Kiev

Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels were on Dec. 27 set to complete a swap of hundreds of prisoners as part of a new push for peace that came despite Kiev's decision to cut off key transport links to breakaway Crimea.
 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new military doctrine, naming NATO expansion among key external risks, the Kremlin said on Dec. 26, days after Ukraine made fresh steps to join the Atlantic military alliance.
   

The next round of the Minsk talks between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels has been called off, according to Belarusian officials.

A spokesman for the country's Foreign Ministry is quoted by the BBC as saying "there wil be no contact group meeting today", but stopped short of any specific reason.

Kiev authorities have announced large-caliber artillery is to be drawn away from the country's Donbass region starting after December 26, Friday.

This will serve the purpose of setting up a 30-km safety zone, according to Russian news agency TASS, which cites the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press office.

NATO's expansion to the east could prompt Moscow to take "adequate" measures, Alexander Lukashevich, a spokesman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, has said.

Ukraine's membership "distant future" - NATO chief

MOSCOW -- "Ukraine can only submit an application for joining NATO after it conducts all the necessary reforms," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

Russia said on Dec. 24 NATO was turning Ukraine into a "frontline of confrontation" and threatened to sever remaining ties with the Atlantic military alliance if Ukraine's hopes of joining it were realised.

KIEV - Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDS) leader Boris Tadic has met with Ukrainian officials in Kiev to discuss possible solutions to the Ukrainian crisis, noting that that the solutions can only be found through an agreement between Russia and the West that takes the interests of both sides into account.

KIEV - As holder of the OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office next year, Serbia will do all to help de-escalate the conflict in Ukraine, Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, who is on a visit to Ukraine in his capacity as future OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, said Tuesday.

FM in Kiev: Serbia will be impartial OSCE chair

KIEV -- Serbia will do everything as the chair country of the OSCE to assist and contribute to the deescalation of the conflict in Ukraine, said Serbian FM Ivica Dacic.