Alexander Zakharchenko

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the ceasefire in Ukraine was set to begin at midnight on February 15. The deal was announced after 17-hour negotiations among representatives of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine in Minsk, Belarus.

Pro-Russian separatists vowed Feb. 2 to mobilise up to 100,000 fighters for their latest east Ukraine offensive as the US mulled sending weapons to Kiev's out-gunned forces after the latest truce bid collapsed.
      

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko was chairing an emergency security meeting Sunday to forge a response to a new offensive by pro-Russian rebels after rocket strikes on a vital government-held port killed 30 people.
      

The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko announced that his troops are on the offensive and the separatists are unwilling to hold truce talks with Ukraine.

Zakharchenko said that his forces, which are in control of the city of Donetsk, will push the front line back to the borders of the Donetsk region, the BBC reports.

Children among casualties as fighting continues in Ukraine

DONETSK -- Ukrainian armed forces on Sunday shelled more than 50 times the area of ??Donetsk and Gorlovka, while at least eight people were killed and 32 wounded.

This information came from the ministry of defense of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

All state-owned companies in Ukraine's Donbass region have been de facto nationalized, rebels say.

Alexander Zakharchenko, head of self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic', has said in a press statement that in case of entities with "state participation" the rebel authorities are intending to "step in" as " business partners".

Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) is not recognising 'the so-called elections' of November 2 organised by representatives of the separatist forces of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which it sees as integrant and inseparable parts of a sovereign Ukraine, MAE reports in a press release issued on Monday.

Donetsk and Lugansk regions hold elections

DONETSK -- Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) Aleksandr Zakharchenko has declared victory in Sunday's elections....