Pro-russia Insurgents

Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian insurgents said on Tuesday they had begun withdrawing tanks and smaller weapons from the front line in the devastated Donetsk region in the ex-Soviet state's eastern war zone.

A top commander of the pro-Russia insurgency in eastern Ukraine said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces have seized a key town, leaving the rebel region's largest city of Donetsk surrounded.

Pro-Russian insurgents dislodged government troops from three bases in eastern Ukraine, a new blow to beleaguered armed forces as its president-elect vowed new initiatives to help end the regional mutiny.

Pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine have taken two government bases in battles around Luhansk, seizing quantities of ammunition and explosives from a border guards post and taking another installation after National Guard forces ran out of ammunition.

At least 30 bodies of killed fighters have been brought to a hospital following a day of heavy fighting in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, in which the government forces used combat jets against pro-Russia rebels, an insurgent said Tuesday.

Ukraine's new president-elect promised Monday to negotiate an end to a pro-Russia insurgency in the east and said he was willing to begin talks with Moscow. Yet he described the separatists as "Somali pirates" and authorities in Kiev launched an airstrike against the militants occupying a major eastern airport.

In the deadliest raid yet on Ukrainian troops, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint Thursday, killing 16 soldiers, and the interim prime minister accused Moscow of trying to disrupt the upcoming election for a new president to lead the divided country out of its crisis.

Three days before Ukraine holds a key presidential vote, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint Thursday in eastern Ukraine, killing 13 troops in the deadliest raid yet in weeks of fighting, Ukraine's leader said

The White House is welcoming moves by pro-Russian insurgents to leave government buildings they had seized in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government launched talks Wednesday on decentralizing power as part of a European-backed peace plan but did not invite its main foes, the pro-Russia insurgents who have declared independence in the east.

Pro-Russia insurgents declared independence Monday for Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions and those in Donetsk even asked to join Russia - a day after they held a vote that Ukraine's government and the West said violated international law.

Ukraine's acting president ordered security forces to resume operations in the country's east on Tuesday after the bodies of two people allegedly abducted by pro-Russia insurgents were found and a military aircraft was reportedly hit by gunfire.

Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian insurgents said on Tuesday they had begun withdrawing tanks and smaller weapons from the front line in the devastated Donetsk region in the ex-Soviet state's eastern war zone.

A top commander of the pro-Russia insurgency in eastern Ukraine said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces have seized a key town, leaving the rebel region's largest city of Donetsk surrounded.

Pro-Russian insurgents dislodged government troops from three bases in eastern Ukraine, a new blow to beleaguered armed forces as its president-elect vowed new initiatives to help end the regional mutiny.

Pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine have taken two government bases in battles around Luhansk, seizing quantities of ammunition and explosives from a border guards post and taking another installation after National Guard forces ran out of ammunition.

At least 30 bodies of killed fighters have been brought to a hospital following a day of heavy fighting in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, in which the government forces used combat jets against pro-Russia rebels, an insurgent said Tuesday.

Ukraine's new president-elect promised Monday to negotiate an end to a pro-Russia insurgency in the east and said he was willing to begin talks with Moscow. Yet he described the separatists as "Somali pirates" and authorities in Kiev launched an airstrike against the militants occupying a major eastern airport.

In the deadliest raid yet on Ukrainian troops, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint Thursday, killing 16 soldiers, and the interim prime minister accused Moscow of trying to disrupt the upcoming election for a new president to lead the divided country out of its crisis.

Three days before Ukraine holds a key presidential vote, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint Thursday in eastern Ukraine, killing 13 troops in the deadliest raid yet in weeks of fighting, Ukraine's leader said

The White House is welcoming moves by pro-Russian insurgents to leave government buildings they had seized in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government launched talks Wednesday on decentralizing power as part of a European-backed peace plan but did not invite its main foes, the pro-Russia insurgents who have declared independence in the east.

Pro-Russia insurgents declared independence Monday for Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions and those in Donetsk even asked to join Russia - a day after they held a vote that Ukraine's government and the West said violated international law.

Ukraine's acting president ordered security forces to resume operations in the country's east on Tuesday after the bodies of two people allegedly abducted by pro-Russia insurgents were found and a military aircraft was reportedly hit by gunfire.