Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – June 16, 2014
News | June 16, 2014
Internal Security News
- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for a truce in east Ukraine, where his government faces a rebellion by pro-Russian separatists, to provide time to seek agreement on a peace plan.
- Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian military plane in Luhansk on June 14, killing all 49 aboard.
- Riots took place outside the Russian embassy in Kyiv on June 14 in response to the loss of the plane. Protestors overturned cars, threw eggs, swore at Russian diplomats, and tore down the Russian flag.
- (ITAR-TASS) In Odessa about a hundred people, including some bearing symbols of the radical "Right Sector" group, staged a demonstration outside the Russian consulate demanding that the consulate remove the Russian flag.
- (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian troops fired on an artillery center in Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.
- (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy said it is now too early to speak about a date when the operation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions will end. "I can only say that [Poroshenko] has ordered a prompt solution of these tasks," he told a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
- (ITAR-TASS) The spokeswoman of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the number of internally displaced persons in Ukraine is approaching 20 thousand.
- (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared Sunday, June 15 a day of mourning in connection with the deaths of Ukrainian military men and border guards involved in the anti-terrorist operation.
Diplomacy News
- (RIA Novosti) Russian gas giant Gazprom at 10:00 a.m. local time implemented a prepayment plan for the delivery of Russian fuel to Ukraine’s Naftogaz.
- (ITAR-TASS) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he no longer intends to communicate with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Deschytsia, following offensive remarks made by Deschytsia outside the Russian embassy in Kyiv during the riots on June 14.
- NATO released images it claims prove that the tanks that entered Ukraine were of Russian origin.
- (RIA Novosti) Russian media reported that the Ukrainian Interior Ministry alleged that there may have been Russian involvement in protests outside the Russian embassy in Kyiv.
- (RIA Novosti) China condemned the June 14 attack on the Russian Embassy in Kyiv.
- (Interfax Ukraine) The European Council announced that the European Union will sign the economic part of the Association Agreement with Ukraine on June 27, simultaneously with the signing of similar documents with Moldova and Georgia.
- (RIA Novosti) A representative of the Russian Federal Security Services alleged that unexploded land mines of Ukraine's armed forces have been found on the territory of Russia's Rostov region one kilometer away from the Ukraine-Russia border.
- (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk alleged that Russia had banned imports of Ukrainian agricultural products to Russia from June 16.
- The CEO of Gazprom alleged that Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk, having interfered in talks between Russia, Ukraine and the European Commission over the weekend, is inclined toward a gas war.
- (RIA Novosti) Gazprom’s CEO alleged that Ukraine said that if Russia refused to grant Ukraine a 'super-low' gas price, it would tap Russia’s Europe-bound gas for free.
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Deschytsia was embroiled in a diplomatic row after he was caught on camera making abusive remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin outside the Russian embassy in Kyiv on June 14.
- (RIA Novosti) Deshchytsia behaved inadequately when he shouted offensive remarks directed against the Russian president near the Russian embassy, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that Deschytsia’s crude remark went “beyond the limits of decency.”
- (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that Ukraine wants Russia to stop its ‘propaganda campaign’ about the situation in eastern Ukraine and publicly call on members of illegal armed groups to lay down their arms.
- Russian FM Lavrov "expressed outrage over the inaction of the Kyiv authorities who allowed the rioting outside the Russian embassy" during a phone conversation with his French counterpart, Laurent Fabius.
- (RIA Novosti) Lavrov stated that the international community must ask Kyiv to ensure security for diplomats and embassies.
- The governments of the UK, Canada, the US, and other nations condemned the June 14 attack on a Ukrainian military plane in Luhansk.
Governance
- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for early local elections to be held in Donetsk and Luhansk after changes are made to the Constitution and the hostilities end there.
- Ukraine’s Land Agency planned to give out land parcels for free to the servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other military formations, as well as to the employees of Interior Ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine that are defending territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country in eastern and southeastern regions of Ukraine.
- (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree approving the membership of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC).
- (Interfax Ukraine) The chief of the main operational command of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was not dismissed but was suspended from office, as were a number of other servicemen, pending an investigation into the tragedy of the downed Il-76 plane in Luhansk.
Constitutional Reform
- (Interfax Ukraine) Verkhovna Rada Chairman Turchynov stated that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will offer the parliament a bill of amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine on the decentralization of power the week of June 16.
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