Ukraine

LUGANSK, October 27. /TASS/: Remarks by Ukraine’s chief negotiator at the Minsk talks Leonid Kuchma that the Steinmeier formula is absurd and harmful for Ukraine are total nonsense, Vladislav Deinego, foreign minister of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), said on Sunday.

"Such escapades are total nonsense for a serious politician who is responsible for talks on fulfilling the Minsk agreements, which he had signed," Deinego said, according to the LuganskInformCenter.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — More than two months before the phone call that launched the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Ukraine’s newly elected leader was already worried about pressure from the U.S. president to investigate his Democratic rival Joe Biden.

KIEV, October 23. /TASS/: Ukraine has been placed last in a list of countries by purchasing power among the 42 countries in Europe, a study carried out by the GfK (Growth from Knowledge) company among European states for 2019 suggests.

"Sixteen of the countries considered by the study have above-average per capita purchasing power, while twenty-six fall below the European average. Ukraine takes last place with a per capita purchasing power of 1.830 euros," the study results show.

DONETSK, October 22. /TASS/: The Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has sentenced Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev to 15 years of imprisonment, the press service of the supervisory authority reported.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — William Taylor has emerged as an unlikely central player in the events that are at the heart of the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.

The retired career civil servant was tapped to run the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine after the administration abruptly ousted the ambassador. He was then drawn into a Trump administration effort to leverage U.S. military aid for Ukraine.

And then he apparently grew alarmed.

DONETSK, October 18. /TASS/: The Ukrainian armed forces have opened fire on unmanned aerial vehicles of the OSCE mission near the Petrovskoye-Bogdanovka disengagement area twice over the past week, one of them was destroyed, DPR people’s militia spokesman Eduard Basurin said on Friday.

"The Ukrainian armed forces opened fire on the unmanned aerial vehicles of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission twice using small arms, one of these drones was destroyed," the Donetsk News Agency quotes him as saying.

DONETSK, October 12. /TASS/: The Ukrainian military shelled the Kominternovo settlement in the south of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) overnight into Saturday, the DPR militia said in a statement.

"Last night, war criminals from the 36th Marine Brigade carried out a massive shelling attack on the Kominternovo settlement. A 120 mm mine hit a home, causing damage," the Donetsk News Agency quoted the statement as saying.

11 October 2019; AFP: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday threatened to call off a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin if all sides do not agree on plans to pull out troops from the east.

The country's comedian-turned-leader is gearing up to hold talks with Putin in Paris in an effort to revive a peace process to end the five-year separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

KIEV, October 10. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has said he is against imposing martial law in Ukraine and any attempts to iron out the problems of Donbass and Crimea by military means.

"If we speak about people and territories, the top priority is people, and the second one is territories," Zelensky told reporters during his press marathon in Kiev on Thursday.

"Do you remember when the former president tried to impose martial law? Do you remember the people’s reaction? Fear and chaos. Do you want chaos?" the president noted.

KIEV, October 10. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky declared on Thursday that his mission as the head of state was to put an end to the war in Donbass.

"My key goal is that I want to stop the war, I believe this is my mission," Zelensky told reporters in Kiev.

Zelensky stated that he understood that some citizens living in the uncontrolled territories in Donbass could feel that they are Ukrainians, while some of them might not.