EU - UKRAINE - US: STEPS FORWARD OR STEPS BACK

Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on the peaceful settlement of the Donbas crisis, MP Iryna Gerashchenko says that the number of Ukrainian hostages in Russian-occupied Donbas has increased to 127 people.The leader of the parliamentary assembly in Europes oldest human rights body has been stripped of his powers after being accused of tarnishing his office by meeting the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. In a move unprecedented in the 68-year history of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace), senior MPs passed a vote of no confidence in the president, Pedro Agramunt. The Spanish senator was re-elected president for a second one-year term in January, but has since faced criticism for his handling of alleged corruption at the assembly and a recent surprise visit he made to Damascus on a Russian military jet. A cross-party group of Paces senior leaders agreed unanimously on Friday that Agramunt should be banned from making official visits or public statements as president.

MP Iryna Gerashchenko. Source: APP