Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

Found this via Euromaidan FB page - says the man got the fire ext. from his car

http://khpg.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1397957096

[Natalka]

Paris had a gathering after the Easter Mass and had a flashmob in the Jardin du Luxembourg (French Senate garden)

France Communaute Ukrainienne is composed of members of Ukrainian citizenship living in France, or French of Ukrainian descent of second, third and fourth generations, of French citizens and many other citizens from around the world supporting UKraine.

(so nice, they gathered to share the foods from the blessed Easter baskets!)

[Natalka]

Residents of industrial Khartsyzk - a city in Donetsk region - rallied for the unity of Ukraine today!

[Natalka]

US Vice-President Joe Biden has said Russia must "stop talking and start acting" to defuse the Ukraine crisis.

22 April 2014

He was speaking during a joint press conference in Kiev with interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
Mr Biden warned Russia that further "provocative behaviour" would lead to "greater isolation" and urged Moscow to end its alleged support for pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27106630


Standing alongside acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Biden called on Moscow to encourage pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine to vacate government buildings and checkpoints, accept amnesty and "address their grievances politically."
Biden said Russia needs to act "without delay," adding, "We will not allow this to become an open-ended process."

Yatsenyuk was harsher in his characterization of Russia. "No country should be able to behave like an armed bandit," he said. "Russia should stick to its international commitments and obligations. They should not behave as gangsters in the modern century."


Biden also announced the United States will provide an additional $50 million US to help Ukraine's beleaguered government with political and economic reforms.
The money includes $11 million to help conduct the May 25 presidential election, including voter education, administration and oversight. It also will help fund expert teams from U.S. government agencies to help Ukraine to reduce its reliance on energy supplies from Russia. Other technical advisers will help fight corruption.
The White House also announced $8 million in nonlethal military assistance for the Ukrainian armed forces, including bomb-disposal equipment, communications gear and vehicles.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine...ting-1.2617317

[Natalka]

22 April 2014

Ukraine To Restart 'Anti-Terrorism Operation'

Ukraine's acting president has called for new anti-terrorist measures to protect citizens of his country after "brutally tortured" bodies were found near Slavyansk.
Oleksandr Turchynov said the body of Volodymyr Rybak, a member of Turchynov's Batkivshchyna party, was one of two found showing signs of torture.


Mr Rybak was deputy head of Horlivka city council. Ukrainian news website vesti.ua said a body thought to be his was found beside a river about 60km from the city.


The dead man was hard to identify, the website said, as it had been in water for several days. Mr Rybak went missing on April 17.


In a statement, Mr Turchynov said: "I call on the security agencies to relaunch and carry out effective anti-terrorist measures, with the aim of protecting Ukrainian citizens living in eastern Ukraine from terrorists."




US Vice President Joe Biden meeting with interim president Oleksander Turchynov

http://news.sky.com/story/1246878/uk...rism-operation

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In another incident, a Ukrainian military surveillance plane was hit by small arms fire over eastern Ukraine, the defence ministry said.

The aircraft, an Antonov AN-30, suffered minor damage over Sloviansk when it was targeted by automatic gunfire, according to the ministry. No-one was hurt and the plane returned safely to Kiev.
The funerals have meanwhile taken place of three men shot on Sunday during a raid on a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian separatists near Sloviansk.

The funerals have meanwhile taken place of three men shot on Sunday during a raid on a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian separatists near Sloviansk.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27118875

[Natalka]

Pro-Russians have vandalized Holocaust Memorial in Crimea.

The memorial, erected in memory of the 4,200 Jews who were murdered in the city in July of 1942, was sprayed with a red star, a hammer and sickle and the letters "USSR."

[Natalka]

Support from Paris



from Uzhgorod - located in western Ukraine, at the border with Slovakia and near the border with Hungary

[Natalka]

Russian soldiers have been awarded medals for the "return of Crimea". Notice the date indicates that the event occurred Feb. 20-March 18. Feb 20 was the day that snipers slaughtered over 100 unarmed men in Kyiv's Maidan.



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(uh.... 'apparently' there weren't any Russian troops in Crimea?)

[Darth Penguin]

Ukraine alert as politican killed

Ukraine's acting president has ordered the relaunch of military operations against pro-Russian militants in the east after two men, one a local politician, were "tortured to death".
Oleksandr Turchynov said the body of politician Vladimir Rybak was found near rebel-held Sloviansk.
"The terrorists who effectively took the whole Donetsk region hostage have now gone too far," he said.
The move came as US Vice-President Joe Biden was visiting Ukraine.

[Natalka]

Yes, Darth, I posted that earlier. And so it goes on...

[Natalka]

Ukrainian Easter Egg “Pysanka” made in the memory of the Heaven’s Hundred.

[Natalka]

April 23, 2014

Ukraine: Pro-Russian militants to be targeted in renewed security operation

Kiev (CNN) -- Pro-Russian militants in four key cities will be targeted as authorities seek to regain control of Ukraine's restive east, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema said Wednesday.


"The active phase of the anti-terrorist operation continues," Yarema was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Ukrinform.


Militants in the four cities -- Kramatorsk, Slaviansk, Donetsk and Luhansk -- have seized government buildings and show no signs of giving them up despite an international deal agreed to last week in Geneva, Switzerland.


Under the deal, illegal militia groups were to disarm and vacate occupied buildings, with an amnesty promised in return.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/23/wo...biles_republic

[Natalka]

A large prayer rally for Ukraine's unity is happening in Kharkiv right now, with about 7 thousand people gathered at the Constitution Square (as reported by IT Sector Kharkiv on their Twitter). Click on the original story to view photos from the event.

Another local outlet, SQ, reports that clergy representing various denominations are also present at the Square, including Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, Catholics, Protestants, as well as parishioners of Muslim and Jewish temples.

The organizers have announced the prayer rally as a civic action. Participants are not carrying any political insignia; all they have are the s of Ukraine, as a symbol of the country's unity, as well as posters that read "Separatists, Get Out From Kharkiv!".

Kharkiv oblast department of the Ministry of Interior reports that 250 police officers, as well as representatives of various civic defense units, are protecting public order during the rally.

[Natalka]

April 23, 2014

Ukraine forces ‘liberate’ Sviatohirsk from armed groups as anti-terror operation gets underway

In what appears to be its first act after the restart of an anti-terror operation to purge Kremlin-backed separatists from eastern Ukraine, the country’s elite Interior Ministry forces “liberated” the resort town of Svyatohirsk in northern Donetsk Oblast “from unlawful armed groups,” the ministry reported on its website.


Prior to the operation, Ukrainian security officials had discovered the city’s monastery, the Svyatohirsk Assumption Lavra of the Moscow Patriarchate, served as a military base for the insurgents who have besieged the region.


“The Interior Ministry's special forces have freed the town of Svyatohirsk from an illegal armed group of separatists. Law enforcers who took part in the anti-terrorist operation drove the illegal armed groups out of the village. There have been no casualties,” the ministry’s report reads.


Police are now patrolling and securing the city, it says.

Svyatohirsk is of strategic importance, as it is located at the border of three regions: Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk.

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukra...ay-344823.html

[Darth Penguin]

RAF Typhoon scramble to intercept Russian planes off Scotland

A Royal Air Force Typhoon was today scrambled after two Russian surveillance planes flew close to British airspace.
The aircraft, believed to be Tupolev 95s, were spotted off the coast of north-east Scotland - but turned away when the British jet fighter took off from Leuchars airbase, near St Andrews in Fife.
Incidents of foreign planes flying close to UK airspace are surprisingly common - with eight similar occurrences reported last year, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Defence experts say Russia uses such surveillance flights to remind the world of its military might and to probe other countries' air defence systems.

The incident comes as international tensions heighten over the Ukraine situation, after last month's annexation of Crimea by Russia.