Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has confirmed release of 139 Ukrainian soldiers in a prisoner swap with separatists in East Ukraine. Poroshenko in a statemnet broadacast by the Russian Interfax News Agency, late on Friday, said the prisoners’ release took place in the remote Zholobok town. Sources for the separatists, earlier, …

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday to stop Russian and separatist attacks on Ukrainian forces in Debaltseve, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters. “Secretary Kerry spoke with Foreign Minister Lavrov this morning. He pressed Foreign Minister Lavrov to stop Russian and separatist …

Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine on Thursday despite European efforts to resurrect a still-born ceasefire, a day after pro-Russian separatists who spurned the truce forced thousands of government troops out of a strategic town. Western nations have refused to give up on a peace deal negotiated last week even though …