Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked NATO members including Germany on Thursday (Nov 29) to send naval vessels to the Sea of Azov to back his country in the standoff with Russia. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speak to soldiers during a visit to a military base in Chernihiv region. (Photo source: Mykola Lazarenko, Presidential Press Service via AP) "Germany is one of our closest allies, and we hope that states within NATO are now ready to relocate naval ships to the Sea of Azov in order to assist Ukraine and provide security," he told Germany's Bild daily. President Vladimir Putin insisted on Wednesday that Russian forces were right to seize three Ukrainian ships last weekend. But Poroshenko charged that Putin "wants nothing less than to occupy the sea. The only language he understands is the unity of the Western world. "We cannot accept this aggressive policy of Russia. First it was Crimea, then eastern Ukraine, now he wants the Sea of Azov. "Germany, too, has to … [Read more...] about Ukraine president asks NATO to send ships to Sea of Azov
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Russia to deploy new missiles to Crimea as Ukraine tensions rise
The decision came after Moscow's seizure of three Ukrainian navy ships and their crews. Russia has steadily poured new military hardware into Crimea since it annexed it from Ukraine in 2014. Moscow's announcement about new missiles comes as it and Kiev try to pin the blame on each other for the confrontation on Sunday. A Reuters correspondent in Crimea on Wednesday also observed a Russian navy minesweeper ship, the Vice-Admiral Zakharin, heading for the Sea of Azov, which is used by both Ukraine and Russia and is an area of growing tensions, from the Black Sea. Ukraine introduced martial law in parts of the country after the seizure of its ships saying it feared a possible Russian invasion. Russian news agencies cited Vadim Astafyev, a spokesman for Russia's southern military district, as saying that a new battalion of S-400 missiles would be delivered to Crimea soon and become operational by the end of the year. The deployment is likely to have been long-planned, but the timing of the … [Read more...] about Russia to deploy new missiles to Crimea as Ukraine tensions rise
Teenager kills 19 in Crimea college shooting: Russian officials
Eighteen-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov turned up at the college in the city of Kerch on Wednesday afternoon carrying a firearm and then began shooting, investigators said. His body was later found in the college with what they said were self-inflicted gunshot wounds. There were no immediate clues as to his motive in mounting such an attack, which recalled similar shooting sprees carried out by students in U.S. schools. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 , prompting international condemnation and Western sanctions, but since then there have been no major outbreaks of violence on the peninsula. Many of the victims from Wednesday’s attacks were teenage students who suffered shrapnel and bullet wounds. Pupils and staff described scenes of mayhem as panicked pupils tried to flee the building. They said the attack had started with an explosion, followed by more blasts, and a hail of gunfire. Russian President Vladimir Putin, at a meeting in the southern Russian resort of Sochi … [Read more...] about Teenager kills 19 in Crimea college shooting: Russian officials
Ukraine region ban on Russian culture sparks controversy
The Ukrainian town of Lviv, where regional lawmakers voted to ban Russian-langauge arts such as books, films and songs Sep 19, 2018, is seen in December 2017. (Photo: AFP/Sergei Supinsky) Lawmakers in Lviv's regional parliament on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed an open-ended moratorium on the public use in any form of Russian-language "cultural product". The regional assembly said the moratorium would last until the end of Russia's "occupation" of Ukraine, referring to Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support for separatist regions in eastern Ukraine. The move has prompted ridicule from Moscow and Western diplomats and even a member of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's ruling party. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists on Thursday that "we regret that officials in Ukraine are fighting a war on language too, and this is a war with their own people." Oleksiy Goncharenko of Poroshenko's party wrote on Facebook that the deputies were apparently … [Read more...] about Ukraine region ban on Russian culture sparks controversy
Putin opens new bridge to Crimea, provoking Ukraine, Western ire
Russian President Vladimir Putin makes a speech during the opening ceremony of the Crimean Bridge over the Kerch Strait. Putin inaugurated the 19km bridge consisting of parallel road and railway sections that link southern Russia to the Crimean peninsula. (Alexander NEMENOV/POOL/AFP) Putin dressed in jeans and a casual jacket was shown by Russian state television behind the wheel of a construction truck to drive 19 kilometres across the bridge, which links the Taman peninsula in southern Russia to Ukraine's Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014. "I want to sincerely congratulate you with this remarkable, festive and, in the full sense of the word, historic day," Putin told workers upon arrival on the Crimean side of the bridge. "In different historical eras, even under the tsar, people were dreaming of building this bridge," Putin told cheering workers. He was referring to Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, who first proposed such a bridge, but the outbreak of World War I … [Read more...] about Putin opens new bridge to Crimea, provoking Ukraine, Western ire