Ukraine

LUGANSK, December 29. /TASS/: A subversive group of the Ukrainian military abducted a fighter of the people’s militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR), LPR people’s militia spokesman Ivan Filiponenko said on Wednesday.

"On December 27, a Ukrainian special operations subversive group abducted a serviceman of the LPR people’s militia. Traces of a struggle and blood stains were found on the spot where our fighter was located, which is evidence that violence was committed against him," the LPR people’s militia said in a statement posted on its Telegram сhannel.

KYIV, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The United States will finance projects including surveillance and monitoring equipment to strengthen Ukraine's borders with Russia and Belarus, amid continuing escalation with Moscow, Ukraine's border service said on Tuesday.

Kyiv accuses Moscow of massing tens of thousands of troops near its borders in preparation for a possible offensive.

Russia denies planning any attack but accuses Ukraine and the United States of destabilising behaviour, and has sought security guarantees against NATO's eastward expansion.

KIEV, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- At least three people were killed and three others hurt in a fire in a hospital in Ukraine's western Ivano-Frankivsk region, the National Police said in a statement on Wednesday.

The fire broke on the evening of Tuesday in a COVID-19 ward of the hospital in Kosiv city, killing three patients on the spot.

Three health workers were taken to the hospital with burns. According to local media, one nurse is in grave condition with burns covering 90 percent of her body.

KYIV, Dec 28 (Reuters) - The United States will finance projects including surveillance and monitoring equipment to strengthen Ukraine's borders with Russia and Belarus, amid continuing escalation with Moscow, Ukraine's border service said on Tuesday.

Kyiv accuses Moscow of massing tens of thousands of troops near its borders in preparation for a possible offensive.

Russia denies planning any attack but accuses Ukraine and the United States of destabilising behaviour, and has sought security guarantees against NATO's eastward expansion.

KIEV, December 24. /TASS/: A court in Kiev ruled to detain Ukraine’s former President Pyotr Poroshenko, Ukrainskie Novosti reported on Friday, citing sources.

The detention would be on suspicion of treason in a case pursued by Ukraine’s National Bureau of Investigations, the news outlet said on Telegram.

Another Ukrainian news publication, Glavkom, said earlier on Friday that the country’s prosecutors are seeking Poroshenko’s arrest, with a possible bail of 1 billion hryvnas ($37 million).

KIEV, December 23. /TASS/: Ukraine’s Supreme Court has summoned President Vladimir Zelensky in a lawsuit lodged against him by former President Pyotr Poroshenko.

The lawsuit urges the authorities to disclose wiretap recordings of phone conversations allegedly held by Viktor Medvedchuk, leader of the Ukrainian political party Opposition Platform - For Life, with Russian officials and representatives of the Donbass areas, which are not under Kiev’s control.

KIEV, Dec 22 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said yesterday that, Kiev is ready to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to end the conflict in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas, Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

“We even wrote 10 steps on how to get it done very quickly. It is a complex document. It is 10 steps involving the Normandy format and the USA,” Zelensky said, during a meeting with Ukrainian diplomats, in the western Ivano-Frankivsk region.

KYIV, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Ukrainian military forces have conducted combat drills with U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles in a conflict area with separatists in eastern Ukraine as tensions run high with Russia, Ukrainian Dom television channel said on Wednesday.

Ukraine, which seeks to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), has since 2018 received a series of consignments of U.S. ammunition and Javelin missiles, prompting criticism from Moscow.

KIEV, December 18. /TASS/: Ex-Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko left Ukraine on Friday for Turkey and Poland after Ukraine’s National Bureau of Investigation attempted to hand him a summons in order to present charges on coal deliveries from the part of Donbass not controlled by Kiev. This information that earlier appeared in Ukrainian media outlets was confirmed by Poroshenko’s European Solidarity party.

DNIPRO, Ukraine, Dec 16 (Reuters) - When war broke out seven years ago in eastern Ukraine, Hanna Teryanik volunteered with her husband and friends to transport wounded government troops to and from hospital.

The soldiers fighting against Russian-backed separatists were a motley, ill-equipped bunch, recalled Teryanik, 45, who now works as a research scientist at a war museum in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.

These days, she believes, they are a much tougher and more professional outfit.