Minsk Agreements

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.

US authorities have warned Russia not to invade Ukraine and urged both countries to return to a set of agreements designed to end a separatist war by Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.

A ceasefire agreement signed in February 2015 in Minsk that aims to end the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists has failed to end artillery fighting.

Sanctions against Russia will continue until it implements all aspects of the Ukraine peace agreement reached in Minsk last year, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday he believed that with effort and good faith on both sides it would be possible to implement the Minsk agreements on Ukraine in coming months to allow for a lifting of sanctions on Russia.

The European Union agreed today to prolong damaging economic sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the Ukraine crisis for another six months amid sharp differences over relations with Moscow.

US Vice President Joe Biden said today the world's focus on Syria did not overshadow Western demands for Russia to adhere to a shaky Ukrainian peace agreement and to hand back Crimea to Kiev.

Russia fully backs the Minsk peace agreements in Ukraine, but progress is being stalled by Kiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera today.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the Minsk agreement a "pseudo-ceasefire" in an interview due to be aired on German television channel ZDF later on Wednesday.

Germany's foreign minister met his Russian, Ukrainian and French counterparts in Berlin on Monday evening to discuss how the Minsk agreement can be put into action as violence intensified in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday took delivery of ten US armoured vehicles, two days after American lawmakers voted to urge President Barack Obama to provide "lethal" aid to Kiev.

Not a single building in Nikishyne escaped undamaged after months of intense bombardment, which helped shrink the village of 700 to a handful residents as fighting raged in eastern Ukraine.

A US plan to train Ukrainian national guard troops is "on hold" pending implementation of a ceasefire deal between government troops and Russian-backed rebels, a spokesman for US forces in Europe said on Friday.

Fighting raged in Ukraine on Friday with the clock ticking down to a ceasefire as the US said Russia was still deploying heavy arms and Kiev warned that the shelling of civilians had intensified since the truce agreement.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is calling for continued Western unity in pressing Russia to fully implement a much-violated peace deal.

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.

US authorities have warned Russia not to invade Ukraine and urged both countries to return to a set of agreements designed to end a separatist war by Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.

A ceasefire agreement signed in February 2015 in Minsk that aims to end the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists has failed to end artillery fighting.

Sanctions against Russia will continue until it implements all aspects of the Ukraine peace agreement reached in Minsk last year, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday he believed that with effort and good faith on both sides it would be possible to implement the Minsk agreements on Ukraine in coming months to allow for a lifting of sanctions on Russia.

The European Union agreed today to prolong damaging economic sanctions against Russia for its involvement in the Ukraine crisis for another six months amid sharp differences over relations with Moscow.

US Vice President Joe Biden said today the world's focus on Syria did not overshadow Western demands for Russia to adhere to a shaky Ukrainian peace agreement and to hand back Crimea to Kiev.

Russia fully backs the Minsk peace agreements in Ukraine, but progress is being stalled by Kiev, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera today.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called the Minsk agreement a "pseudo-ceasefire" in an interview due to be aired on German television channel ZDF later on Wednesday.

Germany's foreign minister met his Russian, Ukrainian and French counterparts in Berlin on Monday evening to discuss how the Minsk agreement can be put into action as violence intensified in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday took delivery of ten US armoured vehicles, two days after American lawmakers voted to urge President Barack Obama to provide "lethal" aid to Kiev.

Not a single building in Nikishyne escaped undamaged after months of intense bombardment, which helped shrink the village of 700 to a handful residents as fighting raged in eastern Ukraine.

A US plan to train Ukrainian national guard troops is "on hold" pending implementation of a ceasefire deal between government troops and Russian-backed rebels, a spokesman for US forces in Europe said on Friday.

Fighting raged in Ukraine on Friday with the clock ticking down to a ceasefire as the US said Russia was still deploying heavy arms and Kiev warned that the shelling of civilians had intensified since the truce agreement.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is calling for continued Western unity in pressing Russia to fully implement a much-violated peace deal.