Accessibility links

Breaking News
A Ukrainian serviceman stands guard in the city of Schastye in the Luhansk region late last month.
A Ukrainian serviceman stands guard in the city of Schastye in the Luhansk region late last month.

Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)

Final News Summary For September 1, 2017

-- EDITOR'S NOTE: We have started a new Ukraine Live Blog as of September 2, 2017. Find it here.

-- Ukraine says it will introduce new border-crossing rules from next year, affecting citizens of “countries that pose risks for Ukraine.”

-- The Association Agreement strengthening ties between Ukraine and the European Union entered into force on September 1, marking an end to four years of political drama surrounding the accord.

-- The trial of Crimean journalist Mykola Semena will resume later this month after the first hearing in weeks produced little progress toward a resolution of the politically charged case.

*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv (GMT +3)

19:43 22.11.2016

19:46 22.11.2016

19:54 22.11.2016

20:01 22.11.2016

Discussion on dealing with the historical legacy of the Euromaidan:

20:03 22.11.2016

20:58 22.11.2016

Here's a story from RFE/Rl's news desk that touches on another tragic consequence of the conflict in eastern Ukraine:

Landmine Casualties Increased Sharply In 2015

A sign warning of the danger of landmines in eastern Ukraine (file photo).
A sign warning of the danger of landmines in eastern Ukraine (file photo).

The number of casualties from landmines and similar explosives rose sharply last year to the highest level in a decade, a monitoring group said in a report issued on November 22.

The International Campaign To Ban Landmines (ICBL) recorded 6,461 deaths or injuries from mines and unexploded bombs in 2015, a 75 percent increase from the previous year.

The group blamed the sharp increase mainly on conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.

The ICBL said that availability of data on casualties was also a factor in the rise.

"The decade-high number of new casualties caused by land mines and unexploded ordnance, and the continued suffering of civilians, more than a third of whom were children, proves again that these indiscriminate weapons should never be used by anyone," Loren Persi Vicentic, one of the editors of the report said.

The highest number of casualties was recorded in Afghanistan with 1,310 people killed or wounded -- though that number was similar to 2014.

Based on reporting by AFP and DPA
21:17 22.11.2016

21:19 22.11.2016

21:22 22.11.2016

21:33 22.11.2016

Here's some more information from RFE/RL's news desk on the two soldiers that Kyiv arrested near Crimea:

Ukraine Releases Video Of Detained Russia Soldiers As Kyiv, Moscow Trade Accusations

A social-media photo of Maksim Odintsov, one of two soldiers arrested near Crimea by Ukrainian authorities, who accuse them of being military deserters.
A social-media photo of Maksim Odintsov, one of two soldiers arrested near Crimea by Ukrainian authorities, who accuse them of being military deserters.

Ukrainian authorities have released a video showing what they say was the detention of two military deserters who had defected to Russia, escalating a standoff between Kyiv and Moscow over the fate of the two men.

Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) chief Vasyl Hrytsak showed the video at a November 22 briefing in Kyiv, in an apparent bid to bolster Ukraine's claim that the men were apprehended after crossing into mainland Ukraine at a checkpoint near the Russian-controlled Crimean Peninsula.

They are accused of being deserters who defected to Russia from the Ukrainian army after Crimea was seized by Russian forces in March 2014.

Russia's Defense Ministry a day earlier accused the SBU of kidnapping the men in Crimea on November 20 and bringing them back to Ukraine. Speaking in Minsk on November 22, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the detentions an "illegitimate provocation."

"The detentions were essentially carried out at the Chonhar checkpoint," Hrytsak told reporters, referring to the crossing in Ukraine's Kherson region just north of Crimea.

The video, which the SBU also posted on YouTube, showed the alleged detentions taking place on a bridge between two flagpoles -- one flying the Ukrainian flag, the other flying Russia's -- as the two men scrambled to get back to the Russian-controlled side.

The Russian Defense Ministry identified the two detainees as Russian servicemen Maksim Odintsov and Aleksandr Baranov.

A copy of the passport of Aleksandr Baronov, one of the two soldiers arrested.
A copy of the passport of Aleksandr Baronov, one of the two soldiers arrested.

The video released by the SBU includes an interrogation with one of the men who admits to having deserted the Ukrainian military, though it is unclear from the footage the nature or degree of potential duress he may have been subjected to.

Hrytsak told reporters in Kyiv that the detainees, who face desertion and treason charges, had returned to mainland Ukraine to purchase higher-education diplomas in order to become officers in the Russian military.

Russia's state-owned TASS news agency cited a spokesman with Russia's Black Sea Fleet as saying that Odintsov and Baranov were lured over to Ukrainian territory and then immediately detained by the SBU.

Russia's seizure of Crimea following the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 -- and its backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine -- triggered international sanctions targeting Moscow and shattered relations between the two former Soviet neighbors.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, tvrain.ru, TASS, Reuters, Interfax, and AFP

Load more

XS
SM
MD
LG