On June 9, Russian parliamentarian Viktor Vodolatskiy declared that this year, 600,000–800,000 inhabitants of the unrecognized “republics” on the occupied territory of Ukrainian Donbas will receive Russian citizenship (TASS, June 9). Vodolatskiy is the first deputy chairperson of the State Duma Committee on CIS (Commonwealth... MORE

With Russian President Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings taking a massive hit as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, resulting economic crisis and his government’s bungled response, the Kremlin is nonetheless going forward with holding a popular vote on new constitutional amendments that will effectively... MORE

On June 5, Serhiy Nayev, the commander of the Operational Command East of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, reported that the military and law enforcement agencies have strengthened the protection of critical infrastructure in the Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts to meet a possible Russian invasion. Primarily,... MORE

Relations between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have long been complicated, sometimes even uncertain. From hopes for membership after the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, to effectively declaring Ukraine neutral during Viktor Yanukovych’s presidency; from the reactivation of a Euro-Atlantic integration course... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here.   Kyiv has raised its delegation to the Minsk Contact Group from a semi-official level to a full-fledged, senior-level governmental and parliamentary delegation. Kyiv hopes that Moscow will reciprocate in order to accelerate the negotiations and do so,... MORE

Kyiv is adding Ukrainian citizens from the Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine’s east as members of Kyiv’s delegation to the Minsk Contact Group (see EDM, June 15, 17). But this is only one aspect of the delegation’s thorough overhaul. At the same time, Kyiv has turned... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here.   Pro-Ukraine personalities, forcibly displaced from the Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk, participated in the Minsk Contact Group’s extended video-conference session on June 9–15, as invited members of Ukraine’s delegation. This innovative arrangement looks set to continue for the... MORE

Kyiv has appointed pro-Ukraine refugees from the Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk to represent those territories in the Minsk Contact Group, the forum that negotiates the implementation of the Minsk “agreements.” For the first time in almost six years, pro-Ukraine delegates, acting on behalf of those... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here.   For almost three years, the Hungarian government has sought to instrumentalize the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and some European Union institutions to pressure Ukraine into legislating certain entitlements for the Hungarian national community in Carpathian Ukraine.... MORE

Kyiv and Budapest have initiated an effort to resolve their differences over the impact of Ukrainian language and education laws on the Hungarian national minority in Ukraine’s Carpathian province (see EDM, June 3). Budapest’s position is based on a sui generis conception of Hungarian national... MORE