Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

The Order of Malta in Ukraine is one of the first to offer Easter gifts


This year 450 persons, mostly elderly who are frequent guests at the Maltese soup kitchen in Ukraine, received Easter gifts from the Order. Among those people, 200 are refugees from the east of the country.

This annual event has been sponsored exclusively by the local benefactors.

The majority of the assisted persons have worked hard in their lives and now they are left without families and with a scarce pension to live on. Such an event is a good occasion to raise awareness to a wide range of problems in Ukrainian society and to look for a plausible solution.

[Natalka]

April 14, 2015 3:20 am

Intense fighting reported in eastern Ukraine

SHYROKYNE, Ukraine – Fighting raged overnight and in the early hours on Tuesday on the outskirts of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine despite an agreement reached by the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers a day earlier.

Heavy shelling was heard in Donetsk late Monday evening and in the early hours on Tuesday. In the morning, rebel mouthpiece Donetsk News Agency reported one rebel fighter dead and five wounded in the overnight clashes.

Russia and Ukraine agreed in Berlin on Monday to call for the pullback of smaller-calibre weapons from the front lines of the conflict that has claimed more than 6,000 lives.

On the ground, however, even the previous agreement that called for a cease-fire and a withdrawal of large-calibre weaponry appeared to be shaky.

http://globalnews.ca/news/1937063/intense-fighting-reported-in-eastern-ukraine/

[Natalka]

(Reuters) - Ukraine's military accused pro-Russian rebels on Monday of using heavy weapons that were meant to have been withdrawn under a ceasefire deal, after one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and six wounded in rebel-held territories.

"The rebels have not stopped firing at Ukrainian positions ... Over the past day, the enemy has used weapons banned under the Minsk agreements," Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said in a televised briefing.


Under the deal, weapons bigger than 100 mm caliber, including heavy artillery and powerful rocket systems, are meant to have been withdrawn from the front line.


Motuzyanyk said rebels had fired at government troops multiple times with 120-122 mm weapons.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0N40XD20150413

[Natalka]

Canada sending 200 trainers for Ukraine military


Canada will join a training mission to help Ukraine's military in its struggle against Russian-backed rebels, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday, following months of requests for assistance from Ukraine's government.
Starting this summer, roughly 200 troops will be deployed, until March, 2017, to help develop and deliver training for Ukrainian forces personnel.


Chief of Defence Staff Tom Lawson joined Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday to announce a new deployment to western Ukraine, joining American and British allies in training Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's forces.

(Defence Minister Jason) Kenney told his news conference that from the beginning, Canada was interested in doing something in western Ukraine to maximize the distance from the conflict and minimize the risk that Canadian forces would find themselves in a confrontation with the Russian-backed forces that have taken over territory in the country's east.

The majority of the trainers, roughly 150 troops, according to the defence minister, will likely be deployed from 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group at Garrison Petawawa. They will be stationed at a facility that Canada helped establish: a NATO training centre in Yavoriv, near the Polish border.

Kenney pointed out several times that the troops "could not be farther away," as this facility is 1,300 kilometres, or a day's drive, from the current conflict zone

The remaining trainers involve:

• 25 troops putting Canada's experience in Afghanistan to use, offering explosives training at Ukraine's Ministry of Defence de-mining centre in Kamyanets-Podilsky in the country's extreme southwest.
• 5 medical trainers.
• 15 military police trainers.
• Between 5 and 10 flight safety trainers from Canada's air force.
• 5 other troops offering logistical training.

The exact locations for the latter four operations have not yet been determined, but would all be in the West as well, "well-separated from recent conflicts," reporters were told.

Kenney said that Canada's contributions were necessary to "send a strong message of resolution and deterrence" in the face of aggression from Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Canadian forces would "absolutely not" be engaging with Russian troops, he said, and Canada has "no intention" of making this an accompanying mission.

"This is a non-combat mission," the defence minister said, noting the Polish border is "virtually within sight" and it would not be difficult to extract Canada's troops.

"If this changes dramatically, we would obviously reassess this deployment," he said.

Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Canada, Marko Shevchenko, appeared at Tuesday's press conference to express his gratitude, and said Canada had been a "true friend of Ukraine from the very beginning."

He noted that the ceasefire in Ukraine is "still very fragile" and "almost every day, Ukrainian soldiers and civilians continue to die."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ukra...tary-1.3031806

[Natalka]

The Honourable Rob Nicholson, P.C., Q.C., M.P. for Niagara Falls, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today (yesterday) announced that he will join his counterparts at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Lübeck, Germany, on April 14 and 15, 2015, to discuss major international issues affecting global peace and security.

[Natalka]

This is the graphic on Ukrainian social media about Canada sending troops to Ukraine:

[Natalka]

In #Kramatorsk, ppl painted the biggest national emblem in #Donetsk Oblast:

[Natalka]

Patriotic rally in #Kramatorsk gathered over 1,5K ppl

[Natalka]

#Lenin monument was toppled in #Kramatorsk




One more #Lenin monument was toppled: in Stanytsia Luhanska close to the frontline

[Natalka]

#US troopers will train 900 National Guard servicemen in 3 8-week sessions each for 300ppl

[gryphon]

Putin is outright saying he wants the soviet empire back....this is a bad situation

[Natalka]

Funeral of Olexandr "Pioneer" Chyrtsov of Sich battalion in Poltava region. Killed in #Pisky April 15.
He leaves behind to mourn a wife and small daughter.

[Natalka]

Euromaidan PR @Euro maidanPR · 2h 2 hours ago #Russia-backed militants shelled Valuyske, #Luhansk region w/ Grad. No casualties are reported

[Natalka]

Georgian volunteer of #Azov Georgy Dzhanelidze was killed in action near #Shyrokyne yesterday.
He was 41, leaving a wife and three children.

From FB:

George came to help the fraternal Ukrainian people in his fight last winter. Taught newbies, passed the Ukrainians experience obtained in the Russo-Georgian war of 2008. George was a real man and died as befits a real man in the battle for our Ukraine, which you called a second homeland.

[Natalka]

Yesterdayday in #Artemivsk in 20km from conflict zone: "Artemivsk is #Donbas! Donbas is #Ukraine!"