Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
August 2019 - Ukraine Special Weapons News
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- Ukraine rejects reports of prisoner swap deal with Russia Press TV 30 Aug 2019 -- Ukraine's presidential office has rejected press reports of a prisoner exchange deal between Kiev and Russia, noting that talks on the swap agreement are still ongoing.
- Ukrainian President Denies Prisoner Swap With Russia Completed, Says Negotiations Ongoing RFE/RL 30 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says that negotiations to exchange prisoners with Russia are continuing despite earlier unconfirmed reports that a swap had been completed.
- Ukraine's Zelenskiy Inducts Politically Untested Government RFE/RL 30 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his ruling political party have formed the youngest and least-experienced government in Ukraine's post-independence history.
- Reports: Trump Mulling Suspension Of Military Aid To Ukraine RFE/RL 29 Aug 2019 -- U.S. President Donald Trump is considering blocking $250 million in military aid to Ukraine, Western media report.
- Pentagon Supports $250 Mln Military Aid to Ukraine Amid Reports Trump Mulls Cuts Sputnik 29 Aug 2019 -- Earlier, media reported that US President Donald Trump was seriously considering to cut $250 million the United States had planned to provide in military assistance to Ukraine.
- Ukrainian Lawmakers Approve Political Novice Honcharuk As Prime Minister RFE/RL 29 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian lawmakers have approved 35-year-old lawyer Oleksiy Honcharuk as the country's new prime minister during parliament's first session since elections last month.
- New Ukrainian Parliament Announces First Key Government Positions Sputnik 29 Aug 2019 -- The appointments came after the acting Ukrainian cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, stepped down to allow newly-elected lawmakers to take their seats following snap elections on July 21.
- Bolton Warns Of 'Unfair Chinese Trade Practices' During Kyiv Visit RFE/RL 28 Aug 2019 -- U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton says he has discussed Washington's concerns about the threat of "unfair Chinese trade practices" with Ukrainian officials during his trip to Kyiv.
- In Ukraine, Top Zelenskiy Aide Is Favorite To Become Next Prime Minister RFE/RL 28 Aug 2019 -- The political party of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will likely offer the post of prime minister to Oleksiy Honcharuk, one of the presidential office's deputy heads, Reuters reports, citing one of the party's lawmakers on August 27.
- Ukraine Parliament Speaker Signs New Electoral Code Long Pushed For By The West RFE/RL 28 Aug 2019 -- Outgoing Ukrainian parliament speaker Andriy Parubiy on August 27 signed a bill that amends the Electoral Code to make political party lists open and eliminates single-mandate constituencies in future elections.
- Bolton: No Need For Zelenskiy To 'Rush' Into Action On Donbas RFE/RL 27 Aug 2019 -- U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton says there is no need for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to "rush" into any course of action regarding Russia's involvement with separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
- Up In Arms: Ukrainian Aircraft-Engine Plant Caught Up In U.S.-China Rivalry RFE/RL 27 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian tycoon Vyacheslav Boguslayev is having a hard time parting with the company he has controlled for the past three decades, and it's not just because it is close to his heart.
- Macron Announces Major Ukraine Peace Summit In September RFE/RL 26 Aug 2019 -- French President Emmanuel Macron says the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France will hold talks next month aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine, as U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton announced he would visit Ukraine.
- One Ukraine Soldier Killed, 3 wounded In Donbas Conflict RFE/RL 25 Aug 2019 -- One Ukrainian soldier was killed, and three were wounded on August 25 in the conflict zone of the Donbas where Moscow-backed separatists continue to fight government forces.
- Zelenskiy Likens Russia's Seizure Of Crimea To 'Kids Being Stolen' RFE/RL 24 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has likened Russia's 2014 seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula to "kids being stolen and issued a new birth certificate," as the country marked 28 years of independence on August 24.
- Ukraine, Russia Reportedly Preparing To Exchange Dozens Of Prisoners RFE/RL 23 Aug 2019 -- Kyiv and Moscow are reportedly preparing a prisoner exchange that would see each side swapping 33 detainees, possibly including Ukrainian sailors captured by Russian forces late last year.
- Three Russians Held In Ukraine Preparing For Swap, Lawyer Says RFE/RL 22 Aug 2019 -- Three Russian citizens held in Ukraine are getting ready for a prisoner swap, their lawyer said amid reports that Russia plans to hand over to Kyiv dozens of jailed Ukrainians.
- Ukraine Places Former Energy Regulator Chief On Wanted List RFE/RL 22 Aug 2019 -- The former head of Ukraine's energy regulator, Dmytro Vovk, is being placed on an international wanted list for alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar electricity price-fixing scheme.
- Kyiv Court Rules To Launch Probe Against Poroshenko, Klimkin On Corruption Charges RFE/RL 21 Aug 2019 -- A court in Kyiv has ordered Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau to launch a probe against former President Petro Poroshenko and former Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on charges of abuse of power.
- Macron: Russia Can't Return To G8 Format Before Ukraine Crisis Solved RFE/RL 21 Aug 2019 -- French President Emmanuel Macron has said that readmitting Russia into the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialized nations without resolving the Ukraine crisis would be a "strategic error" and underscore the "weakness" of the grouping.
- Kyiv Pursues Additional Reverse Gas Flows In Preparation For Potential Russian Gas-Transit Cutoff RFE/RL 20 Aug 2019 -- Ukraine's state-run gas-transport company, Ukrtransgaz, is preparing to open another reverse-flow point for the import of an additional 1.5 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas by January 1 in anticipation of Russia halting gas transit through the country when their contract expires at the end of the year.
- Facing Price-Fixing Charges, Ex-Energy Regulator Official Says Will Stay Out Of Ukraine RFE/RL 20 Aug 2019 -- A former head of Ukraine's energy regulator accused of taking part in an alleged conspiracy to fix electricity prices for the benefit of the country's largest privately owned power and coal producer says he will stay away from the country.
- British Investigators: More Evidence Found Of Russian Role In Donbas RFE/RL 19 Aug 2019 -- A London-based digital forensics agency says it has gathered an enormous body of evidence that Russia's military was deployed in the August-September 2014 fighting around Ilovaysk, in eastern Ukraine, in which Ukrainian forces were defeated by combined Russian and separatist troops.
- Putin, Macron Discuss Possibility Of Holding Summit On Ukraine RFE/RL 19 Aug 2019 -- During their meeting in southern France, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, discussed efforts to advance negotiations to curb the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
- With Eyes On Election, Netanyahu Calls For Closer Ties With Ukraine RFE/RL 19 Aug 2019 -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, locked in a tight election campaign, has kicked off a two-day visit to Ukraine highlighting the significance of post-Soviet emigres who are likely to be a factor in the vote.
- Ukraine High On The Agenda As Macron Hosts Putin In Southern France RFE/RL 18 Aug 2019 -- French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to try to convince his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to accept Ukraine's overtures of dialogue when the two leaders meet in southern France on August 19.
- Heading To Kyiv, Netanyahu Hails Israel's 'Excellent' Ties With Ukraine RFE/RL 18 Aug 2019 -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to embark on a two-day trip to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, where he is expected to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and visit a Holocaust memorial.
- Mission: Impossible? Ukraine's New President Ventures To Reform Powerful State Spy Agency RFE/RL 17 Aug 2019 -- When Ukraine's domestic security service revealed last year that it had faked the death of a dissident Russian journalist to expose a team of hit men allegedly hired by Moscow to destabilize the country by assassinating high-profile figures in Kyiv, it expected to take victory lap.
- Moscow Court Upholds Extension Of Pretrial Detention For Six Of 24 Ukrainian Sailors RFE/RL 16 Aug 2019 -- A court in Moscow has upheld a lower court's decision to extend pretrial detention for six of the 24 Ukrainian sailors detained by Russian forces along with their three naval vessels in November near the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.
- U.S. Special Envoy To Ukraine Says Russian Propaganda Hindering Peace Efforts RFE/RL 16 Aug 2019 -- The U.S. special peace envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, says Russian propaganda is making it a challenge to solve the conflict in the east of the country.
- Ukraine's Government Backs Away From Fight With Kyiv Mayor Klitschko RFE/RL 14 Aug 2019 -- Ukraine's government says it will not seek to take away part of Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko's executive powers, at least for now.
- Court Gives Green Light For Ukrainian Ex-President To Take Lie-Detector Test RFE/RL 14 Aug 2019 -- A Kyiv court has granted permission for authorities to administer a polygraph test to former President Petro Poroshenko in a tax evasion case, a spokeswoman for the State Bureau for Investigations (DBR) told Interfax on August 13.
- National-Security Council Chief: Ukraine's Spy Agency Is Top Reform Priority RFE/RL 14 Aug 2019 -- The reform of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) was high on the agenda at the August 13 meeting between the head of the National Security and Defense Council (RNBO) and an international advisory group composed of representatives of the European Union, NATO, and the United States.
- Zelenskiy Signs Decree To Fast-Track Citizenship For 'Persecuted' Russians, 'Defenders' Of Ukraine RFE/RL 13 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has simplified naturalization procedures for foreigners and stateless people who have "defended Ukraine" and for Russians facing "political persecution" at home.
- Ukraine's Lviv Tank Plant Starts Making Upgraded T-64 Tanks RFE/RL 13 Aug 2019 -- The Lviv Tank Plant has become the second Ukrainian factory to start manufacturing the modernized model of T-64 tanks complete with new thermal vision equipment, digital radio communication, satellite navigation systems, and new explosive-reactive armor, according to an August 12 news release by Ukroboronprom, the state-owned company that oversees the defense industry.
- Netanyahu To Be First Israeli Prime Minister To Visit Ukraine In 20 Years RFE/RL 12 Aug 2019 -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Ukraine on August 18-20, the first foreign leader to visit the country since Volodymyr Zelenskiy became president.
- Kyiv Protests Putin's Visit To Annexed Crimea RFE/RL 11 Aug 2019 -- The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has protested Russian President Vladimir Putin's latest visit to Ukraine's Crimea region, calling a it a "gross violation" of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
- Russian Citizen Detained Planning Alleged Sabotage At Ukraine Military Site RFE/RL 08 Aug 2019 -- Ukraine's SBU security service says it has detained a Russian man on suspicion of preparing an act of sabotage at a "strategically important military site."
- US, Ukraine Diplomats: West Underestimated Russian Threat in 2008 VOA 08 Aug 2019 -- Eleven years after Russian tanks rolled through a mountain tunnel in the Greater Caucasus mountains to invade neighboring Georgia, State Department officials say the U.S. underestimated the geopolitical implications for all of Western Europe.
- Ukraine's Zelenskiy Urges Putin To Resume Peace Talks After Four Soldiers Killed RFE/RL 07 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he has called his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to urge him to help halt fighting in eastern Ukraine, following the killing of four soldiers there.
- Ukrainian Oligarch Kolomoyskiy Says He Plans On Being A 'Nuisance' To Many RFE/RL 07 Aug 2019 -- Ihor Kolomoyskiy, the Ukrainian billionaire with ties to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says he plans on being "a nuisance for many" in the country for at least the next five years.
- Atomic Tomb: Chernobyl Nuclear Plant Sarcophagus at 'Very High' Risk of Collapse Sputnik 07 Aug 2019 -- The organisation in charge of maintaining the Chernobyl nuclear plant noted that the old concrete sarcophagus covering the reactor would have to be dismantled and reinforced at the same time in order to avoid releasing radioactive material.
- Four Ukrainian Soldiers Killed In Clashes With Russia-Backed Separatists RFE/RL 06 Aug 2019 -- Kyiv says four Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives in the latest clashes with Russia-backed separatists in the country's east.
- Stoltenberg: Annexation Of Crimea Is Consequence Of Increased Great Power Competition RFE/RL 06 Aug 2019 -- Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 was the result of increased "great power competition," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on August 5.
- U.S. Ambassador: Ukraine Asks To Buy More Javelin Missiles RFE/RL 05 Aug 2019 -- A senior U.S. official says Ukraine has requested to purchase more Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States, a move that is likely to anger Moscow amid a four-year conflict that pits Russia-backed separatists against Ukraine's forces.
- Comic Or Commander In Chief? Reform Of Ukrainian Defense Industry Giant Tests Zelenskiy's Will RFE/RL 05 Aug 2019 -- When a Ukrainian media outlet reported in February that people close to then-President Petro Poroshenko were involved in skimming money from the military, it blew the tires off his slowing campaign machine just weeks before his reelection bid.
- Ukraine's Zelenskiy Names New Commander In Donbas Conflict Zone RFE/RL 05 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has appointed Lieutenant-General Volodymyr Kravchenko to lead the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) in eastern Ukraine where Kyiv has been fighting Moscow-backed separatists since 2014.
- Filing Details Services for Ukrainian President in Runup to Election VOA 05 Aug 2019 -- Washington-based lobbying firm Signal Group Consulting has filed documentation of services it provided to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington between April 3, 2019, and May 21, 2019, contradicting his claim that his campaign never employed foreign lobbyists.
- Washington Lobbying Firm That Ukraine’s Zelenskiy Denied Hiring Reports $70,000 Worth Of Work For Him RFE/RL 02 Aug 2019 -- The presidential campaign of Volodymyr Zelenskiy denied hiring a Washington lobbying firm to burnish his image in the U.S. capital, but one such firm recently reported being paid nearly $70,000 to do just that for the team of the newly elected Ukrainian president.
- Intrigue As Zelenskiy Says He Has Not Signed Chief Of Staff's Resignation Letter RFE/RL 02 Aug 2019 -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has confirmed that his chief of staff, Andriy Bohdan, has filed his resignation letter just two months after taking the post, but that the president has not signed it.
- Kyiv Mayor Klitschko, President Zelenskiy Battle Over City Management Rights RFE/RL 02 Aug 2019 -- Mayor Vitali Klitschko is on a collision course with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over his executive powers as the head of the city state administration, the national-level branch of Ukraine's government that administers the capital.
- Ukraine's Naftogaz Seeks $5.2 Billion In Damages From Russia Over Seized Crimea Assets RFE/RL 01 Aug 2019 -- Naftogaz Group, Ukraine's state-run oil and gas conglomerate, on July 31 filed a lawsuit for a $5.2 billion damage claim over assets that Russia seized during its annexation of Crimea in March 2014.
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