War in Donbass

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has confirmed that pro-Russian rebels have pulled back a vast part of their heavy arms, adding most of the government forces' weapons have also been removed.

Bulgaria is ready to support further measures against Russia if Moscow fails to abide by the deal reached in Minsk on the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, the country's Foreign Minister has said.

NATO and Russia trade "hybrid warfare" accusations

BRUSSELS -- NATO has an extensive history of "hybrid operations," Russian Permanent Representative to NATO Aleksandr Grushko has said.

The Russian official cited the former Yugoslavia as an example.

"Each country or organization can learn from the experience of the Alliance," said Grushko.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has stated Thursday that sanctions against Russia can only be lifted in case the Minsk agreement is upheld.

He arrived in Kiev for an official visit and met with Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, President Petro Poroshenko, and PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

EU leaders and US President Barack Obama expressed readiness on Tuesday to extend the sanctions against Russia in case the Minsk ceasefire is further violated.

This happened at a video conference between Obama and the leaders of Germany, France, UK, Italy and European Council President Donald Tusk, EurActiv reports.

US State Secretary John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Geneva on Monday, as the UN Human Rights Office released its latest report on the death toll in Ukraine.

According to the report, the number of people killed in eastern Ukraine since April 2014 surpassed the 6000 mark, despite the successive ceasefire agreements.

The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in Ukraine plans to complete on Sunday the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line as required by the latest Minsk agreement, ITAR-TASS reported.

"Today we are finalising the withdrawal," Eduard Basurin, a representative of DPR's  defence ministry told the news agency.

VIENNA - Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, welcomed the latest progress made in the implementation of Minsk agreements Friday, observing that the situation in Ukraine had entered a phase of de-escalation of conflicts.

 The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency session to discuss the fragile ceasefire in Ukraine on Feb. 27, a year to the day since Russian troops and pro-Moscow forces began seizing ports and cities on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.
      

The leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko said that 90% of its forces have been retreated from the contact line with Ukraine on Thursday.