From Ukraine's Forgotten City Destroyed By War, by Oleg Orlov in The Guardian:
The scale of destruction in the city of Pervomaisk, Luhansk Oblast, recalls wartime Grozny. Such devastation is not to be found in either Donetsk or Luhansk, not in Debaltseve and not even in Ilovaisk, which suffered heavy artillery fire during the summer’s fighting.
At the end of November, I visited this city with a colleague from Memorial, Jan Rachinsky, and a researcher from Human Rights Watch, Tanya Lokshina.
Some blocks of this city, situated 50 kilometres west of Luhansk, have been practically wiped off the face of the earth by Ukrainian artillery barrages. Hardly any houses have escaped unscathed.
We had seen such complete devastation in eastern Ukraine only [once before], in the villages of Khryashchuvate and Novosvitlivka, a few kilometres southeast of Luhansk. On that occasion, though, it was LNR (Luhansk People’s Republic) and possibly Russian artillery that opened fire in August [in order to] dislodge Ukrainian troops from the villages.
Read the full story here.
From RFE/RL's Russian Service:
YEKATERINBURG, Russia -- Russian authorities are investigating a woman in the city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of inciting extremism online after she joined Ukrainian nationalist groups on the Internet.
Yekaterina Vologzhaninova told RFE/RL that investigators had informed her she came under suspicion after she joined groups called Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense and Russian Right Sector via the social network VKontakte.
Vologzhaninova also says that she shared via the Internet several video clips about President Vladimir Putin's yacht, the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine, and a Ukrainian talk show about the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
She said that police searched her apartment on December 12 and confiscated her laptop, a tablet, a digital camera, and several CDs.
Investigators questioned her regarding her ethnicity and political views and ordered her not to leave the city pending further investigation.
If charged, tried, and convicted, Vologzhaninova could face up to four years in jail.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hosted children on Orthodox Christmas Eve at his home, where they sang carols, and urged Ukrainians to pray for the troops fighting against the pro-Russian separatists.
Quoting from the Bible, he said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
The Ukrainian military said on January 7 that rebels had fired at government forces 15 times overnight with mortars, artillery and guns, mostly in Donetsk Province.
More than 4,700 people have been killed since April in the conflict, in which Kyiv and NATO say Russia has given the rebels direct military support, and fighting continues despite a September 5 deal on a cease-fire and steps toward peace.
U.S. Calls For Russia To Release Ukrainian Pilot, Film Producer
Washington (dpa) -- The United States Tuesday called for Russia to release two high-profile Ukrainians being held as part of its conflict with Ukraine.
One of them, Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, is on a hunger strike "and is suffering additional health problems," said Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for the US State Department.
"We call for her immediate release, as well as other Ukrainian hostages held by Russia," she said.
Moscow has accused Savchenko, 33, of aiding the killing of
two Russian journalists while she was fighting with a volunteer battalion in eastern Ukraine.
She has been held in a detention centre in southern Russia since July after her capture by eastern Ukrainian separatists in June.
Ukraine has accused Moscow of kidnapping her. She was elected to the Ukrainian Parliament in October despite her imprisonment. She is among the first women in Ukraine to have trained as a military pilot.
The second prisoner Psaki named was film producer Oleg Sentsov, who was apprehended by Russian security forces in Ukraine in May, and is awaiting trial in a Moscow prison. An outspoken critic of Russia's military intervention in Crimea, he risks being sentenced to up to 20 years in jail.
JKX To Suspend 2015 Capex Programme In Ukraine
Jan 7 (Reuters) -- JKX Oil & Gas Plc said it would suspend its capital expenditure program in Ukraine for 2015, citing government-imposed restrictions on selling gas to industrial clients and an increase in gas production tax.
The company said gas sales may reduce to less than 50 percent of its production capacity in Ukraine while the decree remained in force, adding that it would halt a proportionate level of gas production.
A presidential ruling requires Ukrainian gas producers to supply all their output in the 2014-15 seasons to the population rather than industries to help the country tide over an energy shortage.
JKX, which has most of its production assets in Ukraine and Russia, had in September cut its 2014 capital expenditure programme in Ukraine after the government almost doubled gas production tax.