EU's Juncker Promises Ukraine 600 Million Euros In Aid
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker says the European Union will give Ukraine 600 million euros ($640 million) to bolster government finances.
Juncker, speaking on February 10 after talks with Ukraine Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman, said the country had pressed ahead with reforms despite difficult conditions and that the EU should now make good on its aid pledges.
"We have a strategic partnership with Ukraine and our future relations will develop along these lines," he told reporters after the meeting.
Hroysman said it was very important to send a strong signal to Ukrainians that ties with the EU were "a positive result and would improve their lives."
Juncker also said he expects that visa liberalization for citizens of Ukraine, long sought by Kyiv, would be in place by the middle of the year.
The EU and Ukraine have signed an Association Agreement and a free-trade deal to bolster Ukraine's struggling economy, with Brussels offering 3.4 billion euros in loans to help Kyiv balance public spending.
The EU has so far handed over 2.2 billion euros, with disbursements tied to progress on political and economic reforms.
Western governments and analysts say that swifter, more thorough reforms would reduce the influence of Russia, which seized the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and backs separatists in a war that has killed more than 9,750 people since April 2014.
Based on reporting by Reuters and kyivpost.com
Separatist commander's Donetsk funeral draws big crowd:
A large crowd has turned out for the funeral of an assassinated separatist commander in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region.
Mikhail Tolstykh, 36, whose nom de guerre was Givi, died in an explosion in his office in the separatist-held regional capital on February 8.
Tolstykh's body was laid out in the Donetsk opera house on February 10 with the flag of his fighting force, known as the Somali Battalion, covering his closed coffin.
Western media reports said some 2,000 people -- most of them pensioners and separatist fighters -- lined up outside to pay last respects. Many carried flowers and orange-and-black ribbons expressing their support for Russia.
Donetsk separatist leaders have said the killing was a "terrorist" attack organized by the Ukrainian intelligence services. The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) denied responsibility, instead suspecting an internal operation planned by Russia or the separatists.
Tolstykh became known during the brutal battle for Donetsk airport. Video footage from 2015 shows him verbally and physically abusing Ukrainian servicemen captured during the battle.
Another separatist commander -- Arseny Pavlov, known as Motorola -- was killed when a bomb exploded in an elevator in his apartment block in Donetsk in October.
Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 9,750 people since April 2014. (AFP, AP)