Internal Security News

• The Ukrainian military urged residents of Donetsk to evacuate amid reports of increased rebel attacks on civilians and to clear the way for government troops to advance on one of the insurgency’s biggest strongholds.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics in southeast Ukraine had contracted by three quarters since the start of the military operation, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian military commanders reminded representatives of the self-proclaimed 'Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics' about the norms of international humanitarian law and suggested establishing humanitarian corridors for civilian population to leave the cities of Luhansk and Donetsk and the town of Horlivka.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Over a hundred representatives of the international mission as well as OSCE observers began work at the crash site of the Malaysian Boeing-777-200 in Donetsk.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine came under fire on their way to the crash site.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Two people were wounded in an attack on Penal Colony No. 28 in Torez, Donetsk region.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Since the beginning of the Kyiv-led military operation, 523 people have died with more than 3,000 injured in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the republic’s Moscow representative Andrei Rodkin said.
   

Diplomacy News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Russia cannot introduce its peacekeeping troops in Ukraine unilaterally, Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, said. "The introduction of peacekeepers is the strict prerogative of the UN Security Council.”
   
• (RIA Novosti) 438 Ukrainian military personnel asked Russian border guards to open a humanitarian corridor to Russian territory and requested refugee status.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Contact with the Ukrainian troops who asked Russian border guards to open a humanitarian corridor to Russian territory was being maintained through diplomatic channels.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Settlement of the Ukraine crisis is hardly possible as long as southeastern Ukrainians are considered terrorists and separatists, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Russian Foreign Ministry said that NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen keeps making “far-fetched” accusations against Russia which indicate that NATO is still unable to separate long-term security and stability interests in the Euro-Atlantic region from its own momentary goals.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Kyiv-led forces continued to re-deploy short-range ballistic missile systems and multiple-launch rocket systems to the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk in a move that could threaten the lives of hundreds of civilians.
   
• Russia's defense ministry announced it is holding military exercises this week involving 100 aircraft in the west of the country near the Ukraine border.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Ukrainian government was preparing draft laws that will restrict entry to the country for certain officials and limit public purchases from Russia.
   
• (RIA Novosti) US President Barack Obama said in an interview with The Economist that he does not regret the “reset” in relations with Russia.
   

--

More Stories 

Greg Austin interprets Putin’s latest speeches and sheds light on Russia’s point-of-view. Read more

Writing for New Europe, EWI's Professorial Fellow Greg Austin argues that the creation of the Eurasian Union—a union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan—will test relations with the EU. Read more 

There were clear warning signs to the Ukraine crisis, says Greg Austin. "If we want to get that future plan right, we do need to have some understanding of what went wrong." Read more 

Greg Austin writes "The Luhansk Border: A New Crisis Point," for New Europe. Read more 

EWI’s Danila Bochkarev busts some prevailing myths and explains why the Ukraine crisis is a political earthquake and not an energy quake. Read more 

Bochkarev says the recent China-Russia gas deal is more practical than political. Read more