Catching up with news from Russia and Ukraine, from English-language sources
House
Overwhelmingly Passes Resolution to Arm Ukraine
The
non-binding resolution claims Russia is plotting to take over eastern
Ukraine, and cites Pentagon officials supporting arms shipments to
the Ukrainian military
24
March, 2015
This
article originally
appearedat Antiwar.com
In
an overwhelming 348-48 vote,
the House of Representatives passed a resolutioncalling
for President Obama to immediately begin providing weaponry to the
Ukrainian government.
The
resolution claims Russia is plotting to take over eastern Ukraine,
and cites Pentagon officials supporting arms shipments to the
Ukrainian military. The resolution is non-binding.
The
preamble to the resolution includes several factual errors about the
Ukrainian conflict, including the bizarre claim that Russia’s
annexation of Crimea undermined an international order established
after World War 2. At the end of WW2, Crimea was still part of
Russia’s Soviet Socialist Republic, and it had been Russian from
the early 19th century.
Conspicuously
absent in the incredibly wordy resolution is a single mention of the
ongoing ceasefire, which has brought Ukraine’s Civil War to a
virtual halt in recent weeks. The Obama Administration had sent only
non-lethal aid, saying they didn’t want to imperil the ceasefire.
Poroshenko
dismisses Dnipropetrovsk Governor Kolomoisky
Valentin
Reznichenko was appointed as acting Dnipropetrovsk Governor
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (left) and Igor KolomoiskyTASS,
25
March, 2015
MOSCOW,
March 25. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has dismissed
Dnipropetrovsk Governor Igor Kolomoisky, the official website of the
Ukrainian president said on Wednesday.
"Igor
Valeryevich Kolomoisky is dismissed from the post of the chairman of
Dnipropetrovsk regional administration," the decree published on
the website says.
Valentin
Reznichenko was appointed as acting Dnipropetrovsk Governor.
On
March 22, several dozen armed men in masks seized the head office of
Ukraine’s oil major Ukrnafta in Kiev. Earlier, Sergey Leshchenko, a
lawmaker with the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, wrote on his Facebook
account that Ukrnafta office had been blocked by servicemen from the
Dnepr-1 battalion. "The entryway is blocked by people with guns.
After a rather lengthy exchange, one of them - wearing a black helmet
- said they were men from the Dnepr-1 battalion. He refused to say
what the battalion of the Dnepropetrovsk’s territorial defense was
doing in Kiev," he wrote.
Ukraine’s
biggest oil company Ukrnafta accounts for more than 86% of Ukraine’s
oil production, for 28% of gas condensate production and 16% of gas
production. Naftogaz Ukrainy holds the controlling stake (50% + 1
share), 42% are held by structures of Kolomoyskyi, and eight percent
are held by companies registered in Cyprus.
On
March 19, Ukrtransnafta’s (another company owned by Dnepropetrovsk
region governor Kolomoyskyi) supervisory board dismissed Alexander
Lazorko from the post of the company’s board head and appointed
Yury Miroshnik acting chairman of the board. Later reports said that
the building of the company was seized by "gunmen led by
Kolomoyskyi." However, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that
Kiev’s law enforcement agencies took Uktransnafta’s premises
under control.
According
to media reports, in April-May 2014 Ukrtransnafta pumped 675,000 tons
of process oil from the county’s trunk pipelines without permission
of the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy and Coal Mining. Prime Minister
Arseniy Yatsenyuk demanded then that the law enforcement agencies
initiate criminal proceedings and prosecute those responsible for
illegal siphoning off of oil.
Russia
has initiated criminal proceedings against Kolomoyskyi on charges of
organization of murders; the use of banned means and methods of
warfare; abductions and also for putting up obstacles to journalists’
work. He has been arrested in absentia and put on the international
wanted list.
Ukrainian President
Petro Poroshenko personally attended the “presentation”
ceremony and even drove one of the vehicles.
The HMMWVs (Humvees) are being delivered to Ukraine within the framework of non-lethal military aid promised to Ukrainian authorities by Washington. Though the announced help is non-lethal, the newly delivered Humvees have armored defenses and bulletproof glass. Each vehicle has a pre-mounted machine gun turret on top of it (without the actual weapon, though).
The ceasefire
agreement currently in effect in Ukraine is not respected by
Ukraine’s armed forces, which continue shelling of the settlements
and cities under the control of the rebels. Ukraine authorities in
their turn also blame the militia for ceasefire violations.
Despite the latest Minsk ceasefire agreement signed February 12, civilians are still being killed when shells hit residential buildings, schools, hospitals and public transport.
10
American Humvees welcomed in Ukraine by Poroshenko
Ukrainian
authorities received the first batch of American Humvee vehicles on
Wednesday. Altogether, 10 armored off-roaders have been brought to
Kiev’s Borispol airport aboard a US Air Force military tactical
freighter.
The HMMWVs (Humvees) are being delivered to Ukraine within the framework of non-lethal military aid promised to Ukrainian authorities by Washington. Though the announced help is non-lethal, the newly delivered Humvees have armored defenses and bulletproof glass. Each vehicle has a pre-mounted machine gun turret on top of it (without the actual weapon, though).
In
a phone talk with US Vice-President Joe Biden two weeks ago,
Poroshenko thanked Washington for the allocated $75 million help,
which includes, among other positions, reconnaissance drones,
communication equipment, night vision goggles, artillery fire
detection radars and Humvees.
READ
MORE: US
House urges Obama to send arms to Ukraine
'American Humvees for Ukraine' TT @poroshenko: Американські військові HMMWV для України.
#HMMWV #UnitedForUkraine
Ukrainian
armed forces expect Washington to supply 230 armored Humvees to Kiev,
Colonel Andrey Lysenko told Forbes Ukraine.
Ukrainian
armed forces have some experience of operating Humvees brought to
troops earlier.
Ukraine has received first batch of U.S. military vehicles HMMWV
http://defence-blog.com/?p=4404
One
such vehicle was captured by the Donetsk rebel militia after the
elimination of the Ukrainian task force in the Debaltsevo pocket in
February.
Kiev
has recently also bought a batch of British-made Saxon armored
vehicles for $50,000 apiece.
До міжнародного аеропорту «Бориспіль» прибув літак з першою партією американських військових автомобілів HMMWV
Despite the latest Minsk ceasefire agreement signed February 12, civilians are still being killed when shells hit residential buildings, schools, hospitals and public transport.
Last
week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called on Germany and
France to take action against Kiev’s non-compliance with the peace
agreement. According to Lavrov, Kiev didn’t make an effort to start
dialogue with the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk on
the modalities of elections there.
The
politicians of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) of the Polish Sejm
submitted a draft resolution to the Parliament in view of increasing
nationalist tendencies in Ukraine.
The
politicians of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) of the Polish Sejm
submitted a draft resolution to the Parliament in view of increasing
nationalist tendencies in Ukraine, Tadeusz Iwiński, Deputy Chairman
of the Seimas of the International Affairs, told RIA Novosti.
The
"Polish Sejm expresses concern over the Ukrainian state
authorities’ nationalist traditions associated with ideas of Dmitri
Dontsov and political practice of Stepan Bandera. Also the
glorification of those responsible for the crimes committed against
the Polish nationals,” the document read.
Poland
Prepares for 'Hybrid War' Through Shady Diplomacy, Arms Buildup
The
draft resolution notes that "The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
recently honored the death anniversary of Roman Shukhevych, commander
in chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), who was responsible
for the death of 100,000 Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.
The
Ukrainian Parliament also adopted a resolution to hold public events
in connection with the anniversary of Peter Dyachenko, a commander of
the Ukrainian military units who took part in the suppression of the
Warsaw Uprising and the destruction of Polish villages in the
district of Lublin. Since President Poroshenko’s decision, the
anniversary of the formation of the Ukrainian Army is celebrated as
the Day of Defender of the Fatherland.”
"The
Polish society is seriously concerned over these facts. For the sake
of memory of the victims of World War II, the Polish Sejm calls on
Ukrainian authorities to abandon the admiration of persons and
organizations responsible for the crimes against the Poles," the
document says.
Twenty-nine
members of parliament from the faction of the Democratic Left
Alliance have signed the document. The Ukrainian Insurgent Army has
been the armed wing of the Ukrainian nationalists since the 1940s.
During the World War II, the UPA acted against the Soviet partisans.
After the restoration of the Soviet power, the UPA fought against the
Red Army on the side of the Nazi Germany. According to the Polish
historians, ethnic cleansing in the south-west of Ukraine was
conducted by the UPA under the leadership of the Organization of the
Ukrainian Nationalists (Bandera faction).
Polish
historians estimate that the number of Polish civilian casualties was
in the tens of thousands. Some 300-400 thousand ethnic Poles fled to
the west. Similar actions were taken by Ukrainian nationalists in
1943 in Volhynia. The glorification of army commander Roman
Shukhevych, one of the leaders of the UPA and Bandera, draws
criticism from many World War II veterans and politicians.
The head of one of eastern Ukraine's breakaway republics asks why Ukraine's president is publically talking about the delivery of weapons from nearly a dozen countries in Europe while simultaneously proclaiming his commitment to peace.
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