'Slaughterhouse': Civilians die in Kiev's ruthless military attacks (GRAPHIC)

[Natural Citizen]

‘White rain’: Donetsk residents record alleged phosphorus shelling (VIDEO)...

Citizens of Donetsk have recorded multiple videos of white glowing particles raining on residential quarters. The locals allege that Ukraine's military has shelled their city with internationally prohibited phosphorus incendiaries.

On Thursday night, people in the Lenin district of the city of Donetsk saw a flow of white fire pouring down from the dark sky alongside the now-familiar sound of bombing, RIA Novosti reported.

They suspect these have been incendiary shells stuffed with white phosphorous, similar to those reportedly used by the military during the blockade of another eastern city of Slavyansk in June.

Interfax news agency reported that unusual munitions that resembled “fireworks or white rain” after exploding have been seen on a front of the battlefield up to 5 kilometers wide.

Charles Shoebridge, a former UK army officer, told RT that the video “does appear to show some of the characteristics one would expect to see with the use of white phosphorus or a similar incendiary ammunition.”

“In particular, a large number of brightly burning particles falling rapidly to the ground, without the assistance of for example parachutes to slow their descent, suggests this wasn't a more commonly used illumination ammunition, such as flares," Shoebridge said, stressing though that “one would associate large volumes of smoke with white phosphorus use,” which are not visible, probably because the video was recorded at night.

Further scenes of devastation are emerging from across the city, with many buildings burned out or riddled with shell-holes. A large number of private homes in Donetsk have been burned down as firefighters fail to extinguish fires caused by shelling.

At least 74 people, including children, have been killed in the city in the last three days.

Donetsk has come under constant fire from the Ukrainian Army since May and has already suffered at least 128 attacks. According to the statistics of the Donetsk People’s Republic, at least 839 people have died in these attacks over the last three months.



Another regional center, the city of Lugansk, remains a hot spot on the war map, being under siege for practically two weeks now. City hospitals are running out of supplies, whereas the gas stations have already run out of fuel altogether.

The population of the city, facing a looming humanitarian crisis, has almost halved, RIA Novosti reports. The food supply is unstable, which has already led to price hikes and public transport is dwindling, while garbage disposal has been suspended. Potable water treatment facilities have no more chemical agents for the disinfection of water.

The Ukrainian Army and National Guard have continued shelling communities and residential areas around the regional center of Donetsk.

The Ukrainian National Guard is deliberately shelling gas stations to cut supplies of natural gas to the town, Russian news agencies reported.

Several thousand citizens who could not evacuate from the town because of a lack of transport due to constant shelling are hiding in the cellars 24 hours a day. The victims of the shelling are being buried in parks and dooryards because the ongoing battle prevents citizens from burying their relatives in cemeteries.

Both electricity and water supply in Ilovaisk have been restricted, so even firefighting teams do not respond to emergency calls.

The locals say they cannot establish the real number of dead and wounded because of the absence of any authorities in the town.

In Grabovo village a device, most probably a Tochka-U ballistic missile, has left a crater eight meters deep.

In Gorlovka, shells destroyed a recreation center, a shopping center and a marketplace.

In one place, the small town of Zugres, local authorities say 15 people, including three children, died.

Ukrainian troops are trying to cut the connections between militia forces in Donetsk and Lugansk, but so far their efforts have been in vain.

In the meantime, the Lugansk self-defense militia has launched a counteroffensive against the Ukrainian Army, blocking a unit of servicemen near Miusinsk and inflicting a defeat on Kiev’s troops near the town of Krasny Luch.

Continued - ‘White rain’: Donetsk residents record alleged phosphorus shelling (VIDEO)

 

[Natural Citizen]

Aid convoy to Ukraine faces disruption, may be attacked - Russia...

Moscow has information that the convoy delivering humanitarian aid to eastern Ukraine may be attacked by Kiev’s forces, with the “punitive” Aidar Battalion planning to mine the road that the vehicles will use, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

On Friday, Moscow accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt the humanitarian aid convoy now that the preparations for its delivery have reached their final stages and all key issues have been agreed upon.

“We draw attention to the sharp intensification of military actions by Ukrainian forces with the obvious goal to block the route, agreed upon with Kiev, of the humanitarian convoy from the Russia-Ukraine border to Lugansk,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In Moscow’s view, all this gives the impression that there are people both in Ukraine and abroad who are willing to disrupt the humanitarian mission, even “at the cost of new casualties and destruction.”

“Those nurturing such criminal plans are taking huge responsibility for their consequences,” the ministry said.

Russia sent a convoy of 280 trucks carrying humanitarian aid – such as medical supplies, food, including baby food, sleeping bags and other basic necessities – to conflict-torn southeastern Ukraine on Tuesday. The convoy is currently stuck near the Ukrainian border, and is awaiting final approval from Kiev before moving forward.

Russia also reiterated that it would carry out the agreements reached with the Ukrainian government and the ICRC on delivering aid to Donbass residents as quickly as possible and in full.

Continued - Aid convoy to Ukraine faces disruption, may be attacked - Russia

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

Yeah, they're losing, HOLLYWOOD.

Action sure is picking up... Still haven't heard Victoria Nuland and her Imperial company, shooting off their mouths lately about death. I presume they'll have to wait until the CIA & JSOC rectifies the caldron the US State Department and NSC got themselves entrapped within. I just hope Joe Biden's son Hunter, doesn't have to suffer any loss of profit if their shale fracking ops have to stop.

Amazing these global destructive parasites out of Washington DC, continue to getaway with their racketeering and crimes.

Let's see if the death toll will be reported from this weekend's war in Ukraine on corporate TV? Nowwwwww... back to Biff reporting from Ferguson, Missouri.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Action sure is picking up... Still haven't heard Victoria Nuland and her Imperial company, shooting off their mouths lately about death. I presume they'll have to wait until the CIA & JSOC rectifies the caldron the US State Department and NSC got themselves entrapped within. I just hope Joe Biden's son Hunter, doesn't have to suffer any loss of profit if their shale fracking ops have to stop.

Amazing these global destructive parasites out of Washington DC, continue to getaway with their racketeering and crimes.

Let's see if the death toll will be reported from this weekend's war in Ukraine on corporate TV? Nowwwwww... back to Biff reporting from Ferguson, Missouri.

Well. I don't know. It seems to me that, really, the US are the only people on the planet who don't know what is going on over there. And there is a lot to be said about that but I just don't think anyone is truly getting away with anything in the long run. Although it is truly unfortunate the lengths that special interests will reach in order to challenge the sovereignty of a nation. Still not hearing much about that TPP these days either which is itself a very telling phenomenon.

There are so many ground reports that I really want to share here but just cannot bring myself to post some of the horrors that are taking place over there.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Kiev orders crackdown on Ukrainian providers broadcasting Russian TV channels...

Ukrainian cable providers could face heavy fines or have their licenses revoked if they broadcast leading Russian channels – including RT – which were earlier “suspended” by a series of court orders.

“Ukraine is a sovereign state and must defend its media space from outside aggression from Russia, which is purposely inciting hatred between different groups of Ukrainians within the country,” said interior ministry adviser Anton Geraschenko in a statement on his Facebook page.

Kiev has promised “total monitoring” of all outlets, including “hotels, sanatoriums and hospitals” which have been instructed to switch off their Russian feeds “before officers of the law pay a visit.”

Major providers have not carried Russian channels since a ban that followed Crimea’s vote to join the Russian Federation in March. Officials then claimed that the sanction was a result of Ukrainian channels being cut off on the peninsula.

A further order to curtail Moscow broadcasts was produced by a Kiev court in July, but many cable operators in the east have continued to show their audiences Russian broadcasts, in defiance of the law.

Banned Channels:
1. Channel One. World Feed
2. RTR-Planeta
3. Rossiya 24
4. NTV-Mir
5. TVCI
6. Rossiya 1
7. NTV
8. TNT
9. Peterburg 5
10. Zvezda
11. REN-TV
12. RT
13. Life News
14. RBK-TV
​

The ban encompasses all Russian national channels and large regional broadcasters that transmit news bulletins.

Geraschenko said that if Russia attempted to install retransmitters that would allow its channels to be received in the border regions, Ukraine would activate its Soviet-era jammers, used decades ago to prevent Western media outlets such as BBC from reaching the USSR.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović criticized the initial bans as “repressive” and “a form of censorship without legal basis.”

Continued - Kiev orders crackdown on Ukrainian providers broadcasting Russian TV channels

 

[Natural Citizen]

'Why are they killing us?' E. Ukraine civilians fed up with everyday struggle for survival...

Almost a million people used to live Donetsk, which has been under constant fire since May. In three months, it's suffered at least 128 attacks from the Ukrainian military. Since the government launched, what it calls, an anti-terror operation in the east, over 800 civilians have been killed in the Donetsk region.

Desperation Limbo: The plight of Ukrainians who fled Kiev's war...



GRAPHIC: Locals collect bodies after heavy shelling in Makeevka, Donetsk region...

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

So is NATO going to come to the rescue of saving Eastern Ukrainian lives and strike at the Ukrainian military and assassinate the Ukraine government? ...oh wait, wrong country, wrong covert US State Department=Mossad/CIA plans.

 

[HOLLYWOOD]

Here yah go... check this out. Ukrainian Junta Military using HEAVY weapons on Donetsk, Ukraine

 

[Natural Citizen]

Underground life: E.Ukraine civilians pushed to basements by constant shelling (VIDEO)...

There are several videos at this link. I'm not going to post them since they can be found there. Plus it sucks to watch them. It's a travesty what these people are going through. And for what?

Local residents sit in a basement used as a shelter from artillery fire, in the settlement of Makiivka, on the outskirts of Donetsk, August 19, 2014 (Reuters / Maxim Shemetov)

Heavy shelling of eastern Ukraine by the country's military continues, with people in despair and badly in need of water and electricity, hiding out in basements. Constant bombardment is laying waste to entire cities.

City authorities say two people have been injured in Donetsk, a city of nearly 954,000 people, on Tuesday. Several apartments, gas pipes and cars have been destroyed by the government barrage. Residents of almost all areas in the city are within earshot of artillery fire.

Bodies lying strewn on the ground, waiting to be picked up by locals have become a common sight. People hiding in basements went out for brief periods of "fresh air," but say they "can't stay out there for long."

The Tuesday shelling of Lugansk by the Ukrainian military has left burnt out vehicles and debris in its wake. As it continued throughout the day, there were 200,000 people left in the city, looking for shelter in basements. Aid was being given out at a downtown building under the control of the Lugansk People's Republic, however, there were "old men and women who [were] scared to go out on to the streets" for food, according to one local.

Buildings were deserted. The sight of broken glass, demolished concrete and desolate streets resembled the situation in the terror-stricken Middle East more than it did eastern Ukraine only a short while ago. This was Donetsk on August 8.

Continued - Underground life: E.Ukraine civilians pushed to basements by constant shelling (VIDEO)


Aside...
Kiev deploying missile launchers, multiple rocket systems near Donetsk - Moscow
Ukraine’s violent escalation - From Molotov cocktails to ballistic missiles


Kiev's bloody eastern Ukraine campaign LIVE UPDATES

 

[Natural Citizen]

In the line of fire: Journalists killed and abducted in Eastern Ukraine...

As human rights organizations call for an end to repression against the press in Eastern Ukraine, RT recalls the journalists who were abducted, tortured or paid the ultimate price and lost their lives while reporting from the heart of the civil war.

Eastern Ukraine has been dubbed a “trap for journalists”by Human Rights Watch’s representative in Russia as the deepening crisis has already taken the lives of six journalists since the beginning of the year.

Many more journalists have been abducted, interrogated and even tortured while caught in the crossfire in the fighting between the Ukraine Army and the militia forces of southeastern Ukraine.

Some of the deadliest and most brutal incidents...

Igor Kornelyuk, Anton Voloshin (Russia) – killed

Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin both worked for Rossiya TV channel. On June 17, Kornelyuk, a correspondent for Vesti, and Voloshin, a video engineer, were killed during a mortar shelling of the Metallist and Mirnoye villages near Lugansk.

‘100% aimed action’: Ukraine military shelled refugees, Russian journalists, survivor says

They were the first Russian journalists to have died in the line of duty in Ukraine since the coup in Kiev and the beginning of civil unrest in the eastern regions.


Anatoly Klyan (Russia) – killed

Last word ‘camera’! Russian journalist killed in E. Ukraine working till dying breath

On June 30, a cameraman from Russia’s Channel One television, Anatoly Klyan, was killed by law enforcement agencies in the eastern city of Donetsk. Klyan, along with a few other journalists, boarded a bus full of women – mostly mothers – who were traveling to a military base in Donetsk to demand the disbandment of a military unit where their sons had been recruited to serve. He was wounded in the stomach as the bus was shelled and died on the way to the hospital.


Andrea Rocchelli (Italy) with interpreter Andrey Mironov (Russia) – killed

'Torn to pieces': Ghastly details emerge of Italian reporter and his Russian interpreter’s killing in E. Ukraine

Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli was hit along with his interpreter, Andrey Mironov, by Kiev’s mortar fire near the village of Andreevka, a couple of kilometers from Slavyansk, on May 25. Rocchelli was covering the ongoing conflict ahead of the snap presidential elections.


Andrey Stenin (Russia) - missing

Missing Russian reporter in E. Ukraine may be arrested – Kiev official

On August 5, Rossiya Segodnya (formerly RIA Novosti) news agency received photo-journalist Andrey Stenin’s last report before he went missing. He reported from the center of the Ukrainian crisis, beginning with Kiev’s Maidan protests in November following onto the horrors of Odessa, then in the Crimea, and most lately, the fierce fighting in parts of east Ukraine.


Graham Phillips (UK) – abducted, interrogated

‘He had a gun to my head’: Released RT contributor tells of 3-day Ukraine captivity

Graham Phillips, a UK national, has been working as a freelance journalist and as an RT contributor in eastern Ukraine. He was detained by Ukrainian security service twice. First he was detained in May at a checkpoint near Mariupol and held captive by the Kiev military for over 36 hours. Then in late July he was captured at the Donetsk international airport, interrogated and allegedly tortured for reporting about the developments in Ukraine. Following his release, Graham was banned from returning to Ukraine for three years.


Simon Ostrovsky (US) – abducted, interrogated

On April 21, Simon Ostrovsky was taken captive in Slavyansk by the local militia while producing "Russian Roulette," a series of video reports for Vice News. He was interrogated on the basis of claims that he had links to the far-right group Right Sector. He was held captive in a basement in the local SBU headquarters for four days and then released.


Anton Skiba (Ukraine) – abducted, interrogated

On July 22, Anton Skiba, a freelance Ukrainian journalist working for US news network CNN, was captured by the local militia in Donetsk. He was questioned on suspicion of having multiple forms of identification with different surnames.


Evgeny Davydov, Nikita Konashenkov (Russia) – abducted, tortured

Zvezda TV crew freed after harsh interrogation, ransom demands by Ukraine radicals

Russian journalists Evgeny Davydov and Nikita Konashenkov, working for working for Zvezda TV channel, were captured by Kiev’s forces on June 14 while on their way to the airport in Dnepropetrovsk, heading back home. They were interrogated and tortured by the Right Sector group, as they described their abductors, for two days. The journalists said that along with constant intimidation, interrogations and beatings, they received several death threats from their captors.


Oleg Sidyakin, Marat Saichenko (Russia) – abducted, tortured

OSCE calls on Kiev to free Russian journalists, ‘stop intimidating media’

On May 18, two journalists from Russia’s LifeNews, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, were detained near Kramatorsk by Kiev’s forces. The Ukrainian authorities accused them of assisting “terrorism” in the east of the country while a video of the two was released showing them with their hands tied, kneeling on the ground. The journalists were released after a week.


Andrey Sushenkov, Anton Malyshev (Russia) - abducted, interrogated

Captive Russian journalists told they’d be ‘cut to bits’ and ‘barbecued’

The Ukrainian National Guard detained Zvezda TV channel’s video operator Andrey Sushenkov and sound engineer Anton Malyshev at a military roadblock near the city of Slavyansk on June 6. According to their driver, they were blindfolded and handcuffed during a routine check, and then taken to an undisclosed location. They were held captive for two days and accused of espionage.

Many more journalists from a range of media outlets have come under fire during the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian troops have also fired at people with cameras, as well as people wearing protective press vests.

Russian journalists being banned entry to Ukraine

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based organization promoting the freedom of the press and protection of journalists from persecution, on Wednesday slammed the conditions of press freedom in Ukraine, especially in the eastern regions engulfed by warfare, calling them volatile and deteriorating.


Continued - In the line of fire: Journalists killed and abducted in Eastern Ukraine

Update on the more recent missing journalist on the list...

Mother of Russian journalist missing in Ukraine addresses Red Cross for help

The mother of Russian photojournalist, Andrey Stenin, missing in war-torn eastern Ukraine, has addressed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help find her son.

Vera Stenina told RT that she addressed the ICRC “because they are looking for missing relatives. And I had hopes that I will be helped there.”

“They said that they’ll try to look for him,” the woman told RT, adding that the Red Cross showed “understanding” of her problem.

An experienced war photographer, Stenin, who works for the Rossiya Segodnya news agency (formerly RIA Novosti), disappeared on August 5 as he was covering the Ukrainian army’s campaign against the anti-Kiev rebels in the country’s southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Despite over two weeks having passed since his disappearance, the journalist’s whereabouts still remain unknown.

Last week, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, Anton Gerashchenko, said that Stenin had been arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service for “aiding and glorifying terrorism,”but he then backtracked on the statement.

Vera Stenina has urged Kiev to organize a search mission for the journalist, or release him if he is being held.

Her son left for Ukraine on May 15 and she last talked to him on the phone on July 17. During their last conversation, the journalist said “‘It’s close. I’ll be coming home soon.’ And I thought that by August 1 he would already be home,” she remembers.

Stenin’s supervisor at Rossiya Segodnya believes that the missing journalist is alive and is being held by one of the parties involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

“We haven’t received any demands and this is scary. Apparently, there is no single authority in Ukraine. Kiev is unable to answer our requests because it is not them, but the Right Sector [radical movement], who hold him,” Aleksandr Shtol, who heads the photo department at Rossiya Segodnya, told the Izvestia newspaper.

“There is a second possibility, which I don’t like. He cannot be presented as he looks bad. They are waiting until he heals to show him to the public,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian interior minister’s advisor, Gerashchenko, repeated that Kiev has no idea of Stenin’s whereabouts.

“We have no information about Andrey Stenin. I addressed this question to the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) after this issue gained considerable attention. The SBU does not have this man,” Gerashchenko stated.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it’s doing “everything possible” to pinpoint the missing journalist’s location. Ukrainian authorities have assured the Russian side they are also “working on this issue.”

Stenin’s disappearance is “most certainly an attack on freedom of speech. In support of all journalists in conflict zones… we have launched this campaign,” Aleksandr Shtol, head of the photo department at Rossiya Segodnya, explained.

The intimidation and abduction of journalists in Ukraine has become a trend since the military campaign began in the country’s southeast this April.

Staff at such Russian channels as LifeNews TV, Channel One and RT have been detained and at times brutally interrogated by Ukraine security services.

Rossiya channel’s Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, as well as Anatoly Klyan, were killed as a result of Kiev troops shelling rebel forces in June.

Relevant reading - Kiev silent on whereabouts of missing Russian journalist 2 weeks after abduction

With over two weeks since his disappearance in eastern Ukraine, the whereabouts of Russian photojournalist Andrey Stenin remain unknown. His colleagues suggest that he may soon be freed as part of a large exchange of captives.

Stenin’s employers at Rossiya Segodnya news agency (formerly RIA Novosti), said that they have so far failed to get any information on their journalist from the Kiev authorities.

“Our attempts to receive any explanation and accurate information about his fate have been in vain,” Aleksandr Shtoll, who heads the photo department at Rossiya Segodnya, said at a press conference in Moscow.

“We’d like to learn of his whereabouts as soon as possible. We’re doing everything possible to achieve this,” he added.

The Russian government is also “doing everything possible” to locate the journalist, Shtoll said, saying that the country’s ambassador to Kiev has already filed two enquiries to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, but so far has received no reply.

"The agency did everything for the criminal investigation to be opened into the disappearance of Andrey [Stenin] in eastern Ukraine – and such a case was opened, but there’s also no answer there. The only thing that we have is a cynical statement by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, who said that for now he doesn’t want to be bothered by questions on Andrey’s fate,” Shtoll said.

“Stenin is on the wanted list [in Ukraine], but I'm not sure that Kiev has full control over the entire territory of Ukraine. I have no confidence that they can organize such a search that can help us in our cause,” he added.

US National Press Club (NPC) has called for Stenin's release in a statement on Monday.

"It is very important that Andrey Stenin be quickly located and freed if he is being held by Ukrainian security services," said NPC President Myron Belkind.

Belkind also said it is “crucial that all sides in this conflict… cease obstructing the ability of the press to cover events in eastern Ukraine, which are of great consequence to the Ukrainian public and to the international community."

Meanwhile, journalist Dmitry Steshin, who covers events in Ukraine for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, said that Stenin may soon be included in a large exchange of captives.

“I’m sure that Andrey [Stenin] is alive and he’s being held for a reason, as he’s being prepared for an exchange,” he said.

Steshin said he last saw Stenin in Slavyansk, in the Donetsk region, and the Rossiya Segodnya journalist had no plans of returning to Russia despite the events heating up in the eastern Ukrainian city, Steshin said.

“Andrey has lost his sense of reality,” he added.

Rossiya 24 channel’s producer, Oleg Ternovoy, said that situation around Stenin is “unprecedented” as there’s no news about the journalist for more than two weeks.

“Let us stand up together to protect our guys because each of us could be in the same situation,” Ternovoy urged his Russian colleagues.

On Monday, Russia’s permanent mission at UNESCO urged the international community to pay special attention to Stenin’s abduction and support calls for his early release.

“Our common goal is to convey information to the public and the media; to support the person in distress. We rely on your help,” the mission said a statement.

“We strongly encourage you to support the #freeAndrew” hashtag,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian ultranationalist group Right Sector said that it had nothing to do with Stenin’s disappearance.

“This man wasn’t seized by the Right Sector troops. I can’t give you accurate information on that. That’s all the information I have,” Borislav Bereza, Right Sector spokesman, told Latvian Baltkom radio.

Earlier, other organizations promoting media freedoms and human rights, including the International Federation of Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, Amnesty International and the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists called on Ukraine to investigate Stenin’s disappearance, and release him if he has been arrested.

An experienced war photographer, Stenin went missing on August 5 as he was covering the Ukrainian army’s campaign against the anti-Kiev rebels in the country’s southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

His recent work included photos of soldiers of the Ukrainian army captured by the armed militia, the horrific results of Ukrainian artillery shelling of militia-held cities and the crash site of the Malaysian Airlines plane that was downed over the Donetsk region in July.

Latest week, Gerashchenko told Latvian Baltkom radio that Stenin had been arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service and stands accused of “aiding and glorifying terrorism.”

The interior minister’s adviser later backtracked on the statement, saying that it was only his assumption and that he had no “documentary proof” of the Russian journalist’s arrest.

Stenin was put on the wanted list in Ukraine after the Russian embassy in Ukraine inquired about his whereabouts to Kiev on August 8 and 11.

The intimidation and abduction of Russian journalists by the Kiev authorities has become a sad trend since the military campaign began in the country’s southeast this April.
Journalist, stringers, cameramen and other staff of LifeNews TV channel, Channel One TV and RT have been detained, interrogated and tortured by the Ukraine security services.

Rossiya channel’s Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, as well as Anatoly Klyan, were killed by Kiev’s troops in June.

 

[Natural Citizen]

‘I never saw people die before’: Injured girl shares horrors of Kiev shelling (VIDEO)...

Still from Ruptly video

Ukrainian army shelling has forever changed the life of a teenage girl near Donetsk, who is now lying in hospital with a shattered arm and shrapnel wounds. The teen witnessed 15 people, including children killed by falling bombs along the river’s shore.


Government forces first bombed the village of Zugres in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on August 14. Several shells hit a beach full of people relaxing by the river, with splinters piercing and killing some and severing the limbs of others. A total of fifteen people died in the attack, among them three children. Yana Fenenko was one of the lucky ones who survived that day.

“We were swimming in the river when lots of bombs started falling all at once. We left the water and I threw myself down on the ground. I was lying prone, but I was still hit by a bomb,” 15-year-old Yana told RT’s Ruptly agency from a hospital bed.

“I had never seen how people die before,” she said. “The beach was filled with kids… A man got his hand blown off by one of the bombs. I saw it, he was laying right next to me. Also, one of the kids’ heads was blown off... It was very scary.”

Yana has been in the hospital for about a week and still has another month to go before she can be released. Doctors say her recovery will be very long and painful because of all the shrapnel in her right hand and the right side of her body.

“She has a lot of shrapnel wounds in the right half of the body: the jaw area, all of her right hand, shoulder and forearm, right hip and right thigh,” one of her treating doctors told ANNA News.

A man reacts as he stands in front of a building damaged by, what locals say, was recent shelling by Ukrainian forces, in Donetsk, August 20, 2014. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

“My life definitely changed for the worst [since Kiev’s military offensive began]. A lot of my friends and acquaintances have died,” the girl said.

Yana was planning to study to become a teacher. She had all the documents already submitted to a local college and was just waiting for the exams, but those have been continually postponed due to the Ukrainian army shelling of eastern Ukraine.

Since the initial shelling of Zugres, the girl’s parents have been forced to take cover in a bomb shelter. “They’ve been there for two or three nights already,” Yana said.
Yana’s grandmother is with her at the hospital. She said she is devastated by what is happening to her family and land.

“I can’t understand this government, or Mr. Poroshenko himself. Why should our kids, our mothers, or grandmothers suffer? There is so much pain inside, I can’t even express it,” the woman said.



The Ukrainian military is moving forward with their offensive, carrying out raids in Donetsk and Lugansk as well as the surrounding areas, according to Ukraine’s National Security Council spokesman Andrey Lysenko.

Reports from the ground indicate that the offensive continues to be accompanied by indiscriminate shelling of residential areas, causing daily civilian casualties.

On Wednesday alone, 34 people died and 29 others were injured as Kiev shelled villages and towns in the Donetsk region, local health authorities reported.

Shells also hit a penal colony in the Donetsk region, killing two inmates, local authorities told RIA Novosti.

Another bomb hit the Yasinovskiy coke and chemical plant in the city of Makeyevka, causing fire with a billow of smoke. All of the workers have been evacuated and production at the plant has been halted.


Makeyevka has for days been the target of relentless shelling, with houses, kindergartens and a fuel station reportedly destroyed in several attacks. Six civilians were killed there as a result of Tuesday’s shelling.

Some of the towns targeted by Ukrainian troops’ shelling are left with no water or electricity. On Tuesday, a water purification plant was heavily damaged in the Donetsk Region, cutting water supplies to thousands of people, including those in Zugres. Meanwhile in the city of Donetsk, local maintenance crews have been working to restore the damaged water plant supplying water to a population of 436,000.

local resident stands in front of an apartment block damaged by a recent shelling in the settlement of Makeyevka, on the outskirts of Donetsk, August 19, 2014. (Reuters/Maxim Shemetov)

Meanwhile, Ukrainian customs officials are refusing to inspect the first batch of Russian trucks carrying aid to eastern Ukraine, claiming that the paperwork is not ready.

The UN has estimated that around 2,000 people have lost their lives since the start of the riots in Kiev and the subsequent military campaign in the south-eastern regions of the country.


Continued - ‘I never saw people die before’: Injured girl shares horrors of Kiev shelling (VIDEO)

 

[Natural Citizen]

Solace for the struggling: E. Ukrainians without water, food crave Russian aid...

As the first 30 trucks in the humanitarian convoy headed for war-torn eastern Ukraine, the residents of Lugansk - struggling daily without regular food supplies, water, electricity and under constant shelling - are looking forward to the aid relief.

First trucks with Russian aid reach Lugansk, E. Ukraine

On Friday, the Russian convoy crossed the Ukrainian border and started moving in the direction of Lugansk, after Moscow had ordered it to proceed, without waiting for further instructions or permission from Kiev.

Due to the electricity black-out and the lack of water, many local enterprises have to a halt in Lugansk. RT traveled to what used to be the area’s biggest bread-baking facilities and spoke with one of the employees, Vasily, who said that he doesn’t know how the locals get by.

“I don’t know why they are doing this, I stopped being afraid and just live my everyday life,” he told RT.

There are make-shift markets in the region, with most of the traders coming from neighboring villages, where the situation is a bit less catastrophic.

Lugansk residents come to the market to buy goods – or for exchange, as no payments have been made in the city over the past few weeks, and the prices are through the roof.

Queues form early in the morning, with people getting their numbers and waiting in long lines. When the food is brought, there isn’t enough, the locals say.
“People have nothing to eat,” Igor, a local elderly man, states miserably.
“Over three weeks – how is that possible? 250,000 people remain in the city – what are we left to do? We don’t have a single liter of water, no electricity, nothing,” Lyubov Ivanova, a Lugansk resident, exclaimed emotionally.

Therefore, the humanitarian aid which is coming from Russia is much needed, they say.

“Our damned fool of a president says that what Russia sends is nothing. How is that – 280 trucks coming to help us – it’s nothing for him!” Lyubov Fedorova, a Lugansk resident, told RT.

On Thursday, the International Red Cross representatives spoke of a very difficult humanitarian situation in Lugansk, after visiting the city to check it before the arrival of the Russian aid.

“There is no water, electricity, food supplies, people are cut off from the vital infrastructure. People are afraid to leave their homes because they can come under fire. Apart from that, the shelling targets residential areas sometimes which represents a danger for the civilian population,” the ICRC head in Europe and Asia Laurent Corbaz said.

The Ukrainian conflict has seen 118,000 internally displaced, according to UN estimates, and another 740,000 have reportedly fled to Russia.
1,300 have been killed since the conflict started, and more than 4,000 have been wounded.

Continued - Solace for the struggling: E. Ukrainians without water, food crave Russian aid

 

[juleswin]

Ouch, just a few months ago, people were cheering these assholes for attacking the police. I always knew they were no freedom fighters, just petty tyrants trying to get on top of the food chain so they could unleash their version of hell on the easterners.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Ouch, just a few months ago, people were cheering these assholes for attacking the police. I always knew they were no freedom fighters, just petty tyrants trying to get on top of the food chain so they could unleash their version of hell on the easterners.

Corporate Interests Behind Ukraine Putsch

WikiLeaks releases draft of highly-secretive multi-national trade deal

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...l-trade-deal&p=5307335&viewfull=1#post5307335

 

[Natural Citizen]

Mission completed: Moscow confirms delivery of aid to E. Ukraine, trucks return to Russia...

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has confirmed humanitarian aid has been delivered to the besieged city of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine. Meanwhile all trucks that delivered aid had returned to Russia.

“We express our satisfaction that the Russian humanitarian aid for those in need in southeastern Ukraine has been delivered as intended. We were motivated only by the goal of helping civilian citizens in need,” the statement read.

All trucks have returned empty, Ukrainian and Russian border guards confirmed, Russian Deputy Emergency Minister Eduard Chizhikov said.

“There were 227 trucks in the humanitarian operation participating in the operation, and they have all returned. All those vehicles have been searched by the representatives of the customs and border control, both on the Ukrainian and Russian side. No issues have been pointed out. All vehicles were empty upon returning, and the media representatives checked that, too, while they were filming the search,” Chizhikov stated.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also confirmed that all 227 vehicles that entered Ukraine as part of a Russian aid convoy have now returned home.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also said that they were “getting a lot of feedback from the residents of Lugansk, who were thankful for such a good attitude from the Russian part.”

It also underlined that the Russian representatives of the Red Cross were in close cooperation with the leadership and employees of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), and the ICRC has proved to be “a responsible partner.”

The Ministry has also reacted to the comment of NATO General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen that the humanitarian convoy entered Ukraine without consent from the authorities in Kiev and ICRC involvement, describing his words as “another lie.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry has denied “another portion of accusations” by representatives of NATO against Russia. The latest claims include allegations that Russia directly involved its military and heavy weaponry in fighting on the Ukrainian territory.

“We’ve stopped paying attention to Mr. Rasmussen’s empty talk and his press secretary. There is no point commenting on them. There is no proof there except Twitter,” official representative of Russia’s Defense Ministry Igor Konashenkov stated.

“I would like to remind you that the official powers of Mr. Rasmussen ended on July 31, and today he’s acting not so much for the alliance, but as the organizer of the September 4 NATO summit in Wales. We understand that his prospects will depend on the promotion of that event,” the statement also said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed “the intention to continue cooperation with the ICRC in the efforts to provide the humanitarian aid for the residents of southeastern Ukraine.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has announced it’s planning to expand its operations in eastern Ukraine.

“We are planning to expand our activities in Lugansk and eastern Ukraine as a whole. The ICRC team has begun assessing the needs,” Anastasia Isyuk, the aid organization’s spokeswoman, told Itar-Tass news agency.

Red Cross activities in the war-torn areas will be boosted as soon as the ICRC advance group, working in Lugansk since August 20, concludes its negotiations with the sides involved in the conflict, she said.

“They meet constantly with representatives of the warring sides despite continuous shelling, evaluate performance and assess the regions’ needs,” the spokeswoman explained.

Continued - Mission completed: Moscow confirms delivery of aid to E. Ukraine, trucks return to Russia

 

[Natural Citizen]

I regret Russian aid convoy issue became highly-politicized’ – UN humanitarian chief...

The UN recognizes the dire situation in east Ukraine, and underlines the importance of avoiding politicizing humanitarian issues, as happened with the Russian aid convoy, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told RT.

The situation in east Ukraine, where fighting between the Kiev troops and militia continues, is deteriorating, Valerie Amos, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said in an interview with RT Saturday.

“We are very concerned that the situation is getting worse because the fighting has not stopped. In the east, where the fighting continues, we still have a lot of people in need of humanitarian aid,” she said.

Baroness Amos is on a trip to Ukraine and has visited several eastern regions, including Slavyansk (Sloviansk in Ukrainian language). The city used to be a militia stronghold until government forces regained control over the area in July following fierce fighting.

“Today, I was able to meet and talk to people in Slavyansk who have fled the fighting, who basically wanted to go home. That is all they wanted. They wanted peace, stability and security and were worried for those they have left behind,” she said.

The UN official’s visit comes a day after Russia came under fire from the West for sending an aid convoy without Kiev's final approval to Lugansk region.

Lugansk and neighboring areas have been repeatedly shelled lately, which resulted in casualties among civilians. Because of damaged infrastructure in Lugansk, there is no water and electricity supply, and phone and internet lines are also down.

According to the Red Cross, there is an “urgent need for essentials like food and medical supplies” in Lugansk.

When asked why Western countries approved sending aid to Syria without agreeing it with the Syrian government, Baroness Amos said there was a big difference.

“What we have is a Security Council resolution that authorizes – through four additional border-crossing points that are not controlled on the Syrian side, by the Syrian government – the United Nations to deliver humanitarian supplies across the border,” she said. “And there is a monitoring mechanism that has been established to confirm that the supplies are of a humanitarian nature. So, it’s very very different. It’s the UN as an independent body delivering humanitarian supplies which are monitored before they cross the border with the authority of the UN Security Council.”

On Thursday, Russia proposed that the UN Security Council issue a decision to support the delivery of the humanitarian aid to Ukraine. However, Moscow’s initiative was blocked by the United States and Lithuania.

“In particular, they proposed to remove from the text calls for a cease-fire and for ensuring the safe delivery of humanitarian aid, as well as the reference to the fact that the humanitarian aid is being sent by the Russian side,” the Russian Ministry said in a statement.

Before entering Ukraine, Russian trucks carrying aid spent a week stuck at the Ukrainian border. The cargo was recognized as humanitarian aid by the ICRC, which inspected the vehicles and was to accompany the convoy but later dropped the plan over security concerns. After days of talks, Kiev also recognized the convoy as humanitarian. But when everything was agreed upon, the Ukrainian side found yet another pretext to postpone giving the aid convoy a green light.

“We all agree that there is a humanitarian crisis and we should do everything that we can to get aid to those people,” Amos told RT, adding that they want that aid to be delivered “as quickly as possible.”

Meanwhile, the UN official said that in case with Syria “it took the Security Council three years to agree on a resolution that enabled cross-border operations for the UN across border-crossings that were not controlled by the Syrian government”.

According to Amos, “only 34” out of 227 Russian trucks were checked and “the agreement with the ICRC was not adhered to, which is why they did not in the end participate,” she said.

Now all the trucks are back in Russia. RT asked the UN official’s opinion on whether it will help to ease the tensions surrounding the aid convoy.

“I think that there are political issues which need to be addressed between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. What I think is important in terms of the humanitarian aspects of this, is that those aspects are not politicized. One of the important things about humanitarian work is that it’s independent, it’s neutral, it’s about bringing aid to people in desperate need. I regret that this whole issue of the convoy became highly-politicized. And I hope that this does not happen again,” Baroness Amos said.

Continued - I regret Russian aid convoy issue became highly-politicized’ – UN humanitarian chief

 

[Natural Citizen]

US says military motive in Russian aid, empty trucks return home...

The White House has issued a statement saying Russia's humanitarian convoy, which delivered aid to Ukraine, had a military motive, without anything to back its accusation. It also claims that most of the vehicles were inspected in Russia, despite checks by foreign journalists and the International Red Cross. Gayane Chichakyan sums up Washington's reaction.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault

This paper comes from the Council on Foreign Relations. It's an interesting piece because it questions counter-intuitive policy that we see from the western political elite with regard to Russia and Ukraine.

I'll just quote a few of the more interesting paragraphs. Make of them what you wish...

“But most realists opposed expansion, in the belief that a declining great power with an aging population and a one-dimensional economy did not in fact need to be contained. And they feared that enlargement would only give Moscow an incentive to cause trouble in eastern Europe. The U.S. diplomat George Kennan articulated this perspective in a 1998 interview, shortly after the U.S. Senate approved the first round of NATO expansion. ‘I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies,’ he said. ‘I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anyone else.’

“Other analysts allege, more plausibly, that Putin regrets the demise of the Soviet Union and is determined to reverse it by expanding Russia’s borders. According to this interpretation, Putin, having taken Crimea, is now testing the waters to see if the time is right to conquer Ukraine, or at least its eastern part, and he will eventually behave aggressively toward other countries in Russia’s neighborhood. For some in this camp, Putin represents a modern-day Adolf Hitler, and striking any kind of deal with him would repeat the mistake of Munich. Thus, NATO must admit Georgia and Ukraine to contain Russia before it dominates its neighbors and threatens western Europe.

“This argument falls apart on close inspection. If Putin were committed to creating a greater Russia, signs of his intentions would almost certainly have arisen before February 22. But there is virtually no evidence that he was bent on taking Crimea, much less any other territory in Ukraine, before that date. Even Western leaders who supported NATO expansion were not doing so out of a fear that Russia was about to use military force. Putin’s actions in Crimea took them by complete surprise and appear to have been a spontaneous reaction to Yanukovych’s ouster. Right afterward, even Putin said he opposed Crimean secession, before quickly changing his mind.”

“There is a solution to the crisis in Ukraine, however — although it would require the West to think about the country in a fundamentally new way. The United States and its allies should abandon their plan to westernize Ukraine and instead aim to make it a neutral buffer between NATO and Russia, akin to Austria’s position during the Cold War. Western leaders should acknowledge that Ukraine matters so much to Putin that they cannot support an anti-Russian regime there. This would not mean that a future Ukrainian government would have to be pro-Russian or anti-NATO. On the contrary, the goal should be a sovereign Ukraine that falls in neither the Russian nor the Western camp.

“To achieve this end, the United States and its allies should publicly rule out NATO’s expansion into both Georgia and Ukraine. The West should also help fashion an economic rescue plan for Ukraine funded jointly by the EU, the International Monetary Fund, Russia, and the United States — a proposal that Moscow should welcome, given its interest in having a prosperous and stable Ukraine on its western flank. And the West should considerably limit its social-engineering efforts inside Ukraine. It is time to put an end to Western support for another Orange Revolution. Nevertheless, U.S. and European leaders should encourage Ukraine to respect minority rights, especially the language rights of its Russian speakers.”

“The United States will also someday need Russia’s help containing a rising China. Current U.S. policy, however, is only driving Moscow and Beijing closer together.

“The United States and its European allies now face a choice on Ukraine. They can continue their current policy, which will exacerbate hostilities with Russia and devastate Ukraine in the process — a scenario in which everyone would come out a loser. Or they can switch gears and work to create a prosperous but neutral Ukraine, one that does not threaten Russia and allows the West to repair its relations with Moscow. With that approach, all sides would win.”

Continued - Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin

 

[Natural Citizen]

The Ukraine remains under constant bombardment and real people are still dying. For nothing. Maybe they happened to be standing in the wrong place in their front yard. Perhaps they chose to go for a walk in the park on the wrong day. But with that said, humanitarian help is beginning to be distributed. I think that more will be on the way for these people.

Russian humanitarian aid distribution begins in E. Ukraine...

With heavy fighting underway in south-eastern Ukraine, the distribution of humanitarian aid from Russia has started in the city of Lugansk, which is besieged by the Kiev forces.

The first 12 points distributing food have already begun working. The minimum offering includes rice, buckwheat and sugar, three canned meats, a packet of tea and 10 liters of water, Novorossiya news agency reports.

Kindergartens, schools and other social facilities were the first to receive the aid.

The city said it was planning to open another 37 aid distribution points in the coming days.

The Russian aid convoy of 227 trucks arrived in the city on Friday, bringing almost 2,000 tons of relief supplies.

However, the humanitarian situation remains “critical” in Lugansk as the people are forced to survive without electricity, water and communications due to ongoing fighting between the Kiev troops and the local self-defense forces, Lugansk City Council said.

“Every day, firefights and shelling lead to new destruction of urban infrastructure and homes as well as combustions and fires,” the local authorities said.

Earlier on Monday, Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, has voiced plans for a second aid convoy to be sent to eastern Ukraine, urging foreign actors and agencies to participate in continuing efforts at relieving the “humanitarian crisis”.

The bread is being baked and is always on sale in Lugansk, but the City Council expressed concern that problems with water supply may result in spread of infectious diseases.

According to Kiev, the Ukrainian forces were able to entrench themselves in the northern part of Lugansk.

The army plans to use the area as foothold to begin its offensive on the rest of the city, Andrey Lysenko, Ukraine’s National Security Council spokesman, said.

However, Lysenko stressed that “most of the Lugansk” remains under control of the self-defense forces of the Lugansk People’s Republic.


Kiev fires ballistic missile at Donetsk

The hostilities continued in Donetsk on Monday, with the mayor’s office speaking of explosions, which are heard “in all districts” of the besieged city.

“The epicenter of the fighting is now Kirovsky and Petrovsky districts [in the south-west of city],” the Donetsk authorities said.

Kiev has started using ballistic missiles against the self-defense forces in Donetsk, a RIA-Novosti news agency’s correspondent reported from the scene.

The Tochka-U missile, which is believed to be the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of the country’s military, hit a miners’ village on the outskirts of the city on the eve of Ukrainian Independence Day on August 24, he stressed.

The rocket’s cluster exploded in the air, damaging several buildings in the Kirovsky district and gravely injuring three people, including a mother of three children, the self-defense forces said.

Tochka-U is a Soviet-era short-range tactical ballistic missile, which was introduced back in 1989.

The missile is designed to make precise strikes on enemy tactical targets and can also carry nuclear, biological or chemical warheads.

Previously, the Ukrainian authorities have denied accusations that they used Tochka-U missiles during their operations in Lugansk, Snezhnoe, Shakhters and several other south-eastern cities.
On Sunday, the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) has released a special report on civilian fatalities and damage following the shelling of a residential area in the north of Donetsk on August 23.

“At the scene, the SMM saw a five-floor apartment block with the ground in front of it littered with debris. Some sixty civilians, mainly elderly and in shock, were standing in the vicinity. Close to a footpath leading to one of the entrances, the SMM observed three bodies covered with blankets, judged by SMM to be two adults and a child, in close proximity to each other,” the report said.

“Local residents told the SMM that the three were a mother, father and their child. They said that another child, five years old and the fourth family member, died on the way to the hospital, as a result of head injuries,” it added.

The monitors also a nearby three-floor building, a garage and a kindergarten damaged by “what appeared to have been shelling.”

“The SMM saw a kindergarten, with the window panes of its second floor shattered and children’s toys scattered around,” the report said.


Anti-Kiev forces enter Elenovka village

The self-defense forces have entered the Elenovka village outside Donetsk, the press-service for the Defense Ministry of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk said.

The advancement came as a result of the “offensive reconnaissance” by the militias, the press-service stressed.

According to the self-defense forces, the Kiev troops were dislodged from two check points, with three Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner.

The anti-Kiev rebels also seized two Rapira anti-tank guns, MT-LB armored personnel carrier with a mounted anti-aircraft twin-barreled auto-cannon and two transport vehicles, the ministry told Itar-Tass news agency.

However, the agency stressed that the info coming from the rebels isn’t confirmed by any other sources.
Earlier on the day, it was reported that the militias have enveloped a large grouping of Ukrainian military in Elenovka.

The self-defense forces said that around 2,000 Kiev troops, more than a hundred armored vehicles and 60 artillery pieces of various calibers were trapped.

According to People’s Republic of Donetsk staff, Kiev has lost 182 troops (107 killed and 75 injured) in fighting in Donetsk Region during the last 24 hours.

However, Ukraine’s National Security Council spokesman, Andrey Lysenko, said that only 4 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 31 others injured.

Kiev’s military crackdown on in the south-east of the country started in April after the people in Donetsk and Lugansk Region refused to recognize the new coup-imposed authorities and demanded federalization of the country.

According to UN’s estimates, over 2,000 people have so far been killed and over 5,000 wounded in the fighting.

Continued - Russian humanitarian aid distribution begins in E. Ukraine

 

[Natural Citizen]

Ukraine's Right Sector 'seizes' Crimea reporter, AFP freelancer...

​

Two Crimean journalists, including a photographer who works with AFP and RIA news agencies, say they have been detained by enforcers from Ukraine’s Right Sector movement, while covering the conflict in the east of the country.

Reporter Evgeniya Korolyova and photographer Maksim Vasylenko were returning on a bus from the warzone near Donetsk, which is besieged by government forces, when a Right Sector patrol made them disembark, before taking them prisoner.

The information was reported by the Crimean Telegraph newspaper, where both journalists are on the payroll, which says that it received a phone call from the detainees on Sunday night.
“Evgeniya was allowed one phone call, but it seemed that there were people watching her every word as she spoke, so she couldn’t say exactly where she was arrested. Asked if her life was in danger, she denied it, but specified that she was detained as a journalist, not an ordinary citizen,” wrote the Crimean Telegraph.

The newspaper said that the pair were not on an editorial assignment, while Russia's Rossiya Segodnya news agency (formerly RIA Novosti) and AFP’s bureau in Moscow confirmed that Vasylenko had been working for them as a freelance photographer.
Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief and the head of Rossiya Segodnya international news agency, has called for the immediate release of journalists held by Kiev.

“We demand the prompt release of detained Russian journalists, including our freelance photojournalist, who performed his professional duty," Simonyan said. “Up till now the authorities of that country are silent about the fate of our photojournalist Andrey Stenin,” she said, adding that the OSCE and other human rights organization have repeatedly warned and condemned such behavior.

Human Rights Watch has also called for the immediate release of Korolyova and Vasilenko.

“Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned about the welfare and safety of Korolyova and Vasilenko,” Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of the Europe and Central Asia Division of HRW told RIA. “Before there were numerous reports of journalists kidnapped or militias DNR and LC, or the Ukrainian authorities.

Now, according to media reports it is the Right Sector. If this is true, then it can only be regarded as kidnapping, because the Right Sector has no legal authority to detain people. If they are still holding Korolyova and Vasilenko, they should release them immediately.”

The representative of the Crimean field mission on Human Rights, Andrey Krisko, told RIA that the Right Sector has promised to hand over the journalists to the police who will decide their fate, as both are suspected of “espionage activities.”

“According to preliminary data, the journalists were detained by the Right Sector. They are being screened for their alleged involvement in intelligence activities on the territory of Ukraine, but as far as I know, nothing compromising was found on them,” said Krisko, adding that the detained are “alive and well.”

Crimean Telegraph editor in chief Maria Volkonskaya said the newspaper would submit an official query about the whereabouts of the two, while journalists in Crimea capital Simferopol have scheduled a demonstration demanding their release for Tuesday afternoon.

Ultra-nationalist Right Sector, which played a key role in the Maidan protests that deposed former President Viktor Yanukovich, has been operating several units of volunteers to fight against anti-Kiev militants in the east of the country.

The movement was accused of being behind the abduction of RIA photojournalist Andrey Stenin, who has been missing since disappearing in eastern Ukraine three weeks ago. Right Sector has denied responsibility.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has criticized the actions of both sides during the conflict, which has resulted in the abductions and illegal detention of dozens of journalists, and the deaths of at least four.

“Violence against journalists has a chilling effect on the whole society and cannot be tolerated. I call on the Ukrainian authorities to swiftly and thoroughly investigate these attacks and to do their utmost to ensure journalists’ safety,” OSCE Representative for Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic said in a statement last week.

There have been a number of attacks on members of the press, including lethal ones in Ukraine.

In the line of fire: Journalists killed and abducted in Eastern Ukraine

Relatives, friends and colleagues still mourn the death of Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, Rossiya TV channel employees who were killed on June 17 in a mortar shelling of their position. Later that month a cameraman from Russia’s Channel One television, Anatoly Klyan, was killed by government forces in the eastern city of Donetsk. In May, Kiev's military assault of the East resulted in the tragic loss of life of Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli, who was hit along with his interpreter, Andrey Mironov, by Kiev mortar fire near the village of Andreevka.

Harassment of journalist in Ukraine has been widely condemned by the international community and Moscow. Yet attacks on the press have continued, many of whom have been abducted, tortured and released after the intercession of international community and social media campaigns.

Continued - Ukraine's Right Sector 'seizes' Crimea reporter, AFP freelancer



Relevant reading...

Journalists killed and abducted in Eastern Ukraine...

As human rights organizations call for an end to repression against the press in Eastern Ukraine, RT recalls the journalists who were abducted, tortured or paid the ultimate price and lost their lives while reporting from the heart of the civil war.

Eastern Ukraine has been dubbed a “trap for journalists”by Human Rights Watch’s representative in Russia as the deepening crisis has already taken the lives of six journalists since the beginning of the year.

Many more journalists have been abducted, interrogated and even tortured while caught in the crossfire in the fighting between the Ukraine Army and the militia forces of southeastern Ukraine.

Some of the deadliest and most brutal incidents...

Igor Kornelyuk, Anton Voloshin (Russia) – killed

Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin both worked for Rossiya TV channel. On June 17, Kornelyuk, a correspondent for Vesti, and Voloshin, a video engineer, were killed during a mortar shelling of the Metallist and Mirnoye villages near Lugansk.

‘100% aimed action’: Ukraine military shelled refugees, Russian journalists, survivor says

They were the first Russian journalists to have died in the line of duty in Ukraine since the coup in Kiev and the beginning of civil unrest in the eastern regions.


Anatoly Klyan (Russia) – killed

Last word ‘camera’! Russian journalist killed in E. Ukraine working till dying breath

On June 30, a cameraman from Russia’s Channel One television, Anatoly Klyan, was killed by law enforcement agencies in the eastern city of Donetsk. Klyan, along with a few other journalists, boarded a bus full of women – mostly mothers – who were traveling to a military base in Donetsk to demand the disbandment of a military unit where their sons had been recruited to serve. He was wounded in the stomach as the bus was shelled and died on the way to the hospital.


Andrea Rocchelli (Italy) with interpreter Andrey Mironov (Russia) – killed

'Torn to pieces': Ghastly details emerge of Italian reporter and his Russian interpreter’s killing in E. Ukraine

Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli was hit along with his interpreter, Andrey Mironov, by Kiev’s mortar fire near the village of Andreevka, a couple of kilometers from Slavyansk, on May 25. Rocchelli was covering the ongoing conflict ahead of the snap presidential elections.


Andrey Stenin (Russia) - missing

Missing Russian reporter in E. Ukraine may be arrested – Kiev official

On August 5, Rossiya Segodnya (formerly RIA Novosti) news agency received photo-journalist Andrey Stenin’s last report before he went missing. He reported from the center of the Ukrainian crisis, beginning with Kiev’s Maidan protests in November following onto the horrors of Odessa, then in the Crimea, and most lately, the fierce fighting in parts of east Ukraine.


Graham Phillips (UK) – abducted, interrogated

‘He had a gun to my head’: Released RT contributor tells of 3-day Ukraine captivity

Graham Phillips, a UK national, has been working as a freelance journalist and as an RT contributor in eastern Ukraine. He was detained by Ukrainian security service twice. First he was detained in May at a checkpoint near Mariupol and held captive by the Kiev military for over 36 hours. Then in late July he was captured at the Donetsk international airport, interrogated and allegedly tortured for reporting about the developments in Ukraine. Following his release, Graham was banned from returning to Ukraine for three years.


Simon Ostrovsky (US) – abducted, interrogated

On April 21, Simon Ostrovsky was taken captive in Slavyansk by the local militia while producing "Russian Roulette," a series of video reports for Vice News. He was interrogated on the basis of claims that he had links to the far-right group Right Sector. He was held captive in a basement in the local SBU headquarters for four days and then released.


Anton Skiba (Ukraine) – abducted, interrogated

On July 22, Anton Skiba, a freelance Ukrainian journalist working for US news network CNN, was captured by the local militia in Donetsk. He was questioned on suspicion of having multiple forms of identification with different surnames.


Evgeny Davydov, Nikita Konashenkov (Russia) – abducted, tortured

Zvezda TV crew freed after harsh interrogation, ransom demands by Ukraine radicals

Russian journalists Evgeny Davydov and Nikita Konashenkov, working for working for Zvezda TV channel, were captured by Kiev’s forces on June 14 while on their way to the airport in Dnepropetrovsk, heading back home. They were interrogated and tortured by the Right Sector group, as they described their abductors, for two days. The journalists said that along with constant intimidation, interrogations and beatings, they received several death threats from their captors.


Oleg Sidyakin, Marat Saichenko (Russia) – abducted, tortured

OSCE calls on Kiev to free Russian journalists, ‘stop intimidating media’

On May 18, two journalists from Russia’s LifeNews, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, were detained near Kramatorsk by Kiev’s forces. The Ukrainian authorities accused them of assisting “terrorism” in the east of the country while a video of the two was released showing them with their hands tied, kneeling on the ground. The journalists were released after a week.


Andrey Sushenkov, Anton Malyshev (Russia) - abducted, interrogated

Captive Russian journalists told they’d be ‘cut to bits’ and ‘barbecued’

The Ukrainian National Guard detained Zvezda TV channel’s video operator Andrey Sushenkov and sound engineer Anton Malyshev at a military roadblock near the city of Slavyansk on June 6. According to their driver, they were blindfolded and handcuffed during a routine check, and then taken to an undisclosed location. They were held captive for two days and accused of espionage.

Many more journalists from a range of media outlets have come under fire during the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian troops have also fired at people with cameras, as well as people wearing protective press vests.

Russian journalists being banned entry to Ukraine

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a US-based organization promoting the freedom of the press and protection of journalists from persecution, on Wednesday slammed the conditions of press freedom in Ukraine, especially in the eastern regions engulfed by warfare, calling them volatile and deteriorating.

Continued - In the line of fire: Journalists killed and abducted in Eastern Ukraine




Update on the more recent missing journalist on the list...

Mother of Russian journalist missing in Ukraine addresses Red Cross for help

The mother of Russian photojournalist, Andrey Stenin, missing in war-torn eastern Ukraine, has addressed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to help find her son.

Vera Stenina told RT that she addressed the ICRC “because they are looking for missing relatives. And I had hopes that I will be helped there.”

“They said that they’ll try to look for him,” the woman told RT, adding that the Red Cross showed “understanding” of her problem.

An experienced war photographer, Stenin, who works for the Rossiya Segodnya news agency (formerly RIA Novosti), disappeared on August 5 as he was covering the Ukrainian army’s campaign against the anti-Kiev rebels in the country’s southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Despite over two weeks having passed since his disappearance, the journalist’s whereabouts still remain unknown.

Last week, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, Anton Gerashchenko, said that Stenin had been arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service for “aiding and glorifying terrorism,”but he then backtracked on the statement.

Vera Stenina has urged Kiev to organize a search mission for the journalist, or release him if he is being held.

Her son left for Ukraine on May 15 and she last talked to him on the phone on July 17. During their last conversation, the journalist said “‘It’s close. I’ll be coming home soon.’ And I thought that by August 1 he would already be home,” she remembers.

Stenin’s supervisor at Rossiya Segodnya believes that the missing journalist is alive and is being held by one of the parties involved in the Ukrainian conflict.

“We haven’t received any demands and this is scary. Apparently, there is no single authority in Ukraine. Kiev is unable to answer our requests because it is not them, but the Right Sector [radical movement], who hold him,” Aleksandr Shtol, who heads the photo department at Rossiya Segodnya, told the Izvestia newspaper.

“There is a second possibility, which I don’t like. He cannot be presented as he looks bad. They are waiting until he heals to show him to the public,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian interior minister’s advisor, Gerashchenko, repeated that Kiev has no idea of Stenin’s whereabouts.

“We have no information about Andrey Stenin. I addressed this question to the head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) after this issue gained considerable attention. The SBU does not have this man,” Gerashchenko stated.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it’s doing “everything possible” to pinpoint the missing journalist’s location. Ukrainian authorities have assured the Russian side they are also “working on this issue.”

Stenin’s disappearance is “most certainly an attack on freedom of speech. In support of all journalists in conflict zones… we have launched this campaign,” Aleksandr Shtol, head of the photo department at Rossiya Segodnya, explained.

The intimidation and abduction of journalists in Ukraine has become a trend since the military campaign began in the country’s southeast this April.

Staff at such Russian channels as LifeNews TV, Channel One and RT have been detained and at times brutally interrogated by Ukraine security services.

Rossiya channel’s Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, as well as Anatoly Klyan, were killed as a result of Kiev troops shelling rebel forces in June.

Relevant reading - Kiev silent on whereabouts of missing Russian journalist 2 weeks after abduction

With over two weeks since his disappearance in eastern Ukraine, the whereabouts of Russian photojournalist Andrey Stenin remain unknown. His colleagues suggest that he may soon be freed as part of a large exchange of captives.

Stenin’s employers at Rossiya Segodnya news agency (formerly RIA Novosti), said that they have so far failed to get any information on their journalist from the Kiev authorities.

“Our attempts to receive any explanation and accurate information about his fate have been in vain,” Aleksandr Shtoll, who heads the photo department at Rossiya Segodnya, said at a press conference in Moscow.

“We’d like to learn of his whereabouts as soon as possible. We’re doing everything possible to achieve this,” he added.

The Russian government is also “doing everything possible” to locate the journalist, Shtoll said, saying that the country’s ambassador to Kiev has already filed two enquiries to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, but so far has received no reply.

"The agency did everything for the criminal investigation to be opened into the disappearance of Andrey [Stenin] in eastern Ukraine – and such a case was opened, but there’s also no answer there. The only thing that we have is a cynical statement by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, who said that for now he doesn’t want to be bothered by questions on Andrey’s fate,” Shtoll said.

“Stenin is on the wanted list [in Ukraine], but I'm not sure that Kiev has full control over the entire territory of Ukraine. I have no confidence that they can organize such a search that can help us in our cause,” he added.

US National Press Club (NPC) has called for Stenin's release in a statement on Monday.

"It is very important that Andrey Stenin be quickly located and freed if he is being held by Ukrainian security services," said NPC President Myron Belkind.

Belkind also said it is “crucial that all sides in this conflict… cease obstructing the ability of the press to cover events in eastern Ukraine, which are of great consequence to the Ukrainian public and to the international community."

Meanwhile, journalist Dmitry Steshin, who covers events in Ukraine for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, said that Stenin may soon be included in a large exchange of captives.

“I’m sure that Andrey [Stenin] is alive and he’s being held for a reason, as he’s being prepared for an exchange,” he said.

Steshin said he last saw Stenin in Slavyansk, in the Donetsk region, and the Rossiya Segodnya journalist had no plans of returning to Russia despite the events heating up in the eastern Ukrainian city, Steshin said.

“Andrey has lost his sense of reality,” he added.

Rossiya 24 channel’s producer, Oleg Ternovoy, said that situation around Stenin is “unprecedented” as there’s no news about the journalist for more than two weeks.

“Let us stand up together to protect our guys because each of us could be in the same situation,” Ternovoy urged his Russian colleagues.

On Monday, Russia’s permanent mission at UNESCO urged the international community to pay special attention to Stenin’s abduction and support calls for his early release.

“Our common goal is to convey information to the public and the media; to support the person in distress. We rely on your help,” the mission said a statement.

“We strongly encourage you to support the #freeAndrew” hashtag,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian ultranationalist group Right Sector said that it had nothing to do with Stenin’s disappearance.

“This man wasn’t seized by the Right Sector troops. I can’t give you accurate information on that. That’s all the information I have,” Borislav Bereza, Right Sector spokesman, told Latvian Baltkom radio.

Earlier, other organizations promoting media freedoms and human rights, including the International Federation of Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, Amnesty International and the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists called on Ukraine to investigate Stenin’s disappearance, and release him if he has been arrested.

An experienced war photographer, Stenin went missing on August 5 as he was covering the Ukrainian army’s campaign against the anti-Kiev rebels in the country’s southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

His recent work included photos of soldiers of the Ukrainian army captured by the armed militia, the horrific results of Ukrainian artillery shelling of militia-held cities and the crash site of the Malaysian Airlines plane that was downed over the Donetsk region in July.

Latest week, Gerashchenko told Latvian Baltkom radio that Stenin had been arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service and stands accused of “aiding and glorifying terrorism.”

The interior minister’s adviser later backtracked on the statement, saying that it was only his assumption and that he had no “documentary proof” of the Russian journalist’s arrest.

Stenin was put on the wanted list in Ukraine after the Russian embassy in Ukraine inquired about his whereabouts to Kiev on August 8 and 11.

The intimidation and abduction of Russian journalists by the Kiev authorities has become a sad trend since the military campaign began in the country’s southeast this April.
Journalist, stringers, cameramen and other staff of LifeNews TV channel, Channel One TV and RT have been detained, interrogated and tortured by the Ukraine security services.

Rossiya channel’s Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, as well as Anatoly Klyan, were killed by Kiev’s troops in June.