Protests in Ukraine escalate

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Wedding near the frontline









Mnohaya Lita!

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(and no one wanted to sit with him at lunch, either)

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Luxembourg today

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Harper vows not to drop Ukraine whether it takes 5 months or 50 years


BRISBANE, Australia – Stephen Harper said Sunday it’s important to keep up the pressure on Ukraine as he discussed his celebrated showdown with the Russian president at the Group of 20 summit in Australia.

Speaking to the Canadian media at the end of the meeting, the prime minister grinned when asked about his admonishment to Vladimir Putin to get out of Ukraine, though quickly checked himself.

“It is necessary for all of us to keep the pressure on Mr. Putin and his regime and to do so over the long term, to make it clear that it will not be business as usual,” he said.

“We cannot have a major power in this day and age seize the sovereign territory of another country, and simply move on as if nothing’s happened.”

If the world community eases up on Russia for its annexation of Crimea earlier this year, he added, it will only whet Putin’s appetite for similar aggression.

“We send the message, as I think we have in Canada, that whether it takes fives months or 50 years, we’re not going to drop the subject until Ukrainian territory is returned to Ukrainians.”

Harper described Putin’s response to his smackdown as “interesting.”
“Claiming they haven’t done any such thing when we all know they have of course tells us that they really are on the defensive. If you’re actually proud of what you’ve done, you’d go out and say so.”

http://globalnews.ca/news/1674630/ha...s-or-50-years/

[Natalka]

The village of Pisky has been at the frontline of fighting starting from July 2014. It is under the control of the Ukrainian army but gets shelled regularly from territories of the so-called “Donetsk People’s republic” (DNR) by Russian-backed militants and the regular Russian army. In this video, villagers show destruction from a cluster munition that came in from the Donetsk technical rubber plant under DNR control and exploded near one of the homes of Pisky on November 8, 2014.

It's just so sad to see these stories - captions in English

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Times Square, NYC

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Prague

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Students of the Technical College in the city of Vinnytsia call for peace in Ukraine the other day.

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Ukraine’s November 21 will be celebrated annually on the anniversary of Maidan

President Poroshenko signed a decree to mark November 21 – Day of Dignity and Freedom annually, and January 22 – Unity Day of Ukraine.

The reason it all began with peaceful gatherings at Maidan:

Ukraine and the EU were to have signed an Association Agreement at a summit meeting of Eastern Partnership in Vilnius held from November 28-29, 2013. On November 21st, the then government of Viktor Yanukovych stopped the preparations for signing this agreement. Late at night of that same day, people began gathering on Kyiv’s Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) to protest against this government decision.]

[Natalka]

New Ukraine Coalition Agreed; Sets NATO As Priority



Ukraine's newly agreed five-party ruling coalition has reportedly set the country's membership of NATO as its major goal.
The coalition comprises the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, the Popular Front, Samopomich (Self-Rule), the Radical Party, and Batkivshchyna (Fatherland). (note: they are all pro-Western)

Ukrainian media reports cite participants as saying that besides joining NATO the coalition also agreed that the return of Russian-occupied Crimea under Ukrainian control will be one of its major goals.
It also mentioned as a priority the protection of the legal interests of Crimean Tatars, as well as all Ukrainian citizens living in "occupied territories."

The parties also agreed on working together toward Ukraine’s integration into the European Union.
The coalition also called for permanent military bases in the country's east, where the Ukrainian army is fighting a pro-Russia insurgency,and for the allocation of at least 3 percent of the nation's gross domestic product for defense.

Additionally, the parties agreed to cancel immunity for lawmakers, reform the election system, ban Soviet and Nazi symbols, and decentralize the power structure.

The parties also agreed to thoroughly investigate the killings of protesters on Kyiv’s Maidan -- Independence Square -- in February 2014.

http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine.../26703123.html

[Natalka]

“Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” to Canada Ukraine
Foundation’s Rainbow Medical Team



Canada Ukraine Foundation Operation Rainbow Medical Mission, a Canadian funded medical team, completes 37 complex surgeries

Toronto, Canada (November 20, 2014) – A specialized team of Canadian health professionals recently returned home after completing a medical mission in Ukraine.

The team worked alongside Ukrainian doctors and nurses in performing reconstructive complex surgical procedures on victims of the Euromaidan movement and Vladimir Putin’s invasion into Eastern Ukraine.

A total of 37 reconstructive procedures were performed in 30 patients

These included:
• 7 skull reconstructions
• 10 bony reconstructions of the facial skeleton
• 9 soft tissue reconstructions of the eyelids, nose, lips
• 5 burn and scar revisions
• 6 upper extremity reconstructions

“This mission focused on post-traumatic defects and deformities, many of which were horrific. Most resulted from explosive blast wounds and high-velocity missile wounds. The patients presented major reconstructive challenges,” said Dr. Oleh Antonyshyn, Head of the Adult Craniofacial Program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and Professor of Plastic Surgery, University of Toronto. “The surgical procedures were complex, technically demanding, and time-consuming, some lasting for as many as 7 hrs We hope to return in the near future and continue to work with our Ukrainian counterparts to provide the best possible care to those injured in the current crisis”.

“This mission was ground-breaking in terms of the collaboration between medical professionals in Ukraine and Canada,” continued Antonyshyn. “To be welcomed into the surgical theatres and entrusted with the care of patients in another country is truly a privilege. This mission has allowed us to establish critical relations with medical professionals and health administrators in Ukraine, and provides a foundation for future collaborations in health delivery and surgical education.”

more info here about specific patients
http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/11/2...-medical-team/

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Ukrainian soldier fighting in ATO proposed to his girlfriend publicly

"For you, my love, I defended freedom. On account of you, I returned alive from hell. I want to share my life with you," he said.

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November 21 - The first anniversary of Euromaidan. The day of dignity and freedom.

2,000 gathered the first day.

and it grew by the 24th



and grew... by December to a half million people

[Natalka]

A good chronicle of events, with slideshows

http://euromaidanpress.com/2014/11/2...ed-us-forever/

Another overview, with links and photos

https://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukr...an-372650.html

What it looked like on Dec. 8