Strategic Trust-Building

Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 28, 2014

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The downing of Malaysia Airlines jet MH17 in eastern Ukraine may constitute a "war crime", the UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said.
For the second day running, fighting forced international experts to abandon plans to get to the site of the Malaysian airliner crash to conduct their investigation, officials and pro-Russian rebels said.
(Interfax Ukraine) There were reports that the Ukrainian army was attempting to free the area surrounding the MH17 crash site in Donetsk from separatist control. The National Security and Defense Council stated that the Ukrainian military does not carry out strikes against populated areas, nor conduct any hostilities at the crash site of the Malaysian Boeing 777 in the east of the Donetsk region.
Eight civilians were injured, three of them fatally, as a result of hostilities in Donetsk in the early hours of July 28.
(ITAR-TASS) Militias in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic killed 23 Ukrainian army troops over the past 24 hours.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian troops took control of the town of Debaltseve in Donetsk region and the Savur-Mohyla heights, from which illegal armed groups constantly shelled the positions of Ukrainian law enforcers. Troops also entered Shakhtarsk and Torez in Donetsk region and Lutuhyne in Luhansk region. Fighting was underway for the complete liberation of Pervomaisk in Luhansk region and Snizhne in Donetsk region, and troops were preparing to liberate Horlivka in Donetsk as well.
A UN reported announced that as many as 1,129 civilians have been killed and 3,442 injured in Ukraine since the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation in mid-April 2014 until July 26.
(RIA Novosti) A UN report released by High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay acknowledged that both Ukrainian forces and separatists are employing heavy weaponry in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
A commission investigating the causes of the Boeing 777 air crash in the Donetsk region said that according to the data from the flight recorders, the breakdown and fall of the plane was caused by "a massive explosive decompression" as a result of multiple fragment impact from the missile explosion.
The attacks on Luhansk damaged the power lines supplying power to the city from the Kamianobridsky district and the city was fully without power.
(ITAR-TASS) The defense minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Igor Strelkov, said that he ordered commanders and soldiers of militia forces not to fire on Ukrainian servicemen raising white flags or otherwise indicating surrender.

Diplomacy News

(RIA Novosti) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reproached western countries for their lack of political proposals to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, saying they are merely making demands of Russia and threatening sanctions.
(RIA Novosti) Lavrov stated that Moscow hopes the Kyiv government will launch negotiations with eastern Ukraine’s “independence supporters” soon.
(RIA Novosti) The delivery of lethal arms to Kyiv “would directly pour oil on the fire and urge on Kyiv’s warring instinct,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia will talk to no one regarding Crimea.
Lavrov also stated that Russia will not impose tit-for-tat measures or act "hysterically" over Western economic sanctions, which would not achieve their goal and only make Russia more economically independent.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that the space images posted by the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, ostensibly attesting to Ukrainian army units being shelled from Russian territory, cannot be accepted as evidence.
Japan's top government spokesman said that the country is stepping up sanctions against Russia over the unrest in Ukraine.

Governance News

The proposed government amendments to Ukraine's state budget for 2014 envisage the allocation of Hr 1.9 billion as additional funding for Ukrainian security forces engaged in the anti-terrorist operation, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.

Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 25, 2014

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(ITAR-TASS) Since the beginning of the military operation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, 325 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 1,232 have been wounded, the press secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council, Andrei Lysenko, told a briefing.
(Interfax Ukraine) The resignation of Arseny Yatseniuk from the post of Ukraine's prime minister will not influence the course of the anti-terrorist operation in the country's eastern regions, the spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council said.
(Interfax Ukraine) A motorway bridge connecting the Kalyninsky and Mykytivsky districts of Horlivka, Donetsk region, was blown up again by insurgents.
(Interfax Ukraine) Shots were heard in the area of the Donetsk airport and residents reported explosions in the area of the nearby cities of Maryinka and Krasnohorivka.

Diplomacy News

(Interfax Ukraine) The EU Council decided to reinforce EU sanctions in view of the situation in Ukraine. The EU Council added to the sanctions list 15 individuals and 18 companies responsible for actions undermining Ukraine's territorial integrity.
(ITAR-TASS) The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Washington fully shares responsibility for bloodshed in Ukraine. “It is indisputable that it was the United States that backed an anti-constitutional coup in Kiev and then in essence pushed the regime that established there toward a violent punishment of the Russian-speaking population, which firmly demands that its legitimate rights be observed,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ukrainian and American officials accused Russia of stepping up its involvement in eastern Ukraine, unleashing artillery attacks on Ukrainian positions from Russian territory and amassing heavy weapons along the border that Kiev and its allies fear could be pushed across to reinforce the rebels and prolong the fighting.
(RIA Novosti) Moscow rejects the recent “unfounded public accusations” made by the United States over Ukraine and regrets that Washington continues to intensify tensions in bilateral relations, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
(ITAR-TASS) Russian media reported that Human Rights Watch experts confirmed that Ukraine uses the Grad rocket launcher systems in the southeast, Russia’s Foreign Ministry Commissioner for Human Rights Konstantin Dolgov said on Friday. “This evidence should convince the world community to make the Ukrainian authorities stop the punitive operation,” he wrote on Twitter.
(RIA Novosti) A team of investigators from Russia’s Investigative Committee on Friday came under targeted mortar fire from the Ukrainian side of the border.
(RIA Novosti) Russia says it has evidence that Ukraine used phosphorus bombs on populated areas in the country’s east, the deputy head of operations at Russia’s General Staff said.
Ukrainian nationalist leader Dmytro Yarosh was placed on Interpol’s wanted list at the request of Russian authorities.
(ITAR-TASS) Ukraine will not extradite the far-right radical nationalist Dmytro Yarosh, the chief of Interpol’s bureau in Ukraine said.
(RIA Novosti) Six houses were damaged in Russia’s Rostov region after Ukraine’s shelling, a spokesperson for Russia’s Border Guard Service told RIA Novosti.
(RIA Novosti) The United States will provide financial support to Ukrainian government troops by allocating them $33 million by the end of this year, US ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt said.

Governance News

(Interfax Ukraine) The Verkhovna Rada closed its plenary meeting. An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that while closing the parliament meeting Deputy Speaker Ruslan Koshulynsky noted: "The next meeting will be held at 1000 on August 12."

Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 24, 2014

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Internal Security News

Fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels raged near the crash site of Malaysian flight MH17.
(Interfax Ukraine) Residents of the Kyivsky, Kirovsky and Petrivsky districts of the city of Donetsk reported sounds of artillery fire, the Donetsk city council said on its website.
(ITAR-TASS) The OSCE monitoring mission has full access to the crash site of the Malaysian airliner in east Ukraine, mission representative Michael Bochurkiv said. Twelve OSCE representatives were working alongside Malaysian experts at the plane’s crash site in the Donetsk Region.

Diplomacy News

(Interfax Ukraine) According to Interior Ministry advisor Anton Geraschenk, the ministry has information about the involvement of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in the transfer of weapons to members of illegal armed groups in eastern Ukraine, and is checking reports of his participation in the transfer to DPR militants of a Buk air defense missile system, which, according to the Ukrainian side, was used to shot down the Malaysia Airlines plane.
(Interfax Ukraine) A second Interior Ministry advisor alleged that Russian special services were planning to kill the leaders of militants as unwanted witnesses. Militants named included Igor Strelkov, Igor Bezler, and one of the leaders of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, Valeriy Bolotov. "The only one of the terrorist leaders who retains the possibility of returning to Russia is Borodai as the Kremlin's personal political strategist.”
A spokesperson for the German Foreign Ministry said of the MH17 crash, “Russia has so far promised much and delivered nothing. Now it’s enough.” Chancellor Angela Merkel called for quick sanctions against Russia. Meanwhile, a number of German politicians were calling for the 2018 World Cup to be taken away from Russia as host nation and relocated to another country.
(Interfax Ukraine) The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said that Russian troops have deployed field camps near the Ukrainian border.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said that Kyiv has set up a committee on imposing sanctions on Russia.
(ITAR-TASS) Russia will not hold consultations with Ukraine on the text of the Association Agreement with the European Union and will take unilateral action to protect its national economic interests if Kyiv ratifies the treaty, Russian Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukayev said.
(Interfax Ukraine) The ratification of the agreement on association and a deep and comprehensive free trade area between Ukraine and the European Union is going according to schedule, said deputy chief of the Ukrainian presidential administration Valeriy Chaly.
(ITAR-TASS) China opposes the international practice of “raising the question of sanctions and threatening to impose them at the first opportunity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
The remains of some victims of the downed Malaysian Flight 17 arrived in the Netherlands. Dutch investigators only confirmed there were at least 200 bodies transported from the crash site awaiting transportation to the Netherlands, contrasting the previously reported number of 282. A second plane carrying more remains departed Kharkiv for the Netherlands in the afternoon of July 23.
The "black box" flight-data recorders from MH17 arrived in the UK, where they will be examined at the headquarters of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch in Farnborough.
(RIA Novosti) Sources at Farnborough said that it will take about two days to retrieve and decipher data from MH17’s flight recorders.
(RIA Novosti) Russia handed all of its Defense Ministry’s data on the MH17 crash to the European Union, but has seen no reaction yet, Russia’s envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov said.
(RIA Novosti) US senators called on President Barack Obama to impose new sanctions against Russia, specifically the energy, finance and defense sectors of Russia’s economy, a letter from the senators addressed to the US president said.
(ITAR-TASS) Kyiv’s actions in the east of Ukraine are “immoral and inhuman”, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

Governance News

The Ukrainian cabinet, including Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, resigned in order to trigger a new election and remove “Moscow agents”. “When there’s no coalition, and the acting coalition in a parliamentary-presidential republic has collapsed, the government and the prime minister have to resign,” PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk said, according to the UNIAN news agency. “I hereby announce my resignation as a result of the collapse of the coalition and the blocking of government initiatives.”
Verkhovna Rada Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov called on the UDAR and Svoboda parliamentary factions to propose a candidate for a post of interim prime minister, who will head the government until the parliamentary elections.
The Verkhovna Rada registered a bill scheduling the early parliamentary elections on September 28, 2014.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Turchynov announced the dissolution of the Ukrainian Communist Party faction in the Verkhovna Rada. A total of 308 criminal inquires were launched against members of the party, said Hanna Onyschenko, the head of the Ukrainian State Registration Service.

Read more about Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 24, 2014

Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 22, 2014

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(Interfax Ukraine) The situation in the eastern regions of Ukraine remained complicated and may continue to worsen, the press center of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) said. A Ukrainian Armed Forces checkpoint, located near the town of Vesela Hora in the Donetsk region, came under Grad rocket strikes in the early morning hours of July 22. Militants also fired Grad systems against another Ukrainian army checkpoint near the town of Kamysheve, as well as the Luhansk airport. Militants were attempting to maintain their control over Horlivka, Avdiyivka, Donetsk, parts of Uspenka, Marynivka and Diakove.
A refrigerated train carrying the remains of 282 victims of the Malaysian airliner which crashed in the Donetsk region arrived in the city of Kharkiv, outside rebel territory. The Ukrainian government said it will do "its best" to send the remains to the Netherlands on July 22.
Explorations of the MH17 crash site were completed on July 22. Over 140 sq. km were inspected including 2.1 sq. km of the Hrabovske reservoir, according to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
Rebels in eastern Ukraine have handed over two flight-data recorders from the downed MH17 plane to Malaysian experts. A senior rebel leader signed them over to the Malaysian officials at a meeting in the city of Donetsk.
OSCE monitors were initially granted very little access to the crash site, which was controlled by rebel forces on July 18. Over the weekend, increased access was granted to observers and investigators, but the site remained largely unsecured, with fears that access by local civilians and rebels would contaminate the investigation and wide condemnation of rebel behavior at the site, which was marked by drunkenness and looting, with reports that credit cards belonging to victims had been stolen and used. Parts of the plane wreckage have been changed since OSCE officials at the site last saw it, spokesman Michael Bociurkiw told BBC World Update. Large pieces of the plane have been cut into, he said.
Ukraine's army captured the strategically important town of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov tweeted.
(ITAR-TASS) Accident investigation experts from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) arrived in Ukraine over the weekend to begin assisting their Ukrainian counterparts with the official accident investigation into the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.
Ukraine's parliament approved a presidential decree on July 22 to call up more military reserves and men under 50 to fight rebels in eastern Ukraine and defend the border against a concentration of troops in Russia.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called on the countries whose citizens were killed on Flight MH17 to consider the possibility of sending civilian police units to guard the plane's crash site in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces took full control of Donetsk airport as they continued to fight pro-Russian rebels in the eastern Ukraine city.
(ITAR-TASS) From July 21-22, military confrontation in southeastern Ukraine’s Luhansk killed five civilians, injured sixteen, and damaged 22 houses and infrastructure facilities.
(ITAR-TASS) A number of foreign football players fled clubs in eastern Ukraine.

Diplomacy News

(Interfax Ukraine) The Verkhovna Rada adopted a statement proposing to declare the Malaysian Boeing-777 passenger plane crash as a terrorist attack committed by militants with the support of the Russian authorities.
Russia will do everything for a comprehensive and transparent investigation of the Malaysian plane crash in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a Russian Security Council meeting on July 22. He also called on Kyiv for a ceasefire for the period of the investigation.
Putin stated to the Russian Security Council that "Russia is being presented with what is almost an ultimatum: 'Let us destroy this part of the population that is ethnically and historically close to Russia and we will not impose sanctions against you.’ This is a strange and unacceptable logic." Despite Western sanctions, he said Moscow would stand by separatists in eastern Ukraine whom he described as part of a popular rising against an illegal coup.
Attitudes towards Russia have changed "fundamentally" since last week's downing of a Malaysian airliner, and the European Union must put pressure on Moscow to do more to calm the unrest in eastern Ukraine, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.
Ukrainian President Poroshenko compared the downing of MH17 to 9/11 and Lockerbie. “This is a danger for the whole world.”
A spokesman for Ukraine's Security Council said on July 21 that Kyiv had evidence the missile that brought down a Malaysian airliner last week came from Russia despite Moscow's denials. "There is evidence that the missile which struck the plane was fired by terrorists, who received arms and specialists from the Russian Federation," said Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's Security Council.
Vitaly Nayda, Ukraine's director of informational security, told CNN that he is certain a Russian officer personally pushed the button to shoot down the plane.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said of the US-Russia relationship: “There is no question of trust with, you know, that would be ridiculous at this point in time to be trusting. What I’m saying is that this is the moment of truth for Russia and for Mr. Putin, where they need to stop just saying things, and they need to make sure that they happen.”
Russia's Defense Ministry on July 21 challenged accusations pro-Russian rebels were to blame for shooting down a Malaysian airliner and asked the United States to produce satellite images to support its assertions. The ministry alleged that a Ukrainian fighter plane had shadowed Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, implying that the Ukrainian government had a hand in its being shot down.
European Union foreign ministers threatened Russia with harsher sanctions over Ukraine, but tougher talk may not be matched by much action after France's president signalled the disputed delivery of a warship to Moscow would go ahead.
(Interfax Ukraine) The foreign ministers of the EU member states at a meeting in Brussels approved a decision to send a police mission to Ukraine as part of the EU's Common Security and Defense Policy.
(ITAR-TASS) The Netherlands agreed to take on leadership in investigating the circumstances of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine, the Dutch Foreign Minister, Frans Timmermans said.
(ITAR-TASS) The Russian Foreign Ministry noted the importance of the UN Security Council’s call to all the parties to the Ukrainian conflict to stop combat actions in the area of the Malaysian Boeing crash and ensure access of investigative bodies, including the OSCE special monitoring mission, to the site.
(ITAR-TASS) Russian President Vladimir Putin said that there is "no military threat, no threat to sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country as of today."
The UK government denied that the decision to launch a public inquiry into the killing of the Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko is in response to the downing of the Malaysian airliner.

David Firestein appears as panelist on Voice of America Mandarin Service

David Firestein, Perot fellow and vice president for the Strategic Trust-Building Initiative and Track 2 Diplomacy, appeared on the Voice of America (VOA) Mandarin Service on July 18, 2014 to comment on Americans’ views of China and other current affairs topics.

Firestein served as a panelist on Pro and Con, a weekly news and commentary program that is broadcast on the VOA Mandarin Service satellite television channel to Mandarin-speaking audiences worldwide. During the hour-long program, Firestein commented exclusively in Mandarin on falling favorability towards China in recent American public opinion polls, the U.S. debate over illegal immigration and the recent corruption investigations opened by the Chinese government against prominent China Central Television anchor Rui Chenggang. He appeared alongside Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center; Cheng Xiaonong, a scholar at Princeton University; and Chen Pokong, a political commentator and current affairs analyst.

All links below are in Chinese only, with the exception of the Pew Global Attitudes survey.

U.S. public opinion towards China

According to the Global Attitudes survey released by the Pew Research Center in July, only 35 percent of Americans now view China favorably, down from 51 percent in 2011 (for more on this survey, please see: http://www.pewglobal.org/2014/07/14/chapter-2-chinas-image/.) Firestein noted that the American public’s views toward China have generally fluctuated within a range that does not approach extreme highs or lows, so the current downward trend is unlikely to continue in the long term. He also stressed that China has increasingly become a domestic political issue for Americans and not a foreign policy issue, and that lower U.S. public opinion of China is often tied to difficulties in the U.S. domestic situation, such as high unemployment.

Article: http://www.voachinese.com/content/pro-and-con-0718-1/1960388.html

Video: http://www.voachinese.com/media/video/1960360.html

Audio: http://www.voachinese.com/audio/Audio/434874.html

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRIIVP4E-jA

U.S. illegal immigration debate

A recent increase in the number of unaccompanied minors from Central America trying to cross into the U.S. illegally from Mexico has thrown a spotlight on the contentious debate over illegal immigration within the U.S. Firestein commented that Americans are generally not receptive to illegal immigration, but that the involvement of children in the issue may soften those views. He cautioned against cutting off assistance to punish countries from which the children originate as U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has suggested, pointing out that ceasing assistance could create harsher conditions within those countries that would motivate even more people to migrate to the U.S. and exacerbate the illegal immigration problem. Firestein noted that the illegal immigration issue, including illegal child immigrants, has been a long-standing problem, and thus the current episode is unlikely to greatly influence the U.S. illegal immigration debate.

Article: http://www.voachinese.com/content/pro-and-con-0718-2/1960394.html

Video: http://www.voachinese.com/media/video/1960382.html

Audio: http://www.voachinese.com/audio/Audio/434887.html

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6SDDGYxWyI

Rui Chenggang investigations:

Rui Chenggang is an anchor on China’s state-run China Central Television known for his outspoken nationalistic views who is now under investigation by the Chinese government for corruption. In Firestein’s view, Rui’s controversial comments and confident, even arrogant on-air persona were likely a means of raising his profile and visibility in the public eye. Firestein noted that while Rui’s views are allowed on the air in China, many dissenting perspectives are not, indicating that China’s media environment remains closed and that the “playing field” is still uneven for different views.

Article: http://www.voachinese.com/content/pro-and-con-0718-3/1960396.html

Video: http://www.voachinese.com/media/video/1960391.html

Audio: http://www.voachinese.com/audio/Audio/434886.html

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVj_kS6Urqs

Translation by Strategic Trust-Building Initiative Interns Andrew Cheong and Charissa Lee.

Read more about David Firestein appears as panelist on Voice of America Mandarin Service

Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 17, 2014

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A Malaysian airliner with 295 people on board crashed in eastern Ukraine in the Donetsk region near the border with Russia, on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
(RIA Novosti) The Ukrainian Interior Minsitry confirmed that the Malaysian commercial aircraft crashed near Shakhtarsk in the Donetsk region, killing all 295 aboard. The Ministry alleged that the plane was shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft missile system.
(RIA Novosti) Novosti reported that a source in the Russian Defense Ministry stated that Russian jets in the area near the Russian-Ukrainian border in Donetsk did not fly on July 17. Novosti also repeatedly cited an unattributed statement that militants claimed they had no weapons capable of shooting down a passenger plane at an altitude of 10 kilometers.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko immediately called for the establishment of the State Commission to investigate the “catastrophe” of the Malaysian Airlines crash with the involvement of experts from ICAO and other international organizations, as well as Malaysia and the Netherlands. Poroshenko stressed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had no involvement in the crash.
(Interfax Ukraine) A Ukrainian Su-25 war plane operating over Eastern Ukraine was downed by a rocket on the evening of July 16. Ukraine’s Security Council claimed at a press briefing early on July 17 that the rocket was fired by a Russian fighter jet. The Russian Defense Ministry called the allegation “absurd.”
Ihor Druz, an advisor to the defense minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic , stated that two Ukrainian Air Force aircraft were shot down in the east of the Donetsk region on the evening of July 17.
(ITAR-TASS) A spokesman for the “Republic of Novorossiya” claimed that Ukraine’s army lost at least 1,000 men in combat actions in Ukraine’s south-east from July 10-17.
Ukrainian railways had restored 40 of the 52 railway objects destroyed during the fighting in the east, with losses amounting to about Hr 292 million.
(Interfax Ukraine) Principal Ukrainian television channels stopped being relayed to Donetsk.

Diplomacy News

(RIA Novosti) The Kremlin stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama spoke by phone regarding the Malaysian Airlines commercial plane crash in Donetsk. The statement was released within an hour of the first reports of the crash.
(Interfax Ukraine) The European Parliament at a plenary meeting in Strasbourg adopted a resolution on Ukraine, which expresses support for Ukraine and condemns actions by Russia.
(Interfax Ukraine) The National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine said that Ukrainian soldiers are often shelled from Russian territory.
(RIA Novosti) Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that he supports negotiations on the crisis in the country’s east, but exclusively in an EU-US-Russia-Ukraine format.
Ukraine’s military claimed that a Russian jet shot down a Ukrainian war plane. A Ukrainian Su-25 war plane operating over Eastern Ukraine was downed by a rocket fired by a Russian fighter on the evening of July 16, Ukraine’s Security Council claimed at a press briefing on July 17.
The Obama administration announced new, tougher new sanctions against Russia, targeting major banks and energy companies, a significant swath of the Russian defense industry, and individuals it said were responsible for the continuing support of separatists battling government forces in eastern Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the latest US sanctions against his country, saying they will damage relations and hurt businesses from both countries. The president said that bilateral relations were reaching a "dead end". Russian PM Medvedev said that the sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, including the new ones, will not help Ukraine in any way.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the European Council, after approving six new measures related to the Ukrainian crisis and Russia's annexation of Crimea, has taken an important step to support Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity.
(RIA Novosti) New sanctions against Russia could return relations with Russia and the countries that implement them back to the 1980s, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
(RIA Novosti) Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow didn’t object to Ukraine receiving financial aid from the International Monetary Fund and other big lenders, but stressed they should prevent the money from being used to wage war on civilians in the east.
Russia must stop providing illegal armed groups in eastern Ukraine with weapons, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.
(ITAR-TASS) Sanctions which the US has imposed against the NOVATEK gas company will make it harder to attract new credits but will not affect its current operations, said Russian businessman Gennady Timchenko, who owns a 23% stake in the Russian gas producer.
(ITAR-TASS) British oil and gas company BP, which owns 19.75% of Rosneft shares, was examining the situation with new sanctions imposed by the United States on Russia's top oil producer, BP's spokesperson in Russia said.
(ITAR-TASS) The head of the advisory firm Creon Energy stated that newly adopted Western sanctions against Russia will inflict at least $150-200 billion of losses upon the Russian energy industry.

Goverance News

(ITAR-TASS) Ukraine has not yet accumulated sufficient reserves of natural gas to get through the upcoming heating season, Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan said.

Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 16, 2014

What EWI Stands For

Internal Security News

Fighting raged in Ukraine's east on July 16 when separatists tried to break through the lines of government forces near the border with Russia and a tentative step towards agreeing conditions for a ceasefire failed.
The press service of the self-proclaimed ‘Novorossiya’ stated that insurgents of the “Luhansk People's Republic” encircled the Ukrainian anti-terrorist operation forces near the border checkpoint in Izvaryne, with the Ukrainian army sustaining tangible losses.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces resumed flights within the area of the military operation in the eastern part of the country, which were suspended after an Antonov An-26 military transport plane was shot down in the Luhansk region on July 14.
(ITAR-TASS) The press service of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk told ITAR-TASS that Ukrainian aviation delivered an air strike at the town of Shakhtyorsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Militants also reported that an Su-25 assault aircraft was shot down over the town of Snizhne, which remained unconfirmed by the press service. Gunfire at positions of the Ukrainian forces near the village of Marynivka in the Shakhtyorsk district continued on July 16.
(ITAR-TASS) The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic instituted martial law in the city of Donetsk, with a curfew in place from 23:00 to 06:00.
(ITAR-TASS) Militants from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic took control of the village of Marinivka on the Russian border.
(ITAR-TASS) Militants from the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics launched an offensive on the Ukrainian National Guard forces in eastern Donetsk Region at 5AM local time.
(ITAR-TASS) An explosion rocked a stretch of a railway connecting two residential areas in Ukraine’s embattled southeastern Donetsk Region. The blast damaged the railway between the residential settlements of Novobakhmutovka and Gorlovka and was the second explosion at the location recently Three bridges had been blown up in Donetsk since July 13, located on the Rostov-Kharkiv highway, on the railway near the Bakhmutovka village, and across the Seversky Donets near the village of Zakotnoye. In addition, 2 bridges had been blown up in Luhansk.
One person died and nine were injured in gunfire in Luhansk from July 15-16, the Luhansk City Council press service said.
11 Ukrainian servicemen died during the same period in eastern Ukraine, said National Security and Defense Council information center spokesman Andriy Lysenko.
(ITAR-TASS) Two Ukrainian border guards were taken to hospital with heavy wounds in Russia’s southern Rostov region.
(Interfax Ukraine) The Donetsk City Council reported overnight gunfire on the evening of July 15-16.
(RIA Novosti) Horlivka’s self-defense militia leader Ihor Belzer alleged that foreign contractors are fighting against separatist militias in the southeast of Ukraine.
(RIA Novosti) Belzer also claimed that militants can prove to the UN the Ukrainian Army uses prohibited weapons, including cluster bombs. The United Nations was prepared to investigate information on Kyiv’s use of banned military weapons if appropriate evidence were to be presented, UN High Commissioner Navi Pillay told RIA Novosti.
(ITAR-TASS) The international contact group on Ukraine is deeply concerned over an absence of dialogue with representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, the press office of the OSCE said.
The Ukrainian government is not considering martial law in the eastern part of the country, National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.
(ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk said that Ukraine hopes to restore the infrastructure in Donetsk and Luhansk regions in southeast Ukraine from the state budget, thanks to private investors and international aid.
(RIA Novosti) Yatsenyuk stated that Ukrainian oligarchs should allocate funds for the restoration of damages incurred during the fighting in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Diplomacy News

An advisor to the Interior Minister said that Ukraine's Interior Ministry is recording crimes committed by anti-government militants in the east of the country as part of the evidence base that will be used in international courts for claims against the Russian Federation.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the United States won't provide in advance any clear cut information about the probable 'timing or scope' of sanctions that the United States will impose on Russia over Ukraine.
The Ukrainian presidential administration was considering the possibility of severing diplomatic relations with neighboring Russia but thinks that it is still not the right time to sever diplomatic relations, Valeriy Chalyi, a deputy chief of the Ukrainian presidential staff, told journalists.
(ITAR-TASS) Two shells fired from Ukraine hit Russian territory near the Kuibyshevo multi-way automobile border-crossing point.
The German government criticized Russia for failing to meet commitments agreed earlier this month on de-escalating the violence in Ukraine and said the European Union remained ready to impose further sanctions on Russia if necessary.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the issue of support from the international community for the settlement of the situation in Donbas ahead of a European Council meeting on July 16. Poroshenko also spoke by phone with U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, who reiterated that the US is determined to support Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
(Interfax Ukraine) European Union leaders were intending to expand sanctions against Russia, according to a draft document of conclusions obtained by Bloomberg. The EU planned to seek to stop the funding of new Russian projects through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The EU could also order the European Investment Bank (EIB) to stop funding new projects in Russia's public sector.
(ITAR-TASS) German Chancellor Merkel and UK Prime Minister Cameron stated that the EU summit on July 16 in Brussels was planning to discuss sanctions against Russia.
Washington reacted positively to the extension of the "black list" of the European Union due to the situation in Ukraine, US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said.
(ITAR-TASS) The “punitive” military operation in Ukraine’s southeast heightens the humanitarian situation, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.

International Observation Missions

A three-member assessment mission of the OSCE arrived in Rostov-on-Don to examine the situation of refugees on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

Goverance News

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk presented draft amendments to the state budget for 2014 at a government meeting.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Premier Arseniy Yatseniuk demanded a response to the unreasonable rise in prices in the town of Sloviansk of Donetsk region. His statement appeared after a report by the first deputy head of Donetsk Regional State Administration, Andiy Nikolayenko, who said that abuses have been registered in transport, at drugstores, as well as in supermarkets of the ATB network that have resumed work.

Constitutional Reform

(RIA Novsoti) Kyiv has made very little headway toward coveted reforms, while the chances of following through on the needed changes are dwindling, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) said.

Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 15, 2014

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An airstrike in the Ukrainian city of Snizhne destroyed an apartment complex and killed up to eleven civilians.
(RIA Novosti) Militants in Donetsk claimed that the airstrike in Snizhne was the work of the Ukrainian military.
Kyiv denied involvement in the airstrike. Andrei Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council, claimed that "Today at 7 a.m. an unknown plane carried out a bombing attack on Snizhne. The flight can be described only as a cynical provocation.”
(Interfax Ukraine) The spokesman for the Ukrainian military operation stated that Ukrainian forces have not used any aircraft since July 14 due to the investigation into the crash of an Antonov An-26 plane. A search-and-rescue operation was underway to locate 6 crewmembers from the downed plane.
(ITAR-TASS) The parliament of the self-proclaimed Union of People’s Republics in southeastern Ukraine adopted changes to the constitution of the confederative state and passed a number of important laws, parliament head Oleg Tsarev told ITAR-TASS. “We can now rightly… call our state Novorossiya. This name has been enshrined in the Constitution. Our legislative body is now called the parliament of Novorossiya.”
(Interfax Ukraine) The settlements of Metalist, Oleksandrivsk, Bile, and Rozkishne were freed from militants and the Luhansk airport was unblocked.
(Interfax Ukraine) Representatives of the Maidan “self-defense” forces and the Right Sector vacated seven administrative buildings in downtown Kyiv without use of force, said Kyiv prosecutor Serhiy Yuldashev. 12 administrative buildings remained under the control of the groups.
(ITAR-TASS) Militants from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic claimed to have killed about 100 Ukrainian army personnel and destroyed five tanks, two infantry combat vehicles, two armored personnel carriers, and a mortar battery from July 14-15 during a battle for the Luhansk Airport.
(ITAR-TASS) The press service of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic claimed that Ukrainian army units were leaving their positions near east Ukraine’s Luhansk, including Alexandrovka and Schastye, in a move that the press office claimed was “not connected to self-defense fighters’ actions.”
(ITAR-TASS) At least eight civilians, including a child, were killed in the Ukrainian army’s shelling of Luhansk from July 14-15.
(Interfax Ukraine) Luhansk Mayor Serhiy Kravchenko declared three days of mourning for civilians killed in the fighting.
(Interfax Ukraine) From July 14-15, illegal armed formations attacked counter-terrorism operation forces 16 times and six Ukrainian law enforcers were killed.
(RIA Novosti) A total of 258 servicemen of the Ukrainian government forces had been killed, 922 wounded, and 45 captured since the start of the military operation in the eastern part of the country.
(RIA Novosti) The acting Prosecutor General of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic claimed that Kyiv “most likely” used chemical weapons against residents in southeastern Ukraine.
(RIA Novosti) The self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk halted the broadcasting of all Ukrainian television channels in Donetsk, leaving only Russian broadcasting.

Diplomacy News

(RIA Novosti) The Russian Defense Ministry invited military attaches from 18 countries, including from the US and Germany, to assess the situation on the Russian-Ukrainian border that has been hit multiple times by Ukrainian artillery.
(ITAR-TASS) Military attaches of the German, French, Italian and Spanish embassies in Moscow accepted an invitation from the country’s Defense Ministry and set off to Russia’s southern Rostov region. The military attaches of seven foreign countries, including Ukraine, refused to travel to the town of Donetsk on the border with Ukraine.
Ukraine's government said Russian forces may have shot down one of its military airplanes on July 14 amid a European push for peace talks that Germany expects to inch forward.
(ITAR-TASS) The Russian Defense Ministry reported a growing number of incidents with shelling of Russian settlements bordering Ukraine. According to Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov, “These provocative incidents recur with the lack of official Kiev authorities’ response.”
(ITAR-TASS) An EU source told ITAR-TASS that nine European Union member states were ready to block any attempts to impose new economic sanctions on Russia at a summit on July 16. The countries cited by the source, a diplomat from a Western European country’s permanent representation to the EU, were France, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Slovenia, and Italy, which currently holds the EU presidency.
(Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that it views the Russian Foreign Ministry's initiative on deploying OSCE monitors only at the Russian checkpoints as a provocation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the next president of the European Commission that Russia's ties with the European Union are undergoing "serious tests" but can be improved.
(ITAR-TASS) The head of the Moscow Union of Journalists said that the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's plans to initiate a request to the European Union to ban entry for Russian journalists and media representatives are groundless.
(RIA Novosti) Citizens of the Amur Region in Russia’s Far East have sent almost 10 tons of humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees in the Volgograd Region.

International Observation Missions

(Interfax Ukraine) The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported that the situation in the central-southern part of the Luhansk region and the central part of the Donetsk region remained volatile.
The military attaches from the OSCE’s eleven member-countries and foreign reporters visited the place hit by artillery fire in the city of Donetsk in Russia's Rostov region.
(ITAR-TASS) Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE Didier Burkhalter was considering the possibility of extending the term of a monitoring mission’s work for another six months upon Ukraine’s request.
(ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed by phone the idea to involve representatives of the OSCE in monitoring of the situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border.

Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – July 14, 2014

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(Interfax Ukraine) Fighting intensified around Luhansk as rebels surrounded a strategic airport there. Ukrainian forces eventually reached the Luhansk airport and freed it from militants.
The Ukrainian air force said it had delivered "five powerful air strikes" on targets in the eastern Luhansk region in a bid to end a rebel blockade of the airport.
(Interfax Ukraine) Separatists destroyed another two bridges in the Donetsk region.
A Ukrainian military transport aircraft was shot down in the east. The Ukrainian Defense Minister said that the An-26 plane was hit at an altitude of 6,500m and therefore couldn't have been reached from a portable air defense system, which means that "the plane was struck by another, more powerful missile that was probably launched from Russian territory. " The Luhansk People’s Republic claimed responsibility for the attack. The plane had eight passengers aboard, all of whom reportedly survived, though rumors were circulating that militants claimed to have taken 4 passengers hostage.
(ITAR-TASS) Militants from the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine claimed to have shot down two Ukrainian combat planes.
(ITAR-TASS) Residential houses and public buildings in Kamennobrodsky and Artemovsky districts in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk were shelled over July 13-14.
(ITAR-TASS) 30 fighters from the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic died on July 13 when the locality of Alexandrovka came under mortar fire.
(RIA Novosti) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced the need for several changes in military tactics that would narrow the zone of special operations and strengthen the border with Russia.
(Interfax Ukraine) Former Sloviansk Mayor Nelia Shtepa was arrested for two months with no right to post bail for 60 days. She is suspected of activities constituting a threat to Ukraine's territorial integrity and inviolability.
(Interfax Ukraine) A significant number of MPs support the introduction of martial law in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, independent MP Anatoliy Hrytsenko reported.

Diplomacy News

(RIA Novosti) A Kremlin source told Russia’s Kommersant newspaper that Moscow is considering “surgical retaliatory strikes” on Ukrainian territory after the standoff has led to first civilian victims among Russians on Russia’s territory. A Russian citizen was killed when a shell hit a private house in the Russian town of Donetsk late on July 13.
(ITAR-TASS) Russia’s Investigative Committee planned to request satellite data to identify Ukrainian army units and commanders responsible for shelling the Russian border town, which resulted in one person dead and two wounded.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian military analyst and head of the Center for Military and Political Studies and coordinator of the Information Resistance group Dmitry Tymchuk stated that he had received information indicating that Russia intends to invade Ukraine on July 15. The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said it does not currently have confirmed reports about Russia's alleged intention to use its special troops in Ukraine on July 15.
Russia's foreign ministry said the Ukrainian army is responsible for the shelling that killed a man inside Russian territory, warning on July 13 that the incident could have "irreversible consequences".
A NATO military officer said that Russia has been building up its forces again along the Ukrainian border and now has an estimated 10,000-12,000 troops in the area.
(ITAR-TASS) Ukraine denied that it shelled Russian territory. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on July 13 in which it said that Ukrainian soldiers did not deliver fire in the region mentioned by Russia. “Ukrainian servicemen have never shelled, are not shelling and will not shell territories of a neighboring state or residential quarters,” the statement said.
Investigators found that at least seven shells were launched from Ukraine on the Rostov oblast.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said at a meeting with the heads of law enforcement agencies that Russian officers are acting and Russian weapons are being used against Ukrainian servicemen in eastern Ukraine, including a newly-developed Russian missile system.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held consultations with U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden by telephone. The talks dealt with intensive coordination between Ukraine and the United States, and with the European partners.
(Interfax Ukraine) Deputy head of the presidential administration Valeriy Chaly said Ukraine is making every effort to free its citizens, military pilot Nadia Savchenko and film director Oleh Sentsov.
Standard & Poor's revised its outlook on Ukraine to stable from negative, the agency said in a press release.
(ITAR-TASS) No meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is being planned for the time being, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
(Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held talks with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy. During the conversation, Poroshenko urged the European Union to assess the cases of illegal crossing of the Russian-Ukrainian border by military hardware, and attacks by Russian military on the positions of Ukrainian servicemen.

International Observation Missions

(ITAR-TASS) Russia’s Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Swiss President Didier Burkhalter agreed to take urgent measures for implementing the agreements on de-escalation in Ukraine in compliance with the Geneva statement of April 14 and the Berlin declaration of July 2. They also agreed to involve the OSCE for working out practical ways aimed at resolving the hostage issue.
(ITAR-TASS) Russia's checkpoints of Donetsk and Gukovo are ready for an international monitoring mission, Russia's permanent representative to the OSCE Andrei Kelin said. This decision does not require the OSCE Standing Committee approval.
The OSCE said it did not rule out that the Russian initiative to invite OSCE monitors to the Donetsk and Gukovo checkpoint could be considered at an unscheduled meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council.

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