Protests in Ukraine escalate

[Natalka]

Ukraine police hurt in Kiev clashes over autonomy deal


Clashes have erupted between protesters and police in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, as MPs gave their initial backing to reforms for greater autonomy in the disputed east of the country.

Around 20 police were hurt in an explosion after demonstrators tried to break down the fence around parliament.
During a noisy session of Ukraine's parliament, MPs voted to approve more powers in areas of Donetsk and Luhansk under control of pro-Russian rebels.

A fragile ceasefire is in place.

Pushing through greater autonomy for the rebel-held areas is a key part of the Minsk deal, originally signed in February.

During the summer fighting between Ukrainian army forces and the rebels has escalated. But the two sides agreed last week to halt the violence on 1 September, the day children in the region return to school.

Shortly after 265 MPs backed the first reading of the decentralisation bill in the Ukrainian parliament, the Rada, the protests outside parliament became more intense.

A missile was hurled from the crowd of demonstrators, many of whom were carrying banners supporting ultra-nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party.

A loud explosion rang out and an AFP reporter described seeing several people covered in blood.
One policeman's leg was torn off below the knee, Interfax Ukraine reported.
Journalists who had been covering the developments were also among the wounded.





http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34105925

[Natalka]

Euromaidan PR ‏@EuromaidanPR 4h4 hours ago
Interior Minister Avakov: 122 prsn wounded incl. Deputy Interior Minister in clashes near Verkhovna Rada are in hospital. 19 prsn are operated

RIP - National guard soldier died from shrapnel wound to the heart

Ihor Debrin. 24 yo.

Joined Ukraine's National Guard 5 months ago.

Killed today defending the parliament from a mob



Kyiv dwellers are laying flowers to the sight where National Guard serviceman was killed today. RIP

[Natalka]

93 year old Ukrainian woman donated 2000 euros to a local hospital towards help to wounded soldiers. She received this money from Germany as a compensation to a victim of Nazi regime. The amount is equivalent to approximately 50 monthly pensions in Ukraine (min pension)

[Natalka]

The clashes on Monday were over highly divisive amendments to the Constitution, but it is not, as has been claimed, the Constitution that is bloodstained, but those far-right politicians and their supporters willing to use violence, including a grenade and firearms, at a crowded demonstration

more info

http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1441061086

Ukraine’s decentralization and Donbas “special status”: what you need to know

http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/09/01/ukraines-decentralization-and-donbas-special-status-what-you-need-to-know/

[Natalka]

Euromaidan PR ‏@EuromaidanPR 5h5 hours ago
Interior Ministry spox Shevchenko: 18ppl were detained following clashes nr Rada y/day, 13 of them were let go

Interior Minister Avakov: man who threw the grenade nr Rada y/day is a Sich battal serviceman, Svoboda party member

Sich battalion: Ihor Gumenyuk /who allegedly threw the grenade near Rada/ had earlier submitted a resignation report

[Natalka]

Euromaidan PR ‏@EuromaidanPR 4h4 hours ago
Euromaidan PR retweeted Arsen Avakov
One more National Guard serviceman Dmytro Slastikov injured in clashes nr Rada died in hospital - Interior Minister

3rd National Guard serviceman in grave condition survived. In total: 130 wounded, 2 died, 6 in grave condition

Ppl bring flowers to Rada to commemorate NationalGuard servicemen who died of injuries in y/day's clashes

[Natalka]

UNIAN: The combined Russian-separatist forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in eastern Ukraine 19 times overnight, the press center of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

"The situation was rather stable during the day. The Russian mercenaries significantly reduced their activity and fired mostly small arms on ATO forces. In the area of the militant-controlled city of Donetsk, from 18:00 to midnight on September 1, the militants were firing small arms on our fortified positions in the towns of Maryinka and Avdiyivka, as well as the village of Opytne. At about 19:00 Kyiv time and 23:00 Kyiv time, the occupiers started firing a grenade launcher to the south of Avdiyivka," the report says.

In the direction of Artemivsk, at 20:30 Kyiv time, the militants started firing small arms on Ukrainian units in the village of Sanzharivka. At 22:00 Kyiv time, they engaged a heavy machine gun on ATO forces near the village of Lozove.
In Luhansk region, around midnight, the enemy pursued firing small arms on our positions in the village of Krymske from the village of Sokilnyky.

http://uatoday.tv/news/russian-proxi...ht-485287.html

[Natalka]

Ukraine military cadets take oath of service



The oath of service, the national anthem and then songs and dances. That's how these cadets from the first class of the Shevchenko University Military Institute in Kyiv.

These 152 young men and women, along with 40 military servicemen - half of them with war experience in east Ukraine - will train to become military psychologists, cartographers and analysts.

http://uatoday.tv/society/cadets-484121.html

[Natalka]

Back To School: Ukrainian children start new term on 1 September

[Natalka]

Honoring the first fallen National Guard soldier outside parliament in Kyiv. President Petro Poroshenko and Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Groysman placed candles at the memorial for the 24-year old conscript, killed by a grenade blast during Monday's unrest.

Later, the Ukrainian leader thanked other wounded riot police members, who held back hundreds of ultranationalist supporters shortly after a vote paving the way for further decentralization. Outside, he said vowed to bring the perpetrators to justice and insisted greater regional autonomy was key to stem the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Poroshenko went onto pledge compensation for the relatives of those killed in the attack. An enquiry is underway.




visiting the injured

[Natalka]

Arseniy Yatsenyuk ‏@Yatsenyuk_AP 10h10 hours ago
Вітаю всіх учнів та їхніх батьків з Днем знань і початком нового навчального року! #1вересня #деньзнань
Translated from Ukrainian by Bing


Congratulations to all the students and their parents with knowledge day and the start of the new academic year!




Петро Порошенко ‏@poroshenko 13h13 hours ago

З Днем Знань!
Translated from Ukrainian by Bing


With Knowledge Day!

[Natalka]

A third member of Ukraine's national guard has died from injuries after Monday's violent protests outside the parliament in Kiev, officials say.

The clashes - involving nationalists - erupted after MPs gave initial backing to reforms granting more autonomy to rebel-held eastern Ukraine.
A ceasefire agreed between Ukrainian government troops and the pro-Russian separatists is reported to be holding.
Violence had escalated in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in recent weeks, but the two sides agreed last week that from 1 September all violations of a February truce would cease.

A day after the clashes in Kiev, the government said it was boosting security in the capital, deploying 2,000 police and national guards on the streets and an armoured vehicle on four key routes in the city centre.
About 140 people were injured in Monday's violence, more than half of them national guardsmen.
The protest was organised by the populist Radical Party and ultra-nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party - who oppose any concession to the separatists.

Police have detained about 30 people suspected of involvement, including a Svoboda member who confessed to throwing a grenade. The suspect was identified as Ihor Humeniuk.
Police say they will question Svoboda leader Oleh Tyahnybok and his top Svoboda colleagues.
Meanwhile, the Radical Party has pulled out of the ruling coalition and joined the opposition MPs in parliament.
The violence erupted after a rowdy parliamentary debate, and a first-reading vote to back the decentralisation bill.
The bill grants more powers to rebel-held areas of Donetsk and Luhansk - a key condition in the Minsk ceasefire agreed with Russia and the rebels in February.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34112881

[Natalka]

Dmytro Slastikov (left) , Ihor Debrin (bottom right), Aleksandr Kostina (top right) - RIP

[Natalka]

National guardsmen took part in a memorial service for a colleague killed outside parliament on Monday


Last goodbyes at Novi Petrivtsi base to Ihor Debrin, National Guard serviceman killed nr Rada on 31 Aug

[Natalka]

Deadly Luhansk ambush ends lull in east

Two people have been killed and six wounded in an ambush on a Ukrainian army vehicle near the rebel-held city of Luhansk, officials in Kiev say.


It was the first major incident since a renewed truce between the army and pro-Russian rebels came into effect on Tuesday.

A spokesman said the vehicle had hit a mine and come under sniper fire.


Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the two people killed on Tuesday were both civilians taking part in an anti-smuggling operation north-east of Luhansk, on the demarcation line between rebel-held and government areas, AFP reported.


Six soldiers were among the wounded, officials said.
The Ukrainian army reported earlier that there had been six rebel truce violations on Tuesday.




http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34128085