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

[Natural Citizen]

Hundreds trying to break into Ukraine president’s office in Kiev...

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry has, however, denied there were any attempts to storm the president’s HQ.

Several hundred protesters have reportedly tried to break into the Ukrainian president’s administrational office in the country’s capital Kiev, but were repelled by security forces guarding the building. The stand-off grew into clashes in the street.

The demonstrators, who demand access to the administration’s conference room in order to make a TV statement, are still clashing with the National Guard, TASS reports.

The rioters’ demands include the introduction of martial law in Ukraine over the fighting with the rebels in the southeast of the country. They also insisted on the resignation of the heads of all Ukrainian security agencies – from defense minister to prosecutor general – due to their incompetence.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry has, however, denied there were any attempts to storm the president’s HQ.

The Ukrainian capital has already seen several protests by volunteer troops, who returned from Ukraine’s war-torn Donetsk and Lugansk regions, after the government disbanded the Aidar volunteer battalion last week. On Sunday and Monday, Aidar fighters staged a protest and burnt tires outside the Defense Ministry.

In September, Amnesty International accused Aidar of “widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions” during the warfare in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions.

The Ukraine conflict began last April when Kiev sent regular forces and volunteer battalions to the southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, after they refused to recognize the country’s new, coup-imposed authorities.

The death toll in the Ukraine conflict has exceeded 5,000 people. Over 10,000 have been injured, according to UN estimates.

Meanwhile, a source within the Ukrainian security forces told Kommersant that the increased police presence in the city is needed to tackle the rapidly rising crime rate in the capital.

“For example, the number of car thefts has doubled… We have to come up with countermeasures,” he said.

Continued - Hundreds trying to break into Ukraine president’s office in Kiev


Report...

 

[Natural Citizen]

Europe reticent about supplying Ukraine with weapons & money...

A single day of warfare in eastern Ukraine drains the nation’s ailing economy of millions of euros, the Ukrainian president told German media. Poroshenko is asking for money and arms, but so far no European state has agreed to supply weapons to Kiev.

The military crackdown in the eastern regions of Ukraine, which has already claimed the lives of at least 5,300 people, is ruining Ukraine’s economy.
“A day of war costs €5-7 million, infrastructure has been destroyed, and industrial downturn has reached 20 percent,”President Petro Poroshenko acknowledged in an exclusive interview with Germany’s Die Welt media outlet.

A number of the NATO member states have officially refused to provide Ukraine with military aid, and certainly not free of charge.

On Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany would not supply weapons to Ukraine, a line echoed on Wednesday by the French defense minister.

European defense ministers attending the NATO meeting in Brussels opposed sending lethal weapons to Ukraine – among them Germany, the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Finland and the Czech Republic have also spoken against the idea of giving Kiev any military help, saying it would only deepen the crisis in Ukraine.

However, the Obama administration is considering providing Kiev authorities with some sort of military aid.

John Kerry, who is on a visit to Kiev, said the US has pledged to allocate $US 1 billion for reforms in Ukraine, and plans to invest another $US 1 billion to help the Ukrainian government.

Continued - Europe reticent about supplying Ukraine with weapons & money




Relevant reding - Hollande, Merkel go to Moscow to discuss Ukraine without consulting US – report

French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.(AFP Photo / Sergei Supinsky)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande did not consult Washington before deciding to visit Moscow to hold talks on the Ukrainian crisis, a source in the French government told AP.

The two leaders, who are part of the so-called ‘Normandy Four’ group along with Moscow and Kiev, decided on a trip on Wednesday night, an unnamed French government official said. Merkel and Hollande are due to arrive to the Russian capital on Friday, the next day after visiting Kiev.

“Together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new initiative,” Hollande told a news conference on Thursday.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “the leaders of the three states will discuss what specifically the countries can do to contribute to speedy end of the civil war in the southeast of Ukraine, which has escalated in recent days and resulted in many casualties.”

After the Thursday meeting with the German and French leaders, Ukrainian President Poroshenko said that the talks indicated that a ceasefire was possible in eastern Ukraine.

The French weekly also said that this “historic initiative” on the part of the two European leaders was preceded by “secret” talks between Paris, Berlin and Moscow.

As Hollande and Merkel are set to discuss a peaceful resolution to the conflict, the US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Ukraine to answer Kiev’s plea for weapons. Kerry told reporters that US President Barack Obama will make his decision on the possibility of sending lethal aid to Ukraine next week.

Le Nouvel Observateur journalist Vincent Jauvert believes that Hollande and Merkel’s prompt decision to talk with Putin in Moscow comes as an attempt “to get ahead of the Americans who are trying to impose their solution to the problem on Westerners: a transfer of weapons to Ukraine.”

The journalist elaborates that the two leaders went to Kiev straight after Kerry as they “distrust the American administration” and want to “present their diplomatic solutions just before US Vice President Joe Biden” presents the US plan of sending lethal weapons to Kiev at the Munich security conference on Saturday.

Congruently - 72 points of BRICS Summit Declaration

 

[Natural Citizen]

There have been dozens of reports shared in this thread with regard to ground reporting in the Ukraine and those journalists being killed, taken political hostage as well as random injuries from gun fire.

May as well add to the list, I suppose...

Russian journalists including RT crew come under fire in eastern Ukraine

Russian journalists from the ‘Rossiya’ TV channel and RT have come under fire near Debaltsevo in the Donetsk region. They were reporting on the evacuation of civilians from the conflict zone.

The RT crew of four, including correspondents Roman Kosarev and Anna Knishenko, were near a checkpoint from which a bus with Debaltsevo refugees was supposed to leave for Donetsk when they came under fire.

“The bullets were flying two or three meters from us,” said Kosarev after the attack. “The [humanitarian] column stopped and we were shot at by a sniper. We laid low.”

Knishenko told RT by phone that she believed they had come under sniper fire.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Images and video @ link illustrate ongoings in the Ukraine.

'Ominous silence when shelling halts': 10 signs you live in war-torn Donetsk, E. Ukraine...

A man walks past a shop which was recently damaged by shelling, at a local market in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, January 29, 2015. (Reuters/Alexander Ermochenko)

A Donetsk resident has put together a list of new daily routines which she and many others in the eastern Ukrainian city have developed after months of deadly shelling.

Evgenia Martynova, 33, has not left Donetsk. Like most of the people around her, she can’t understand why she should flee from her home.

“Donbass is my home. It’s like a relative to me. And you’re not going to give up on your relative if he becomes seriously ill, are you?” she told RT.

It takes “surprisingly little time” for a person to get used to constant shelling and explosions, she said.

On her Facebook page, Evgenia has come up with a list of ‘28 signs you live in Donetsk.’

Here are the 10 most striking points:

1. You wake up every morning with a feeling of a pleasant surprise that you’re still alive!

2. Likes and comments from Donetsk friends on social networks are a sign THEY’re still alive.

3. While getting dressed up to go out, you involuntarily think not only of how you’ll look at work or in the street, but also of how you’ll, God forbid, look in a hospital or a morgue. Old underwear and socks with holes – your place is in a trash bin.

4. When you leave the house, you try not to vent at any of your loved ones. It may be the last time you see each other.

5. While moving along the street or standing at a bus stop, you automatically scan the space around you for cavities, ditches, and parapets – places where you may find shelter if shelling suddenly starts.

6. You lose interest in horror movies. They seem dumb, far-fetched, and not scary. Pale by comparison to what’s happening here, in real life.

7. In your mind, you have “your own cemetery” of people you knew: friends, online friends, and relatives who died in the bombardment or due to heart attacks. It constantly keeps growing.

8. You learn to save money and come to a surprising realization that you were buying so much useless stuff before. Money has lost its former value. When a shell hits, a Lada (economy class Russian-made car) and a Toyota Land Cruiser burn the same – with everyone inside.

9. You carry your passport with you everywhere. In the best case, you’ll have an ID to show. In the worst case, it will significantly simplify and speed up the identification of your remains.

10. You feel a growing anxiety when there’s suddenly silence around you and no shelling is heard. It’s the calm before the storm and big blood will follow.


Evgenia says it is hard to predict when the conflict will end while being in its epicenter, but that she and her friends hope to “wake up one morning and see the Ukrainian military columns turning around and leaving.”

The leaders of Russia, Germany, France, and Ukraine are scheduled to meet in Minsk, Belarus on Wednesday in an effort to launch a peace process to end the conflict in Ukraine's southeast.

The Ukraine conflict began last April, when Kiev sent regular forces and volunteer battalions to the southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, after rebels there refused to recognize the country’s new, coup-imposed authorities. The civil war has so far claimed the lives of at least 5,300 people, according to UN estimates.

Continued - 'Ominous silence when shelling halts': 10 signs you live in war-torn Donetsk, E. Ukraine

 

[Natural Citizen]

Ukraine ultranationalist leader rejects Minsk peace deal, vows 'to continue war'...

Ukraine’s Right Sector leader Dmitry Yarosh said his radical movement rejects the Minsk peace deal and that their paramilitary units in eastern Ukraine will continue “active fighting" according to their "own plans."

Ukraine’s Right Sector leader Dmitry Yarosh said his radical movement rejects the Minsk peace deal and that their paramilitary units in eastern Ukraine will continue “active fighting" according to their "own plans."

The Right Sector paramilitary organization continues to deploy its combat and reserve units, to train and logistically support personnel, while coordinating its activities with the military command of the Ukrainian army, paramilitary units of the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry, he said.

The breakthrough Minsk agreement was reached on Thursday following marathon overnight negotiations between Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia, and offer hope the fighting in Eastern Ukraine may come to an end. The talks were part of a Franco-German initiative. President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Kiev and Moscow before meeting the Russian and Ukrainian leaders at the negotiating table in Minsk.

Bluntly rejecting the German and French initiative, Yarosh said President Petro Poroshenko should have turned to the US or UK which “observe a consistent anti-Kremlin policy.”

In July last year the Interpol put Right Sector leader Yarosh on its wanted list. This January, Russia’s Supreme Court banned the activitiesof the Right Sector within the country.

The radical movement was formed as a coalition of nationalist and neo-Nazi organizations during the Maidan protests in Kiev at the end of 2013.While wearing Nazi insignia, Right Sector fighters used clubs, petrol bombs and firearms against Ukrainian police during the EuroMaidan protests.
Last year, Kiev organized the National Guard force comprising former and current Ukrainian troops and volunteers from EuroMaidan “self-defense” squads. The National Guard was enabled to carry out the functions of any law enforcement agency by a decree signed by then-acting President Aleksandr Turchinov.

However Yarosh denies any of his fighters joined the National Guard. He believes his own units are better organized.

A number of volunteer pro-government battalions were also organized in Kiev – among them Aidar, Azov and Donbass. Human rights group Amnesty International reported in September that Aidar members operating in the north of the Lugansk Region “have been involved in widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion and possible executions.” Troops from the Ukrainian Azov and Donbass battalions were reportedly seen wearing Nazi paraphernalia such as swastikas and SS badges.

Continued - Ukraine ultranationalist leader rejects Minsk peace deal, vows 'to continue war'



Aside - US military to train Kiev troops fighting in E. Ukraine – US Army commander

The US military will train Kiev troops fighting against militias in southeast Ukraine, Ben Hodges, US Army Europe commander, said hours before the start of “Normandy Four” talks dubbed a “last chance” for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.

The officers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team in northeast Italy will be deployed to Ukraine as part of the plan, said Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. Vanessa Hillman.

According to Hillman, the military aid requested by the Kiev authorities was to help the formation and strengthening of the National Guard, which Kiev launched shortly after the coup in February 2014.

The National Guard troops will be exercising according to “the traditional training systems of the US Navy Seals and Delta Force,” Semenchenko said.

Since the fighting began in southeast Ukraine, the National Guard has been repeatedly accused of war crimes, including deliberate artillery fire at residential areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, and of blocking humanitarian aid for the regions.

Last September, an Amnesty International report confirmed that abductions, executions and extortion had been committed by the Aidar volunteer battalion.

Earlier this week, Obama said that the US was also examining the possibility of supplying “lethal defensive weapons” to the Kiev authorities.

The plan is opposed by both Russia and the EU, who agree that there can be no military solution to the Ukrainian crisis.

Relevant reading - Obama: 'We have to twist arms when countries don't do what we need them to'

U.S. President Barack Obama.(Reuters / Kevin Lamarque)

President Barack Obama has said the reality of “American leadership” at times entails “twisting the arms” of states which “don’t do what we need them to do,” and that the US relied on its military strength and other leverage to achieve its goals.

“Well, American leadership, in part, comes out of our can-do spirit. We're the largest, most powerful country on Earth. As I said previously in speeches: when problems happen, they don't call Beijing. They don't call Moscow. They call us. And we embrace that responsibility."

In a September 2013 Op-Ed article in the New York Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the concept of American exceptionalism was a precarious one in the global arena.

"It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation," Putin wrote. "There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal."

 

[Natural Citizen]

10 dramatic videos from Ukraine's Maidan riots in 2014... 1-5

1. Protesters tore up the pavement and threw rocks at police, who were initially ordered to refrain from violence. They also used metal chains, pepper-spray and even brought in a digger to intimidate officers.



2. Riot shields failed to provide police with any protection against Molotov cocktails thrown at them from the crowd. This dramatic video shows the officers turning into human torches and only avoiding fatal injuries thanks to fire brigades working on site.



3. The footage released by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry shows the protesters using firearms, torching vehicles and tires on the chaos-ridden Kiev streets.



4. The fighting continued into the evening, as protesters assembled barricades and hurled Molotov cocktails at security forces.



5. This video shot from the top floors of the building adjacent to Independence Square – the heart of the protests – shows a police vehicle ramming into barricade, which the people behind set ablaze.

 

[Natural Citizen]

10 dramatic videos from Ukraine's Maidan riots in 2014... 6-106.

Maidan Square (also known as Independence Square) was never dark or quiet during these nights of unrest. It was lit up by burning tires and fireworks, as police forced the protesters back with water cannons and engaged in running street battles.



7. Many were reportedly killed by unidentified sniper fire from the top floors of the buildings overlooking the main protest site.



8. Police used live ammunition against the protesters on the streets. This footage was shot on Institutskaya Street, next to Maidan Square, another scene of violent skirmishes.



9. There were a great number of law enforcers deployed to disperse the raging crowds, but they weren’t always able to hold their positions. The video below shows protesters pushing a truck into a line of shield-bearing riot police, and then torching them with Molotov cocktails.



10. Maidan Square transformed beyond recognition during the unrest - massive clouds of black smoke rose from the historic city center and the buildings on the square were partly destroyed.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Review...

Ukraine Uprising: 1 Year of Turmoil

 

[charrob]

Merkel backs down in Moscow Talks:



This article gives hope, in that Merkel has acknowledged that the West needs to stand down to prevent further harm and death in Ukraine. We can only hope the Obama administration and Congress will follow suit; if they do, it appears the planet can sigh a deep sigh of relief that the West has averted continuing escalation with Russia and eventual nuclear war:

As we have also previously said, Der Spiegel shows this was a Western not a Russian initiative. The Russians did not initiate it. Merkel did. According to Der Spiegel, she first floated the idea at the end of January when she was dining at a restaurant in Strasbourg with Hollande and European Parliament President Martin Schultz.

This is the key to understanding what happened in Minsk. Because it is difficult for some in the West to acknowledge that the initiative was launched by Merkel because of the critical condition the Ukrainians are in, and that this forced Merkel to make major concessions to Putin in Minsk, parts of the Western media are trying to deny the fact.

"The Chancellery has continued to insist that a modern-day Yalta conference -- whereby Ukraine is divided up between Russia and the West -- is not in the cards.

And it was conspicuous that Merkel's file folder that she had with her during the negotiations didn't contain a single map.

The chancellor, Berlin officials say, is uninterested in taking part in negotiations over the precise route of the demarcation line between the separatist areas and those areas under Kiev's control."

This nervousness about appearing to cut unilateral deals with the Russians also explains why Der Spiegel focuses almost entirely on the negotiations in Minsk and almost entirely ignores the far more important negotiations that happened a few days before in Moscow, at which the Ukrainians were not present.

It was almost certainly in the talks with Putin in Moscow, where the Ukrainians were not present, that the broad outline of what was formally decided in Minsk was actually agreed. Merkel then flew to Washington to brief Obama and obtain his consent. Poroshenko was then presented in Minsk with what had previously been agreed, leaving him scope only to quibble over the technical details in a way that it is in Merkel's interests to highlight.

As Der Spiegel says:
"The Russians took a tough line. They saw themselves as being in a position of strength, partly because of the situation in Debaltseve."

Der Spiegel claims Merkel was able to extract one concession from Putin. Der Spiegel claims Putin agreed the forthcoming elections in the rebel regions will be limited to areas the rebel militia was to control in accordance with a ceasefire line agreed on 19th September 2014, and would not take place in territories the rebel militia has captured since the failure of the Ukrainian government's offensive in January.

The Minsk agreements make no mention of Crimea, implicitly confirming that Merkel now accepts it as Russian and that for Ukraine it is irretrievably lost.

Ukraine is obliged to pass a law before the end of March granting the rebel regions in the Donbass special status within Ukraine. Ukraine is obliged to enact a new Constitution before the end of the year. As I have previously said, this provides a time line for the settlement of the conflict that did not exist previously.

Far more importantly, Der Spiegel says that Ukraine is obliged to agree with the rebels the terms of the new law for the special status of their regions within Ukraine and is also obliged to agree the provisions of the new Constitution with them as well.

Even more importantly, Der Spiegel says the two rebel regions are to have a veto over Ukraine's future political orientation, including its joining either NATO or the EU. In Der Spiegel's words:
"Russia has likely already achieved its minimum goal, that of preventing Ukraine from joining NATO or the European Union.

The deal agreed to in Minsk includes a kind of veto right for separatist areas in eastern Ukraine on important fundamental issues.

That right would apply to membership in military alliances and to membership in economic blocks such as the EU or Putin's Eurasian Economic Union".

These provisions do not appear in writing in the Minsk agreements. If they exist (which, given that the Der Spiegel article is sourced from Merkel's office, they surely do) they must have been agreed verbally by Putin and Merkel, almost certainly during the talks in Moscow that preceded the ones in Minsk.

There would have been no point in asking Poroshenko to sign a document that contained these provisions since for political reasons he could never have signed it. However the Russians have obtained confirmation in writing that they may control Ukraine's border until the new Constitution is agreed. This gives them a powerful tool which they can use to enforce the terms they dictated in Moscow and Minsk, even those that were only agreed verbally with Merkel, if - or, rather - when the Ukrainians try to back out of them.

The talks in Moscow and Minsk also show that Merkel now accepts the reality that the two rebel regions in the Donbass cannot be brought back under Kiev's control.

Merkel has agreed a ceasefire line that gives the rebels control of the territory they captured following the failure of the government offensive in January. By doing so Merkel has implicitly accepted the political reality of what lies beyond the ceasefire line: the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

Der Spiegel says this quite explicitly:
"......it has become clear that the West is willing to accept Ukraine's partition. Ukraine hasn't just lost the Crimean Peninsula, it has now also lost territories in the east."

Der Spiegel gives a detailed account of the various technical discussions concerning the proposed ceasefire.

The new ceasefire line cedes the rebels the territory they have captured since January.

From the account Der Spiegel has provided, it appears that the most important agreements made in Moscow and Minsk were verbal, which is another way of keeping them private (though stenographic records and recordings of the conversations that set out these agreements certainly exist).

It is not difficult to understand the reasons for all this secrecy.

Der Spiegel calls the Minsk agreements a success for Merkel. It is difficult to see why. If implemented they mean the end of the West's and the EU's Ukraine project.

Does this however mean that the Ukrainian conflict is coming to an end?

The short answer unfortunately is almost certainly no.

Though it does appear that Putin and Merkel have finally reached an understanding, it is far from certain that they can impose it on the two sides so as to end the war. What happened in Minsk shows why.

Der Spiegel says that on one occasion Putin had to put pressure on the rebel leaders to get them to sign the final agreement (known as the Minsk Memorandum) that came out of the negotiation. The Russians have in fact repeatedly shown that they are prepared to put pressure on the rebels to get them to agree to what they want.

Merkel, however, is still not able or willing to put analogous pressure on the Ukrainian government.

The overall conclusion therefore continues to be that the Minsk agreements will not end the Ukrainian conflict. As I have recently discussed, the Ukrainian government has never abided by a single agreement it has made, and it will certainly not abide by agreements made verbally and to which it is not a party. Judging by her behaviour over Debaltsevo, it seems that Merkel is still unable or unwilling to exert the necessary pressure on them to do so. The probability, bordering on certainty, is therefore that the conflict will continue.

Minsk does nonetheless represent a watershed.

Germany now recognises that the political objectives the West set itself in Ukraine cannot be achieved and is looking for ways to limit the damage and to extricate itself from what increasingly looks like a debacle. I say Germany rather than Merkel, since it is clear Merkel has a consensus in Germany behind her.

Germany is not the West. There remain powerful forces in the US and elsewhere still intent on confrontation and escalation. However, no one reading the big Western newspapers over the last few weeks can fail to notice the growing sense of weariness and defeatism there is about this conflict.

The conflict in Ukraine itself will grind on, probably until the government currently in power in Kiev falls, which will surely happen sooner or later. However, as a crisis in international relations, following the talks in Moscow and Minsk, it appears its peak has passed.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Merkel has basically said in so many words that they'll have no part in the goings on with the U.S. and NATO. But it's not just her.

charrob, here is a critical aspect of what we are hearing from Germany and others. There is a lot in this thread. You'll see right away. http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...-Declaration&p=5789513&viewfull=1#post5789513

 

[DFF]

Merkel then flew to Washington to brief Obama and obtain his consent

Ukraine is part of Europe. It has nothing to do with the US. So why would Merkel need Obama's approval to do anything?

Perhaps it's because to this day, Germany is not a fully sovereign state, and is still in may ways, occupied by the United States.

 

[charrob]

Merkel has basically said in so many words that they'll have no part in the goings on with the U.S. and NATO. But it's not just her.

charrob, here is a critical aspect of what we are hearing from Germany and others. There is a lot in this thread. You'll see right away. http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showth...-Declaration&p=5789513&viewfull=1#post5789513

-thanks N.C.!

 

[Natural Citizen]

Ukrainian police get ‘shoot-to-kill orders’ amid unrest over army hit & run killing of 8yo...

Screenshot from YouTube user SputnikTV

Police have reportedly been allowed to use live rounds as tensions flare in the eastern Ukrainian town of Konstantinovka, where an eight-year-old girl was killed in a hit-and-run accident by an Ukrainian forces’ armored vehicle.

Following the incident on Monday, in which an armored vehicle has run over and killed an eight-year-old child, enraged people gathered in front of the military unit stationed in the local school building, demanding for the military to surrender those who were involved in the hit and run accident, Sputnik reported. The crowd has also reportedly set fire to the entrance of the dorms of the Ukrainian forces.

According to Popular Front deputy Anton Gerashchenko, shoot-to-kill orders are enforced in Konstantinovka, to stop those trying to “incite” the violence.

If there is no time to warn , we will be shooting to kill immediately,” said Gerashchenko. “No one is allowed to undermine the Ukrainian government with arms in their hands.”

Kiev authorities also report that they have singled out the individual they believe to be single-handedly responsible for the en-masse reaction against the negligence of Kiev’s forces. A Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesman for Donetsk region, Ilya Kiva, promised that the “instigator” will soon be caught and be brought to justice.

Continued - Ukrainian police get ‘shoot-to-kill orders’ amid unrest over army hit & run killing of 8yo

 

[Natural Citizen]

Ukraine’s neo-Nazi leader becomes top military adviser, legalizes fighters...

Image from mil.gov.ua

Ukraine’s Interpol-wanted leader of extremist group Right Sector, Dmitry Yarosh, has been appointed as an adviser to the country’s Chief of General Staff. He has agreed to legalize thousands of fighters as an assault team subordinate to the regular army.

The appointment apparently comes after successful negotiations took place between the so-called Ukrainian Volunteer Corps (DUK Right Sector) and Ukraine’s top military command regarding possible options of incorporating the armed gangs inside the defense ministry’s structure of command.

The Right Sector’s armed paramilitary battalions agreed to be “subordinated to military leaders,” the ministry said. According to the statement, Muzhenko and Yarosh stressed the need for “unity”, confirming fighters’ readiness to obey Kiev’s central command.

Yarosh, who was one of the main figureheads of the violence-seeped coup last year, is wanted by Interpol for incitement of terrorism, and extremist activities. He was placed on the international wanted list at the request of Russian authorities. Despite his notoriety, Yarosh is an elected member of the Ukrainian parliament heading the Right Sector political party, which is banned in Russia as an extremist organization.

Over the weekend Yarosh announced that he plans to legalize private military companies in Ukraine, and will soon introduce new legislation into the Parliament.

After a ceasefire agreement was reached in February, some of these armed units refused to leave the Donbass region and have regularly violated the reached agreements.

Continued - Ukraine’s neo-Nazi leader becomes top military adviser, legalizes fighters

 

[Natural Citizen]

House committee approves $200 million for arming Ukraine...

Reuters/Gleb Garanich

Citing an anti-Russia policy brief, US lawmakers approved $200 million for providing “lethal weapons of a defensive nature” to the Ukrainian government as part of the $600 billion Pentagon budget proposal for the fiscal year 2016.

The House Armed Services Committee passed its proposal for the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) with a bipartisan vote of 60 to 2, in what Defense News described as a “marathon” session that ended around 4:30am on Thursday.

Section 1532 of the 498-page document calls for the US to provide assistance, “including training, equipment, lethal weapons of a defensive nature, logistics support, supplies and services, and sustainment to the military and national security forces of Ukraine” through the end of September 2016.

In addition to the $200 million allocated for the program, the proposal also authorizes the Pentagon to “accept and retain contributions, including in-kind contributions, from foreign governments."

The bill says the purpose of the assistance is to back the government of Ukraine in “protecting and defending the Ukrainian people from attacks posed by Russian-backed separatists,” as well as “securing its sovereign territory against foreign aggressors” and “promoting the conditions for a negotiated settlement to end the conflict.”

The NDAA sub-section dealing with weapons for Kiev specifically referenced a February 2015 report authored by a coalition of foreign policy think-tanks urging the US and NATO to resist “Russian aggression.”

Chaired by Texas Republican Mac Thornberry, the committee recognized that the White House has done much to provide “nonlethal security assistance” to Kiev, including a $75 million commitment announced last month, but nonetheless “believes that defensive weapons and training are also necessary to enhance the defense of Ukraine.”

Members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived in Ukraine earlier this month as part of a training program aimed at Kiev’s military and security forces, prompting the Russian Foreign Ministry to question Washington’s motives.

“What will these foreign military experts teach them – how to continue killing those who speak Russian?” asked Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Lukashevich.

Lawmakers have also pushed the White House for months to send lethal aid to Kiev. Last month, the House passed a non-binding resolution with a 348-48 vote, demanding lethal weapons aid for the “people of Ukraine to defend their sovereign territory from the unprovoked and continuing aggression of the Russian Federation.” However, the White House has remained silent on the issue.

The NDAA could be regarded as another attempt to influence the White House. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the committee, told Defense News that the bill has historically been a “vehicle for Congress to put its imprint on national security policy.”

Continued - House committee approves $200 million for arming Ukraine



Previously - US House urges Obama to send arms to Ukraine

Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko

It comes as the White House is unwilling to make any radical moves on Ukraine, and follows German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s efforts to persuade Obama to commit to Ukraine’s truce plan during her February visit to the US.

Back in September, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko requested Congress to authorize a delivery of US military equipment to the Ukrainian government. So far, Obama has only signed off on non-lethal aid and sanctions against Russia – which Kiev and Washington claim is involved in the conflict, despite giving no evidence to support the notion.

The Ukrainian military launched an operation in the country’s southeast last April, after the Donetsk and Lugansk regions refused to recognized the new authorities in Kiev which were installed during the February 2014 coup.

A woman reacts as she passes a destroyed house in the town of Debaltseve, north-east from Donetsk, March 17, 2015. (Reuters/Marko Djurica)

The death toll in the Ukraine conflict has exceeded 5,800 people, many of them civilians, while another 14,000 have been injured, according to a February UN report.

The Donetsk region witnessed daily shelling before the latest Minsk ceasefire agreement on February 12. Civilians were killed when shells hit residential buildings, schools, hospitals, and public transport. Pro- and anti-government forces also fought around Debaltsevo, a strategic railway hub connecting the breakaway regions of Lugansk and Donetsk.