CIS (ex-USSR)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV/MINSK (BosNewsLife)-- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, February 12, that a ceasefire had been agreed in eastern Ukraine, starting February 15.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife OSWIECIM, POLAND (BosNewsLife)-- Government leaders and survivors are among those marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation by Soviet forces of Nazi-death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in ceremonies overshadowed by new concerns over rising anti-Semitism in Europe, and a row between Poland and Russia. Tuesday's event in Poland was expected to be the last big anniversary in which remaining elderly survivors would be able to come and pay their respects at the former camp, which became a symbol of the Holocaust.

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.

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.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Bos NewsLife KIEV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- A ceasefire called by President Petro Poroshenko has begun in eastern Ukraine as part of efforts to revive a much-violated truce with pro-Russian separatists, but it remained unclear whether a peace meeting would go ahead as planned on Tuesday.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV/AMSTERDAM (BosNewsLife)-- The Netherlands has commemorated the nearly 300 people who died on board a Malaysia Airlines plane which was shot down over eastern Ukraine earlier this year. Flags flew at half-mast at government buildings as the nation united to remember one of the worst disasters in modern Dutch history.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife with additional reporting by Vatican Radio's Laura Ieraci KIEV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- The leader of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which suffered persecution under Communism, has urged voters to act against corruption and political candidates to stay away of populism.

By BosNewsLife News Center TASHKENT/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Supporters of a pastor in Uzbekistan have urged prayers amid concerns the devoted church leader and his son will face heavy fines for unregistered religious activity.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV , UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- A town in eastern Ukraine has came under heavy shelling by pro-Russian seperatists,  a day after the Russian and Ukrainian leaders met in Belarus, to discuss the escalating crisis in east Ukraine.

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.