Dutch and Australian troops to head for Ukraine

On July 25, Poroshenko asked the Ukrainian Parliament to approve an agreement with Australia, which would allow Australia to send 250 armed troops to Ukraine in the guise of securing "the criminal investigation of LH17." The Australian troops would be expressly allowed to use force. A similar agreement is evidently also pushed through for a contingent of the Dutch army.

This looks very much like a planned beginning of the insertion of a NATO invasion force (NATO and its willing allies) into the conflict on the side of the Kiev fascist regime.

I can also add that the demand for NATO troops was actually Poroshenko's first demand in response to the downing of MH17. When I pointed out, some dismissed that as a mere rhetoric or bluff that does not deserve serious attention.

The situation is very serious.

---Vladimir Suchan

Poroshenko asked the Parliament to let 250 Australian military in Ukraine

Порошенко предложил Раде впустить 250 австралийских военных в Украину

Voice of Sevastopol,

25 July, 2014

President Petro Poroshenko invited The Verkhovna Rada to ratify the agreement between Ukraine and Australiaaccording to which Australia will send to Ukraine a police officer, military and civilian personnelthat will include no more than 250 armed violence.

This is stated in the bill # 0087, registered in the Parliament on 25 July.

The agreement provides that Australian staff can provide assistance in locating and collecting Oblakoin, the conduct of the investigation the catastrophe of the plane Malaysia Airlines in Donetsk region and criminal investigations, including security, as well as engage in other activities, jointly identified by the parties to the agreement.

Australian personnel allowed to keep and bear arms, as well as to use force in the framework necessary to achieve the purpose of stay in Ukraine, including the use of force to kill in self-defence, and also has a field uniform.

Australian staff will remain under national command Australia but will prompt the consent of Ukraine for anyone not associated with the investigation of the crash move around the area, and coordinate their movement across the combat zone with the relevant authorities of Ukraine.

Placement of personnel will continue as long as necessary to complete the activity

Julie Bishop heading to Ukraine to urge deployment of troops to MH17 crash site

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her Dutch counterpart Frans Timmermans will return to Ukraine today to urge the government in Kiev to recall Parliament and approve the deployment of armed Australian troops to the MH17 crash site.

Sydney Morning Herald,

27 July, 2014

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her Dutch counterpart Frans Timmermans will return to Ukraine today to urge the government in Kiev to recall Parliament and approve the deployment of armed Australian troops to the MH17 crash site.

Fifty unarmed Australian Federal Police officers and 40 of their Dutch counterparts left the Netherlands for Ukraine yesterday morning, but under Ukraine’s constitution no armed forces can enter the country without Parliament’s approval.

It had been hoped a deal would be ratified on Friday, but it was derailed by domestic politics and the resignation of Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, after which the Parliament went into recess.

At Eindhoven Airbase in the Netherlands last night Ms Bishop said she and Mr Timmermans would return to Kiev to press for Parliament to be recalled on Tuesday and approve an armed Australian Defence Force presence at the rebel-controlled crash site.

“It’s so important for us to get the legal authorisation that’s required in Ukraine to enable us to go in there with some form of protection,” she said.

“This investigation must not be derailed because down the track somebody says it wasn’t properly authorised.

“This is a humanitarian mission. We are there overwhelming to collect remains and bodies and bring them home.

“We are always supported by the ADF in humanitarian work. We need them logistically. We can’t do something on this scale without them.”

Ms Bishop said in the meantime, the Australian Government would put resources in place outside Ukraine, ready to move as soon as approval is granted.

She said she had “some confidence” Australia would be able to get personnel onsite after Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe negotiations with the separatist rebels who hold the site and the Ukrainian Government’s offer of a unilateral ceasefire while the operation continues.

She said once the necessary legal framework was in place, larger numbers of Australian personnel could be put on the ground “so we can do our job quickly and leave”.

“We don’t want to be here for a moment longer than we have to be here,” she said.

Ms Bishop said Australia would “hold President Putin to his word” following reports yesterday both Russia and separatist rebels would see the arrival of armed Australian troops at crash site as “provocation”.

“In all of our discussions at the highest level, that is President Putin to Prime Minister Abbott, there has been a common understanding that we need to secure the site and we need to remove the remains and the evidence as soon as possible,” she said.

“He’s given those assurances to Prime Minister Abbott and we expect that to be the case. “

Ms Bishop and Governor General Sir Peter Cosgrove were at Eindhoven yesterday to witness the arrival of 38 more coffins carrying MH17 victims.

Last night she discouraged the families of victims from trying to visit the crash site, following reports the parents of victim Fatima Dyczynski — who live in Perth — had travelled to Ukraine.

“This is still in the middle of war zone,” she said.

“So as much as the families want to go there, we would ask that they allow us to carry out the investigation and enable them to travel there when it’s safe.

“There could be nothing more tragic than if something were to go wrong because they went onto the site too early.”

Dutch, Australians ready MH17 troops amid Ukraine deadly fighting

Dutch and Australian authorities put their troops on standby for deployment to secure the rebel-held crash site of Malaysian flight MH17 in east Ukraine, where fighting between the army and separatists claimed over a dozen more lives.

Channel NewsAsia,

26 July, 2014

KIEV: Dutch and Australian authorities put their troops on standby for deployment to secure the rebel-held crash site of Malaysian flight MH17 in east Ukraine, where fighting between the army and separatists on Friday (25 July) claimed over a dozen more lives.

The move came as politicians in Kiev were scrambling to avert a political crisis after the shock resignation of prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who quit in fury over the collapse of his ruling coalition on Thursday.

President Petro Poroshenko called on parliament to heed "cold reason" and pass a vote of confidence in the government, but lawmakers closed the sitting on Friday without taking a vote.

Yatsenyuk's resignation piles on more woes for a country already struggling to cope with a chaotic situation in the rebel-controlled east, where international experts are carrying out a complex investigation into last week's downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 that killed 298 people.

The grave challenges facing Ukraine, where 230,000 people have fled fighting according to the United Nations, go beyond its borders, as Washington accused Russian troops of firing artillery across the border on Ukrainian forces.

The United States has already accused Moscow of supplying the missile system it believes was used by pro-Russian separatists in east Ukraine to shoot down MH17. It said late Thursday (24 July) it had evidence that Russia was planning to "deliver heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers" to the insurgents.

Both Russia and the rebels deny the accusations, and Moscow hit back Friday, dismissing the US claims as a "smear campaign".

‘BRING THEM HOME’

A truce has been declared in the vicinity of the vast crash site in rebel-held Grabove, where experts say some remains of the victims still lay decomposing under the sweltering summer heat more than a week after the tragedy.

Dutch authorities said 189 coffins have been flown to the Netherlands where the remains would be identified, with another flight set to carry 38 more from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv to Eindhoven on Saturday.

Foreign ministers from the Netherlands and Australia attended a ceremony at Kharkiv airport, as both countries said they are seeking to deploy troops to the site.

The Netherlands, which is leading the probe after losing 193 citizens in the crash, said troops had been consigned to barracks and had leave cancelled ahead of a possible mission to secure the site.

Australia, which lost 28 people, said it already has 90 police in Europe ready to deploy and that it also plans to send troops.

"This is a humanitarian mission with a clear and simple objective: to bring them home," Prime Minister Tony Abbott said. "All we want to do is to claim our dead and to bring them home."

But monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said rebels controlling the area were only ready to accept between 25 to 35 members of foreign delegations.

As the scramble to salvage the victims dragged on the impact of the crash continued to reverberate across the globe, and the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) called together world aviation officials for a high-level meeting Tuesday to discuss lessons learnt from the incident.

‘SECOND FRONT’

The government's offensive to regain control of Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland was given a boost Friday when its forces took the strategically-important city of Lysychansk.

At the same time, it reported losing 13 soldiers in the past 24 hours, while local authorities in the region of rebel strongholds of Donetsk and Lugansk said 16 people have been killed.

The bloody insurgency has forced 230,000 people to flee their homes, the United Nations said, including 130,000 who have sought refuge in Russia.

While the civil war rages on in the east, politicians in Kiev were locked in a fierce debate over Yatsenyuk's abrupt resignation, with the UDAR (Punch) party of boxing champion Vitali Klitschko insisting that the premier stay on until early parliamentary elections are held.

Together with a few other parties, UDAR announced on Thursday (24 July) it was leaving the governing coalition - a move that sparked Yatsenyuk's resignation and appeared to fire the starting gun for a rancorous campaign ahead of possible legislative polls expected this fall.

The political uncertainty prompted Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - which in late April approved a US$17 billion two-year financial lifeline for Ukraine - to telephone Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk.

"The discussions focused on the implications of the recent political developments in Ukraine for economic policies, in particular for the authorities' ability to implement the programme that is being supported by a Stand-By Arrangement," the IMF said.

Lagarde "encouraged steady implementation of the authorities' reform programme", said the Fund, which had previously forecasted that Ukraine's economy would contract by 6.5 per cent this year due to the insurgency engulfing the country's vital industrial east.

The Fatherland faction of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko condemned the coalition's collapse, saying it "opens up a second front" in the country as it battles to quell the insurgency in the east.

"Between peace and chaos, Ukraine unfortunately is choosing political chaos," said the party in a statement read out by one of its lawmakers in parliament.