The Liberal government on Monday extended its military training mission in Ukraine, amid warnings Russia could attempt to “destabilize” Canada’s political system. But while largely welcomed by the Ukrainian government, the extension is being criticized by the Opposition for not going far enough in helping deal with a new outbreak of violence in the country.
Category: Ukraine
Liberals extend Ukraine mission to 2019, but face criticism for not doing more
The Liberal government on Monday extended its military training mission in Ukraine, amid warnings Russia could attempt to “destabilize” Canada’s political system. But while largely welcomed by the Ukrainian government, the extension is being criticized by the Opposition for not going far enough in helping deal with a new outbreak of violence in the country.
Czar sculpture in Crimea reportedly shedding tears45 minutes ago
Russian news reports say curious and pious people are visiting a bust of the last czar in the Crimean capital after reports spread that the sculpture appeared to be weeping. The bust of Nicholas II was erected near the Crimean prosecutor’s office in Simferopol in 2016, two years after Russia annexed the peninsula from Ukraine.
Russia-backed rebels take over factories, mines in Ukraine
Russian-backed rebels are taking over scores of factories and mines in eastern Ukraine, many of them belonging to a tycoon whose foundation has been the largest provider of humanitarian aid to a war-battered population. The moves announced Wednesday by the rebels came after a weekslong blockade of the east by Ukrainian nationalists and right-wingers.
Ukrainian author seized in Belarus, ordered to leave
A noted Ukrainian poet and novelist says he was seized by security agents in the middle of the night while visiting the capital of Belarus and ordered to leave the country. In a posting on a social media website, Serhiy Zhadan said Saturday that police confronted him in his hotel room in Minsk about 2 a.m. “Nothing was explained … I had to spend the night in a cell,” he wrote.
17:38 7 troops killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine
Fighting between government troops and Russia-backed separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine escalated on Tuesday, killing at least seven people overnight, injuring many more and briefly trapping more than 200 coalminers underground, the warring sides said, reports the Associated Press . Rebels in Donetsk said an electricity sub-station was damaged in shelling, cutting power to the Zasyadko coal mine in Donetsk.
Leonid Bershidsky:
Russia, a country not known for strict constitutionalism, has offered Syria’s warring sides a draft constitution that will probably get rejected. But the document sheds light on Russia’s goals in the war-torn Middle Eastern nation.
Syrians pay tribute to childhood artist and Russian ‘soldier’ on Ukrainian TV sparks online storm
The death of a Syrian cartoonist famous for his school text book drawings has brought Syrians together, albeit online, for a rare moment of unity amid the ongoing war within the country. Syrians might now be pointing their rifles at one another, but many of them share childhood memories of a different Syria in which characters illustrated by Mumtaz Bahra had a special place.
Biden: Trump should retain sanctions on Russia
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, on a last foreign trip before leaving office, has met with Ukraine’s president and called on the impending Donald Trump administration to retain Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia. Biden’s comments Monday at a briefing with President Petro Poroshenko came after Trump indicated in a Times of London interview that he could end sanctions imposed in the aftermath Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea in return for a nuclear arms reduction deal.
Hackers trigger yet another power outage in Ukraine
For the second time in as many years, security researchers have determined that hackers have caused a power outage in Ukraine that left customers without electricity in late December, typically one of the coldest months in that country. The researchers’ conclusion, reported by news outlets including Dark Reading , Motherboard , and the BBC , signals yet another troubling escalation in the hacking arena.
Ukrainian MP Nadia Savchenko Publishes List of Conflict Prisoners and Missing People
The former Ukrainian military pilot’s initiative was criticized for being detrimental to relatives of those on the list, and to the Ukrainian side. A symbol of the fight against pro-Russian rebels is becoming increasingly unpopular with the Ukrainian political class due to her diplomatic endeavors related to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Right-wing militia trains Russians to fight the next war – with or without Putin
In a half-lit basement on a side street in St. Petersburg, 18 men holding reproduction Makarov pistols were fumbling through an exercise, racking the slides, taking aim and firing. Click, click, click, click, click.
Vandals put pig head, fake blood on Ukraine rabbi’s grave
Ukrainian prosecutors have opened a probe into an attack on an important Jewish pilgrimage site in a central Ukrainian town.