07:43
30.5.2014
Looking ahead, our news desk reports:
Ukraine’s crisis is the main item on the agenda for lawmakers from 28 NATO member countries who are gathering in Vilnius on May 30 for the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.
The gathering comes amid heightened concerns in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe about Russia’s role in Ukraine’s crisis.
The assembly -- which also includes delegates from NATO partner countries, the European parliament, and various international organizations -- is expected to adopt a resolution on Ukraine.
Regarding NATO’s future eastward enlargement, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is expected to create a new document stressing the need for the alliance to leave the door open for future expansion.
Andriy Parubiy, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, is expected at the May 30 plenary session along with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
The gathering comes amid heightened concerns in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe about Russia’s role in Ukraine’s crisis.
The assembly -- which also includes delegates from NATO partner countries, the European parliament, and various international organizations -- is expected to adopt a resolution on Ukraine.
Regarding NATO’s future eastward enlargement, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly is expected to create a new document stressing the need for the alliance to leave the door open for future expansion.
Andriy Parubiy, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, is expected at the May 30 plenary session along with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
07:42
30.5.2014
Looking ahead, our news desk reports:
Officials from the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine are due to meet in Berlin on May 30 to try to resolve a natural gas dispute between Moscow and Kyiv.
EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger is to represent the EU at the talks.
Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine's gas debt will amount to some $5.2 billion by June 7, and has set a June 2 deadline for Kyiv to pay that debt.
On May 28, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak insisted Ukraine must pay at least $2 billion by May 30 or face gas cuts beginning on June 3.
The EU is worried a suspension of Russian gas shipments to Ukraine would leave some EU countries either with reduced supplies or totally cut off from Russian deliveries that pass through pipelines in Ukraine. (Reuters, AFP, and ITAR-TASS)
EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger is to represent the EU at the talks.
Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine's gas debt will amount to some $5.2 billion by June 7, and has set a June 2 deadline for Kyiv to pay that debt.
On May 28, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak insisted Ukraine must pay at least $2 billion by May 30 or face gas cuts beginning on June 3.
The EU is worried a suspension of Russian gas shipments to Ukraine would leave some EU countries either with reduced supplies or totally cut off from Russian deliveries that pass through pipelines in Ukraine. (Reuters, AFP, and ITAR-TASS)
20:54
29.5.2014
Barring any major developments, that's it for another day. Join us tomorrow.
18:41
29.5.2014
Just been announced that Poroshenko's inauguration will take place on June 7.
17:32
29.5.2014
Hair-raising coverage from Monday's firefight at Donetsk airport from VICE News:
17:04
29.5.2014
From our news desk:
The European Union has that announced officials from the EU, Russia and Ukraine will meet in Berlin on May 30 to try to resolve the gas dispute between Moscow and Kyiv.
EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger will represent the EU at the talks, his press secretary Sabine Berger said on May 29.
Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine's gas debt will amount to some $5.2 billion by June 7, and has set a June 2 deadline for Kyiv to pay the debt.
On May 28, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak insisted Ukraine must pay at least $2 billion by May 30.
The EU is worried a suspension of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine would also leave EU countries with either reduced supplies or totally cut off from Russian gas.
EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger will represent the EU at the talks, his press secretary Sabine Berger said on May 29.
Russia's state-owned gas giant Gazprom says Ukraine's gas debt will amount to some $5.2 billion by June 7, and has set a June 2 deadline for Kyiv to pay the debt.
On May 28, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak insisted Ukraine must pay at least $2 billion by May 30.
The EU is worried a suspension of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine would also leave EU countries with either reduced supplies or totally cut off from Russian gas.
16:53
29.5.2014
More reporting on the factional in-fighting in Donetsk:
Militia ousting separatist forces in Donetsk, says insurgent leader =
Moscow (dpa) - Members of an armed pro-Russian militia on Thursday
evicted east Ukrainian separatists from their headquarters in Donetsk
and began taking down the barricades they had erected, a separatist
leader tells dpa.
"The Vostok battalion is removing the barricades, and I do not
understand why and for what," Miroslav Rudenko said by telephone from
Donetsk.
Moscow (dpa) - Members of an armed pro-Russian militia on Thursday
evicted east Ukrainian separatists from their headquarters in Donetsk
and began taking down the barricades they had erected, a separatist
leader tells dpa.
"The Vostok battalion is removing the barricades, and I do not
understand why and for what," Miroslav Rudenko said by telephone from
Donetsk.
16:46
29.5.2014
From Interfax:
Ukraine's military report killing militants involved in downing army helicopter
Kyiv, 29 May: The Ukrainian National Guard has said that the group of militants, who earlier downed a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter near Slovyansk in Donetsk Region, has been eliminated by the forces of the antiterrorist operation.
"In response to the terrorists' actions, the forces of the antiterrorist operation carried out artillery and aircraft shelling of the territory, from which fire had been held. As a result, the group of criminals involved in the shooting was eliminated," the National Guard said in a report.
Kyiv, 29 May: The Ukrainian National Guard has said that the group of militants, who earlier downed a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter near Slovyansk in Donetsk Region, has been eliminated by the forces of the antiterrorist operation.
"In response to the terrorists' actions, the forces of the antiterrorist operation carried out artillery and aircraft shelling of the territory, from which fire had been held. As a result, the group of criminals involved in the shooting was eliminated," the National Guard said in a report.
16:32
29.5.2014
BREAKING: Russia's Foreign Ministry has demanded that the government in Kyiv stop its military operation against separatists and urged the West to press Kyiv to avert a "catastrophe" in Ukraine.
16:11
29.5.2014
Evidence of the looting in Donetsk.