Poroshenko Warns Of War Threat As Truce Violations Continue
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says the threat of war is "hanging over" the country as cease-fire violations continue in eastern Ukraine.
Poroshenko, speaking at an international conference on Ukraine in Kyiv on April 28, said the country needs aid and "solidarity" to prevent war from "erupting" and to resolve the situation in the Donbas region where Russian-backed separatists control territory.
More than 6,100 people have been killed in the past year as government forces battled the rebels.
Poroshenko's comments came as military officials said the separatists had resumed using rocket launchers that are banned under a February cease-fire agreement signed in Minsk.
Meanwhile, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said in a video address at the Kyiv conference that economic sanctions against Russia should remain in effect until the complete fulfillment of the Minsk agreement.
Russia has denied having troops in Ukraine.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on April 28 told delegates at the international conference that Ukraine has received far less financial aid than Greece, even though Athens has no war or "Russian tanks" on its territory.
Based on reporting by Interfax and AP
In today's Daily Vertical video blog, Brian Whitmore looks at the Night Wolves' controversial jaunt across Europe and asks if these burly nationalist Russian bikers trundling toward Poland are just a big distraction -- diverting our attention away from more important things, particularly the worsening situation in eastern Ukraine:
Ukraine Detains Former Crimean Lawmaker Suspected Of Treason
By RFE/RL
Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has detained a former member of the Crimean parliament wanted by Kyiv on suspicion of treason.
Markiyan Lubkivskiy, an adviser to the SBU chief, wrote on Facebook on April 28 that former Crimean lawmaker Vasyl Hanysh was detained at the Kalanchak checkpoint in the southern Kherson region near Russian-controlled Crimea.
Lubkivskiy said Hanysh would "transported in the nearest future to Kyiv, where investigators of the Prosecutor-General's Office are waiting for him."
The Prosecutor-General's Office is investigating several current and former lawmakers in Crimea on suspicion of helping Russia take over Crimea in March 2014 and violating the rights of the peninsula’s residents.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine after sending troops there and staging a secession referendum that was declared illegal in an overwhelming vote in the UN General Assembly.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Ukraine says rebels using rocket launchers
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukrainian military officials say separatist rebels in the east have resumed the use of rocket launchers that should have been withdrawn under a February peace deal.
The army said in a statement Tuesday that rebels fired Grad rockets the evening before at the government-held town of Avdiivka, which lies on the fringes of the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
There has been a recent uptick in clashes along the front separating government and rebel forces. Speaking an investor conference in Kiev, President Petro Poroshenko warned Tuesday that that the resumption of full-blown war is a perennial threat.
More than 6,000 people have died and another million have been displaced by the conflict that has raged over the past year.