I shall add to this over the course of the day
MH17: Alexander Borodai wanted to hand over remains, black boxes to Malaysia only : PM
24
August, 2014
PEKAN:
Malaysia's strong principle on truth has made the country well
respected not only by the super powers but also among the non-state
actors such as the separatists in Ukraine, said Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Razak
For
that reason, Najib said the Ukrainian separatist leader Alexander
Borodai had agreed to hand over the bodies of the victims on the
downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and its two black boxes to
Malaysia.
"He
was only willing to give them to Malaysia (and not other countries),"
he said at his Pekan parliamentary constituency's Aidilfitri open
house at Taman Tasik Sultan Abu Bakar here today.
Najib
said he took the risk to deal with the separatists in eastern Ukraine
as he wanted to bring home the remains of Malaysian victims.
He
said the inter-connected world has made countries like Malaysia
exposed to conflicts that it was not involved.
Najib
also said that he was touched when people of various backgrounds
observe a minute of silence in respect of the MH17 victims yesterday.
The
nationwide mourning, he said showed that Malaysians can unite during
tragedy.
At
the function, Najib and his guests also recited prayers and observe a
minute of silence as a mark of respect for the MH17 victims.
This is from London's Financial Times
Trust in Kiev evaporates as fighting causes refugee exodus to swell
By
Courtney Weaver in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky and Roman Olearchyk in Kiev
23
August, 2014
Last
September Olga Laskireva dropped off her 20-year-old son in Kiev for
his obligatory military service in the Ukrainian army. Nine months
later she returned to the capital to pick him up and bring him home.
As
residents of Krasnodon, an eastern Ukrainian town less than 20km from
the Russian border, the Laskirev family has tried to stay neutral as
the Ukrainian army and Russian-backed separatists battle for the
Lugansk region. But over the course of four months of heavy fighting,
they have begun to blame Ukraine’s new president and the government
in Kiev for the conflict.
“Who
gives a son a weapon so that he can go and shoot his own mother?”
Ms Laskireva says. “That is not right.”
When
the artillery fire got so close to Krasnodon that the impact of a
mortar shot sent Ms Laskireva’s four-year-old daughter flying to
the earth in the playground, she packed their bags and had a
neighbour drive them to the first Russian hospital across the border.
Her
husband and son have been forbidden to leave Ukrainian territory by
the rebels, who are refusing to let any man between the ages of 18
and 60 leave the country. But, as far as Ms Laskireva is concerned,
Kiev bears the greater blame.
“I
remember the hunger we had in the 1990s [after the collapse of the
Soviet Union] – it was terrible,” she says. “But at least the
government wasn’t shooting its own people.”
As
the Ukrainian army closes in on the rebel strongholds of Donetsk and
Lugansk, it faces an enormous challenge winning back not just
territory but the trust of the people who once lived there. Many say
they have no desire to return once the conflict is over.
Four
months of fighting have sent tens of thousands of civilians fleeing
from the region. They have headed either towards central and western
Ukraine or across the border to Russia. They have been living with
relatives and friends or staying in tents or converted buildings and
factories in makeshift refugee camps, sometimes with hundreds of
others.
According
to the Ukrainian military some 123,000 civilians have left eastern
Ukraine and Crimea over the past few months to move other regions
within the country. If those who have fled to Russia are included,
the number is significantly higher.
The
UN reports that 285,000 people have fled their homes in Ukraine
because of the conflict, with 114,000 staying in Ukraine and 168,000
going across over the border.
Irina
Ivakhnyuk, deputy director of the department of population at
Lomonosov Moscow State University, said she believed the numbers are
even greater. This is because many Ukrainians are unlikely to
officially register their refugee status in Russia as all those doing
so are required to stay on Russian territory for at least a year.
“I
know dozens of cases when Ukrainian citizens have come to their
relatives or friends in Russia just to run away from the risks of the
war for a while and did not register their refugee-like situation
with the Russian authorities,” Ms Ivakhnyuk said.
In
depth
The
exodus has raised questions over what the landscape of east Ukraine
will look like after the fighting is over.
Coalmines,
steel mills and other factories in the broader Donbass region are
grinding to a halt as the fighting and exchanges of artillery cause
sporadic power outages. Donetsk, the largest separatist stronghold,
has become a ghost town by dusk. Even by 1pm most shops and
restaurants have shut for fear of being hit by artillery shells.
In
Lugansk, street battles have been waged all week in the downtown area
as Ukrainian forces confront rebels. The city’s electricity and
water were cut off two weeks ago. Close to half of Lugansk’s
400,000 residents are estimated to have fled.
While
many residents of Donetsk and Lugansk began the conflict as impartial
bystanders, the intensifying violence has put them in the way of
shellfire in their residential neighbourhoods.
“People
are dying every day as each side accuses the other of shelling
innocent civilians,” said Olga, 32, who was fleeing the city of
Lugansk this week by train. She said she had been unable to convince
her pensioner mother to come with her. “She refused to leave. I
don’t know what will happen to her now,” she said, fighting back
tears.
Elena
Antamonova, who fled Lugansk for the Russian border town of
Kamensk-Shakhtinsky with her husband Sergei and young son, said their
civilian neighbours had become casualties of the fighting. “They
have killed a nine-year-old girl, her mother and father. These people
are lying in a morgue now,” Ms Antomonova said angrily.
Sitting
in the hospital on the Russian side of the border where her daughter
is receiving treatment for wounds sustained from her fall, Ms
Laskireva says she loses sleep worrying about her son and husband.
They must pass dangerously close to the fighting to commute to their
jobs at the coal mine where they work.
Sometimes the shelling
prevents them from getting to work. Sometimes it stops them leaving.
“Everything
was fine. There was some stability,” Ms Laskireva says. “And now
we have to run from our homes?”
She
and her daughter have been sleeping side by side in twin hospital
beds in a room occupied by other refugees. But this week they are due
to be released.
“Now,”
she says, “we do not know what to do.”
Ukraine Crisis | Childrens Hospital Bombed by Ukr. Army
Angela Merkel - sociopathic
Just did a VoR interview where I openly called Angela Merkel and her government sociopathic as well as complicit and culpable for the mass murder and ethnic cleansing that the Kiev regime is doing in the Donbass. She has shown her full support with her visit and Triumph in Kiev today and her promise of a (paltry) 500m euros to "help rebuild the infrastructure (w some going to the refugees) in the Eastern Ukraine".
This
shows clearly that 1) she knows full well the WW-2 level of
destruction that is going on 2) signals a "green light" for
the regime to continue what it is doing and 3) she even says she will
fund the butchery by contributing to help clean up the mess and mop
up the blood afterwards.
---Mark
Sleboda
The
Chancellor’s visit to Ukraine comes on the heels of a fresh round
of tensions between Kiev and Moscow over the Russian humanitarian aid
convoy which delivered food and other necessities to residents of the
Lugansk region devastated by ongoing violent fighting.
Merkel supports Ukraine power decentralization
RT,
23
August, 2014
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel upholds the idea of the decentralization of
power in Ukraine as a path to resolving the ongoing conflict in the
east of the country, she said while on a visit to Kiev Saturday.
Merkel
said that Berlin backs the Kiev-proposed plan on decentralization as
an important step needed to let Ukraine’s Russian speaking
population feel more involved in the country’s affairs.
“What
we [in Germany] mean by federalism is called decentralization in
Ukraine. And that is what President [Petro Poroshenko] wants,”
she told a joint media conference following the meeting with the
Ukrainian leader. “It’s
an important step to make the Russian population feel part of Ukraine
and stay within Ukraine,”
she said, as cited by RIA Novosti.
In
Merkel’s view, Ukraine should proceed with the decentralization
plan. However, she noted, appealing to Germany’s experience would
be wrong as there are certain difficulties.
What
Germans understood by federalism was seen very differently in Ukraine
where it was linked to a greater degree of independence “that
we don't want at all,”
she said, according to Reuters.
Merkel’s
comments came shortly after her Vice Chancellor, Social Democrat
Sigmar Gabriel, spoke out for federalization to be introduced in
Ukraine once the conflict in the east of the country is settled.
“The
territorial integrity of Ukraine can only be maintained if an offer
is made to the areas with a Russian majority,”
Gabriel said in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper which
coincided with Merkel’s visit to Kiev. “A
clever concept of federalization seems to be the only practicable
way,”
the politician said. However, he added, a ceasefire should first be
agreed.
Gabriel,
who is also the Economy Minister, was one of the first German
top-ranking politicians to suggest federalization as a solution to
the Ukraine crisis. His comments came as surprise to many in Kiev as
Poroshenko earlier ruled out such an option for his country.
According
to Merkel, however, he meant what Ukrainians understand as
decentralization.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny
Yatseniuk (R) meets with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel in Kiev
August 23, 2014 (Reuters / Gleb Garanich)
READ
MORE: Mission
completed: Moscow confirms delivery of aid to E. Ukraine, trucks
return to Russia
Moscow’s
decision to order its convoy to cross into Ukraine Friday without
Kiev’s final approval triggered fierce criticism and accusations
from the Ukrainian government and its western supporters, including
the EU, the US, NATO, and Germany.Russia hit back accusing opponents
of “hypocrisy” and maintaining it acted strictly within the
frameworks of international law.
Merkel’s
plane landed in the Ukrainian capital Saturday as shelling in the
east of the country continued, bringing new casualties among
civilians, destruction and the worsening of the humanitarian disaster
in the south east.
Opening
the meeting with the German leader, Poroshenko called her Ukraine’s
“good
friend”
and “strong
advocate.”
He said they’ve spoken over 20 times within past two months, which
helped Kiev “protect
its interests,”
the presidential website reported.
On
the results of the talks, Merkel pledged that Ukraine will get 500
million euro (about $660 million) credit guarantee to restore
infrastructure in the war-torn eastern regions. An additional 25
million will be allocated to help refugees from the regions hit by
the violence.
Poroshenko
said that he is set to submit to parliament for ratification a
Ukraine-EU Association agreement signed in late June. The pact has
played a central role in the conflict that led to months of violence
in Ukraine. Protests, that later resulted in the ouster of President
Viktor Yanukovich, began after he refused to sign the agreement
fearing that Ukraine was not ready and the association could harm
national interests.
Both
Merkel and Poroshenko said they had high expectations for the
upcoming talks between representatives of Ukraine, the EU, and the
Customs Union (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan) on August 26 in Minsk.
Merkel and Poroshenko said they hope the meeting will yield positive
results.
Mission
completed: Moscow confirms delivery of aid to E. Ukraine, trucks
return to Russia
23
August, 2014
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.
Lugansk
residents have already expressed hope that Russia will provide more
humanitarian aid in the future, first vice premier of the Lugansk
People’s Republic Vasily Nikitin told RIA Novosti.
“We
don’t have any food left, and we hope that Russia won’t leave us
in this situation and these humanitarian convoys containing food will
become commonplace. We hope for the help, and we need it,”Nikitin
stated.
It
comes as all trucks have already returned to Russia after delivering
the aid.
The
convoy approached the Russian-Ukrainian border on August 14, and only
entered Ukraine a week later, as Kiev had been postponing its final
approval for the trucks to go ahead.
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