Ukraine

KYIV (Reuters) - Hundreds of Hasidic Jews who set off on a pilgrimage to Ukraine despite coronavirus restrictions blocked the frontier on Tuesday after border guards would not let them in.

A video posted by Ukrainian border guards showed dozens of Jews, including children, in traditional dress, carrying suitcases and wandering along a roadway amid parked trucks.

They sang songs and some danced. The guards said they had been forced to stop traffic on Monday night on the crossing at Novi Yarylovychi between Belarus and northern Ukraine because the pilgrims were in the way.

KIEV, September 14. /TASS/: The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine takes enhanced security measures at the Belarusian border, the Service announced Monday.

"Reinforcement of this part of the state border is done with involvement of additional reserves, including ‘Dozor’ units and a service dog training center. Border control aviation and drones carry out air monitoring, while SAFE Boat 27 boats patrol the waters at the border," the statement says.

DONETSK, September 8. /TASS/: The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) suggests the Contact Group on the settlement of the situation in eastern Ukraine hold an extraordinary meeting on September 9 in a bid to deescalate the situation along the contact line, DPR’s Foreign Minister Natalia Nikonorova said on Tuesday.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A leading opposition activist in Belarus was held on the border Tuesday after she resisted an attempt by authorities’ to force her to leave the country, part of government efforts to end a month of protests against the reelection of the country’s authoritarian leader.

Maria Kolesnikova, a member of the Coordination Council created by the opposition to facilitate talks with longtime leader President Alexander Lukashenko on a transition of power, was detained Monday in the capital, Minsk, along with two other council members.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched Sunday to the outskirts of the presidential residence in the capital of Belarus, calling for the country’s authoritarian leader to resign as protests against President Alexander Lukashenko entered their fifth week.

KIEV, August 28. /TASS/: Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba stated that Kiev may join EU sanctions against Belarus.

"We haven’t seen the EU sanctions yet but we support their [EU] approaches. We’ll draw our conclusions when we’ll see these sanctions," the top diplomat said at a briefing on Friday.

KIEV, August 17. /TASS/: The Ukrainian government has decided to withdraw from the agreement with Russia on mutual establishment of trade missions, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reported Monday.

"Today, at an urgent meeting of the cabinet of ministers, the decision was made to terminate the agreement between the Ukrainian government and the Russian government on mutual establishment of trade offices, which was active since October 1992," the agency’s Facebook page quoted Emine Dzhaparova, the first deputy foreign minister of Ukraine, as saying.

KIEV, August 13. /TASS/: The National Salvation Front of Belarus whose creation was announced earlier by Valery Tsepkalo, presidential candidate denied registration by the Central Election Committee, announced the collection of materials to bring a case against incumbent President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko before the court, the organization’s Telegram channel reported on Thursday.

TARAMCHUK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine wants to build on a lull in fighting in the eastern Donbass region to push for a lasting peace settlement at a new round of four-way talks with Russia, France and Germany, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Reuters.

Dressed in a T-shirt and khaki trousers, Zelenskiy was speaking on a visit to the area on the 12th day of what Kyiv hopes will be a permanent ceasefire agreed with Russian-backed forces on July 27.

KYIV (Reuters) - A man suspected to be armed took a hostage in a bank office in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Monday but has made no demands yet, deputy interior minister Anton Gerashchenko said.

Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook that the man came to the bank at midday, told employees there he had a bomb in his backpack and asked them to call police.

“Employees of the banking institution left the office while the head of the branch remained there (as hostage). Police have begun negotiations with the terrorist and asked him to surrender,” Gerashchenko said.