Ukraine

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV, UKRAINE-- With the world focused on war in Ukraine, many disabled children living there are apparently forgotten. International rights activists have expressed concern that thousands of minors are being condemned to live in orphanages and institutions where they face neglect and abuse.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Some pro-Russian rebels have used the Orthodox Christmas to reach-out to their enemy in eastern Ukraine. With Jesus saying in the Bible: "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you," they gave Christmas presents to Ukrainian troops. It happened while they provided safe passage to some 50 Ukrainian soldiers.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Christians in eastern Ukraine are mourning the death of four local church workers and a pastor who were killed in separate attacks by pro-Russian separatists as part of a wider crackdown on evangelicals in the war torn region, BosNewsLife learned.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV/MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine and Russia have signed a major economic trade deal, despite massive protests in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, for European Union integration , with Moscow promising massive financial assistance and cuts in natural gas prices.

(AS UKRAINE PREPARES FOR A TURBULENT SPRING, BOSNEWSLIFE RE-PRINTS A KEY STORY BOSNEWSLIFE COVERED IN 2006). CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE

CHERNOBYL, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Fresh flowers in front of a small statue resembling the Virgin Mary revealed that at least some Ukrainians returned Wednesday, April 26, to the 30 kilometers (19 miles) "exclusion zone" around the country's leaking Chernobyl nuclear power plant, which exploded 20 years ago.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife WARSAW/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- A record number of more than 1.5 million people have visited the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland last year, officials say. The announcement comes ahead of commemorations marking the liberation of what became a symbol of the Holocaust.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife BRUSSELS/KIEV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- The United States and the European Union have expressed caution about a new Ukraine peace agreement reached during talks in Minsk between the Russian, Ukrainian, French and German leaders. Thursday's accord includes a ceasefire starting Sunday, followed by the withdrawal of weapons, the establishment of a demilitarized zone and the exchange of prisoners.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio: By BosNewsLife News Center with reporting by BosNewsLife's Stefan J. Bos KIEV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine’s security service says it has foiled a Russian-backed terrorist plot aimed at causing mass casualties in the capital Kiev. The alleged plot added to tensions between the West and Russia, which on Saturday threatened to retaliate for new sanctions and warned it would never give up the Crimean Peninsula it annexed from Ukraine.

Listen to this BosNewsLife report via Vatican Radio:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine's embattled President Viktor Yanukovich has accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and his entire Cabinet, as anti-government protests spread across the country.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- The NATO military alliance has come under pressure to increase security as hundreds of thousands of people flee battles between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.