Tag: Donetsk

Ukraine orders evacuations from parts of Donetsk region

  KYIV, Ukraine, June 6, 2024 (AFP) – Ukraine on Thursday announced it was ordering the evacuation of children and their guardians from several towns and villages in the eastern Donetsk region, where fighting with Russia is intensifying. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russian firepower is now concentrated on the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claimed to have annexed in 2022, despite not having full control over it. “This is an important decision designed primarily […]

Strike on busy market kills dozens in Russian-held Donetsk

MOSCOW, Jan 21, 2024 (AFP) – Artillery shells struck a suburb of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine Sunday, killing at least 27 people, including many at a crowded market, Moscow-backed officials said. Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of a sharp escalation in attacks on civilian areas over the past two months. Shattered storefronts and broken glass could be seen in videos shared by Russian state media, along with what […]

Ukraine says three villages retaken in fresh offensive

KYIV, Ukraine, June 12, 2023 (AFP) – Ukraine announced that its forces have retaken three villages in the eastern region of Donetsk, the first reported gains of their new offensive. But three people were killed and at least another 23 wounded as Russia shelled a rescue boat evacuating civilians from Russian-controlled territory, the Kherson region prosecutors’ office said on Sunday. Analysts at Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War say that Kyiv’s […]

Ukrainian commandos prepare Bakhmut skirmish

by Emmanuel PEUCHOT Agence France-Presse CHASIV YAR, Ukraine (AFP) — Crouched in a small forest, the leader of a Ukrainian commando unit briefs his troops before their mission to counter Russia’s offensive to capture the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine. The special forces aim to defend the nearby village of Grygorivka in the Donetsk region, about 10 kilometres (six miles) northwest of Bakhmut, which is coming under heavy Russian shelling. If Moscow’s soldiers and […]

Russia, Ukraine set for face-to-face peace talks

by Danny KEMP Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will resume face-to-face peace talks as soon as Monday, probing whether a near-stalemate in fighting has forced Moscow to temper its demands. President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the new negotiations, saying he hoped they would bring peace “without delay”, and lamented a month-long Russian invasion that has already killed thousands and devastated numerous Ukrainian cities. The new talks are set to start in […]

Putin says Ukraine peace agreement ‘does not exist’ anymore

  Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Western-brokered peace agreements seeking to end a conflict in eastern Ukraine no longer existed, after he recognised the independence of the ex-Soviet country’s separatist regions. “The Minsk agreements do not exist now, we recognised the DNR and LNR,” Putin said, using the abbreviations for the separatist regions in Donetsk and Lugansk. He spoke after Russia’s upper house of parliament granted him permission to use the Russian army […]

US to announce Russia sanctions after initial caution on Ukraine

by Sebastian Smith The United States said it will impose sanctions on Moscow Tuesday, following an initially cautious response to President Vladimir Putin’s order for Russian troops to deploy in two Kremlin-backed separatist areas of Ukraine. “We plan to announce new sanctions on Russia tomorrow in response to Moscow’s decisions and actions today. We are coordinating with allies and partners on that announcement,” a White House spokesperson told AFP on Monday. This came after President Joe […]

Drone aerials reveal destruction at Donetsk airport

Aerial footage shot by a drone and posted to a social media website on Friday (January 16) purports to show terminal buildings and other structures at Donetsk International Airport in a state of complete destruction after months of conflict there. Army.SOS, a Ukrainian group that supports the army by buying ammunition, food and supplies for soldiers, said the video was shot on January 15, but neither the video’s authenticity, nor the date it was shot […]

Fresh shelling in Ukraine’s Donetsk puts ceasefire under more strain

By Richard Balmforth KIEV Mon Sep 15, 2014 4:57pm EDT (Reuters) – Fighting broke out again in Ukraine’s rebel-held city of Donetsk on Monday as President Petro Poroshenko prepared to unveil a risky plan to give the separatist-minded east “special status” in a bid to end a conflict that has killed over 3,000 people. The renewed fighting in the east’s main industrial hub, following a weekend in which at least six people were killed and […]

NATO tells Russia to stop massing troops along Ukraine’s border

NATO has told Russia to “stop massing” its troops on Ukraine’s border and open a “genuine dialogue.” Kyiv meanwhile has offered amnesties to pro-Russian occupiers of buildings in eastern Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday that Russia had 40,000 troops “ready for combat” along Ukraine’s eastern border. Moscow said the Western alliance was merely imagining a Russian threat. Visiting the Czech capital, Prague, Rasmussen (pictured) told a news conference that if […]