Eurasia Press & News

US Vice President Joe Biden spoke separately Friday with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and President Petro Poroshenko to discuss the latest situation in eastern Ukraine, noted a statement from the White House. In the calls Biden “Strongly condemned the offensive by Russia-backed separatists in the Ukrainian town of Debaltseve, …

The US is discussing applying additional sanctions on Russia amid its presumed involvement in the crisis between the government of Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists in the east, Secretary of State John Kerry announced on Saturday. “Russia has engaged in an absolutely brazen and cynical process over these last days,” he …

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 …

Personal Envoy of UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Christopher Ross is expected Wednesday in Algiers, as part of his regional tour, which began last Saturday, said the Foreign Ministry in a statement. This new tour which ends on 23 February and is the fifth of its kind since Ross’s appointment …

Libya’s foreign minister urged the UN Security Council on Wednesday to lift an arms embargo to allow the country’s military to fight jihadists, amid growing alarm over the threat from the Islamic State group. Mohammed al-Dairi made the appeal to the 15-member council after Islamic State militants beheaded 21 Egyptian …

Egypt pushed for action against jihadists in Libya ahead of a UN Security Council meeting Wednesday but faced reluctance from Western powers who stressed the need for a political solution. After launching air strikes against Islamic State group targets in Libya this week in response to the jihadists’ beheadings of …

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has called for a UN-mandated peacekeeping force to monitor a tattered ceasefire deal in east Ukraine. “We see the best format would be a police mission from the European Union. We are sure this would be the most effective and best guarantee for security,” Poroshenko said …

At least 36 mourners at a funeral ceremony were killed and 27 wounded when an unidentified plane bombarded a village in Niger near the Nigerian border, the army said today. The strike yesterday came as Niger takes part in a regional offensive against Nigeria-based Boko Haram fighters, who have extended …