Poroshenko vows to retake the east this year (from RFE/RL's news desk):
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has vowed to regain sovereignty over the country’s separatist east in 2016.
"Ukrainian sovereignty over the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions must be restored," Poroshenko told journalists on January 14.
He added that securing Crimea's return from Russian control was the priority, saying "de-occupation" of the peninsula that was annexed by Russia in March 2014 must be implemented via international mechanisms and with EU and U.S. help.
"We -- the society, the army, the government -- have largely strengthened our country's defense," the Ukrainian leader also said. "This is reflected by the fact that our enemy is losing its willingness to continue its offensive against Ukraine."
"In January 2015 we had a goal to survive, and in January 2016 we have a goal to succeed," he added. "I hope everyone understands the difference."
Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,100 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
Poroshenko said that all points of the cease-fire accords pertaining to the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk that were signed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, must be implemented by all sides.
"We will not allow any revision of the Minsk agreements," Poroshenko said.
He also stressed that Ukraine has managed to free itself of the "curse" of its dependence on Russian natural gas.
"The process of our integration into the European energy market started last year and will continue this year," Poroshenko pledged.
According to Poroshenko, in 2015, Ukraine managed to implement a wide range of reforms whose success, he says, is evidenced by the European Commission's decision to introduce a visa-free regime for Ukrainians travelling to EU states.
Poroshenko vowed that reforms will continue and that new, corruption-free, law-enforcement structures and judicial institutions would be established.
(With reporting by UNIAN, AFP and AP)
Documentary On Euromaidan Protests Nominated For Oscar
By RFE/RL
A documentary film about Ukraine's Euromaidan protests has been nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature.
The Oscar nominations were announced on January 14 at a ceremony in Beverly Hills, California.
The Oscars will be handed out on February 28.
Winter On Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom is a 2015 documentary film about the Euromaidan uprising that overthrew Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
The film, by director Evgeny Afineevsky, won the Grolsch People's Choice Documentary Award at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
Winter On Fire, Ukraine Documentary, Nominated For Academy Award
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -- The latest on the 88th annual Oscar nominations announced Thursday in Beverly Hills, California, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:
The Oscar nominees for documentary feature have been announced in Beverly Hills, California. They are: "Amy," "Cartel Land," ''What Happened, Miss Simone?," ''The Look of Silence," and "Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom."
Just in from AFP:
Kiev, 14 jan 2016 (AFP) -- Poroshenko says he wants European, US help in securing Crimea's return
Poroshenko says Ukraine aims to regain control of separatist east in 2016