Author: Steven Sahiounie

On Tuesday, a fourth round of peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia resumed in a video format, after three rounds of negotiations in person in Belarus.Early on Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelensky said that talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations should continue and that it is difficult, but important. He added that the positions of the sides sound more realistic now, but more time is needed.Previously, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia will immediately stop its military operation if Ukrainian authorities amend the constitution to abandon their ambition to enter “any bloc,” and recognise the Crimean referendum and independence…

It’s the ninth weapons test by Pyongyang since the start of the year and the second this month North Korea fired an “unidentified projectile” on Wednesday, but it appears to have failed moments after takeoff, the South Korean military has said.Reports of a botched missile test by Pyongyang first appeared in Japanese media and were later echoed by Seoul. “North Korea fired an unknown projectile… but it is presumed that it failed immediately after launch,” the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. According to the statement, the launch took place in an area near the airport of Pyongyang, which…

On March 16, it became clear that the defense of the grouping of Kyiv’s forces in the Severodonetsk-Lysichansk agglomeration in the region of Donbass collapsed. According to the recent statement by the Russian Defense Ministry, units of the Lugansk People’s Republic are engaged in clashes with Kyiv’s forces northwest, northeast and east of the city of Severodonetsk. This means that the group of Kyiv’s forces in Severdonetsk was cut off from their counterparts in Lysichansk. At the same time, there were reports about the operations of Russian and LPR forward units north and northwest of Lysichansk. Thus, the entire agglomeration…

An official representative of the DPR said at an urgent briefing on the morning of 16 March that information had been received from various sources that another falsification had been carried out by the Ukrainian leadership in the city of Mariupol. This time, the office of the Ukrainian President set the task for the Ukrainian armed forces’ command to discredit the actions of the Russian forces by showing the Western public the mass graves of civilians allegedly killed as a result of artillery shelling and air strikes during the Russian military operation. To this end, between 6 and 11 March,…

Since Russia launched its operation to “demilitarise and de-Nazify” Ukraine on 24 February, responding to calls for help from the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, it has been slapped with sanctions. The US announced a total ban on its energy imports, while the UK vowed to phase out imports of Russian oil and oil products by the end of 2022.Boris Johnson is visiting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates this Wednesday, seeking to achieve what US President Joe Biden has failed to do so far: lobby the Gulf States to open the tap and boost oil supply amid reduced…

Joe Biden is set to announce even more ‘assistance’ to Ukrainian troops US President Joe Biden is reportedly set to announce an additional $800 million in aid for Ukraine, bringing the total amount of US aid to over $1 billion amid Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. An unnamed senior White House official told reporters on Tuesday that an additional $800 million in aid would soon be announced which would bring “the total announced in the last week alone to $1 billion.” The official did not state what equipment would be included in the coming aid; however, a $200 million package announced on Saturday included equipment…

Corsica has been gripped by protests after a pro-independence activist was badly beaten in a French prison Speaking to Corsican newspaper Corse Matin on Tuesday, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the French government was prepared to discuss autonomy for the island province, adding, however, that the restoration of public order was a prerequisite for that. Darmanin’s statement came amid mass protests over the brutal beating of a pro-independence activist in a French prison. In the exclusive interview, the official revealed that the “discussion around the institutional question” would be “unprecedented.” According to Darmanin, the dialogue will be “initiated during…

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator The conflict in Ukraine has divided the world into those who support the US, and those who do not support a superpower in charge of the world. The Ukraine conflict is pitting the US and their western allies, against other nations who seek a new world order, free of US domination. Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Ararat Kostanian in an effort to understand the back-story of the events in Ukraine, and the emergence of a new multi-polar world order. Ararat Kostanian is an expert on Middle Eastern studies and International Relations. He currently works…

Earlier, the head of the Russian delegation at talks with Ukraine, presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, said that Kiev had expressed readiness to demilitarise, but said that wants to keep its own armed forces, like Sweden or Austria. Ukraine’s conversion into a demilitarised country, like Austria or Sweden, with its own army, can be regarded as a compromise, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday. “This is the option that is really being discussed now and which can be seen as a real compromise,” Peskov told reporters. At Russia’s negotiations with Ukraine, according to presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, Kiev earlier expressed willingness…

Four people were injured after a Tochka-U missile struck Makeevka, officials said A Ukrainian Tochka-U ballistic missile landed in a residential area of Makeevka, a town outside Donetsk, on Tuesday evening, Pavel Fomenko, a Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) military spokesman, said. He added that four people, including two children, had been injured. The projectile left a crater, damaging the facades and windows of apartment complexes nearby. Videos from the scene show what appear to be missile parts recovered by rescue teams. The news comes a day after the DPR reported that another missile of the same class was shot down…