Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

Despite the tragedy commemoration rally in #Kharkiv went on.
Ppl kneel paying tribute to Heaven's Hundred

[Natalka]

A march to commemorate the Heaven's Hundred in Hamburg, Germany






Honoring the Heaven's Hundred in Vilnius, Lithuania



in Paris, France

[Natalka]

Odesa pays last tribute to soldiers tormented by Russian invaders


23 February, several hundred Odesa residents paid last tribute to two soldiers from Azov volunteer battalion from Odesa killed by Russian invaders on 15 February.

Mykola Troitskyi (call sign Akela) and Oleksandr Kutuzakyi (call sign Kutuz) were killed near Shyrokyne on 15 February after "CEASEFIRE" was announced.



http://empr.media/news/odesa-pays-la...ssian-invaders

[Natalka]

Members of the first military medical unit of the National Guard of Ukraine on Feb. 23 mourned the deaths of four colleagues whose ambulance hit a mine on on the Donetsk Oblast highway between Artemivsk, which is still under Ukrainian control, and Debaltseve, which is now in Russian hands.


The memorial service took place in front of the headquarters of the National Guard in Artemivsk.
About 30 people came to commemorate the paramedics who were on duty and responding to a call to pick up wounded Ukrainian soldiers from Debaltseve, which Ukrainian forces surrendered on Feb. 9.
The bodies will be taken to Lviv, the hometown of all four victims, for burial.



http://www.kyivpost.com/multimedia/p...es-381665.html

[Natalka]

Six killed in Ukraine’s east as violence overshadows efforts to revive cease-fire

Three civilians were killed when a Russian rocket hit a café in Avdiyivka on Feb. 22, and one soldier was killed and three wounded during 44 attacks on Ukrainian frontline positions over the course of the day.


Although the situation was calmer overnight, with no attacks reported between 10 p.m. on Feb. 21 and 7 a.m. on Feb. 22, at least two more people were killed in a terrorist attack in Kharkiv on Feb. 22

Russia continued to violate the Minsk agreements by supplying more military hardware to proxies in the country. “60 units of military equipment have arrived at Amvrosiivka station in the Donetsk region," Ukraine's government said in a statement. “Two more convoys of the Russian military equipment crossed the Ukrainian-Russian border through the “Izvaryne" checkpoint, going toward Krasnodon and Luhansk."

Russia also stepped up reconnaissance flights in the Mariupol area, fulling speculation that it was preparing to launch an offensive on the city from its positions at Novoazovsk.
Ukrainian soldiers recorded 14 UAV flights over Mariupol, Donetsk and Luhansk sectors, shooting down one in the area of Starobilsk.

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukra...re-381547.html

[Natalka]

Third death from bombing

Karkhiv


Danila, 15 years old boy, died after being 24 hours in critical condition due to a fragment of the bomb that penetrated his skull and was lodged in his brain.

The russian saboteur who launched the bomb has been arrested.

[Natalka]

Peace Chain as a part of Honoring the Heroes of Heaven's Hundred in Dublin.

[Natalka]

EuroMaidan PR @Euro maidanPR · 2h 2 hours ago

BREAKING:

1 more person killed by #Kharkiv terrorist attack:

Mykola Melnychuk, 18 y.o., died 24Feb at 5a.m in hospital

[Natalka]

Lugansk region - Terrorists keep shelling Popasna using artillery and mortars







Terrorists continue their attacks on other towns located on the territory of Lugansk Region controlled by Ukrainian authorities. Troitske (near Debaltseve) was shelled with artillery last night and today in the morning. There were fights with the use of automatic weapon and grenade launchers at Trykhizbenka. Ukrainian Army positions at Stanytsia Luhanska were attacked with the use of high caliber machine guns, the fire was opened from the side of Siverskiy Donets River controlled by terrorists. No killed or wounded among civilian population.



http://lugansk-news.com/terrorists-k...y-and-mortars/

[Natalka]

Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, leader of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, prayed during a Divine Liturgy for Ukrainian expatriates in Rome on Feb. 19.

Ukrainian Catholic leader urges pope to be tougher on Russia


ROME — Calling a recent line from Pope Francis about fighting in eastern Ukraine reminiscent “of Soviet propaganda,” the head of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic church has urged a tougher line on Russian aggression in his country both from the pontiff and the international community.

Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said on Monday that a Feb. 4 statement from Francis, in which he called the conflict between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian separatists “fratricidal,” was “particularly painful for all the people in Ukraine.”
The pope’s words, he said, “reminded us of Soviet propaganda.”

The line rankled Ukrainians who see the violence on the Crimean peninsula not as a civil conflict, but an act of foreign aggression stirred up by Russia.

In the same spirit, Shevchuk voiced regret that Francis did not specifically point a finger at Russia in his Feb. 20 remarks to a group of visiting Ukrainian bishops, instead referring only to a “situation of grave conflict.”

The roughly 6 million strong Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine is the largest of the 22 Eastern churches in communion with the pope.

In a Rome press conference, the Ukrainian prelate also begged the international community not to remain indifferent to the “undeclared and unexpected” war in his country, which he said is the result of what he called a foreign invasion
“Indifference kills,” Shevchuk said on Monday.
“I ask you not to be indifferent, because what’s going on in Ukraine isn’t a local conflict,” he said. “We live in a globalized world. This war that is today being fought in Ukraine, will sooner or later affect every country.”

Shevchuk said that during their meeting the pope listened with a “paternal ear,” paying special attention to the bishops of Donetsk and Crimea. He wanted to know how their flock is experiencing the conflict, how the local Orthodox community understands it, and statistics about the displaced, wounded and deceased, Shevchuk said.
In the pope’s address to the bishops, Shevchuck said that his words, “I’m at your disposal, I’m at your service,” were the most important.
“I hope that in the near future we’ll be witnesses of an action from him,” he said. “He’s given us a few hints, such as saying that he’s at ‘our service’.”

“I asked for the Holy Father and the Holy See to make an international appeal so that the Ukrainian people receive international humanitarian help,” Shevchuk told reporters.
In terms of what Francis might do, Shevchuk said the pontiff could appeal directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin because “even to Putin, the pope is a respected spiritual figure.”

“I’m a son of the persecuted Church,” Shevchuk said. “I know about the KGB, the Russian Secret service, and how they used Christian values for political benefit. I don’t trust any state propaganda that’s willing to sacrifice thousands of its soldiers for a geopolitical cause.”

Shevchuk claimed that pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine are making life difficult for religious minorities.

“Our Muslim brothers and the Tartars of Crimea are running away because of persecution,” he said. “Our Jewish brothers are being forced to register and pay a fee, something I’ve been told the Nazis used to do.”

http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/0...her-on-russia/

[Natalka]

British forces head for Ukraine


British troops will be deployed in Ukraine to train soldiers fighting Russian separatists, David Cameron has said, as he delivered an extraordinary warning to Vladimir Putin over his continued aggression in eastern Europe.

The Prime Minister said that there would be "deeply damaging" consequences for all of Europe if the EU fails to stand up to Mr Putin in Ukraine, predicting that the Russian president could turn against the Baltic states or Moldova if he is not reined in now.

He warned that Mr Putin has opted out of the “rules-based system” of the twenty-first century and warned that the Russian president must expect consequences.
Mr Cameron also said that British air defences can “absolutely” protect the country from the Russian planes, which have been making incursions along the UK coast in recent weeks

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...mir-Putin.html

UK will provide further non-lethal support to Ukraine by sending advisory and short-term training teams to build the capacity and resilience of its Armed Forces.

As part of wider efforts to support Ukraine and ensure a robust international response to Russia’s aggression, the teams will provide medical, logistics, infantry and intelligence capacity building training from mid March.

The UK Service Personnel will be based in Ukraine delivering support and training to their counterparts. The majority of this advisory and training support will take place in Ukraine, well away from the areas affected by the conflict in the East of the country.



https://www.gov.uk/government/news/p...ort-to-ukraine

[Natalka]

Killed in action stopping terrorists in Mariupol



‘Sokil’ special forces officer gives his life to avert act of terrorism in Mariupol

The deceased policeman is Vitaly Mandrik. He was a native of Donetsk Oblast. He was 27 years old.

Yesterday in Mariupol, at the cost of [the life of] a police officer from the ‘Sokil’ [Falcon] special forces subdivision [of HUBOZ], an act of terrorism was averted.
A car with tinted windows was stopped at a checkpoint. After the [driver was] required to produce documents and exit the car for inspection, there were muffled shots from a pistol silencer that came from the interior.
The shooter was a professional. Three shots and three hits to the head of the police employees.
One of the ‘Sokil’ officers, who later died in the hospital, fell unconscious at the site of this terrorist act. The other two policemen, despite wounds to the jaw and cheek, painfully opened fire on the car and continued pursuit of the terrorists, killing one of them.
Pursuit of the second [terrorist] was terminated due to the significant loss of blood and loss of consciousness in one of the two wounded policemen.

To intercept the terrorists, an alarm was raised in the Mariupol militia garrison.
Explosives and detonator sets were found in the car abandoned by the terrorists.
This is the second in 2 days a policeman has died at the forefront of the fight against terrorism.

Prior to its capture by Donetsk terrorists [the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’], he served in the Donetsk ‘Sokil.’

He remained faithful to the oath of allegiance to the people of Ukraine. He left [Donetsk] on his own, bringing his wife and one-year-old child from Donetsk.
He lived in a rented apartment on the outskirts of Mariupol on his modest police salary.
He performed combat missions at the front lines in Debaltseve, Mariinka, Pisky.




Eternal Memory Вічная Пам'ять


http://maidantranslations.com/2015/0...m-in-mariupol/

[Natalka]

Victims of terrorism in Kharkiv 22.02.2015

Danylo Didyk 15
Vadym Rybalchenko 37
Ihor Tolmachov 52
Mykola Melnychuk 18





RIP

[Natalka]

(some of these postings are late, sorry for that - don't know how I missed them)

SENATOR ANDREYCHUK COMMEMORATES VICTIMS OF THE MAIDAN



Rising in the Senate on 19 February 2015, Senator Andreychuk commemorated the first anniversary since the mass shooting of Euromaidan protesters on the streets of Kyiv, Ukraine.

“Between February 18th and 20^th, 2014, Special Forces under the command of President Yanukovich opened fire on unarmed protesters in Kyiv,” she said; “More than one-hundred protesters had lost their lives by the time the guns fell silent.”

The killings led to the collapse of the government of President Yanukovich, and unleashed a conflict that continues in eastern Ukraine today, fuelled by Russian soldiers, rubles and military equipment.

“Defying international laws and norms, the Kremlin repeatedly flouted Russia’s international commitments,” said Senator Andreychuk, who noted the ongoing suffering of Ukrainians, and the repression of Crimean Tatars and Russians.

“As this unnecessary crisis continues, let us pause to remember those who died one year ago on the Maidan,” she added.

“Let us honour the memory of those who sacrificed their lives in hope for a better future for their country and their region. And let us commit to supporting their vision of a future Ukraine that is sovereign, peaceful, rights-respecting, democratic, and free!”

[Natalka]

Jason Kenney ن @jkenney · 19h 19 hours ago

Spoke @EuroMaidanCA @MariaArseniuk photo exhibit w/ Ukrainian community friends on #Maidan of Dignity anniversary





Defence Min @jkenney: "Canada will always recognize #Crimea as sovereign #Ukrainian territory.

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MPs @TedOpitz & @MinChrisA (Immigration Minister Chris Alexander) underscoring #Canada's unwavering support for #Ukraine at @EuroMaidanCA tribute dinner