Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

19 May. 2014
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Russia's aggression against Ukraine has posed a challenge to a fundamental principle: the right of sovereign states to choose their own path. Russia has committed to this precept many times, but we see that President Putin now refuses to uphold this promise.

On May 25th, Ukraine will hold presidential elections. This is an important opportunity to find a peaceful way forward for a united Ukraine. This is when people across the country, regardless of the language they speak, have the chance to make their free and democratic choice, in line with national law and international standards. This is the vote that counts – for Ukraine and for the international community.


Any effort to delay or disrupt the elections would be an attempt to deny the Ukrainian people their choice. And a further step back for efforts to find a genuine political solution to the crisis.
We see a completely new security situation in Europe. It is less predictable and more dangerous. For NATO, this has implications now and for the future.


We have already taken immediate measures: more planes in the air, more ships at sea, and more exercises on the ground. We have deployed AWACS surveillance planes over Poland and Romania and we have reinforced our air policing mission in the Baltic region. I have seen them in action, and they are doing a remarkable job. Allies have reinforced our naval presence from the Baltic to the Black Sea. And deployed troops to participate in training and exercises.

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/opinions_109980.htm

[Natalka]

Ottawa, Ontario
20 May 2014

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced that Senator Raynell Andreychuk and former Ontario Premier Mike Harris will lead the Canadian bilateral election observation mission to Ukraine. They will join the hundreds of Canadian election observers arriving in Ukraine.

The Canadian bilateral mission will be led by Senator Raynell Andreychuk. Having previously led Canada’s delegations for the 2010 and 2012 elections, Senator Andreychuk is a leader in the Ukrainian Canadian community, and brings significant experience in election observations and knowledge of the Ukrainian political system.

For these key elections, she will be joined by the Honourable Mike Harris, former Premier of Ontario. Having served as provincial Premier for seven years, Mr. Harris will bring insights and expertise from the democratic process and executive leadership.

Canada is sending a total of 500 observers to Ukraine to monitor the first and second rounds of the election: 338 of the observers will form part of Canada’s independent Ukraine 2014 Presidential Election Bilateral Observation Mission. This includes approximately 38 long-term observers and 300 short-term observers who will undertake electoral analysis, stakeholder engagement and support the Canadian election observer mission.

The remaining 162 observers will participate as part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly observation missions.


- See more at: http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2014/05/20/....SiJnAnTN.dpuf

[Darth Penguin]

Prince Charles compared "Russian actions to Nazis"

A former Polish war refugee who met Prince Charles in Canada has said he likened some Nazi actions in Europe to those of Russia's Vladimir Putin.
Marienne Ferguson was speaking after meeting Prince Charles at a Nova Scotia immigration museum where she works.
As they discussed Hitler's takeover of countries, the prince "said something to the effect of 'it's not unlike... what Putin is doing,'" she recalled.
Clarence House said it would not comment on a private conversation.
The prince and the Russian president are both due to attend a D-Day anniversary event in France next month.
Speaking from China, President Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov told the BBC he was "not commenting right now" on the remarks.

[Natalka]

22 May 2014
Soldiers killed in Donetsk attack



Ukraine's government has confirmed a deadly attack on troops in the eastern region of Donetsk, with reports saying at least 10 soldiers died.
Heavily armed militants attacked a checkpoint in the Volnovakha area, in one of four attacks reported overnight in eastern Ukraine.


Ukrainian soldiers told the BBC that at least 10 soldiers had died but agency journalists counted 11 bodies.


The attacks come just three days before Ukraine's presidential election.


The country's interim Prime Minister, Arseny Yatseniuk, has called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council, saying he has evidence of Russian involvement in the violence.


Associated Press news agency journalists, at the scene of the attack outside the village of Blahodatne, which is near the town of Volnovakha, said 30 other soldiers had been wounded.

Three charred Ukrainian armoured infantry vehicles, their turrets blown away by powerful explosions, and several burned lorries stood at the site of the fighting.

Ukrainian security chief Andriy Parubiy said four attacks had taken place overnight, three of them repelled with loss of life and one - in the Luhansk region - still going on.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27515514

[Natalka]

Number dead amended to 13

The Chairman of Verkhovna Rada, Acting President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov, declared that on Thursday morning 13 Ukrainian soldiers were killed during the fight near Volnovakha near Donetsk.

“Throughout the fight to protect the town of Volnovaha from an attack and attempt to occupy by members of a separarist group). Our soldiers protected this town. They did not let the attackers advance. However, under the fire of grenade-gun and heavy automatic weapons, 13 men have tragically died for Ukraine,” Turchynov reported this at his meeting with the members of the Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Oranisations, that took place on Thursday in Kyiv.

[Natalka]

Pro-Ukrainian rally in Sumy, Ukraine

[Natalka]

Rebel attackers kill at least 16 at checkpoint

In the deadliest raid yet on Ukrainian troops, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint Thursday, killing 16 soldiers, and the interim prime minister accused Moscow of trying to disrupt the upcoming election for a new president to lead the divided country out of its crisis.

The armed uprising and the government's offensive to put it down have cast a shadow over Sunday's election, with Kiev acknowledging it will be impossible to hold the vote in some areas. In the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where separatists have declared independence and pledged to derail the vote, election workers reported threats and interference from gunmen.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine...oint-1.2650438

[Natalka]

Russia will recognise outcome of Ukraine poll, says Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that Russia will recognise the outcome of Ukraine's presidential election this weekend but said he hoped Ukraine would halt its military operation against separatists in the east.

Speaking at an investment forum in St Petersburg, Putin said Russia will "respect the choice of the Ukrainian people" and will work with the new leadership. He said Russia wants peace and order to be restored in Ukraine.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...utin-president

[Natalka]

Twenty-one candidates are standing on Sunday to become Ukraine's next leader. Polls show billionaire chocolate tycoon Petro Poroshenko with a commanding lead but falling short of the absolute majority needed to win in the first round; his nearest challenger is Yulia Tymoshenko, the divisive former prime minister, who is trailing by a large margin.


If no one wins in the first round, a runoff will be held on 15 June. Most polls predict Poroshenko would win in that contest.


Petro Poroshenko


In a live televised address from Kiev, acting president Oleksandr Turchynov, who is not running for election, emphasised the importance of Sunday's vote to choose a new leader.


"Today, we are building a new European country, the foundation of which was laid by millions of Ukrainians who proved they are capable of defending their own choice and their country," Turchynov said. "We will never allow anyone to rob us of our freedom and independence, turn our Ukraine into a part of the post-Soviet empire."


Authorities in Kiev had hoped that a new president would unify the nation, where the west looks toward Europe and the east has strong ties to Russia. But they have now acknowledged it will be impossible to hold the vote in some areas of the east – especially in Donetsk and Luhansk, where insurgents have declared independence and pledged to derail the vote. Election workers and activists say gunmen there have threatened them and seized their voting materials.


João Soares, coordinator for an observation mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said he expects problems with voting in fewer than 20% of the polling stations.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...utin-president

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Last night I heard an interview on CBC's "As It Happens" with Senator Raynell Andreychuk - she was explaining that they are expecting difficulty in those regions which have had unrest, but there will be polling stations open wherever possible. She said that their job as monitors is ensuring the election is free and fair - and they will have to see the results and the percentages to make their determinations.

[Natalka]

Band from Toronto, new single - lyrics in English on YT post

[Natalka]

Armed clashes in east as Ukraine counts down to election

(Reuters) - Armed pro-Russian separatists and a Ukrainian militia group clashed in the east of Ukraine on Friday, leaving at least two dead and heightening tension before a presidential election called to draw a line under six months of bloody upheaval.

A Reuters correspondent saw two dead bodies after the three- hour fire-fight in the morning between Ukrainian self-defense fighters and separatists manning a checkpoint in a rural location west of the big industrial city of Donetsk.

Reports suggested a higher death toll was likely.

---
The Ukrainian authorities have promised a suspension of anti-separatist operations on the day of the election, billed as the most important in 23 years of independence from Moscow, but Friday's clash suggested violence may mar the event.

"We are determined that honest and transparent elections will take place," interim Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk declared in talks with two European Union foreign ministers as the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton voiced support for Kiev and its election.
Yatseniuk added that, despite separatist plans to disrupt the poll in eastern areas they control, he believed the majority of people there opposed the "terrorists" and condemned their actions.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/...A4M05420140523

[Natalka]

This was so brave of them!

On Friday, May 25, secondary schools throughout Ukraine, including Crimea, were holding ceremonies marking the official end of the school year. Students graduating from the Lesya Ukrainka Gymnasium No. 5 in Sevastopol, along with their teachers, wore vyshyvankas (Ukrainian embroidered shirts) to school as a sign of protest against Russian occupation of the peninsula.

Russian authorities, which occupied Crimea two months ago, are prohibiting everything related to Ukraine on the peninsula.

[Natalka]

Day before the election
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Insurgents threaten presidential election in the east

District election commissions in Donetsk and Luhansk not operating because offices have been seized

Pro-Russian insurgents have prevented at least half of the election districts in the embattled east of the country to prepare for Sunday's presidential election, a Ukrainian official says.


Volodymyr Hrinyak, chief of the public security department at the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, said Saturday that 17 out of 34 district election commissions in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are not operating because their offices have either been seized or blocked by armed men.

The insurgents have controlled parts of Ukraine for weeks. Following their declaration of independence earlier this month, they pledged to derail the vote which they regard as an election in "a neighbouring country."

----
Twenty-one candidates are competing to become Ukraine's next leader. Polls show billionaire candy-maker Petro Poroshenko with a commanding lead, but short of the absolute majority needed to win in the first round. His nearest challenger is Yulia Tymoshenko, the divisive former prime minister who is far behind.


Most polls suggest Poroshenko would win a runoff ballot, which would be held on June 15.
(Winner needs 50% in first vote, if not, it goes to the runoff.)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine...east-1.2653049

[Darth Penguin]

Ukriane"babushkas" in stand-off with separtists...

A Ukrainian grandmother and her daughter have become YouTube hits after chasing away pro-Russian separatists in their neighbourhood.
The women's mobile phone footage of the incident in Kramatorsk, over 100km (62 miles) from Donetsk, has been watched more than 700,000 times.

[Darth Penguin]

Putin condemns Charles "Nazi" remarks

Vladimir Putin has described Prince Charles's reported comparison of him with Adolf Hitler as "unacceptable".
A former Polish war refugee who met the Prince of Wales during a royal tour to Canada said he had likened some Nazi actions in Europe to those of Mr Putin.
The Russian president, who has faced criticism in the West over Russia's actions in Ukraine, said if the prince had made such comments they were "wrong" and "not royal behaviour".
Clarence House declined to comment.