The streets of Kiev filled with songs of praise and thanks as 500,000 evangelical, Ukrainian Christians gathered to celebrated the 500th anniversary of the protestant reformation.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussed cooperation on the Syrian crisis, Middle East issues, and the agreement to bring peace to Ukraine in a meeting on Sunday, Lavrov’s spokeswoman said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that any decision by the United States to supply defensive weapons to Ukraine would fuel the conflict in eastern Ukraine and possibly prompt pro-Russian separatists to expand their campaign there.
NATO allies have voices their concern that Moscow might be planning a surprise invasion, following its large-scaled military exercise with Belarus. Specifically, NATO is worried that Russia might leave military equipment behind in Belarus when the exercise concludes, perhaps to use later should President Vladimir Putin want to send troops quickly across the border, as he did in Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.
The Pentagon has identified eight staging areas in Russia where large numbers of military forces appear to be preparing for incursions into Ukraine, according to U.S. defense officials.
NATO foreign ministers were on Thursday finalizing the alliance’s biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War to counter what they see as a more aggressive and unpredictable Russia.
The U.S. Air Force on Monday flew in two F-22 Raptor fighter jets to Romania as a show of strength to deter Russian intervention in Ukraine.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in New York next week at a time of high tension in Europe and the Middle East, but the Kremlin and the White House disagreed on Thursday over the top priority for the talks.
Fighting has escalated in Ukraine six months after a ceasefire was supposed to end hostilities, raising fears that Russian-backed separatists could soon launch another offensive as the West focuses on other global crises.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said there are a ‘record number’ of Russian troops on his country’s border with Russia.
Russia announced Tuesday that it will expand its nuclear arsenal, sparking concerns about a renewed arms race as old Cold War rivals Moscow and Washington plan to increase their military capacity amid rising tensions over Ukraine.
The Pentagon is “poised” to station heavy weapons for up to 5,000 American troops in several Eastern European and Baltic countries to deter Russian aggression.
A senior U.S. diplomat, on a visit Thursday to Ukraine, has slammed what she called Russian “aggression” in the country.
U.S. and NATO partners are escalating their presence of military aircraft, people and ships in Europe for the next two weeks in military exercises that have taken on greater symbolic significance due to the continued Russian advances in East Ukraine.
Russian soldiers, tanks and heavy artillery began rolling into southeastern Ukraine in earnest Thursday, the Ukrainian government said, as well-armed detachments captured key towns, burned buildings and sent the underequipped Ukrainian forces into full retreat — a show of military force that the United States now considers an invasion in all but name.
Ukrainian security services on Monday released video footage purporting to show Russian servicemen who were captured by Ukrainian government forces while fighting alongside pro-Moscow rebels in Ukraine.
One of the top rebel leaders in eastern Ukraine claims that his forces have recently received 1,200 fighters who had undergone training in Russia. The claim came during a speech to leading rebels, apparently recorded on Friday and posted to YouTube by a pro-separatist media outlet. His language suggested the men had already crossed the border.
Fighting raged in the city of Donetsk on Sunday, as government forces continued to close in on the rebel stronghold and pro-Russian insurgents backed away from an unconditional cease-fire offer that they announced just the day before.
Russia will ban all imports of food from the United States and all fruit and vegetables from Europe, Reuters reported.
NATO is concerned that Russia has massed 20,000 combat-ready troops along Ukraine’s eastern border and could use the pretext of a humanitarian or peace-keeping mission to invade.