Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

Violence Flares in Ukraine

Michael Bociurkiw, the Canadian-born spokesman of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, says more than 500 explosions were heard in Donetsk city between 11 p.m. and midnight local time on Thursday, and another 100 fell on Friday.

The violence between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed rebels flared anew in the region on Wednesday, but Bociurkiw says the subsequent flare-up is particularly troubling because heavy artillery was moved back to the front lines in violation of the shaky ceasefire agreement that was reached in February.

"This is something we've not seen before," he told reporters.

"I can't remember in all these months seeing that type of intensity."

He says this week's renewed violence in the 15-month long conflict is taking an especially heavy toll on civilians, with as many as two million being displaced."A year ago there were no displaced people," he said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/06...n_7524646.html

[Natalka]

Canada stands strong on global peace and security

2015/06/06 • Op-ed
Article by: Paul Grod
President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress

As Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrives for his third official visit to Ukraine in the past year and a half in advance of the G7 Summit in Germany, he will be acknowledged as the leader of Ukraine’s staunchest international champion. On multiple occasions, Canada has demonstrated its willingness to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ukraine as they stood up to the corrupt and autocratic regime of Victor Yanukovych and today as they face down an external aggressor, Putin’s Russian Federation.


In international forums such as the UN, the G7 and NATO, as well as in bilateral decisions related to providing Ukraine with military trainers – Canada has consistently and meaningfully demonstrated its support for Ukraine’s right to sovereignty, territorial integrity and to ensure the security of its citizens.

(Read rest of opinion piece here, it's very good...)

http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/06/0...-and-security/

[Anna Michele]

--- on the lighter side ----

Ukrainians conquer America’s Got Talent with a stunning show

A powerful show of a couple dancing in the rain gained Golden Buzzer in America's Got Talent 2015 on 2 June.

Dance duo Freckled Sky was awarded with the Golden Buzzer by Howard Stern who sent Olga and Jaylin right to the live show. Many believe the duo is very likely to win the whole competition.


What does all of this have to do with Ukraine? The thing is, the performance was created by Ukrainian producer Oleh Bondarchuk, invited by the creators of the show, with the assistance of other Ukrainians: choreographer Olha Goldis, costume designer Anna Asmekhina and provider of visual and interactive solutions Front Pictures. The preparation stage and rehearsals took place in Kyiv.

Amazing

[Natalka]

Sunday, June 7. KYIV – President Petro Poroshenko emphasized that his negotiations with Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper had reaffirmed powerful and efficient support of Canada for Ukraine.

The President expressed gratitude to Canada for providing loans totaling more than 400 million Canadian dollars; technical and humanitarian assistance worth over 178 million Canadian dollars; non-lethal military weapons; mobile hospitals and medical kits that saved and continue saving lives of Ukrainian soldiers.


During the meeting the parties discussed the deepening of Ukrainian-Canadian cooperation in the military field. The Head of State noted the initiative of Mr. Harper to involve Canadian instructors in training Ukrainian soldiers. It will strengthen the defense potential of Ukraine and generate martial fraternity, as stated by Petro Poroshenko.

http://www.mil.gov.ua/en/news/2015/0...ort-of-canada/

[Natalka]

Euromaidan PR ‏@EuromaidanPR 4h4 hours ago


175 Ukr peacekeepers are back in #Ukraine after 10-month mission in Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire

[Anna Michele]

Sunday, June 7. KYIV – President Petro Poroshenko emphasized that his negotiations with Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper had reaffirmed powerful and efficient support of Canada for Ukraine.

The President expressed gratitude to Canada for providing loans totaling more than 400 million Canadian dollars; technical and humanitarian assistance worth over 178 million Canadian dollars; non-lethal military weapons; mobile hospitals and medical kits that saved and continue saving lives of Ukrainian soldiers.


During the meeting the parties discussed the deepening of Ukrainian-Canadian cooperation in the military field. The Head of State noted the initiative of Mr. Harper to involve Canadian instructors in training Ukrainian soldiers. It will strengthen the defense potential of Ukraine and generate martial fraternity, as stated by Petro Poroshenko.

http://www.mil.gov.ua/en/news/2015/0...ort-of-canada/

As a woman of Ukrainian heritage I welcome all the support both financial and tangible goods.

[Natalka]

^And when articles like the above are posted on the Ukr. news pages or social media, all of the comments are SO very positive about Canada, our government, and all that they are doing for Ukraine; they are very appreciative of the physical and emotional support!

Just two examples of comments from Ukraine's Euromaidan FB today:

Harper has the courage to do the right thing. Wish some other Western leaders had his sense of right and Wrong. Stop Putin at all costs.

Тhank you,Mr.Harper,for the support of Ukraine

[Natalka]

UKR Emb to HOLY SEE ‏@UKRinVAT 9h9 hours ago

Ukrainians in Rome

[Natalka]

Motor boat of Ukrainian border service blasted in the sea 4km from #Mariupol.



1 died, four wounded in action, one missing

[Natalka]

New York Times, picture of the day, June 5.


A woman kissed her husband at a railroad station after his discharge from Ukraine's army. the man had been fighting Russian-backed insurgents in eastern Ukraine, where government forces repelled an attack this week by about a thousand separatists in the town of Maryinka, west of Donetsk, Ukraine

[Natalka]

Today is 100 days since Boris Nemtsov's murder.

A symbolic cemetery of Putin's victim's near Russian embassy stands in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Front plaque - "Boris Nemtsov".

[Natalka]

London turns Ukrainian for a day!

Nearly 1000 people took place in the parade of Ukrainian embroidered shirts, vyshyvankas, in London.

[Natalka]

Wall of memory on Mykhailivsky Cathedral's external wall - servicemen who died in course of conflict in E #Ukraine

[Natalka]

Stephen ‎Harper renews attack on Russia's Vladimir Putin over Ukraine



Prime Minister Stephen Harper has renewed his condemnation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, even as the G7 summit seemed to balk at Ukraine's plea for weapons in its struggle with Russian-backed separatists. Harper told U.S. television channel CNBC in an interview that Putin does not share Western values and has "no place" at the summit, which chose not to invite the Russian leader for the second year in a row.

"We are having a discussion on the shared interests of the Western democratic world," Harper said Sunday. "Mr. Putin, who is in no way part of that, has no place at the table, and I don't believe there's any leader who would defend Mr. Putin having a place."

Harper ‎said the Russian economy has little in common with Western ones.

"Mr. Putin runs an entirely different system … he runs an economy that is dominated by oligarchs and criminal syndicates. It is not at all like our economy, it doesn't share our interests, it doesn't share our values, and so I think we need to have discussions where we can really rally the shared interests of the Western democratic world."

Harper added that Putin's presence in what was previously the G8 was not productive.

"His presence in the past, quite frankly, was undermining the coherence and effectiveness of this organization, and I don't think there is much appetite to have him back. Certainly Canada, and I know others, would strongly oppose him ever returning."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/step...aine-1.3104202

[Natalka]

G7 leaders urge tough line on Russia at Alpine summit

Group of Seven (G7) leaders vowed at a summit in the Bavarian Alps on Sunday to keep sanctions against Russia in place until President Vladimir Putin and Moscow-backed separatists fully implement the terms of a peace deal for Ukraine.


The Ukraine conflict and a long-running debt standoff between Greece and its European partners dominated the first day of the annual meeting hosted by Chancellor Angela Merkel at Schloss Elmau, a luxury Alpine hotel in southern Germany.

The leaders want Russia and Ukraine to comply with a Feb. 12 ceasefire agreed in the Belarus capital Minsk that largely halted fighting in eastern Ukraine between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces.
EU leaders agreed in March that sanctions imposed over Russia's seizure and annexation of Crimea and destabilisation of eastern Ukraine would stay until the Minsk ceasefire was fully applied, effectively extending them to the end of the year, but a formal decision has yet to be taken.


Merkel said any easing of the sanctions depended largely on Russia and its behaviour in Ukraine.

European Council President Donald Tusk went further, saying: "If anyone wants to start a discussion about changing the sanctions regime, it could only be about strengthening it."


European monitors have blamed a recent upsurge in violence in eastern Ukraine on the pro-Moscow separatists. Russian President Vladimir Putin was frozen out of what used to be the G8 after Moscow's annexation of Crimea last year.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/0...0OM0HT20150607