Russia has 90,000 troops near Ukraine border, Kyiv says

Ukrainian defence ministry says Moscow has left military units along the frontier after recent training exercises. Russia has left military units near its border with Ukraine after training exercises, with the number of troops in the area now totalling 90,000, according to the Ukrainian defence ministry. Russian armed forces recently held a series of large-scale

Ukrainian lawmakers pass law on oligarchs after assassination attempt

Parliament passes law to curb oligarchs’ influence Zelenskiy says law is “historic chance” to reform Ukraine Law passed a day after attempted murder of presidential aide Opposition parties say law will lead to more corruption Ukraine’s parliament passed a law on Thursday to order “oligarchs” to register and stay out of politics, a day after

Opposition mayor of Ukrainian city found dead

The mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih, who was a member of a pro-Russian opposition political party, was found dead in his house with a gunshot wound on Sunday. It was unclear whether Konstantin Pavlov’s death was a murder or suicide. The National Police of Ukraine said it was establishing the circumstances of

Lukashenko orders closure of Belarus border with Ukraine – BelTA

Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko on Friday ordered the closure of the border with Ukraine, seeking to block what he called an inflow of weapons to coup-plotters detected by his security services, BelTA state news agency reported. The move appears to deepen a standoff between Belarus and outside powers angered by his government’s forcing down of

Luxury cars and $100 bills: Police bust ransomware gang in Ukraine

The bust comes as ransomware has gone from a quietly pervasive cybersecurity problem to a broadly discussed national security issue. Police in Ukraine said Wednesday they arrested members of a major ransomware gang. The arrests mark the first time a law enforcement agency has announced a mass arrest of a prolific hacker group that had extorted Americans

A New Giuliani Tape Shows a Key Witness Didn’t Testify Accurately in the First Trump Impeachment

Kurt Volker said he didn’t know Trump wanted Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Biden. New audio indicates he did. The testimony of a key witness in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial is under new scrutiny by the House Intelligence Committee following a report this week that undercuts the veracity of his claim that he

Exclusive: Zelensky “surprised” and “disappointed” by Biden pipeline move

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he learned through the press — not any direct heads-up — that President Biden had decided to stop trying to block a Russian pipeline that Ukraine sees as a dire national security threat. Driving the news: Zelensky used an hourlong Zoom interview with Axios on Friday to beseech Biden to meet

Russia will monitor Ukraine-U.S. military drills and react if necessary – defence ministry

The Russian military will closely monitor upcoming naval drills co-hosted by Ukraine and the United States and react if necessary to protect its own national security, the Russian defence ministry said on Wednesday. The annual Sea Breeze drills, which are focused on the Black Sea area, will involve personnel from a number of NATO countries

Ukraine bans electricity imports from Russia, Belarus

Ukraine’s National Commission for State Regulation of Energy and Utilities will limit electricity imports from Russia and Belarus until October 1, 2021. According to Ukrinform, the regulator approved a respective draft resolution “On the distribution of capacity of interstate power grids” at an open meeting on May 26. “At joint meetings, we came to the

Zelenskiy: Russian passports in Donbass are a step towards ‘annexation’

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia’s issuance of its passports to residents of eastern Ukraine was the first step towards annexation of the region. “This is definitely the first step, because the same thing happened once in Crimea, Crimea residents were given Russian passports. This is a big problem,” Zelenskiy told a