On April 28, around noon, according to one report, Mr. Gennady Kernes, mayor of the eastern Ukraine city of Kharkiv, went for a cross-training jog in a city park. En route, an assassin shot the mayor in the back. According to his bodyguards, a sniper fired at Kernes from long range. Hitting the back of […]
Ukraine
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Diplomats reach deal to defuse Ukrainian tensions
GENEVA — Top diplomats from the United States, European Union, Russia and Ukraine reached agreement Thursday on immediate steps to ease the crisis in Ukraine. The agreement, reached after seven hours of negotiation in Geneva, requires all sides to refrain from violence, intimidation or provocative actions. It calls for the disarming of all illegally armed […]
advertisement
Posted insj-web, Specials
Pro-Russian gunmen make inroads in eastern Ukraine
SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) — The well-armed, Moscow-backed insurgency sowing chaos in eastern Ukraine scored a new victory Wednesday, seizing armored vehicles and weapons from underequipped government forces, then rolling through two cities to a hero’s welcome. Responding to what it sees as Russia’s aggression, NATO announced it was increasing its military presence along its eastern […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Russia withdraws a battalion from Ukraine border
SIMFEROPOL, Crimea — Russia pulled back a battalion from along the Ukrainian border on Monday and sent its prime minister to shower promises on Crimea, pledging quick funds to improve power supplies, water lines and education on its newly annexed peninsula. In Kiev, meanwhile, Ukraine’s acting president flatly rejected Russian pressure to turn Ukraine into […]
Posted insj-web
Russia nears full control in Crimea with fall of Ukrainian bases
BELBEK, Crimea — With a burst of automatic weapons fire and stun grenades, Russian forces in armored personnel carriers on Saturday broke through the walls of one of the last Ukrainian military outposts in Crimea, then quickly overpowered Ukrainian troops armed only with sticks. The fall of the Belbek air base, along with the loss […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Austin Bay: Options for confronting Putin’s three cold facts
The cold fact of European geo-political history distinguishing March 18, 2014, from March 17, and, for that matter, making it precariously unlike any other day since the end of World War II is this: Military aggression in Europe by a major European power has led to political annexation and territorial expansion. On Feb. 25, Russian […]
Posted inNews
Pro-Russian crowds seize three Ukrainian warships
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russian forces seized three Ukrainian warships Thursday and Ukraine said its troops were being threatened in Crimea as the U.S. announced a new round of sanctions against Russia for its annexation of the Black Sea peninsula. Tensions in the region remained high despite the release of a Ukrainian naval commander held […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
U.S. threatens more sanctions as Crimea declares independence
KIEV, Ukraine — Crimea’s declaration of independence Monday from Ukraine triggered the toughest Western sanctions against Russia since the Cold War — with Washington and the European Union retaliating with asset freezes and travel bans and U.S. President Barack Obama vowing to “increase the cost” if the Kremlin does not back down. Ukraine’s turmoil has […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Austin Bay: Most of Crimea in Russian hands
Whether delivered as a rock, rifle round or laser burst, lethal fire by a military force is one of the two most fundamental combat actions. It is certainly the action best understood by artists. From cave painters to Hollywood directors, their material weapons make the “fire” threat posed by the spearman and the sniper explicit. […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
U.S. pledges $1 billion aid to Ukraine
KIEV — Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Kiev Tuesday to show U.S. support for the fledgling Ukraine government, and the Obama administration announced with his arrival a $1 billion energy subsidy package. The fast-moving developments came as the United States readied economic sanctions amid worries that Moscow was ready to stretch its military […]