Ukraine

KIEV, April 27. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky proposed to establish a new format for negotiations on Donbass with involvement of "powerful actors," in parallel to the Normandy Four Format (Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine). He made this claim Tuesday during his working trip to the Kherson Region.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The vast and empty Chernobyl Exclusion Zone around the site of the world’s worst nuclear accident is a baleful monument to human mistakes. Yet 35 years after a power plant reactor exploded, Ukrainians also look to it for inspiration, solace and income.

Reactor No. 4 at the power plant 110 kilometers (65 miles) north of the capital Kyiv exploded and caught fire deep in the night on April 26, 1986, shattering the building and spewing radioactive material high into the sky.

KIEV, April 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Volodymyr Zelensky invited Russian leader Vladimir Putin to meet in war-torn eastern Ukraine, stressing that millions of lives were at stake from fresh fighting in the separatist conflict.

The blunt offer for talks came following a flare-up in clashes between Ukraine’s army and pro-Russian separatists controlling two regions in the country’s east, raising concerns of a major escalation in the simmering war.

(Reuters) --- Ukraine's state security service said on Wednesday it had detained around 60 people that pro-Russian political forces had sent to stage protests in the eastern city of Kharkiv as a way to "justify possible acts of Russian aggression against Ukraine."

Ukraine, its Western allies and NATO have accused Russia of a provocative build-up of troops on Ukraine's eastern border and in Crimea, while Russia has accused the United States and NATO of provocative activity in the Black Sea region.

(Reuters) --- The Kremlin said on Friday that there were fewer ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine where Russian-backed separatists have faced off against Ukrainian government forces since 2014.

But Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said there were not yet grounds to fully relax and signalled Russia, which has massed troops nearby, would continue to watch the situation closely.

Ukraine blames a recent spike in violence in its eastern Donbass region on the Russian-backed separatists.

KIEV, April 13. /TASS/: Ukraine wants to settle the conflict in Donbass by political and diplomatic means and has no plans to regain control of its eastern territories by military means but it is ready for possible escalation of the situation in the region, Alexei Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said on Tuesday at a meeting with EU ambassadors.

KYIV (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on NATO on Tuesday to lay out a path for Ukraine to join the Western military alliance, after days in which Russia has massed troops near the conflict-hit Donbass region.

Zelenskiy’s comments drew an immediate rebuke from Moscow, which said Kyiv’s approach to NATO could further inflame the situation in Donbass, where violence has increased in recent days.

DONETSK, April 3. /TASS/: A child was killed in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in a Ukrainian drone strike, the DPR People’s Militia wrote on the Telegram channel.

According to the DPR defense agency, Ukrainian troops dropped an explosive device from an unmanned aerial vehicle onto an inhabited locality in the DPR.

KIEV, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine will continue negotiating a ceasefire and hopes to achieve peace in Donbas, a region in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his official Telegram channel on Thursday.

Ukraine would like to return to a more effective ceasefire regime in Donbas and is working in this direction, Zelensky said, adding that the country will continue advocating a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Donbas although this process "is not easy."

KIEV, March 31. /TASS/: The Ukrainian government has banned the import of wheat, rye, sunflower oil, and a number of non-food products from Russia. The decree to that effect was published on the government’s website on Wednesday.

"[The government rules to] supplement the list (of goods prohibited for import from Russia) with the following items: wheat and a mixture of wheat and rye (meslin), sunflower oil, safflower or cottonseed oil and their fractions, unrefined or refined, but without changes in their chemical composition," according to the document dated March 29.