Ukraine

KIEV: Ukraine's new President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday (May 20) announced he was dissolving parliament.He also said his first task was to achieve a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine but added that dialogue with Russia could only happen after the return of Ukrainian territory and prisoners of war. … [Read more...] about New Ukraine President Zelenskiy says dissolving parliament

KIEV: Bitter divisions among Ukraine's religious leaders were laid bare on Wednesday (May 15) when honorary Patriarch Filaret accused the young head of the newly created united church of governing single-handedly despite earlier agreements.For more than 300 years, Moscow controlled part of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church but Kiev last year won religious independence in a huge coup for the ex-Soviet country's pro-Western authorities.The 90-year-old Patriarch Filaret had been widely tipped to become the head of the united church but Metropolitan Yepifaniy, 40, was then suddenly chosen to the post last December.Filaret, who headed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate independent of Moscow, called a news conference Wednesday to claim that Metropolitan Yepifaniy had reneged on agreements to lead the newly-created church together."There was an agreement that I continue to govern the church in Ukraine together with Yepifaniy while he will represent the church abroad," he told … [Read more...] about Tensions rise over Ukraine’s new independent church

BRUSSELS: The European Union and Ukraine share strategic interests, the European Commission's president said on Tuesday (May 14), and he called for patience and determination as Ukraine tries to align itself with western Europe.The EU is watching with a wary eye as Ukraine's incoming president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, prepares to take office. It has backed Ukraine's pro-European aspirations, but Zelenskiy is an unknown quantity, a comedian with no political experience.He will need to deal with Moscow, which annexed Crimea in 2014 and began supporting a rebellion in eastern Ukraine that killed more than 10,000 people and still simmers.Speaking at an event marking a decade of the Eastern Partnership, an EU project with Ukraine and five other post-communist countries on its eastern border, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the strategic interests of Ukraine and the EU are "exactly the same"."Let's replace the use of arms by the rule of law, this is something we must strive for … [Read more...] about EU and Ukraine interests `exactly the same’, Juncker tells Kiev

KIEV: Ukrainian officials said Tuesday that radiation levels remained safe after a fire broke out at a nuclear power plant, leading to the shutdown of one of the reactors. The fire, which was extinguished within an hour, began late Monday at the Rivne nuclear power station in western Ukraine, around 300km (190 miles) from Kiev. It erupted in an electrical transformer, triggering the reactor protection system and “the third reactor was turned off,“ Ilona Zayets, a spokeswoman for the state nuclear agency Energoatom, told AFP on Tuesday. “Radiation levels have not risen,“ she said, adding that no one was hurt as a result of the incident. She said the causes are being investigated. The level of seriousness of the incident on the international scale for emergencies at nuclear stations is zero, the nuclear agency said in a statement. The third reactor remained switched off on Tuesday because the transformer needs to be replaced. Ukraine currently operates four … [Read more...] about Ukraine says radiation levels safe after nuclear plant fire