Prosecutor General Office stages evening raid to bring charges against anti-corruption reformer Halya Coynash 11 April 2106   Photo : Serhiy Leshchenko   In what has been aptly described as “the latest disgrace from the Prosecutor General’s leadership”, an attempt was made late on Sunday evening to read out criminal charges against Vitaly Kasko, a prominent critic of corruption and sabotage of reform within the prosecutor service.

Islamic Battalions, Stocked With Chechens, Aid Ukraine in War With Rebels Andrew E. Kramer, New York Times 7 July 2015 Image: Members of a Chechen battalion fighting against Russian-backed rebels in Lysychansk, Ukraine, in February.Credit Olya Engalycheva/Associated Press MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Wearing camouflage, with a bushy salt-and-pepper beard flowing over his chest and a bowie knife sheathed prominently in his belt, the man cut a fearsome figure

Ukraine says it cannot withdraw heavy weapons as attacks persist Pavel Polityuk and Anton Zverev, Reuters 23 February 2015   (Reuters) - Ukraine's military said on Monday it could not start withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line in the east as required under a tenuous ceasefire because pro-Russian separatists who advanced last week were still attacking its positions. A truce to end fighting that has killed more than 5,600 people appeared

Ukraine truce unravels as battle rages, arms pullback stalls Anton Zverev, Reuters 17 February 2015   (Reuters) - Pro-Russian rebels and government forces fought street-to-street in a strategic town in east Ukraine on Tuesday and refused to pull back their heavy guns, all but scuppering hopes that a European-brokered peace deal will end months of conflict. Two days after a truce went into effect, the agreement reached at all-night talks in the

Ukraine conflict: Battles rage ahead of Minsk talks BBC News Europe 10 February 2015   Fighting has surged in eastern Ukraine as government forces and pro-Russian rebels try to make gains ahead of possible peace talks on Wednesday. Separatist forces have carried out rocket attacks on a key military headquarters and a residential area in Kramatorsk, officials say. Meanwhile, Ukraine's volunteer Azov battalion has launched an offensive against

UN: deadly attack on Ukraine city could be war crime Associated Press 26 January 2015   UNITED NATIONS — Deadly rocket attacks on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol this weekend that “knowingly targeted civilians” violated international humanitarian law and could amount to war crimes, the U.N. political chief said Monday. Jeffrey Feltman told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that monitors from the Organization for Security

At least 30 killed in shelling in Ukrainian city of Mariupol, officials say Lauren Smith-Spark, CNN 25 January 2015   At least 30 people, including two children, have been killed in shelling in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, city officials said Saturday, in the latest violence to rock the disputed Donetsk region. Another 102 people were injured, at least 75 of whom needed hospital treatment, and many suffered shrapnel injuries,

Russian and Ukrainian Officials Meet in Germany Alison Smale, New York Times 12 January 2015 BERLIN — The foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met here on Monday with their German and French counterparts in the latest attempt to ease the crisis in eastern Ukraine, where some 4,700 people have been killed since the conflict erupted last spring. Sounding weary but determined to pursue any chance of a diplomatic solution, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter

Stopping the flow of corruption Tom Malinowski, The Washington Post 25 January 2015   Tom Malinowski is assistant U.S. secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. When Viktor Yanukovych fled Kiev in February, the Ukrainian leader left behind a spectacular Swiss chalet-style mansion, a golf course, dozens of antique cars and a private zoo boasting $10,000 nameplates for the animal pens. Even the Ukrainian public, painfully familiar

NATO Chief Calls for Russia to Withdraw from Ukraine By Stephen Fidler, The Wall Street Journal 28 October 2014 The new civilian head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said the alliance wants a cooperative relationship with Russia, but that Moscow needed to take “clear steps” first to bring ties back from their post-Cold War low. In his first major policy speech since assuming the role of NATO secretary-general on Oct. 1, Jens Stoltenberg