Eastern Ukraine News

Russian energy company Novatek said on Sunday it had been forced to suspend some operations at a huge Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire started by what Ukrainian media said was a drone attack.The giant Ust-Luga complex, located on the Gulf of Finland about 170 km (110 miles) west of St. Petersburg, is used to ship oil and gas products to international markets. It processes stable gas condensate - a type of light oil - into light and heavy naphtha, kerosene and diesel to be shipped by sea.It was not clear how long the disruption would last…

Ukrainian officials said Russia struck Ukrainian port infrastructure and grain storage facilities on Tuesday, but also reported some progress on the front lines in the three-month old counteroffensive by its forces.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke of "good details" from the front without further explanation and said Ukraine clearly understood where to apply pressure to make it felt in Moscow."Sanctions are not enough. There will also be more of our own Ukrainian actions against the terrorist state," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

President Vladimir Putin mooted on Wednesday reopening a U.N.-brokered deal for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea and threatened to halt all energy supplies to Europe if Brussels caps the price of Russian gas.In a combative speech to an economic forum in Russia's Far East region, Putin made little reference to his invasion of Ukraine, but said in answer to a question that Russia would not lose the war and had strengthened its sovereignty.On the ground, Ukrainian officials…

Three grain ships left Ukrainian ports on Friday while the first inbound cargo vessel since Russia's invasion was due in Ukraine to load, as Kyiv called for the safe passage deal to be extended to other cargoes such as metals.The July 22 deal marked a rare diplomatic breakthrough as war rages in eastern Ukraine, with Kyiv trying to rebuild its shattered economy after more than five months of conflict."We expect that the security guarantees of our partners from the U.N. and Turkey will continue to work…

The German government on Thursday signed agreements for the charters of four floating storage and regasification units (FSRUs), as it works to become less reliant on Russian gas, as FSRUs will enable it to import LNG from other sources.The agreements were signed for the charters of two FSRUs owned by Oslo-listed firm Hoegh LNG, and two owned by Dynagas. Hoegh LNG FSRUs will be operated by RWE, while Uniper has facilitated the charter of two FSRUs managed by Dynagas Ltd.Höegh LNG said that the detailed FSRU contracts with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action…

The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on the company in charge of building Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, expanding penalties on Moscow after it recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.The sanctions, which target the Nord Stream 2 AG company and its CEO, Matthias Warnig, add to pressure on the Baltic Sea project that was designed to double the gas flow capacity from Russia to Germany.Europe's most divisive energy project, Nord Stream 2 has not begun operations pending certification by Germany and the European Union.Germany on Tuesday halted the pipeline…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz halted the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project designed to bring more Russian gas to Germany on Tuesday after Russia formally recognized two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.Europe's most divisive energy project was finished in September but has remained idle since then pending certification by Germany and the European Union.The project is designed to double the amount of gas flowing from Russia straight to Germany under the Baltic Sea, bypassing…

A ship carrying two refitted former U.S. Coast Guard patrol boats designed to beef up the Ukrainian Navy transited the Dardanelles strait on Saturday days after Ukraine said it feared Russia might be preparing an attack on it.The ship carrying the two Island-class patrol boats departed Baltimore for the Ukrainian port of Odessa on November 8. Ukrainian sailors have already undergone extensive training on the vessels in the United States. Ukraine got two similar vessels in 2019.The two new boats are part of a security package to Ukraine worth over $2.5 billion since 2014…

Ukraine said on Saturday it would speed up the construction of a naval base at the port of Berdyansk to prevent what Kyiv calls a gradual attempt by Moscow to take control of the Sea of Azov that flows past Russian-annexed Crimea.Ukraine's newly-appointed defense minister announced the plans after a trip to Berdyansk that followed Western warnings this week about Russian troop movements near Ukraine's borders and a possible attack.Russia has dismissed as inflammatory suggestions…

Russia's Black Sea naval forces practiced destroying enemy targets on Tuesday as Moscow bristled at the presence of two U.S. warships in the area.President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russian forces could observe the USS Mount Whitney navy command ship "through binoculars or in the crosshairs of its ... defense systems" and complained about NATO activity near Russia's borders.On Tuesday, the Black Sea fleet said its ships had rehearsed destroying enemy targets and that their air defense systems had been put on alert at its bases in Novorossiysk and on annexed Crimea…

Ukraine can be confident that Germany and the European Union will guarantee its status as a transit country for Russian gas even after the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has opened, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday.Merkel made the remarks during a news conference with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy three days before she holds talks in Washington with U.S. President Joe Biden, whose administration is against the almost completed pipeline."The European Union and Germany will see to it that this continues in the future beyond 2024," said Merkel.

Two Russian warships transited the Bosphorus en route to the Black Sea on Saturday and 15 smaller vessels completed a transfer to the sea as Moscow beefs up its naval presence at a time of tense relations with the West and Ukraine.The reinforcement coincides with a huge build-up of Russian troops near Ukraine, something Moscow calls a temporary defensive exercise, and follows an escalation in fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces.Russia's relations with Washington…

This article will focus on U.S. sanctions on Russia/Ukraine. The Russia/Ukraine sanctions program is a complex mix of comprehensive, noncomprehensive and “sectoral” sanctions. It includes both primary sanctions aimed at U.S. persons and secondary sanctions aimed at non-U.S. persons. It encompasses broad sectors of the Russian economy and significant dealings with sanctioned individuals and entities, while generally permitting most transactions with Russia. Accordingly, it stands alone in U.S.

Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa is set to receive on Wednesday its first ever West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil cargo from the United States, according to industry sources and shipping data, just a month after the front-month futures for the blend turned negative.U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) May crude futures sank to minus $38 per barrel on April 20, just days before their expiration, in a quirky trading pattern never seen before, amid overproduction and lack of storage capacity inflicted by the coronavirus-battling restrictions.On Wednesday, the front-month WTI futures were trading at above $32 a barrel.Industry sources said that the Umla tanker has shipped in BP's 80,000-tonnes cargo for further delivery to the Kremenchug refinery of Ukrtatnafta.

Russia on Monday handed back three naval ships it captured last year to Ukraine, something Kiev wanted to happen before a four-way peace summit on eastern Ukraine next month in Paris.The handover, confirmed by the two countries' foreign ministries, occurred in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.Russia seized the ships in the same area in November last year after opening fire on them and wounding several sailors. Moscow said the ships - two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tug boat - had illegally entered its territorial waters. Kiev denied that.Russia returned the sailors…

Russia-Ukraine naval clash followed shipping holdups Ships bound for Ukrainian ports say they are held up while those bound for Russian ports go through.When the Island Bay cargo ship arrived from Beirut at the Kerch Strait, gateway to the Azov Sea, it sailed into a perfect storm of geopolitics and bad weather.The following day, Russia opened fire on three Ukrainian naval ships, impounded them and detained their sailors, some of them wounded. It then blocked the strait by putting a tanker underneath a new bridge it has built linking the Russian mainland to the Crimean peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.While the world digested the implications of the Nov.

Russia on Monday ignored Western calls to release three Ukrainian naval ships it fired on and captured near Crimea at the weekend and accused Kiev of plotting with its Western allies to provoke a conflict.Kiev in turn accused Russia of military aggression and put its armed forces on full combat alert, saying it reserved the right to defend itself. Ukrainian lawmakers were due to decide whether to introduce martial law for two months later on Monday, a move President Petro Poroshenko…

Some Russian ships have stopped transporting cargo to Ukraine, deeming it risky after a Russian tanker was detained in a Ukrainian port as Kiev made good on sanctions against Moscow, two sources at shipowners said.It is the latest fallout from Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and the emergence of a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine.The Mekhanik Pogodin oil tanker, under the Russian flag, has been moored in the port of Kherson since Aug. 10, Reuters ship tracking data shows.A spokeswoman for a regional unit of the Ukrainian state security service (SBU) said the tanker had been detained in the port and prevented from offloading because its owner is on a list of sanctions imposed by Kiev."We are just following the law…

Exxon Mobil Corp will exit some joint ventures with Russia's Rosneft, citing Western sanctions first imposed in 2014, while the Russian company said the pullout will result in serious losses for its U.S. partner. The move is an about-face for Exxon, which had opposed the sanctions over Russia's invasion of Crimea and argued they unfairly penalized U.S. companies while allowing foreign energy rivals to operate in the country, the world's largest oil producer. Yet the sanctions…

Poland's desire to cut natural gas imports from Russia has led to an "understanding" with the United States to work toward a deal to export liquefied natural gas to its new Baltic Sea terminal, the country's deputy prime minister said on Wednesday. Mateusz Morawiecki, who is also the minister of economic development and finance, said in an interview that discussions with new U.S. "The word agreement is probably premature. Understanding? Absolutely," Morawiecki said as he wrapped up a three-day U.S. visit with stops in Washington, Boston and New York. Poland's liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in the Baltic Sea was completed in 2015 and opened last year. It has an annual capacity of 5 billion cubic meters, which the government wants to double in the next few years, Morawiecki said.

Hundreds of U.S. tanks, trucks and other military equipment arrived by ship in Germany on Friday to be transported by rail and road to eastern Europe as part of a NATO buildup that has drawn Russia's ire. Two shiploads arrived in the northern port of Bremerhaven and a third was due in a few days, bringing the fleets of tracked and wheeled vehicles for use by around 4,000 U.S. troops being deployed for exercises in NATO states near Russia. U.S. and Polish forces will participate in a large "massing" exercise in Poland at the end of January as part of a series of measures aimed at reassuring U.S. allies in Europe after Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.

The Obama administration on Friday blocked new exploration for oil and gas in Arctic waters, in a win for environmental groups that had fought development of the ecologically fragile region. The Department of the Interior released a 2017 to 2022 leasing plan that blocked drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off northern Alaska. It also limited petroleum development in the Cook Inlet off south-central Alaska. Environmental activists have battled drilling in Alaska to protect whales, walruses and seals, and as part of a broader movement to keep remaining fossil fuels in the ground.

Last week's frightening incident in the Baltic Sea, where Russian warplanes repeatedly buzzed the destroyer USS Donald Cook over a two-day period, left many Americans wondering why the U.S. Navy didn't simply splash the SU-24 attack aircraft. According to a report in Reuters, Russia accused the United States on Wednesday of intimidation by sailing a U.S. naval destroyer close to Russia's border in the Baltics and warned that the Russian military would respond with "all necessary measures" to any future incidents. Alexander Grushko, Moscow's ambassador, however, saw the issue differently. Speaking after a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council…