WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden reaffirmed US support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity Monday after Russian troop movements on its border, and invited President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters that Biden talked by phone with Zelensky, telling him “he will stand up firmly for Ukraine’s sovereignty” and “looks forward to welcoming him to the White House this summer.” The invitation to visit in July marked […]
Tag: Ukraine
Ukraine’s president calls for summit with Merkel, Macron and Putin
PARIS, France (AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday called for a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel to ease tensions with Moscow. “I want to get the four of us” together to discuss “the issue of the security situation in eastern Ukraine and the de-occupation of our territories,” Zelensky said after a meeting with Macron in Paris in which Merkel participated by video […]
Forest fire blazes near Ukraine front line, killing 9
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — At least nine people have died and 14 others have been injured in forest fires in eastern Ukraine near the front line of Kiev’s conflict with Moscow-backed separatists, the emergency services said Thursday. Ukraine has sent 1,200 firefighters to battle the blaze which officials in one village near the frontline said was detonating unexploded shells previously fired over by pro-Russian separatists. Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire […]
Soldier killed, two injured in Ukraine forest fire
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — One Ukrainian soldier died and two others were injured in forest fires in Ukraine’s eastern Lugansk region, near the front line of the country’s war with Moscow-backed separatists, authorities said Thursday. The soldiers were evacuating equipment and weapons from the blaze, Oleksandr Motuzanyk, a spokesman for the defense ministry told AFP. The fire spread over 500 hectares (1,235 acres) to the neighboring Kharkiv region, where about 20 houses were destroyed and […]
Ukraine: Forest fires under control
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukrainian firefighters have brought under control forest fires that have killed five people and left dozens homeless, the interior ministry said on Thursday. Large-scale blazes erupted on Monday in the eastern Lugansk region and engulfed a village not far from the front line of Ukraine’s war with Moscow-backed separatists. On Thursday, interior ministry spokesman Artem Shevchenko told AFP the situation was “better” and that the fires had been localized but declined […]
Ukraine pins hopes on weather to beat deadly forest fires
by Yuliya Silina SMOLYANYNOVE, Ukraine (AFP) — Forest fires in eastern Ukraine that have killed five people and left dozens homeless are being brought under control by firefighters, officials said on Wednesday. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the situation was improving and he had seen no new fires during a fly-over with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other senior officials. The blaze began on Monday in Lugansk region and engulfed Smolyanynove, a village just 20 kilometres […]
Hundreds battle deadly Ukraine forest fire
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Hundreds of firefighters and rescue workers rushed to deal with a forest fire that has killed six people in eastern Ukraine, the interior minister said on Tuesday. Water-bombing planes were also sent to the scene of the blaze in the Lugansk region, which is partially under the control of pro-Russia separatists, Arsen Avakov said. Firefighters initially battled back the flames but it spread again, helped by gusts of wind and soaring […]
Ukraine flooding leaves three dead, hundreds homeless
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Three people have died and hundreds more have fled their homes in western Ukraine following the worst flooding in a decade, authorities said Wednesday. Floods caused by heavy rains that began this week hit 200 villages, damaging 5,000 homes and forcing the evacuation of 800 people, the interior ministry said. The worst-hit region is Ivano-Frankivsk on the Romanian border. Around 70 percent of monthly rainfall in some areas regions fell over […]
Ukraine first lady hospitalized with pneumonia
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska, who last week tested positive for the coronavirus, has been hospitalized with pneumonia, the presidency said on Tuesday. Zelenska, 42, has been diagnosed with double pneumonia, the presidency said, adding that oxygen treatment was not required. “Her condition is stable,” it said in a statement. Zelenska said on Friday she had tested positive for the coronavirus, while her husband, President Volodymyr Zelensky, and their two children […]
Ukraine scientists navigate lockdown to reach Antarctica
by Olga SHYLENKO Agence France-Presse KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Yuriy Otruba was preparing for his sixth scientific expedition to Antarctica when the coronavirus pandemic hit, shutting borders, grounding flights and locking down countries he needed to travel through. After repeated trips since 2009, the 34-year-old Ukrainian scientist feared this year’s journey would be impossible due to strict lockdown measures imposed throughout the world to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The journey from Kiev to the Akademik Vernadsky […]
Ukraine president offers $1 millon for virus vaccine
KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has promised a $1 million reward to the country’s scientists if they manage to develop a coronavirus vaccine, his spokeswoman said Monday. The ex-Soviet country with a population of around 42 million has confirmed 3,102 cases of COVID-19 and 93 people have died. The president “believes a million dollars is a good incentive,” his spokeswoman Yuliya Mendel said in a statement sent to AFP, with the aim […]
Kiev huge forest fire ‘no threat’ to Chernobyl nuclear zone
by Olga SHYLENKO Agence France Presse KIEV, Ukraine (AFP) — Hundreds of firefighters on Monday battled a forest blaze in Ukraine’s Chernobyl exclusion zone while officials insisted there was no risk to the ruined reactor and nearby storage facilities for nuclear waste. “There is no threat to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the storage facilities,” Volodymyr Demchuk, a senior official from Ukraine’s emergency service, said in a video statement late Monday. The fire broke […]





