Ukrainian Coal Miners Protest In Kyiv
Hundreds of coal miners have marched through Ukraine's capital demanding that the government stop buying fuel from abroad and put an end to the closing of mines.
The miners demanded the resignation of Coal and Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn as they banged their helmets with sticks and waved flags.
The April 23 protest march went from government headquarters to the Coal and Energy Ministry building, which was guarded by dozens of police.
Demchyshyn, who is in the United States for an international energy conference, said he was ending his trip early to return to Kyiv and deal with the protest.
The government says it was forced to buy winter coal supplies from abroad because of the war against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine where most of the country's largest mines are located.
The miners held an annual congress in Kyiv on April 22, one day before the protest.
Based on reporting by AP and Interfax
Poroshenko: Ukrainians Should Vote On Whether to Join NATO
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has repeated a pledge to put the question of NATO membership before the Ukrainian people in a referendum vote.
Poroshenko told the iTele French television station on April 22 that joining NATO is a "fundamental" issue, and he would "hold a referendum [and] let the people decide."
He did not say when such a vote would be held.
The Ukrainian president has previously stated that Kyiv would not attempt to join the military alliance without getting approval in a referendum.
But Poroshenko said the government's priority is joining the European Union because Ukraine is a European country and "Europe can't be complete without Ukraine."
On the fighting in eastern Ukraine, Poroshenko said bloodshed continues as government troops battle Russian-backed separatists in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions despite a February cease-fire agreement.
More than 6,100 people have been killed in the conflict in the past year.
Based on reporting by Unian and KyivPost.com
The murder of Ukrainian journalist Oles Buzyna, shot dead outside his home on April 16, has proved fodder for numerous social-media discussions and speculations and conspiracy web sites.
A story that began to emerge after his death was a claim that Peacekeeper (Mirotvorets), a Ukrainian web site that tracks cases of suspected "pro-Russian terrorists, separatists, mercenaries, war criminals, and murderers" had in fact uploaded his profile two days before his death, and even added his home address and phone number, which had not been previously published before his death.
LiveLeak and many others maintained that the dating of the entries before the murder constituted proof that the website was involved in the murders.
The same claim was made about an entry for Oleh Kalashnikov, a former parliamentary member who had been shot dead the previous day on April 15 as he returned home to his apartment.
But as Peacekeeper explained in a post on their site on April 17, the entire thing was apparently a deliberate hoax -- a honey-trap for conspiracy theorists.