Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

BBC has good reporting

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-46338957

[Darth Penguin]

Ukraine President proposes martial law after Russia seizes 3 ships

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said on Monday he would propose that parliament declare martial law in the country after the Russian military attacked and seized three Ukrainian navy ships in the Black Sea.
He said the parliament could decide whether to approve martial law, which would restrict civil liberties and give state institutions greater power.
Russia’s FSB security service said early on Monday its border patrol boats had seized the Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea and used weapons to force them to stop, Russian news agencies reported. Ukraine said several of its sailors were wounded.
The FSB said it had been forced to act because the ships – two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tug boat – had illegally entered its territorial waters, attempted illegal actions, and ignored warnings to stop while manoeuvring dangerously.
“Weapons were used with the aim of forcibly stopping the Ukrainian warships,” the FSB said in a statement circulated to Russian state media.

“As a result, all three Ukrainian naval vessels were seized in the Russian Federation’s territorial waters in the Black Sea.”
The FSB said three Ukrainian sailors had been wounded in the incident and were getting medical care. Their lives were not in danger, it said.

[Natalka]

DP, was posted earlier.


...






Chrystia Freeland

@cafreeland


Canada condemns Russian aggression towards #Ukraine in the #KerchStrait. We call on #Russia to immediately de-escalate, release the captured vessels, and allow for freedom of passage. Canada is unwavering in its support for Ukraine’s sovereignty.






(Don't know where the green came from - she did not post it that way!)

[Natalka]

Following a Russian attack on three Ukrainian ships near the Kerch Strait, the Ukrainian Parliament has greenlighted a decision to impose martial law in nearly half of the country.


On 26 November, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine voted to impose martial law in 10 Oblasts of Ukraine for 30 days with a possibility of prolongation. The decision will come into force starting 9 AM on November 28, lasting until 27 December. 276 MPs out of 330 who took part in voting supported the bill.


The decision affects the Odesa, Mykolayiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Vinnytsia oblasts. They are located along the Russian border, Transnistria, and along the coast of the Black and Azov seas and are thought to be at greater risk of a Russian intervention.


President Poroshenko stressed that martial law will not infringe upon civil liberties of Ukrainians, and in Parliament repeated that they will be limited only in case of an intervention. Additionally, Information Ministry Chief Yuriy Stets said that limitations on freedom of speech will not be imposed, but called to be aware that enemy will attempt to sow panic and disinformation through social media.


More info on martial law here
http://euromaidanpress.com/2018/11/2...t-will-change/

[Natalka]

Ukraine-Russia sea clash: Captured sailors shown on Russia TV

Statements by three captured Ukrainians have been released by Russia's security service after Russian ships fired on and seized three Ukrainian boats off the coast of Russian-annexed Crimea.

One of the men, Volodymyr Lisovyi, said he was aware of the "provocative nature" of the Ukrainian action.


Ukraine's navy commander said the men had been forced to lie under duress.
Meanwhile, a Crimean court ordered the first two of the 24 Ukrainians seized on Sunday to be detained for 60 days.
The court is expected to issue similar rulings for 10 more sailors later on Tuesday.


The head of the Ukrainian navy, Ihor Voronchenko, told Ukrainian TV that the three men had given false statements under duress.
"I know those sailors from Nikopol. They have always been honest professionals in their jobs, and what they say now is not true," he said.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46356111

[Natalka]

Ukrainian ambassador says Russia’s attack ‘absolutely’ an act of war, urges Canada to retaliate

When Russia fired on and seized Ukrainian ships and sailors this weekend, it did so to send a message to the West in what the Ukrainian ambassador to Canada says was “absolutely” an act of war.


Ukrainian ambassador Andriy Shevchenko said the West needs to recognize the alarming escalation of Russian aggression that the Sunday attack on Ukrainian naval vessels by Russian coast guard ships represents, and not hesitate in laying down a new round of sanctions before Russia tries similar attacks on other ships.


“It’s important to understand what makes this situation different from previous situations. For the first time, we have Russian military openly firing onto Ukrainian soldiers,” said Shevchenko.
“This time, Russia chose not to hide behind any green men like in Crimea or local rebels or mercenaries like it was in Donbass. This time, it was Russian men in uniform with orders to shoot and attack the Ukrainian military. To me, it’s clear the Russians did this in a very demonstrative way. They wanted to send a message to Ukraine and to the West.”


Shevchenko said the blockade of the Kerch Strait, which a 2003 treaty stated was shared territory between Russia and Ukraine, specifically targets the Ukrainian economy and is part of a larger set of Russian positioning that set it up for a potential attack on the eastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol.

“Russia is now in the perfect position for an attack on the far eastern parts of Ukraine around the city of Mariupol,” he said, urging Western leaders to act swiftly and apply new sanctions to show Russia there will be repercussions for its aggression.


https://globalnews.ca/news/4702895/r...it-canada/amp/

[Natalka]

Ukraine's Poroshenko: Putin wants my whole country



In interviews with Germany’s Bild newspaper and the Funke newspaper group on Thursday, Poroshenko rejected Russia’s charge that the vessels’ entry into the Azov Sea - a body of water shared by Ukraine and Russia on which the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk sit - was a provocation.


“Don’t believe Putin’s lies,” he told Bild, Germany’s biggest-selling paper, comparing Russia’s protestations of innocence in the affair to Moscow’s 2014 denial that it had soldiers in Crimea even as they moved to annex it.


“Putin wants the old Russian empire back,” he said. “Crimea, Donbass, the whole country. As Russian Tsar, as he sees himself, his empire can’t function without Ukraine. He sees us as his colony.”


https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1NY03K

[Natalka]

Ukraine president calls for Nato warships in Sea of Azov


Kiev asks for western presence in sea it shares with Russia, saying Putin is blocking ports

The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, has called on Nato to deploy naval ships to the Sea of Azov to “provide security” amid a deepening crisis with Russia.
Nato foreign ministers are due to meet next Monday in Brussels and will assess their existing presence in the area, but it is unlikely they will send warships to the area.


The Crimean courts have put 24 Ukrainian sailors under two-month pre-trial detention. Some of the sailors have been flown to Moscow, two of their lawyers told AFP on Thursday.

Ukraine claimed Russia was escalating the crisis by imposing a de facto blockade on two Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov and barring ships from leaving and entering via the Russian-controlled Kerch strait.
Russia has blocked 35 merchant ships from leaving or entering the Sea of Azov, Ukraine asserted. The infrastructure ministry said on Thursday 18 ships were stuck in the Black Sea, waiting to pass through the Kerch strait into the Sea of Azov, and another 17 vessels were unable to sail out of the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk.


The Kremlin denied it was restricting shipping and said if there was any blockage it was because of bad weather.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ports-minister

[Natalka]

Russian tanks massing on Ukraine's border, president tells Sky News


Petro Poroshenko has shown Sky News aerial photographs he says reveal more and more tanks on the country's border with Russia.

Mr Poroshenko said: "There is no red line for Putin and this is the very strong reason why we should be together, the whole civilised world.
"Not only the leaders, with whom [we have] a very reliable partnership, but the people of UK, of Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, the whole civilised world would be together and this is very important for global security."


Russia is continuing to block the strait and refuses to free the Ukrainian sailors.
Mr Poroshenko referred to the captured sailors as "prisoners of war" and called on Mr Putin to release them, asking for pressure from the international community to encourage this.

Donald Trump cancelled his meeting with Mr Putin at the G20 amid the ongoing situation with Ukraine. However the Kremlin responded by saying it would mean Mr Putin would have more time for "useful meetings".


https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-a...order-11567237

[Natalka]

Five years ago, on 1 December 2013, up to a million protesters filled Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv in response to the Berkut police beating up a handful of students with Ukrainian and EU flags on the night of November 29.
The students were protesting against Yanukovych renunciating the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.

The million came out against police brutality, and against the Yanukovych regime itself.
#history #Euromaidan

[Natalka]

Ukraine asks Canada to renew training mission as crisis with Russia heats up




Canada is being asked to renew its military training mission to Ukraine — a proposal that's taking on a whole new level of urgency as border tension ramps up with Russia.
Canada's deployment of 200 soldiers is up for renewal in March.


Moscow seized three Ukrainian naval ships and their crews Sunday in waters off Russian-annexed Crimea. Tensions in the region — particularly over the Kerch Strait — have been building for months and aren't likely to dissipate soon, said Ukraine's ambassador to Canada in an interview with CBC News.


"All of these provocations by Russia, they are a good reason to reinforce what we already do," said Andriy Shevchenko. "We expect and hope Canada will renew its Operation Unifier, which is this wonderful training mission that Canada has in Ukraine."

Since being deployed by the previous Conservative government in the wake of Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, Canadian troops have trained almost 8,000 Ukrainian soldiers in advanced small combat team skills, bomb disposal, medical care and military policing.



Canada's top military commander, Gen. Jonathan Vance, told CBC Radio's The House on Saturday that events in the Sea of Azov and the subsequent imposition of martial law in 10 Ukrainian provinces (known as oblasts) "won't have an immediate impact on our mission."

Increased tension with Russia, however, is something policymakers will note.

"It will certainly be taken into consideration as the government looks to the future with any of its engagements in Ukraine," Vance said.



https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4928575

[Natalka]

Past 24 hours in the war zone
Russian terrorist troops launch 7 attacks against Ukrainian positions in Luhansk, Donetsk and Mariupol sectors.
No casualties on the Ukrainian side.3 enemy militants killed, 5 wounded (Ukrainian intelligence).

An UAV of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine reports build-up of heavy weapons in non-government-controlled areas of the Donbas.G7 foreign ministers call on Russia to release Ukrainian sailors captured near Kerch Strait, and adhere to international law (https://www.canada.ca/en/global-affa...ch-strait.html).

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urges Moscow to let Ukrainian vessels enter the Sea of Azov and declares that discussions about the Azov conflict should continue at the advisor level in the four-way Normandy format.

[Natalka]

Past 24 hours in the war zone

On 3 December, Russian hybrid forces attacked Ukrainian positions in the Donbas 14 times, using heavy weapons proscribed by the Minsk accords in four of the fire attacks.

2 Ukrainian servicemen were wounded in action.3 enemy militants killed, 3 wounded (Ukrainian intelligence).

[Natalka]

On its press briefing in Kyiv on November 29, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) made public the intercepted communications between Russian aircraft pilots which took part in the attack on Ukrainian Navy ships on 25 November, before they were seized and 24 sailors imprisoned.

The intercepts appear to show that a Russian fighter jet and a military helicopter blasted the three ships with unguided missiles.

SBU reported that the three Ukrainian vessels and their crews – tugboat “Yany Kapu” and armored artillery cutters “Berdyansk” and “Nikopol” – came under six types of Russian attacks:

• The Russian FSB border administration’s ship “Don” rammed small tugboat “Yany Kapu.” (Bellingcat found that “Ukrainian tug ‘Yany Kapu’ was intentionally rammed at least four times over a period of at least an hour.”)

• The Russian SU-30 fighter jet fired two missiles against Ukrainian ships

• K-52 helicopter launched two more rockets.

• Ship-based large-caliber naval artillery armament was used.

• Later Russian special forces assaulted the vessels and used physical violence against Ukrainian sailors.

• “The sixth type of violence is still on – physical, moral and psychological pressure and illegal arrest of 24 servicemen,” says SBU.

http://euromaidanpress.com/2018/12/0...rcepts-reveal/

[Natalka]

Past 24 hours in the war zone

Russian terrorist troops opened fire at Ukrainian positions 24 times in different directions. 7 times they used heavy weapons proscribed by Minsk agreements.Defenders of Krasnogorovka were fired by anti-tank guided missiles.

One Ukrainian serviceman died and 3 were wounded.2 enemy militants were killed and 5 wounded according to Ukrainian intelligence.