![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/region-europe.jpg)
Latest Articles about Ukraine
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Groisman_14.07-tmb-270x180.jpg)
Berlin, Paris Seek Constitutional Status for Donetsk-Luhansk in Ukraine
Twice in recent days (July 10 and 14), German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande have jointly demarched Kyiv to, first, legalize the Donetsk-Luhansk authorities in Ukraine’s constitution, and next, to legitimize those authorities through local elections in those territories. Moscow has been... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/3_drakokhrust_zam_tutby_phsl.jpg)
Belarus Sitting on the Splits: As Uncomfortable as It Seems?
In his interview to Euroradio, the charge d’affaires of the European Union’s delegation in Belarus, Richard Rudolph, underlined the gradual improvement in the relationship between the EU and Belarus. But he also made the following observation regarding Belarus’s willingness to have good relations with both... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/MH17_crash_site_-_EDM_July_16__2015.jpg)
Moscow Rejects Dutch Findings and the Malaysian Proposal of an MH17 Crash Tribunal
On July 17, 2014, Malaysian passenger jet Flight MH17 was shot out of the sky over the territory of Ukrainian Donbas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, killing all 298 people on board (most of them—Dutch citizens). The Ukrainian authorities have accused the separatist rebels of shooting... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Kerch_Straits_-_EDM_July_14__2015.jpg)
The Kerch ‘Curse’: Russian Occupation Makes Crimea an Island
By its illegal occupation of Crimea, Moscow has transformed that Ukrainian peninsula into an island, the second non-contiguous part of the Russian Federation and one that is already giving the Russian government and the Russian economy serious problems—as Kaliningrad long has (Ekho Moskvy, July 10).... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Mikheil_Saakashvili_-_EDM_July_14__2015.jpg)
President Poroshenko, Governor Saakashvili Assess Situation in Odesa (Part Two)
*To read Part One, please click here. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has entrusted Georgia’s former president, Mikheil Saakashvili, with jolting Odesa province from backwardness into modernity, and to try this amidst a war. This unprecedented reform experiment has turned Odesa into a pivotal province of... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/resize.jpg)
President Poroshenko, Governor Saakashvili Assess Situation in Odesa (Part One)
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the United States’ ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, and Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev descended on Odesa in separate visits (July 2–July 8), to confer with Governor Mikheil Saakashvili there. Georgia’s former president aims to turn this undeveloped province of Ukraine into... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/saipem_700.jpg)
Italy’s Energy Policy Untouched by Turkish Stream’s Flop
In a surprising turn of events, on July 8, the Russian state-run natural gas monopoly Gazprom canceled a contract with the Italian oil and gas services group Saipem. The two companies were supposed to jointly build the first line of Turkish Stream, the Moscow-backed pipeline... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/1391680089-4681-konstitutsiya.jpg)
Ukraine’s Constitutional Reform Precludes Federalization or Special Status for Donetsk-Luhansk
On July 1, President Petro Poroshenko made public the draft amendments to Ukraine’s Constitution, regarding decentralization of the country’s administrative-territorial system (Kyiv Post, July 1). The amendments redefine the relationship between Ukraine’s central government and the administrative-territorial units on three levels (province, district, community), devolving... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Aleksandr_Zakharchenko_-_EDM_July_9__2015.jpg)
Donetsk, Luhansk ‘People’s Republics’ Announce Local Elections Outside the Minsk Process
The “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk (“DPR, LPR”) have announced their intentions to stage local elections, outside Ukraine’s constitutional and legal framework, on their respective territories. This move continues the hollowing out of the September 2014 Minsk agreement by decisions of Moscow, Donetsk and... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/kazaki_1410157057.jpg)
Tatarstani Cossacks Enter Government Service
Although not commonly associated with the Cossacks, the city of Kazan (in the ethnic republic of Tatarstan, historically a Muslim region) played host, in mid-June, to a meeting of the regional coordination center for Cossack revival. The meeting was attended by the Cossack Party of... MORE