People in the peninsula say they are subject to poor social services, dirty water and spiralling prices.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/21/the-devastating-human-economic-costs-of-crimeas-annexation
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Russian troops remain positioned near eastern Ukraine and in Crimea despite pullback order, says state security chief.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/11/ukraine-says-russia-still-has-100000-troops-near-its-borders
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Moscow is massing its troops along the border with its neighbour amid heightened tension.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2021/4/19/will-russia-attack-ukraine
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Russia is menacing Ukraine’s borders, China is sending increasingly ominous signals over Taiwan and Iran is accelerating its uranium enrichment to unprecedented levels.
The big picture: Ukraine, Taiwan and Iran’s nuclear program always loomed large on the menu of potential crises President Biden could face. But over the last several days, the lights have been blinking red on all three fronts all at once.
Driving the news: Within 24 hours beginning last Sunday, an explosion rocked Iran’s underground nuclear site at Natanz, 25 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s air defense zone, and Ukraine announced that the number of Russian troops massing in Crimea and on its eastern border had risen to 80,000.
Russia has now assembled enough troops for a “limited military incursion,” CIA director Bill Burns warned Wednesday.
The threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is less urgent, but carries a far greater risk of plunging the U.S. into a direct military confrontation.
After the apparent act of Israeli sabotage at Natanz, Iran announced it would begin enriching uranium to 60%, approaching the levels required for a nuclear weapon.
What to watch: Just about all that’s missing from this cocktail of crises is another North Korean missile test.
Source: https://www.axios.com/biden-crises-taiwan-ukraine-and-iran-4cd34240-309b-42a5-b6b6-8bb6127da206.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Dave Lawler
Kyiv’s ambassador to Germany calls on the transatlantic security alliance to grant Ukraine long-sought membership.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/16/ukraine-may-seek-nuclear-weapons-if-left-out-of-nato-diplomat
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Ukraine and the EU condemn Russia’s decision to restrict the navigation of foreign military and official ships.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/16/russia-to-close-parts-of-black-sea-near-crimea-for-six-months
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The Pentagon has scrapped a potential Black Sea transit by two Navy destroyers this week due to concerns about escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the plans.
Earlier this month, the Navy notified Turkey, which manages traffic through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits leading to the Black Sea under the 1936 Montreux Convention, that they were tentatively planning a routine transit by the two destroyers, according to a U.S. defense official.
The tentative transit, first reported by CNN, was not unusual or designed to send any particular new signal, as the U.S. Navy typically conducts eight or nine such movements per year, the person said.
But after new fighting erupted in Eastern Europe between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatists, officials decided not to undertake the transit to avoid needlessly escalating the situation, the person said.
Naval movements are frequently subject to change due to maintenance or shifting operational plans, the person said. This particular transit was scrapped due to a “myriad” of reasons, including a desire not to provoke Moscow during a delicate time, the person said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in an interview with NTV TV that the U.S. had notified Turkey on Wednesday that the ships would not be heading to the Black Sea. Reuters first reported that the movement was called off, quoting diplomatic sources who, like Çavuşoğlu, did not provide a specific reason.
The Pentagon has declined to discuss the possible transit since the reports first surfaced. “We routinely operate and conduct operations in the Black Sea and throughout the European Command [area of operations],” Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby told reporters last week. “And as you also know, I’m not going to forecast or speak about hypotheticals or about future operations.”
The ships, the USS Donald Cook and the USS Roosevelt, are in the Mediterranean Sea conducting maritime security operations, the person said. They were still a few days from the Black Sea when the decision was made to scrap the transit, so they were not forced to abruptly reverse course.
But some in Kyiv were disappointed that the destroyers would not be traveling to the Black Sea after all, said a former senior Ukrainian official. The show of force from the U.S. in the region would have been welcomed as Russia continues to amass thousands of troops at the eastern Ukrainian border, this person said.
Ukrainian officials are also tracking Russian movements suggesting a buildup along the Kerch Strait Bridge to Crimea. The strait connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, and officials are wary of Russia moving to block access to the Black Sea and link its mainland to Crimea.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Thursday that Russia announced it would be closing part of the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait for foreign warships until October, under the pretense of conducting military exercises. A spokesperson said Russia’s actions violate international law and reiterated that Ukraine “has the right to regulate shipping in these waters of the Black Sea.”
U.S. officials note that President Joe Biden has repeatedly reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity and recently approved an additional $125 million worth of lethal aid to help the country defend its borders, including two armed patrol boats and counter-artillery radar.
And NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday during a joint press conference with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the organization has increased its military presence in the Black Sea region, including with additional air policing and naval presence.
“We are committed to assisting Ukraine with its self-defense needs,” he said.
Still, the situation is escalating quickly: Russia has sent more than 85,000 troops to the border in recent weeks, and at least seven Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since late last month amid a spike in violence in the Donbass region. Ukrainian government forces have been battling Russia-backed separatists there since 2014.
The G-7 foreign ministers — representing Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union — condemned Russia’s buildup on Ukraine’s borders in a Monday statement, saying they were “deeply concerned” by the move.
“These large-scale troop movements, without prior notification, represent threatening and destabilising activities,” they wrote. “We call on Russia to cease its provocations and to immediately de-escalate tensions in line with its international obligations.”
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/15/us-navy-ukraine-russia-tensions-481897
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Natasha Bertrand and Lara Seligman
Analysis: Ukraine’s military is in better shape than at outbreak of war in 2014, but still no match for Russia’s larger force
Russia’s unexplained buildup along Ukraine’s border set alarm bells ringing in the west last month as military analysts noted unusual flourishes – such as new field hospitals, long-distance shipments of armour and artillery and last-minute railcar bookings – that did not feel like a normal exercise.
Whether it is merely an attention-grabbing feint or a prelude to an escalation will depend on the Kremlin’s will. But through the buildup, Russia has already signalled that if a larger war does take place, it is prepared to deliver a hammer blow to its neighbour.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/14/ukraine-still-outgunned-as-russia-prepares-for-larger-conflict
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Andrew Roth in Moscow
Meanwhile, Russia says it fears resumption of full-scale war in east Ukraine and could take steps to protect civilians.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/9/ukraine-rules-out-offensive-against-russia-backed-separatists
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Campaigners say widespread homophobia in the conservative Islamic country is being inflamed by proposed changes to the criminal code
Uzbekistan’s LGBTQ+ community says it is facing increasing threats and repression after anti-LGBTQ+ protests turned violent and new laws were passed this week banning the publication of content deemed to show disrespect for society and the state.
Human rights groups say that the legislation, passed on Tuesday, will prevent media or online commentators arguing for the decriminalisation of sexual conduct between men, which is illegal and punishable by up to three years in prison. Uzbekistan – along with Turkmenistan – are the only post-Soviet states that prohibit sexual relations between men.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/02/new-laws-fuelling-increasing-hostility-and-anti-lgbtq-violence-in-uzbekistan
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska
The head of Ukraine’s health ministry has announced he has
tested positive for coronavirus, as some of the country’s regions refuse to
implement new government rules aimed at limiting viral transmission.
Maxim Stepanov took to Facebook on Saturday to say that “despite caution and compliance with all safety rules” he had tested positive for Covid-19. “Now I am in self-isolation, at home. I will work remotely, conduct daily briefings from here,” the Minister said.
Last week, the minister had issued a stark warning about the country’s ability to cope with a growing number of cases, telling parliament that “we have reached the point of no return and are close to disaster.”
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Ukraine recorded an unprecedented jump in positive tests on Saturday, with 12,524 recorded in a single day. An official total of over 525,000 cases has now been recorded in the country, although the true tally is thought to be considerably higher.
Stepanov is the latest senior government figure in Ukraine to be forced to isolate after contracting the virus. On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky was moved to a specialist hospital ward after announcing he’d tested positive three days before. He told journalists he was feeling “well” and would continue to work.
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However, the country’s coronavirus response has been hampered by concerns over its ailing economy, with the government struggling to enforce quarantine measures across a number of regions. Zelensky had announced a nationwide weekend quarantine. Non-essential businesses would be forced to close on Saturdays and Sundays from 14 November until at least the end of the month.
The Mayor of Nikolaev, a city on the country’s south coast, struck out at Kiev over the new rules, declaring that, for economic reasons, he was against the imposition of a weekend quarantine. Alexander Senkevich, who has also tested positive for the virus, cautioned that restrictions would impact “the next budget of our city.” He revealed to journalists that Nikolaev had missed out on 100 million hryvnia ($3.5m) in revenue during the first national lockdown.
The Mayor of Lviv, located in the west of the country and Ukraine’s seventh-largest city, has similarly refused to enforce weekend lockdowns. Speaking earlier this week, Andriy Sadovy mocked the government’s decision, making fun of the weekend quarantine by asking whether “we should also have lunch break quarantines?” He went on to say that “In my opinion, this is nonsense … The city will not make any stupid decisions.” Explaining his position, he added that there should not be any mass event but “if a person walks into a cafe where there are two or three tables and drinks coffee – how can we speak of any sort of lockdown?”
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Source: https://www.rt.com/russia/506782-ukraine-health-minister-coronavirus/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
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The Article Was Written/Published By: RT
Volodymyr Zelenskiy plans to work from a clinic in Kyiv, local media report.
Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/ukrainian-president-volodymyr-zelenskiy-in-hospital-with-coronavirus/
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Pierre-Paul Bermingham
As Rudy Giuliani searched for damaging information on the Bidens in Ukraine, waged shadow diplomatic campaigns in Venezuela and Turkey, and spoke regularly to President Donald Trump about all of it, a 19-year-old law student was quietly watching and soaking it all in.
The saga of Lev Parnas, a close former Giuliani associate and fixer, is familiar by now: Parnas helped Giuliani investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s dealings in Ukraine, an endeavor that ultimately led to the president’s impeachment.
Unknown until this week, however, was that Parnas’ son Aaron was present for much of it. And he has now written an eyewitness account of many of the back-channel dealings conducted by Giuliani and a small group of his confidants to help their clients — chief among them the president of the United States.
“I had no intention of writing this book before a few weeks ago,” the younger Parnas, who recently graduated from George Washington University Law School in D.C., said in an interview. “But after I finished the bar exam, I began thinking about how young Republicans and young people in general often feel like they don’t have a place in the political system and might not want to vote. So I thought if they were able to see what I saw — maybe it would help them make a decision.”
The 153-page memoir, titled “TRUMP FIRST: How the President and his associates turned their backs on me and my family,” traces Parnas’ journey from an enthusiastic Trump supporter in 2016 — he even volunteered for the campaign in Florida — to an eager Biden voter in 2020.
But unlike other ex-Trump allies who have since turned on the president and written books about it — like former national security adviser John Bolton, former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor (a.k.a. “Anonymous”), and former Trump communications director Omarosa Manigault Newman — Parnas describes spending far more time in Trump’s Washington hotel and its swanky steakhouse than in the White House.
But the picture that emerges is arguably as instructive as the insider accounts about policymaking in Trump’s Washington. In the first chapter, Parnas describes sitting in on a phone call between Republican Congressman Pete Sessions — who is running for reelection in Texas — and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as they attempted, from a private room on the second floor of BLT Prime, to negotiate a back-channel deal for Maduro to leave Venezuela and travel to the U.S. peacefully.
“Maduro jokingly replied: ‘I want to watch the Dallas Cowboys,’” Parnas writes.
In a nod to the group’s concerns about its unofficial talks being exposed, Parnas describes Sessions as being so worried about the CIA possibly listening in on the call that the Texas lawmaker said he’d be discarding his phone afterward.
“At some point, Congressman Sessions agreed to visit Venezuela in an unofficial capacity with Rudy Giuliani accompanying him,” Parnas recounts. (Sessions was later referred to as “Congressman-1” in the indictment of Lev Parnas and his business associate Igor Fruman, who allegedly made illegal campaign contributions to Sessions. Sessions has denied knowing about the scheme.)
In all, Parnas—an aspiring lawyer who told the Palm Beach Post in a 2017 profile that “one day I hope to be president of the United States”—says he attended “dozens of meetings” over less than two years with his father, Giuliani and the rest of the BLT Prime Team, as he says they called themselves. The team included Fruman, conservative lawyers Victoria Toensing and Joe diGenova, and conservative columnist John Solomon.
Despite their attempts to operate secretly, the group was highly indiscrete: In Chapter 10, Parnas describes listening in on a phone call Toensing and diGenova had with Attorney General William Barr about the couple’s client, Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash. Barr was put on speakerphone without his knowledge, Parnas writes.
“It was weird how comfortable they were with me being at these meetings,” Parnas said in the interview. “I didn’t have any foreign policy or government experience. I was like a fly on the wall.” He writes that “the first shadow diplomacy campaign to assist the Trump presidency that my father was part of” dated all the way back to Trump’s inauguration, when he says Lev participated in a number of high-level meetings with individuals close to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan as they attempted to forge a relationship with the new administration.
“This secondary, quasi-State Department acted behind the scenes, conducting diplomacy in the shadow of the administration’s official foreign policy goals,” Parnas writes.
Giuliani himself regularly “disparaged the State Department,” according to Parnas, particularly Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whom he believed was hindering his foreign policy efforts and considered “the epitome of the deep state.”
“Many of the times when the Team wanted something accomplished, like establishing this back channel with Venezuela, their efforts would not be successful,” he writes. “The first person they blamed was Mike Pompeo and his ‘Deep State Department’ as they called it.”
One of their objectives was to oust the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, by waging a smear campaign against her that ultimately did lead the State Department to recall her from Kyiv in May 2019 — a move that factored into Trump’s impeachment. In his book, Parnas recalls an April 30, 2019 dinner where Fruman revealed a recording he’d just made of Trump at a private roundtable event ordering an aide to “get rid of” Yovanovitch.
The conversation had initially been about Ukraine’s oil and gas reserves, Parnas recalls his father telling him — a fact that “surprised the president,” who seemed “unaware of the availability of oil in a strategic geopolitical ally.”
Parnas was also a witness to Giuliani’s dirt-digging missions targeting Joe and Hunter Biden, during which his father was with Giuliani “almost every day.”
“Since they were inseparable during this time, I would often meet with the two of them together,” Parnas writes. “During our meetings, I was able to witness Rudy talk with the President multiple times on the phone, often doing so for short periods of time in front of me before moving away. … It was clear to me that everything the Mayor and my father did through the summer months of 2019 related to Ukraine and the Bidens was done at the direction and with the consent of President Trump.”
Trump immediately distanced himself from Lev Parnas and Fruman upon their arrest in October 2019 on campaign finance charges, telling reporters: “I don’t know those gentlemen.” Lawmakers who had received donations from Parnas did the same, including House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who rerouted a contribution from Parnas to charity after his arrest.
Parnas’ book is in some ways an attempt to vindicate his father, who is in the middle of a legal battle and can’t tell the full story in his own words. An anecdote about McCarthy, for example, is subtly biting, given McCarthy’s claims to reporters that they’d met only once for a photo op.
“Walking over to McCarthy, I believed that he would be cordial, as he would any other supporters of his,” Parnas writes of one afternoon he was hanging out at the Trump hotel with his father. “Instead, within seconds of spotting us, McCarthy recognized my father, yelling ‘Hey Lev, how are you doing today?’ and proceeding to give him a bear hug. Seeing McCarthy’s familiarity with my father pleasantly surprised me.”
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/01/lev-parnas-son-trump-tell-all-433790
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Natasha Bertrand
The woman died at a hospital after an apparent head injury, and the search for a male suspect was underway, police said
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/u-s-embassy-employee-kyiv-dies-after-found-unconscious-near-n1241563
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Linda Givetash and Oksana Parafeniuk
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/wires/us/gopled-senate-committees-issue-report-bidens-ukraine-ron-johnson-donald-trump-senate-hunter-biden-nominee-b550847.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Via AP news wire
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is calling on Ukrainians to refrain from interfering in the upcoming U.S. elections. The call comes after the U.S. Intelligence Community released a statement saying the Russian government is trying to help Trump win re-election, and that a Ukrainian member of parliament is participating in that effort.
“It is never and under no circumstances unacceptable to interfere with another country’s sovereign elections,” Zelensky said in a statement posted on his Facebook page. “Once again, I assure our partners that Ukraine did not allow and will not allow itself to intervene in the future in the elections and thereby harm our trustworthy and sincere partnerships with the United States.”
He also urged Ukrainians to “refrain from any activity related to the U.S. presidential election and not allow themselves to try to solve any of their personal political or business problems” by doing so.
On Friday, Bill Evanina –– director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center — released a statement on threats to the presidential election. He said the Intelligence Community has assessed that the governments of China and Iran both want Trump to lose re-election, and that the Kremlin is working to help Trump win. The entire statement only named one foreign national: Andriy Derkach, a nominally independent Ukrainian member of parliament who was previously a member of a pro-Russia party.
“[P]ro-Russia Ukrainian parliamentarian Andriy Derkach is spreading claims about corruption – including through publicizing leaked phone calls – to undermine former Vice President Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party,” Evanina said.
On that front, Derkach has had help. Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney and a representative for the campaign, has touted Derkach’s claims on his podcast. He also met with Derkach in Kyiv late last year as Democrats’ efforts to impeach Trump reached a fever pitch. That meeting was part of a trip Giuliani made to help put together a documentary series for the pro-Trump cable network One America News.
Derkach did not immediately respond to a request for comment from POLITICO. He said previously that any allegations he was participating in an election influence campaign were “nonsense.” Giuliani did not respond Friday to POLITICO’s request for comment.
Trump has accused Ukraine’s previous government of working against him during the 2016 campaign, a topic of much discussion during the House of Representatives’ impeachment probe.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/08/zelensky-ukraine-evanina-russia-trump-392699
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Betsy Woodruff Swan
Ad aimed at Christians as Trump’s support slips with Evangelicals
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-campaign-ad-police-violence-2014-kiev-protests-us-election-a9632921.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Graig Graziosi
The programme’s success has brought its own issues, but there is hope
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/voices/ukraine-green-renewable-energy-foreign-investors-solar-wind-a9612591.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Vladislav Inozemtsev
Ukraine International Airlines flight carrying approximately 500 young French bulldogs
Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dead-puppies-dogs-canada-kiev-toronto-ukraine-international-airlines-a9577521.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Andy Gregory
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied Sunday that former Vice President Joe Biden ever approached him about Burisma Holdings, a gas company Biden’s son Hunter was a board member of.
“My absolutely clear answer: no, never,” Poroshenko told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on “Fareed Zakaria GPS.“ “But I also cannot accept that, neither President Obama nor President Biden — Vice President Biden, nor President Trump, nor Vice President Pence never press[ed] me.”
Poronshenko became president of Ukraine in 2014, the same year that Hunter Biden joined the board of Burisma, a gas company based in Kyiv. At the time, Vice President Biden was working with the others in the Obama administration to help reform policy and root out corruption in Ukraine. Hunter Biden served on the board until early 2019.
President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have claimed, without corroborating evidence, that when he was vice president, Joe Biden inappropriately pressured Ukraine to remove a prosecutor who had launched an investigation into Burisma in order to protect his son.
Trump’s legal team and Republican allies in Congress have opened probes into the alleged interference. Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters in early March that he is likely to release an interim report within one to two months.
The allegation was also at the center of the House inquiry that led to Trump’s impeachment. Trump was accused of abusing his power by urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens to help his reelection.
A majority of voters said it was inappropriate for Hunter Biden to be employed at Burisma while his father was leading the effort on policy change in Ukraine, according to a POLITICO/Morning Consult poll from February. Congressional Democrats supporting Biden’s presidential bid have pushed him to punch back harder against Trump’s accusations.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/21/ukraine-president-hunter-joe-biden-burisma-331779
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Oma Seddiq
