Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

2 Ukraine fighter jets shot down by pro-Russian rebels

Pro-Russian rebels have shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets, a spokesman for Ukraine's military operations said today.


The spokesman said the two Sukhoi-25 fighters were downed around 1:30 p.m. local time near Savur Mogila in Eastern Ukraine.

No details were known about the pilots, but Ukrainian defence officials said the planes may have been carrying up to two crew members each.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/2-ukrai...bels-1.2715224

[Natalka]

Journalist working for CNN abducted in Ukraine

Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) -- A Ukrainian journalist working as a freelancer for CNN remains in detention two days after he was abducted by pro-Russian separatists.
Armed men from the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic seized Anton Skiba outside a hotel in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk after he had worked for one day with a CNN television crew.







Since his detention, CNN has attempted through a number of different separatist officials, including the office of the separatist Prime Minister Alexander Borodai, to secure Skiba's freedom.
CNN chose not to report his abduction at the time while making efforts to obtain his release.


That has not happened to date, so CNN is now publicly asking those who are holding Skiba to release him immediately.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/24/world/...rebar_facebook

[Natalka]

Volleys of Grad rockets fired from Russia today, hitting the territory of Ukraine in the border area.
Kolesnykivka

[Natalka]

KYIV, July 24 /Ukrinform/.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has tendered his resignation.


He said this after consultation with MPs from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) on Thursday.


"I am announcing my resignation due to the collapse of the coalition and the blocking of government initiatives," he said.

http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/news/ukr...resigns_324323

One of the main piece of news of the day in Ukraine was also the dissolution of the parliamentary faction of the Communist party of Ukraine (CPU), which is being accused of supporting the separatists in the east of the country.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk, after the fall of the ruling coalition, declared his resignation, having categorically refused to form a new coalition with the involvement of the communists and the Party of Regions. Verkhovna Rada speaker Olexandr Turchynov earlier announced the cessation of the ruling coalition “European Choice” after the party factions of UDAR and “Svoboda” withdrew from it.

http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/07/2...rime-minister/


(Note - there is much more explanation in the above link. It's really too complex for me to understand the way their Parliament works. Without a coalition, there might need to be more elections soon.)

(Yatseniuk had done an amazing job as PM considering all the circumstances he has had to go through since Feb., in Ukraine as well as internationally.)
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Found this interesting article as to what happened

http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/07/2...enko-in-check/

[Natalka]

More sanctions against Russia

Ottawa, Ontario
24 July 2014

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement announcing new economic sanctions and travel bans against Ukrainian individuals, as well as economic sanctions against Ukrainian entities and a broad range of entities related to various Russian sectors:

“Earlier this week, we announced our intention to broaden the range of entities sanctioned in response to the Putin regime’s illegal occupation of Ukraine’s Crimean region, and its persistent, provocative military activity targeting parts of eastern Ukraine.

“The measures we are announcing today include sanctions against a broad range of entities from Russia’s arms industry, as well as from its financial and energy sectors. Our unequivocal aim is to further increase economic and political pressure on the Putin regime.

“In addition to instituting prohibitions on dealings with respect to entities related to Russia’s arms industry, these substantively new measures impose restrictions on the issuance of new financing for the designated energy and financial entities.

“Today, we are also imposing sanctions on the armed separatist groups known as ‘The Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘The Luhansk People’s Republic.’ These groups, with direct support from Russia, have engaged in egregious acts against the armed forces of Ukraine, international monitors deployed to the area, and the civilian population.

“As we have seen with the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 last week, the Putin regime’s failure to end its support to armed separatist groups constitutes a very real threat to international peace and security.

“Canada remains committed to working with our allies and partners in the international community to preserve and promote a free, democratic and peaceful world. We are ready for further actions if the Putin regime’s military aggression continues.”

- See more at: http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2014/07....FkT3LhnI.dpuf


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(Whenever I'm on Ukr FB pages, twitter, or other Ukr or Euromaidan sites and there is any mention if Canadian sanctions, or statements from the PM or foreign affairs on what they are doing - there are always, always very positive comments from others about Canada, that they are leading the way in supporting Ukraine, and there is huge support for PM Harper. It's often mentioned, too, that they wish other countries would do as much.)

[Natalka]

July 24, in Vienna. АвтоМайдан - AutoMaidan and Media Sotnya on their tour through Europe to raise awareness that Putin's propaganda killsJuly 24, in Vienna. АвтоМайдан - AutoMaidan and Media Sotnya on their tour through Europe to raise awareness that Putin's propaganda kills.



^They do the fake body thing... as shown below

[Natalka]

On the 24th of July after two-day fighting Defense Force “Donbas” liberated Lisichansk. All the administrative offices of the city are controlled by ATO (anti-terrorist operation) forces.

Commander of DFD Semyon Semyonchenko says: “Ukrainian s are hoisted over Lisichansk. We are patrolling the city. The members of the local militia (Ukrainian police) who resisted the city liberation were arrested; their weapons were confiscated. The civilians start to come out into the streets of liberated Lisichansk.”

“Donbas” suffered three lightly wounded, however our brothers-in-arms from the 24th brigade of Ukrainian Military Forces have more sever losses.

“Donbas” won back the city and its freedom and was rewarded with happy tears of its residents.

[Natalka]

In the last 24 hours 13 soldiers were killed and 19 were wounded during of the anti-terrorist operation, RNBO (National Security and Defense Council) spokesman Andriy Lysenko reported.

He also provided statistics for the whole period: "During the entire period of the campaign against terrorism 325 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 1,232 received injuries of various severity."

[Natalka]

Voronezh (Russia) - The Voronezh region's court considered an appeal filed by the defense lawyers for Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko and made a decision to keep her in custody until Aug. 30, thus upholding the decision made by the Novousmansky district court.

Savchenko spoke Ukrainian during the hearing, demanding a translator. However, the translator translated 20% of what Savchenko was saying. Example:
Savchenko: "When I was kidnapped in Ukraine..."
Translator: "When I was arrested in Ukraine..."

[Natalka]

This summer, over 80 children attending the UNF’s Camp Sokil at Hawkestone, Ontario took on a project to write letters of support, encouragement and thanks to the soldiers of Ukraine’s armed forces who have been fighting the Kremlin’s proxy army in Eastern Ukraine.


The Ukrainian National Federation has, for over 80 years, worked to support Ukrainian and Canadian sovereignty and independence, from training Ukrainian-Canadians to fly airplanes and operate radio stations during World War 2, to establishing the Penny Fund to finance Ukraine’s liberation, to writing letters of support to Ukraine’s modern day defenders of freedom. We are proud to be helping develop the next generation of Ukrainian-Canadian patriots.


Слава Україні! Слава Канаді! (Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Canada!)

Note - video is in Ukrainian, but you sure don't need to understand it. It starts with news reports from Ukraine, then the campers in Canada being educated on what's been going on in Ukraine.




http://unfcanada.ca/

[Natalka]

Mayor of central Ukrainian city shot dead

KIEV (Reuters) - The mayor of the central Ukrainian town of Kremenchuk was shot dead on Saturday and the house of another mayor in Lviv to the West was hit by fire from a grenade launcher, the Interior Ministry said.

Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to the country's Interior Minister, said the mayor of Kremenchuk, Oleh Babayev, was killed when a car pulled up to his own, and an unidentified person fired three shots from a gun with a silencer.


"It is well know that Oleh Babayev was supported by a significant number of people in Kremenchuk. During Maidan, he supported activists, who local police and the prosecutor wanted to imprison," Gerashchenko said on his Facebook page.


He added that a grenade launcher was fired overnight at the house of Lviv's mayor, Andriy Sadoviy, who was not home at the time. "Most probably these crimes are not connected," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/mayor-central-...093738522.html

[Natalka]

The city council of liberated #Sloviansk once again bears the state emblem of Ukraine



Lenin changes his style in liberated Sloviansk

[Natalka]

The Georgian city Kutaisi. `Freedom to Ukraine` is written.

[Natalka]

Terrorists cut off power supply to Luhansk Oblast

Today, on the 26th of July, the terrorists in the city of Bryanka, Luhansk Oblast destroyed the primary power substation with a direct hit. The acting governor of the oblast, Iryna Verihina, stated on her Facebook page that Luhansk Oblast is now cut off from Ukraine’s power system. She added that the electric power was being supplied to Luhansk through the Donetsk Oblast.



The acting governor highlighted that the power engineering specialists of Luhansk are trying to turn up the power on the thermal power station located in the town of Shchastya, as well as holding negotiations about re-connecting to other substations.

http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/07/2...uhansk-oblast/

[Natalka]

Abducted Roman Catholic priest released by militants

Father Viktor Wąsowicz, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Horlivka was thankfully released on Saturday after being held hostage by Kremlin-backed militants for two weeks. He was seized at a checkpoint coming into Horlivka on July 15 on his way to a church service he was planning to administer. He managed to make a call saying that he had been abducted before all contact with him was lost. He was held in the premises of the Horlivka SBU [Security Service] that militants from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic have seized.

One priest (at least) remains in captivity. Father Yury Ivanov, from the Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate was abducted on July 8. According to Said Ismagilov, Mufti of the Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Ukraine [UMMA], Kremlin-backed militants had previously turned up at Father Yury’s home and demanded that he ask Archbishop Serhiy of the Donetsk UOC KP to urgently come to his home, obviously so that the militants could abduct him.

Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest, Father Tikhon was released 10 days after being abducted on July 3.

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The terrorists have also murdered four members of an evangelical church in Slovyansk – two sons – Ruvim and Albert - of Pastor Alexander Pavenko from the Slovyansk evangelical Church of the Transformation, as well as deacons of the church Viktor Brodarsky, and Volodymyr Velychko.



Their abduction during a religious service was reported on June 8 with Slovyansk Pastor Petro Dudnik cited as the source of the information. It was quite clear that they had been taken hostage by the Kremlin-backed militants who 'accused' them of supporting the Ukrainian army.

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It was also reported that Anton Skyba, a Donetsk journalist working as stringer for CNN was released on July 26. As reported, Skyba was seized inside the Hotel Donbas Palace on July 22 while he was with a CNN film crew. Matsuka explains that he was helping the CNN team gather material about what is happening in the Donetsk oblast.

http://khpg.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1406413663