Ukraine Revolt/Civil War News, Reports, Data, etc.

Miragedriver

Brigadier
Ukrainian children help to make camouflage netting for soldiers
[video=youtube;ntd1XuOeo7o]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntd1XuOeo7o&feature=player_embedded[/video]



I will now get back to bottling my Malbec
 

delft

Brigadier
From the BBC website:
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26 December 2014 Last updated at 10:29 GMT
Ukraine crisis: Key peace talks in Minsk called off

A key round of peace talks between Ukraine's government and pro-Russian rebels, due to take place in Minsk on Friday, has been called off, Belarusian officials say.

No immediate reason was given by the Belarusian foreign ministry.

The talks had begun on Wednesday to try to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine which has left 4,700 dead.

A ceasefire and framework peace deal were announced in Minsk in September but neither has been properly observed.

Talks agenda

The latest talks also included Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Friday's round had been expected to tackle issues including the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, the exchange of prisoners and ending Ukraine's economic blockade of rebel-held areas.

Belarusian foreign ministry spokesman Dmitry Mironchik told Agence France-Presse: "There will be no contact group meeting today," but he added that "Belarus is always ready to offer [Minsk] as a negotiations venue."

Wednesday's talks focused on troop withdrawals and aid, although no details of any progress emerged.

A day earlier, Ukraine's parliament had voted to work towards membership of Nato, a move heavily criticised by Russia.

Russia's Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov accused Nato members of "trying to turn Ukraine into a front line of confrontation with Russia".

Since the conflict began in eastern Ukraine in April, 4,707 people have lost their lives, according to the UN. Of that number 1,357 have died since the 5 September ceasefire was agreed.

Pro-Russian separatists took over the two eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March, in a move not recognised by Ukraine and its allies.

Ukrainian forces and volunteers then mounted a military operation to recover the areas.

The latest attempt at a ceasefire began on 9 December but sporadic violence has continued in both regions.
The website of my favorite radio station has an item from Donbass, citing an official source from the People Republic Donetsk by way of the news organisation Sputnik, that the prisoners exchance takes place today.
 

Piotr

Banned Idiot
Banderovites from Aidar battalion "restoring order" on the roads of Ukraine:
[video=youtube;4_P8H5nq60E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_P8H5nq60E[/video]
US government hasn't so far condemned Aidar battalion.
 

delft

Brigadier
From Zero Hedge:
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Ukraine Cuts Power To Crimea Again, Halts Train Services
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/26/2014 11:04 -0500

There was some expectation following the loud public response following Ukraine's shut down of power to Crimea on Christmas Eve, that Kiev would treat the territory which it alleges is still part of Ukraine as, well, part of Ukraine. And sure enough, a few hours after the regionwide blackout was first reported, Ukraine restored power. Until today, when moments ago we learned that not only did Ukraine cut off electricity to Crimea earlier today, but also halted train services, moves which, according to the WSJ, could raise tensions with Russia, but which also will harden the local popluation's pro-Russian determination even further.

Crimea’s Fuel and Energy Minister Sergei Egorov told Russia’s Interfax news agency that power was cut off at 1:50 p.m. Friday without warning. He said backup diesel generators and mobile turbine power plants were supplying critical infrastructure with electricity. More from WSJ:

The power cutoff is the second this week by Ukraine, which says it has electricity shortages of its own because rebels have halted shipments of coal to its power plants. The cutoff in railway services, however, could indicate Ukraine is stepping up its pressure of the peninsula.



Ukraine’s state rail company Ukrzaliznytsia on Friday said it would stop passenger and cargo train services to Crimea “in order to insure the safety of passengers.” The move will affect both Ukrainian and foreign trains traveling to the peninsula, the company said. It didn’t indicate when services would resume.

More from ABC:

Ukraine's state rail company Ukrzaliznytsia has suspended passenger and cargo train services to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea due to security concerns.



Ukrzaliznytsia said cargo trains would be suspended from Friday while passenger routes would gradually cease running over the weekend and on Monday.



The company did not say how long the suspensions would be in place or specify what the security concerns were.



"In order to ensure the safety of passengers ... (the railway) will cut the route of trains to Crimea off at Novooleksiyvka and Kherson," Ukrzaliznytsia said in a statement, referring to two towns on the Ukrainian mainland near Crimea.

Back to the WSJ:



Cutting supplies to Crimea may be a lever of influence for Kiev, since the matter has become a headache for Moscow after it annexed the territory in March. Crimea has no overland connection to Russia and has traditionally relied on a land bridge to Ukraine for essentials such as food, power and water.

Alternatively, it may simply force Russia to find an alternative solution much faster than it would have otherwise, much in the same way western financial pressure on Russia has forced the Kremlin and Beijing to accelerate their mutual cooperation not only in the field of energy infrastructure and natgas deals, but has led to China openly providing financial support to the country which is isoleted by the debt-monetizing west, if not by the BRIC countries and other non-US allies, whose combined population is well over half that of the world.
 
I'm not sure where to start :) looks like yesterday the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Municipal Economy of Ukraine announced (here I'm unable to give a link, in a second you'll know why) Russia would start supplying Ukraine with coal and electricity without front-payments ... this night Ukrainians said
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hackers had put that information on this Ministry web-page (and was removed from there) but ... during the day TACC announced
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"as an act of good will of Mr. Putin" ... Russia would start supplying Ukraine with coal and electricity without front-payments

EDIT
now I was able to find elsewhere the original Ukrainian announcement (included 50,000 tons of coal daily, I can imagine this sounded too good to be true :)
 
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pla101prc

Senior Member
I'm not sure where to start :) looks like yesterday the Ministry of Regional Development, Construction and Municipal Economy of Ukraine announced (here I'm unable to give a link, in a second you'll know why) Russia would start supplying Ukraine with coal and electricity without front-payments ... this night Ukrainians said
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

hackers had put that information on this Ministry web-page (and was removed from there) but ... during the day TACC announced
Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!
"as an act of good will of Mr. Putin" ... Russia would start supplying Ukraine with coal and electricity without front-payments

EDIT
now I was able to find elsewhere the original Ukrainian announcement (included 50,000 tons of coal daily, I can imagine this sounded too good to be true :)

maybe in exchange for restoration of electricity-supply to crimea? or maybe there were other major concessions made under the table. yes it is a bit perplexing if it were true, for russia to bail ukraine out at this juncture for no reason.
 

Dannhill

Junior Member
Why? Very simple because Russia doesn't want to cut off all ties with Ukraine as they truly have deep blood ties as they share same Slavic roots and ancestors of today's Russians are from the same area. People don't understand why Russian volunteers will want to go back to fight on the side of the militias.

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Moscow to supply coal, electricity to Ukraine without prepayment

Russia will supply coal and electricity to Ukraine without prepayment, Vladimir Putin's spokesman said. Ukraine is trying to cope with energy problems amid an ongoing crisis in the industrial east.

This proves the president’s political goodwill and support, “particularly before New Year,” said presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Saturday, as quoted by TASS.

“Against all the odds as President Putin said earlier in the hard times he had never given up the consistent policy towards supporting the Ukrainian people and providing real and not eventual support, due to the critical energy situation Putin took a decision on such supplies regardless the absence of prepayment, which is the condition of making them,” he added.

Moscow will supply 500,000 tonnes of coal to Ukraine per month, according to Russian Vice-Premier Dmitry Kozak.

"If an additional corresponding agreement may be reached, we're ready to supply another 500,000 tonnes, totally 1 million tonnes of coal, to Ukraine in order to help it solve energy problems," Kozak told Rossiya24 TV channel.

He added that energy carriers will be supplied to Ukraine on easy terms. However, the amount of electricity planned to be transferred to Ukraine is unclear.

The decision comes in response to Ukraine’s request, he said. Previously, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko ordered the Energy Ministry to discuss the supply issue with Russia.

Earlier on Saturday, the Ukrainian Regional Development Ministry said on its website that Kiev will begin receiving Russian coal without prepayment, citing the presidential press service. However, the ministry's spokeswoman, Nadezhda Petruniak, later said that the website had been hacked and the ministry did not have any information about energy supplies from third countries.

Kozak expressed hope that Russia’s decision will help ensure reliable energy supplies to Crimea. On Friday, Ukraine again fully ceased electric power supplies to Crimea without any notification, said Crimea's fuel and energy minister, Sergey Yegorov. Power cuts started on Wednesday.

Though Crimea joined Russia in March, it is still dependent on power supplies from Ukraine. It is suffering from supply disruptions due to a production deficit in Ukraine.

Ukraine is experiencing a shortage of gas and coal for public utilities such as heating and electricity. The gas shortage was prompted by Ukraine’s debt to Russia, while the lack of coal is related to military operations in the Donetsk Basin, which houses most of the country's coal mines.

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funny update on the Russian coal and electricity supplies to Ukraine (to be offered not only without front-payments, but at Russian-domestic prices, which are considerably lower than Ukrainian, says
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under the most recent, unrelated blog of "Cassad"
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the first questions concern these supplies (as they seem to be something outrageous for many "Cassad" fans -- curses toward the Kremlin) and "Cassad" said he had lost his text on it from yesterday due to ... an outage :) (he's located in Sevastopol, Crimea)
 
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SampanViking

The Capitalist
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP Professional
Registered Member
There are millions of "Russians" esp in the South and East of Ukraine, living under Kiev rule . If there are energy shortages, these are the people that would be supplied last.
Now, if indeed this news is true (I thought it had been labelled a hoax?) then there will be no excuse for these people not to receive heat and power this winter.

If they do not, it will not be possible to blame Russia, but instead the finger will point at the Kiev leadership or venal Oligarchs withholding.

Its also worth noting that the monthly dollar value of the coal will be what? $150 - $200 million?
This is therefore being provided as an interest free loan and should be compared to the two loans the Ukraine have just received from the West.

Another question of the moment, what currency will this coal be charged and eventually paid for in?
 
...
Now, if indeed this news is true ...

to me, it's interesting to see Facebook posts are regularly used, quoted during the Ukraine Conflict:
about one hour ago gazeta.ru announced
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Ukrainians "ready to sign the agreement" quoting
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(while on Facebook, you may just click on the "See Translation"; the name of this Facebook-profile is
Міністерство енергетики та вугільної промисловості України
in case the link didn't work, and you still wanted to see that announcement :)
 
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