Ukraine

KIEV, January 14. /TASS/. Ukraine’s Kherson Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal against the arrest of Chief Editor of the RIA Novosti Ukraine news outlet Kirill Vyshinsky until January 27, defense attorney Igor Mokin told TASS.

"The court upheld the decision made by a court of first instance, which arrested Vyshinsky until January 27," he said.

Ukrain had signed an agreement on the purchase of 12 Turkish Bayraktar Tactical Block 2 (TB2) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAVs) for the Ukrainian army.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on facebook, "As we previously agreed with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we signed an agreement on purchasing Turkish armed drones Bayraktar TB2s for the Ukrainian army,"

KIEV, January 9. /TASS/. Kiev will not allow Russian citizens to monitor the presidential election in March 2019, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin said on Wednesday.

KIEV, January 1. /TASS/. Ukrainian comedy actor Vladimir Zelensky, ranked second by opinion polls concerning potential presidential candidates, plans to run for president in the election scheduled for March 31, 2019, as he himself said during the Evening Quarter show on the 1+1 TV channel.

"I am going to run for president. Everybody has been asking me whether it is ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ I say ‘yes’," he said.

26 Dec 2018; AFP: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday announced the end of a martial law in the country's border regions, which was introduced last month after Russia's seizure of three of Kiev's navy vessels in the Sea of Azov.

"Today, right now, at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) the martial law ends," Poroshenko said during a live streamed National Security and Defence Council meeting in Kiev.

The president said he had reached the decision "based on analysis of all the components of the security situation in the country".

KIEV, December 26. /TASS/. Ukrainian forces have taken under control two thirds of the so-called "grey security zone" in Donbass, Ukrainian presidential advisor and aide to the defense minister Yury Biryukov told Pryamoy TV channel on Wednesday.

"From the situation that we began with in May 2014, two thirds of the territory were liberated. Almost the whole 'gray zone' was liberated and taken under control," Biryukov said.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s president announced a partial call-up of reservists for training amid tensions with Russia, saying Monday that the country needs to beef up its defenses to counter the threat of a Russian invasion.

The Kremlin dismissed the Ukrainian leader’s statement as an “absurd” attempt to inflame tensions.

Ukraine has also accused Russia of blockading its ports on the Sea of Azov and urged Germany and other Western allies to boost their naval presence in the Black Sea to help deter Russia from further aggression.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia is building up its land forces and weapons along the border, Ukraine’s president said Saturday as German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Russia not to block Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine were still escalating a week after a naval clash in the Black Sea on Nov. 25 in which Russia fired on three Ukrainian naval ships then seized them and their 24 crew members.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials on Friday barred Russian males between the ages of 16 and 60 from traveling to the country in the latest escalation of tensions between the neighbors.

The long-simmering conflict bubbled over Sunday when Russian border guards rammed into and opened fired on three Ukrainian vessels near the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. The vessels were trying to pass through the Kerch Strait on their way to the Sea of Azov. The Russians then captured the ships and their 24-member crew.

Kiev; 28 Nov 2018; GANASHAKTI:  Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Tuesday warned of the threat of "full-scale war" and said Russia had sharply increased its military presence on their shared border as tensions escalate between the ex-Soviet neighbours.

The crisis also threatened growing diplomatic fallout with US President Donald Trump warning that he may cancel a long-awaited summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin.