Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

Medals awarded posthumously to families of the fallen

President Petro Poroshenko presented 107 orders of the Hero of Ukraine to friends and relatives of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred.

[Natalka]

Remembrance of Heaven's Hundred

[Natalka]

#Lviv also commemorates Heavenly Hundred





#Sloviansk also commemorates Heavenly Hundred today. Heroes never die!

[Natalka]

Heavenly Hundred monument opened today in #Mykolayiv.







#Odesa also commemorates

[Natalka]

Meanwhile, in Moscow....

activists who came to #Ukraine's Embassy to commemorate Heavenly Hundred were detained

[Natalka]

[Natalka]

#Kharkiv also commemorates

[Natalka]

Ukrainian military losses in #Debaltseve
on 24 Jan - 18 Feb:

169 Killed in Action

118 captive

29 Missing in Action

[Natalka]

... and the lucky ones who came home

#Ukrainian soldiers come back home to #Zaporizhzhia on rotation from #Debaltseve foothold

[Natalka]

139 Ukrainian prisoners of war, including 5 Cyborgs and over a 100 soldier captured in Debaltseve, Donetsk Oblast, were released on 21 February 2015 near Luhansk in exchange for 52 mercenaries. This was also confirmed by the Ukrainian President






ZHOLOBOK, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian military and separatist representatives exchanged dozens of prisoners under cover of darkness at a remote frontline location Saturday evening, kicking off a process intended to usher in peace to the conflict-ridden east.One hundred and thirty nine Ukrainian troops and 52 rebels were exchanged, according to a separatist official overseeing the prisoner swap at a no man's land location near the village of Zholobok, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the rebel-held city Luhansk.

A busload of Ukrainian soldiers in military fatigues was transported earlier in the day from the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk to a rural spot some 140 kilometers (90 miles) to the northeast, before joining up with other groups of fellow captives.

After arriving at the location near Zholobok, the troops were made to line up and listen to a speech by a rebel representative, who ordered the men to leave the territory claimed by the separatist movements in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The soldiers — some of them using crutches, while one was carried on a stretcher — then walked for around 3 kilometers (2 miles) to a rendezvous point.

Rebels said the bulk of the Ukrainian soldiers being released Saturday were captured during recent fighting for the strategic town of Debaltseve, which was taken over by separatists in the past week.







http://news.yahoo.com/ukraine-rebels...113811332.html

[Natalka]

Two dead in Kharkiv terrorist attack as world leaders
join Ukrainians in March of Dignity


At least two people have been killed and 15 injured in an explosion near the Palace of Sport in Kharkiv. The explosive device was clearly timed to go off as people gathered to join a Unity March to Constitution Square for a civic panakhyda or requiem service for those killed in the military conflict in Donbas.

IT Sector reports that one of the people killed was Ihor Tolmachev, a EuroMaidan activist (from Samooborona, the self-defence units who defended Maidan). The other, as yet unnamed, was a police officer. The police report states that five of the fifteen people injured are police officers. The police say only that they believe it to have been a terrorist act, while IT-Sector reports that a bomb filled with metal pieces was detonated by remote control.

If, as is likely, the terrorist act was aimed to disrupt the procession, it did not succeed, and both the procession and panakhyda were held

This latest of many terrorist acts, particularly in Kharkiv and Odessa, was doubtless also intended to divert attention from the huge procession in Kyiv where delegations from 24 countries joined Ukrainians in a March of Dignity to mark the first anniversary of the EuroMaidan protests, known in Ukraine as the Revolution of Dignity. The march passed through the streets where protesters were gunned down from 18-20 February last year.

Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko walked together with the Presidents of Georgia Giorgi Margwelaszwili; Germany Joachim Gauck; Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite; Moldova Nicolae Timofi; Poland Bronisław Komorowski and Slovakia Andrej Kiska.

http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1424611513

[Anna Michele]

What a difference a year makes. A light is definately at the end of the tunnel. All the lives lost was not for nothing.

[Natalka]

Three are dead from the blast

video here (not gory)

http://empr.media/video/conflict-zon...lly-in-kharkiv

Official data from Ukraine Interior Ministry is that 3 person killed and 10 wounded. EMPR source in Kharkiv reports on one more victim who died in the ambulance car on the way from the explosion site to the hospital. In addition, Ukraine Interior Ministry just confirmed that one person among killed at the peaceful rally was policeman.

Interior Minister adviser Anton Gerashchenko has confirmed that blast in Kharkiv was caused by a remote-controlled explosive device covered by a heap of snow. Blasted as column approached.

[Natalka]

Peace rally in Kyiv

[Natalka]

Ukraine arrests 4 after terror attack kills 3, wounds 15
at Kharkiv Euromaidan memorial march

Ukraine's State Security Service say they have already taken four suspects into custody.
Markian Lubkivskyi, a senior adviser for Ukraine's State Security Service, said that a number of people had already been taken into custody, suspected of involvement in the attack.

"The Security Service of Ukraine detained persons who may be involved in preparing and committing terrorist crimes orientation in Kharkiv. Updates to follow," He posted on Facebook.

National Security and Defense Council head, Olexandr Turchynov, said that a joint operation by the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs had resulted in the arrests of "four members of the group that organized the explosion, seized weapons, including a rocket launcher."

"The anti-terrorist operation continues," he added. "In connection with the attack the city introduced the highest level of terrorist threat and initiated anti-terrorist operation."

Ukraine's Internal Affairs Ministry confirmed that there had been a terror attack on the march and said that one of those killed and five of the wounded were police officers.

"Explosive and forensic experts are currently working at the site alongside the investigation team, and medics are attending to the victims."

http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv...es-381532.html