Russia

Internal Security News

• (RIA Novosti) A journalist from the Russian state-run VGTRK television news station, Igor Kornelyuk, died of injuries suffered during a mortar attack outside the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk.
   
• An explosion on a gas pipeline in the Poltava region of Ukraine was under investigation, with terrorism considered a priority theory, according to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine's state company Naftogaz Ukrainy tightened security of the country's gas transportation system following an explosion at the Urengoi-Pomary-Uzhgorod trunk pipeline in the Poltava region.
   
• Six people died in clashes in Kramatorsk on June 16, the Donetsk regional administration press office said in a statement.
   
• The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's Volodymyr Chepovy claimed an epidemiological situation in Sloviansk and water supply problems in a number of populated localities in the Donetsk region.
   
• Fighters of the Ukrainian National Guard arrived at the state border in the Donetsk region. 
   
• Ukraine considers the Geneva accords the basic instrument for de-escalating the situation in the country's east, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
   

Diplomacy News

• (ITAR-TASS) Relations between Russia and Ukraine have entered a new stage and are “on a way to serious conflict”, said State Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee head Alexei Pushkov.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The world is on the verge of open confrontation, Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha said.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukraine’s parliament recommended that the government unilaterally demarcate the border with Russia and close checkpoints on the Ukrainian-Russian border.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russia will not recognize Kyiv’s decision on the unilateral demarcation of the border, which would lead to ongoing border disputes, Russian lawmaker Alexei Pushkov said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest urged Western states to use the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine to support Kyiv.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine's First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema announced that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko imposed a ban on military-technological cooperation with Russia at a meeting of the country's National Security and Defense Council
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Foreign Minsitry called for Western countries to apply a third package of sanctions against Russia.
   
• Ukraine’s National Security Council chief said that Russia has amassed as many as 38,000 soldiers on its borders with Ukraine and continues to supply arms and personnel to rebel forces in the eastern part of the country.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights stated that Russia’s Foreign Ministry is preparing for the release of the second White Book on humanitarian crimes in Ukraine’s east, and is calling on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the UN to carry out an investigation.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian FM Lavrov said that all members of OSCE must urge Kiev to adopt the roadmap for crisis settlement.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed fears of a possible split in the EU because of the situation in Ukraine.
   
• The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Germany supported the peace plan of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a meeting held in Tallinn.
   
• United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the downing of the Ukrainian Il-76 plane in Luhansk, which killed all 49 people aboard.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Japan intends to continue promoting the development of economic and political stability in Ukraine, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said.

• The European Union said on Tuesday that Russian gas flows to Europe via Ukraine were stable, refusing to speculate how Brussels would react if Russia started accusing Ukraine of siphoning the gas intended for Europe in a repetition of the previous gas crises.

Governance

• (ITAR-TASS) The Verkhovna Rada recommended that President Poroshenko introduce martial law in Donetsk and Luhansk regions and replace the chiefs of all law enforcement agencies and the Foreign Ministry.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The National Security and Defense Council is considering an issue of imposing martial law in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, NSDC Secretary Andriy Parubiy said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said that the Cabinet of Ministers will consider a bill on introducing a state of emergency in the power industry.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed UDAR party MP Iryna Heraschenko to the recently established post of presidential envoy for the peaceful settlement of the conflict in the country's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
   
•  (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held a meeting with the founder of Open Society Foundations George Soros, at which Soros informed the head of state about the initiative of the strategic plan of reforms for Ukraine.
   

International Observation Missions

• The Verkhovna Rada urged the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, and European Parliament to intervene in the situation with non-observance of rights of Ukrainians in Russia, noting the harassment and non-observance of the rights of Ukrainians in Russia.

_

More Stories 

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 

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.

_

More Stories 

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 

Internal Security News

• Ukrainian forces reclaimed the port city of Mariupol after heavy fighting with pro-Russian separatists. The government said there had been many casualties after an operation to expel separatists in the city began at dawn.
   
• 40 members of illegal armed groups were killed in a fight on June 12 near the town of Stepanivka in the Donetsk region.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) An Interior Ministry advisor stated that a corridor for the removal of civilians from the counter-terrorist operation zone will probably be set up on the road to the town of Krasny Lyman (Donetsk region).
   
• (ITAR-TASS) About two dozen people tried to break into the building of Kyiv prosecutor's office, demanding to dismiss the Prosecutor Nicholas Gerasimyuk and conduct personnel changes in the department.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov blamed "militia" for the ceasefire talks' failure.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Avakov stated that eleven members of illegal armed groups have been detained in the active phase of the anti-terrorist operation in Mariupol.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered Donetsk regional state administration head Serhiy Taruta to temporarily move the administration's office to Mariupol.
   
• The Mejlis (parliament) of the Crimean Tatar People said it is concerned over cases of kidnapping and disappearances of people in Crimea, as well as Crimean authorities' lack of response to such cases.
   
• One person was killed and another two injured after a shell struck a vegetable warehouse in the Dobropillia district of Donetsk region.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) A statement on the website of the regional administration of Donetsk  said “The city is living a normal life: municipal transport is operating, preparations for the upcoming heating season are in full swing, enterprises are functioning in the regular regime, preschool institutions are open and school summer camps are at work. Traffic police and patrols stay alert."
   

International Observation Missions News  

• (Interfax Ukraine) No group of members of illegal armed formations had claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of observers of the OSCE's special monitoring mission in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
   
• The OSCE sent special envoy Heidi Tagliavini to Ukraine to help to settle the situation on the east of the country.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) UN Secretary General Farhan Haq said that UN observers in Ukraine will check on reports on the use of incendiary bombs and other prohibited ammunition in the country’s east.
   

Diplomacy News

• (RIA Novosti) The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced that Russian FM Lavrov and Ukrainian FM Deschytsia had a telephone conversation during which they discussed the 16 Ukrainian children who were allegedly taken to Russia’s Rostov region.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that reports of the illegal transportation of 16 orphans from the Donetsk town of Snizhne to Russia have been confirmed and added that Russia has violated a number of agreements by passing them through its border without proper permits.
   
• The EU and US urged Russia to stop arming Ukraine rebels after Ukraine said Russian tanks and artillery crossed the border on June 12.
   
• Russian Permanent Representative to the OSCE Andrei Kelin said that the immediate halt of the army operation in Ukraine is the key to the alleviation of tensions.
   
• Ukraine's state gas company said Kyiv was ready to pay a compromise price of $326 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian natural gas for an interim 18-month period to allow time to end a pricing dispute with Moscow.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Spanish Foreign Ministry announced that Spain will send four fighter jets to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in response to the crisis in Ukraine. The decision was made during negotiations between the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukraine announced that President Poroshenko will make his first official visit to Brussels on June 27 to sign the Association Agreement.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Board Chairman of Naftogaz said that Ukraine is ready to pay $ 1.9 billion to Russia for gas consumed if an agreement on the interim price of $ 326 per 1,000 cubic meters is reached.
   

Governance

• Dnipropetrovsk regional state administration deputy head Hennadiy Korban presented to the Ukrainian presidential administration an engineering project and a feasibility study of a 1,920-kilometers-long wall along the Russian border with an approximate value of euro 100 million.
   
• A working group to speed up judicial system reform in Ukraine was created according to the decree of president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
   

Constitutional Reform

• The European Commission made a first disbursement of EUR 250 million to Ukraine to support institutions and reforms in the country. This payment is part of the "State Building Contract" program signed on May 13 after a joint meeting between the European Commission and the Ukrainian government in Brussels.
   

_

More Stories 

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 

Internal Security News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval said that the question of imposing martial law in the eastern regions of Ukraine is currently not on the agenda.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic does not plan to discuss with Kyiv the establishment of a humanitarian corridor without mediators.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Fighting between separatist militias and Ukrainian law enforcers continued overnight at the settlement of Nikolayevka in Donetsk. 
   
• The bodies of 210 people, including 14 children, have been delivered to morgues in eastern Ukraine over the period of the anti-terrorist operation ongoing there, Ukrainian Health Minister Oleh Musiy said.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The mayor of Donetsk stated that the possible introduction of an emergency situation in eastern Ukraine will aggravate the already tense situation in the region. He also called on Ukrainian authorities to urgently start negotiations in the country's east regarding a peaceful solution to the crisis in the Donbas region, involving Russia and international organizations.
   
• Eight officers from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry and six border guards who were held captive were released in the town of Horlivka.
   

International Observation Missions News  

• (Interfax Ukraine) A group of observers of the OSCE special monitoring mission stopped monitoring Luhansk due to the security situation in the city.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian, Ukrainian, and OSCE representatives were holding consultations to develop a further plan of action to regulate the situation in the east of Ukraine and on formatting possible negotiations on the issue.
   
• The head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe called for the immediate release of eight OSCE monitors who went missing amid the turmoil in eastern Ukraine around two weeks ago.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The OSCE Secretary General planned to visit a camp of refugees from Ukraine in Russia’s Rostov region, according to Russian FM Lavrov. 
   

Diplomacy News

• (Interfax Ukraine) The State Border Service of Ukraine reported that Russia, despite Ukraine's decision to close a number of checkpoints in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, continues the operation of its border checkpoints in some directions.
   
• (RIA Novosti) An aide to the Ukrainian Interior Minister said that Ukraine plans to close the border with Russia in the east.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the human rights situation in Ukraine is to be discussed at the 26th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which started on June 10 in Geneva and will continue through June 27.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian FM Lavrov stated that Russia is sending humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine in cooperation with the ‘independence supporters’, as the Kiev authorities are not collaborating with Moscow in that field.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russia’s State Duma Speaker said that European politicians should acknowledge the negative consequences of their policy on Ukraine.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Russian President Putin stated that the gas conditions Russia proposed to Ukraine are same as they were under the Viktor Yanukovych government and the Russian government should develop measures which will freeze the proposed discount for some time.
   
• Russian President Putin accused Ukraine on June 11 of forcing gas talks into a "dead end" by rejecting a price cut offer made amid a row threatening supplies to the rest of Europe.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk announced that Russia’s proposal of a $100 reduction on the price for 1,000 cubic meters of gas does not appeal to Ukraine.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Attempts to replace the roadmap on Ukraine, originally prepared by the OSCE, with new unilateral deals are counterproductive, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

Governance News 

• (Interfax Ukraine) The Cabinet of Ministers announced an intention to approve a draft law on amendments to the state budget, increasing its revenues by UAH 575 million using funds saved from the recent presidential elections in the country. PM Yatsenyuk stated that the money saved will be spent on the country’s army. 
   
• (RIA Novosti) A group of people from Odessa were planning to file a lawsuit against the Ukrainian authorities whom they blame in the May 2 tragedy where dozens were killed during a fire.

_

More Stories 

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 

Internal Security News

• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered the creation of humanitarian corridors for civilians to flee areas of the east hit by conflict.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The head of Kyiv City State Administration announced that the Kyiv territorial defense battalion was on its way to the Donbas area, with 430 private soldiers and 32 officers.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled an attack on the Luhansk airfield.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian forces continued shelling Sloviansk, though initial reports indicated the shelling was less intense than in previous days.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The self-proclaimed Prime Minister of the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ described President Poroshenko’s promises of a cease fire in Ukraine’s eastern regions within a week as ‘air shaking’. “If all the troops are pulled back, these words could be turned into reality.”
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Donetsk regional administration confirmed the deaths of two children from fragmentation wounds in Sloviansk.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The ‘people’s mayor’ of the east Ukrainian city of Sloviansk was reportedly dismissed from his post and arrested.
   

Diplomacy News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Russian FM Sergei Lavrov stated that Russia will not introduce sanctions against Ukraine if Kyiv signs an association agreement with the European Union. "We are not obsessed with 'the sanction itch' typical of some of our partners.”
   
• (RIA Novosti) Polish FM Sikorski said that the possibility of Ukraine’s membership in NATO is currently not on the agenda.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian FM Lavrov stated that Russia and its partners are convinced that dialogue and cessation of violence are vital for
  reconciliation in Ukraine regardless of how the sides interpret the Ukrainian crisis. He also said that Kyiv must stop its military operation in eastern Ukraine and start direct dialogue with independence supporters, otherwise the crisis in the country will continue for a long time.
   
• Ukrainian President Poroshenko confirmed Ukraine's readiness to sign the full text of the Association Agreement with the EU as soon as possible.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said that the United States is not planning to place missile defense systems in Ukraine and Georgia.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Another round of Russian-Ukrainian gas talks involving a representative of the EU, which was held in Brussels, again ended without a final agreement.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian State Duma Committee for International Affairs, called for imposing possible sanctions targeted against individuals and Ukraine as a state for violation of the rights of Russian journalists working in Ukraine.
   

Governance News 

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed the founder of Ukrainian Media Holding (UMH), Borys Lozhkin, head of the presidential administration. Poroshenko also appointed Hennadiy Zubko as first deputy head of the presidential administration, Oleh Rafalsky as deputy head of the presidential administration, and diplomat Yuriy Onischenko as presidential first aide. Channel 5 journalist Sviatoslav Tseholko was named as his press secretary.

_

More Stories 

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 

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 

Internal Security News

• The battle for control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Sloviansk and its suburbs intensified on June 8-9, with civilians caught in heavy crossfire between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
   
• The Defense Minister of Ukraine said that the armed conflict had started to abate in the eastern regions of Ukraine.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the fighting in eastern Ukraine must be stopped this coming week. 
   
• The administration of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic said it does not trust the statements made by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko that military action in southeastern Ukraine should be halted this week.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The head of the Donetsk Regional Administration stated that more than 200 people, who are citizens of various countries, are currently held by unlawful armed groups in Donetsk region.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The governor of Donetsk said that Poroshenko is unlikely to visit Donbas any time soon because it would be "difficult" to guarantee him security there.
   
• Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov stated that one hundred percent of the combat and patrol units of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry will be involved in the operation in eastern Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’ declared that Luhansk’s international airport was to suspend all regular passenger and chartered flights due to “the intensified activities of the Ukrainian military forces in the Luhansk People’s Republic.”

Diplomacy News

• (RIA Novosti) A representative of the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ told RIA Novosti that the international community should tackle the issue of prisoners detained in Ukraine during clashes between independence supporters and the Ukrainian army, and Russia should be a mediator.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the recent meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was absolutely confidential.
• (Interfax Ukraine) European Council President Herman Van Rompuy stated that "The European Union will be at Ukraine's side and remains ready to work with those that share these objectives of democracy, prosperity and stability."
   
• The leadership of the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ claimed that separatists had detained a number of foreign mercenaries fighting with Ukrainian troops, including Polish and Czech fighters. The Polish government denied these claims. 
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that he had discussed the situation of Ukrainian refugees with President Vladimir Putin.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The European Commission confirmed that a fresh round of talks on energy security, initiated by the European Commission, between European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan, will be held in Brussels on June 9.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he is confident that Petro Poroshenko's assuming the post of the new president of Ukraine will facilitate the speedy settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The regional government of Russia’s Rostov region claimed that more than 7,300 Ukrainian citizens have fled to Rostov on June 8-9.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian reporters who were held by Ukrainian security forces alleged that they were kept in “intolerable conditions.” Russian media reported that the journalists were detained by “Right Sector or by foreign mercenaries.” 
   
• (ITAR-TASS) A survey conducted by Russia Public Opinion Research Center WCIOM concluded that over 40% Russians say Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko represents the interests of the US, EU and Ukraine’s big businesses.

Constitutional Reform News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said in his inaugural address that Ukraine has been and will remain a unitary state. "Dreams about federalization have no grounds in Ukraine."

International Observation Missions News

• (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchitsa sent a letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asking to extend the mandate of the human rights monitoring mission for another three months.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Swiss politician Heidi Tagliavini was appointed as the OSCE’s new envoy to Ukraine by OSCE Chairman and Swiss President Didier Burkhalter at the request of the new Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Russia’s Foreign Ministry stated that Tagliavini should actively engage in reconciliation efforts and promote dialogue.
   
• A leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic stated that OSCE monitors taken prisoner by armed groups in Donetsk region have been moved to Severodonetsk in the neighboring region of Luhansk.

Governance News 

• Petro Poroshenko was sworn in as President of Ukraine on June 7. 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) During his inaugural address, Poroshenko stated that "There can't be any compromise with anyone regarding Crimea, the European choice, and the governance system.”
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Poroshenko stated that Ukraine should sign an association agreement with the European Union as soon as possible. “My pen is in my hands,” he said. 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The day before Poroshenko’s inauguration, interim president Turchynov repealed 82 presidential decrees signed by former Ukrainian presidents and put into effect a National Security and Defense Council resolution on repealing 59 of its previous resolutions.
   
• The First Vice Premier of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic stated that he does not see chances for a direct dialogue with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

_

More Stories 

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 

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 

Internal Security News

• An advisor to the Ukrainian Interior Minister alleged that ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych and his circle finance the militants operating on the east of Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Combat armored vehicles, including tanks, belonging to Ukrainian military forces were actively attacking and shelling the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) A special police unit officer was killed and another two were seriously injured in a mortar attack in Sloviansk.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukraine's government closed several checkpoints on the border with Russia in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, explaining the measure by public security considerations. The government instructed the Foreign Ministry to inform Russia about the decision.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian media reported that militants in the city of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine’s embattled Donetsk Region shot down a helicopter belonging to the Ukrainian Air Force.
   

Diplomacy News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk stated that Ukraine's course to integrate with the European Union is irreversible.
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin met Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko for the first time since his election, at a D-Day event in France. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also present. 
   
• Putin also had an informal 10-15 minute conversation with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the D-Day even in France. 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Poroshenko and German Chancellor Merkel discussed prospects of signing the economic section of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement during a working dinner in Berlin.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushev claimed that Russia and China have witnessed a consistent Western policy to weed out authorities they find disagreeable applied in Ukraine. Russia and China share the same view on all issues of the international agenda, Patrushev said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) US President Obama stated that Russia should recognize Ukraine's president-elect Poroshenko and convince militants in Ukraine's southeast to lay down their weapons. If Russia's provocations continue, "the G7 nations are ready to impose additional costs on Russia," Obama said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said that the European Council will assess the situation with de-escalation in Ukraine and will consider additional measures against Russia over Ukraine at the end of June. 
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Vice-premier of the Russian government Dmitry Rogozin met pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Tsarev in Moscow to discuss problems connected with the implementation of the Russian Defense Ministry's contracts by the industrial enterprises of Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian FM Lavrov stated that the Russian side hopes the United States will use its influence on Ukrainian president-elect Poroshenko to stop violence and Kyiv’s punitive operation in Ukraine’s Southeast.
   
• (RIA Novosti) A new round of trilateral gas talks including Russia, Ukraine and the European Union could be held June 11.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko announced his readiness to cooperate with the new Ukrainian leadership.
   

Constitutional Reform News 

• (ITAR-TASS) Russia's Permanent Ambassador to the OSCE Andrei Kelin said Kyiv is imitating the implementation of the constitutional reform.
   

International Observation Missions News

• Contact with two groups of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers reportedly being held by militants in eastern Ukraine had not been re-established.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry claimed to have evidence of the direct involvement of Russia in the kidnapping of members of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission and in organizing and supporting terrorist activities in the eastern regions of Ukraine.
   

Governance News 

• (Interfax Ukraine) PM Yatsenyuk said it is necessary to establish a National Anti-Corruption Bureau in Ukraine to continue combating corruption.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) PM Yatsenyuk told the Verhovna Rada 422 million hryvnia ($35.88 million) were not transferred to the Ukrainian state budget from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in May. “The situation is extremely critical.”
   
• Prime Minister Yatsenyuk stated that the Ukrainian authorities have allocated an extra Hr 10.5 billion over the last three months to improve the combat capacity of the army.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) UDAR Party leader Vitali Klitschko took his oath of office as mayor of Kyiv. 

_

More Stories 

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 

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 

Internal Security News

• The New York Times reported that Ukrainian border guards abandoned their posts in the face of attacks from pro-Russian separatists, leaving Ukraine’s borders with Russia undefended and fully open. The city of Luhansk, it alleged, is nearly totally under rebel control.  
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service closed a number of checkpoints on its border with Russia in the Luhansk region.
   
• Separatist rebels took two Ukrainian military bases in the eastern region of Luhansk as fighting continues near the rebel-held town of Sloviansk.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic alleged that Ukraine’s President-elect Petro Poroshenko plans to “do the dirtiest work” in the eastern parts of the country before his inauguration.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The parliament of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic issued an appeal to compatriots abroad, in which it asks them to provide aid.
   

Diplomacy News

• The G7 leaders meeting in Brussels said they were fully behind Petro Poroshenko. The summit's EU hosts defended Ukraine's "constitutional right" to restore order in the east, and called on Russia to stop interfering in Ukraine and take steps to de-escalate the situation.
   
• President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy stated that Ukraine has every right to conduct a military operation in the south and east of the country.
   
• President Obama and allies said Russia has a chance to begin to resolve the Ukrainian crisis and rebuild trust with the West, but they warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would face harsher sanctions if he fails to take steps to de-escalate the situation.
   
• (RIA Novosti) US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko to prove that Russia is involved in the independence movement in the eastern regions of Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russia’s president Putin met British Prime Minister David Cameron and French leader Francois Hollande on June 5, the Kremlin press service said. On Friday, June 6, Vladimir Putin will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Moscow raised the issue of Kyiv using heavy armaments in its special operations against independence supporters in eastern Ukraine at an OSCE session.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian ambassador to Kyiv Mikhail Zurabov was scheduled attend the inauguration of Petro Poroshenko as Ukrainian president on June 7, marking his return to duties in Kyiv. 
   
• US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said that the United States will strengthen its presence in the Black Sea region using part of a $1 billion fund promised to NATO allies on Russia's borders, and will continue to send warships to the area.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the West seeks the settlement of the situation in Ukraine through talks with Russia and diplomatic contacts, not through threats.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russia’s Border Guard Service said that all the checkpoints on Russia’s border with Ukraine in the southern Rostov Region are operating in a normal mode.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian PM Mednedev stated that Russia has already received around 4,000 Ukrainian refugees. “People are frightened, scared. At the same time, the Ukrainian government fails to notice a humanitarian problem, says there are no refugees. It’s lies and it’s sad to hear it.”
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich dismissed as “baseless” Kiev’s allegations of Russian arms supplies to independence supporters in eastern Ukraine.
   

International Observation Missions News

• (ITAR-TASS) The OSCE has ‘practically withdrawn ‘all its observers from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
   

Governance News 

• The Ukrainian Interior Ministry designated the 'people's governor' of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Pavlo Hubarev, and the 'prime minister' of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, Vasyl Nikitin as “wanted”.