuesday in...
