The European Union’s 28 member states have formally endorsed the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the final step in the ratification process after years of political twists and turns.

In a document adopted at its annual meeting in Minsk, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has urged the Russian Federation to free all Ukrainian political prisoners and to stop sponsoring terrorist activities in Ukraine by sending militants, money and weapons across the uncontrolled section of the Ukraine-Russia border.

Armed conflict on Donbass has left the mark on everyday life of local population. Far back in 2014 when there was active fighting, a considerable part of local population left the dwellings and moved to quieter places. In the autumn of 2014 after the first Minsk agreements, the line of demarcation "was fixed" according to the agreements reached in Minsk. Then the civilian population pulled back to the dwellings, returning to their territories including those which already were called occupied.

At another meeting in Minsk the participants of contact group on the de-escalation of armed conflict in the region of Donbas discussed the question on providing inhabitants of occupied territories with water again.

If there is one word that gives the signal that a media outlet is clearly pro-Kremlin, it is “Russophobia”. Outlets such as RT, Sputnik and Russian national state television use the term to explain away almost any foreign criticism of Kremlin policies.

An obscure poster, which appeared as a humorous entry in a competition two years ago, has been used by at least one Russian embassy and all Russian state-controlled media as proof of Ukrainian rampant anti-Russian ‘racism’ and antagonism to the Russian language

To paraphrase Pravda in 1929, Putin is the Stalin of today. Nobody since Stalin’s death has achieved such longevity or uncontested power over Russia as Putin has. Nevertheless, tomorrow he may be remembered as the Brezhnev of today, for he has presided over a galloping stagnation of the economy and public morality.

Not only has Germany’s Scooter band decided to flout international sanctions and ignore Russia’s grave human rights abuses in occupied Crimea, but it is also misleading its fans on its own website

On May 31, Ukraine’s Naftogaz won an extraordinary victory over Russia’s Gazprom in the international arbitration court in Stockholm. This was the possibly biggest international arbitration verdict ever.

Crimean Tatar Mejlis leader Ilmi Umerov is facing a five-year sentence for saying that Russia should leave Crimea and Donbas, with the preliminary hearing as parody-like as one would expect under such circumstances

One ubiquitous and insidious enemy has so far escaped detection. This is the relentless negativity that shrouds Ukrainian perceptions of their own country.

A bill now before Ukraine’s parliament can, according to Crimean Tatar leader Refat Chubarov, finally end any dispute as to whom Crimea rightly belongs to.

The Ukrainian parliament has approved legislation introducing fines and potential jail time for people who appear in public wearing a black-and-orange ribbon widely viewed a patriotic emblem in Russia, but which many Ukrainians see as a symbol of Russian aggression.

Almost a week after the first reports that Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko had stripped controversial MP Andriy Artemenko of his citizenship, there is still no official statement from the President’s Administration, nor can the decree be seen on the official website

On the third anniversary of the tragic riots and fire in Odesa on May 2, 2014, both Vladimir Putin and the Russian media have again pushed the propaganda ‘Odesa Massacre’ narrative. Since they quote international reports which gave quite different conclusions, there can be no suggestion that the lies are not deliberate.

The Surkov leaks confirm what many have long suspected: the Kremlin has orchestrated and funded the supposedly independent governments in the Donbas, and seeks to disrupt internal Ukrainian politics, making the task of rebuilding modern Ukraine impossible

In Russia there’s nothing new about accusing George Soros of trying to overthrow the government. But recently other authoritarian leaders around the world have also decided that the 86-year-old billionaire is the cause of all their troubles

​Populists’ stunning electoral victories in Europe and the United States have shaken the post–Cold War order in Europe and Eurasia, but they could ultimately reinvigorate liberal democracy.

A Russian court has issued an ‘arrest warrant’ on ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk, claiming that he was placed on the international wanted list on Feb 21, 2017. There is no evidence that Interpol knows it is supposed to be looking for Yatsenyuk, and every reason to assume they would refuse to do so.

While it remains unproven who carried out the brazen killing of ex-Russian MP Denis Voronenkov in Kyiv on March 23 or why, it is certainly true that Ukraine has lost a valuable witness willing to give damaging testimony about ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.