Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Tuesday 29 September. [Ukrainian sources]

TUESDAY

Please scroll down to view news items as they are added during the course of the day

News -
Reading that Putin attacked Ukraine 5 times yesterday.
Update from 1300 - no dead, and no injured soldiers yesterday. Slava Ukraini.
Papers are full of blurb about the UN. But nothing happened there. Putin got his PR opportunity. Told the same old lies.

Weather -
Cooler again today in the area of the capital. May be in the mid-teens. A little warmer further south and east.
But temperature falling in these areas also.

Footie -
Champions League actiion today. Including -
Barcelona v Bayer Levkn
Arsenal v Olympiakos
FC Porto v Chelsea
Maccabi Tel Aviv v Dynamo Kiev

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-09-28/does-anyone-buy-putin-s-ukraine-explanation-
[American tv discussiion with former US ambassador to Ukraine. Video at link]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/russia-bans-ukrainian-flights/2015/09/28/04a6814c-6626-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205_story.html
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This will help Ukraine distance itself from Russia. Good for Ukraine, and not good for Russia. If people can't travel between the two countries, then Russian influence in Ukraine will wane.

9:33
http://viknaodessa.od.ua/news/?news=122763
[Outbuilding. 100 sq m. Not particularly large. Arson.]

9:35
http://newsoboz.org/obshchestvo/chetvert-ukraintsev-gotovy-bratsya-za-oruzhie-v-sluchae-okkupatsii-28092015184200
At the same time, 23.8% of respondents chose the option - to put up armed resistance.
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Fairly low really.
Count me amongst those who would fight against the Russian menace.

9:42
http://censor.net.ua/news/353942/ukrainskaya_armiya_ispolzuet_zatishe_dlya_ukrepleniya_linii_oborony_na_donbasse_shtab_ato

9:54
http://risu.org.ua/ua/index/all_news/community/scandals/61238
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Typical of Putin's repressions. Shaun Walker's heroes. Workers of evil in the name of the Russian empire.

Vladimir Putin could be compared to Nikolai I, the last Russian emperor, political expert Yury Romanenko writes in Facebook Sept. 29.

Putin is eager to find his Vienna congress that would put the world on hold and give Russia its former USSR leverage, he says.

“The trouble for the Russians is that the world has changed quicker than their mindsets. That is why they opt to remain committed to the past. Putin’s speech at the United Nations belongs to a conservative politician who is looking for an existence in his history and past,” the expert says.

It’s a vulnerable position of a weak country with oversized past ambitions.

“The Russians have not learned their lesson, and, therefore, like Ukrainians, will repeat their past mistakes and, like us, will pay a price,” the expert summed up.

zik.ua

A video has been posted on Open Russia website, showing a small part of the battle in which "LPR" militants captured Nadiia Savchenko.

As reported by Censor.NET, the footage shows Nadiia Savchenko a few minutes after she was captured. Her face is covered with a yellow bandanna with "Maidan Self-Defense" printed over it. When blamed on being a Ukrainian sniper, Savchenko says she is not, proving it by bearing a machine gun rather than a sniper rifle.



censor.net.ua In Russian

According to Laval, this includes not only direct participation in the funding of the project, but also participation as a go-between with international financial institutions, including the World Bank.

RWL Water, Kyiv-based Nature Technologies LLC, Kyiv Polytechnics Science Park and the Agency for Rebuilding and Developing Donbas announced a joint project to provide high-quality water to Donbas-based households.

Former Donetsk Region Governor, MP Serhiy Taruta said that the problem in connecting water supplies to Donbas is very acute due to the systemic and purposeful destruction of the water supply system during the ongoing conflict in the region. The system was created in 1950s and its out-of-date technologies cost a lot and do not cut the production cost of water supply. Also, some water is delivered to the region from Russia.

RWL Water has offered to resolve problem of water supply in the region by introducing modern technologies to purify sewage waters and remove salt from Azov sea water.

Taruta said that the town council of Mariupol is mulling the possibility of using water from the Azov Sea, which is considered salted water, not sea water, as it is easier to remove salt from it. If the technology is introduced, the problem of water supply in the town would be settled for ever. He said that Donbas has huge potential in pumping water from coalmines.

President of Kyiv Polytechnics Science Park Mykhailol Zhurovsky said that investment in the project will depend on its scale, however one water purification unit could cost hundreds of thousands of the U.S. dollars.

Taruta said that the scale of the project would depend on its buyback period and opportunities for raising funds.

Nature Technologies President Volodymyr Risukhin said that first results of the realization of the project would be seen in 12-18 months................

interfax.com.ua

http://www.politico.eu/article/the-wests-dangerous-ukraine-fatigue/
...Headlines now focus on Greece’s financial crisis and Europe’s migration crisis. Ukraine is almost forgotten.
Which is a mistake....
No country has invaded and annexed part of another in Europe since Adolf Hitler....
the journalist Oliver Bullough estimates that about 30 percent, or $15 billion, was stolen annually from Ukraine’s $50 billion state procurement budget alone.
One year into his tenure, how has President Petro Poroshenko done? At the highest levels of government the message seems clear: Corruption is going to be fought. But it’s not an easy task....
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Quite a long article. A good read. In English.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-to-close-airspace-to-ukrainian-airlines/535892.html
Russia's Transportation Ministry is banning Ukrainian airlines from flying to Russia, a measure taken in response to Ukraine's ban last week on Russian flights.
The mutual bans, which begin Oct. 25....,
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Who wants to go to Russia? Nobody I know.
I used to go there occasionally - but never again. Too dangerous by far.

20:35
http://zik.ua/ua/news/2015/09/29/na_zakarpatti_zatrymaly_sim_nelegaliv_z_alzhyru_sudanu_kotdivuaru_ta_syrii_628920
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I presume trying to get through to Poland?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/11895857/Vladimir-Putin-and-Barack-Obama-speak-at-UN-General-Assembly-live.html
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But what? Crimea? Ukraine?
This on Poroshenko's address today at the UN
It was not particularly hard to find examples of wrong doing with which to bash Mr Putin, but there was little especially new: Russian military involvement in the war in Donbass is indeed beyond doubt; Russia did indeed veto an international tribunal into MH17, to near-universal international consternation; and the Crimean parliament did indeed vote to hold a referendum on secession at gunpoint (the man who commanded the operation, Igor Strelkov, has said so)

Rival court cases are being heard in Russia and Ukraine. The countries are currently divided by conflict. Kyiv accuses two men captured in the east in May of terrorist offences, claiming they are undercover Russian special forces responsible for the deaths of Ukrainian troops in the region. It is being claimed this is proof of Moscow’s involvement in the conflict. Their custody has been extended until December. The men say video evidence has been obtained under duress. Speaking to reporters from behind bars in the courtroom, one of the men, Yevgeny Yerofeyev, claimed video evidence has been obtained under duress. “The prosecution cannot be based on material evidence which was obtained illegally and based on assumptions. All the material evidence was filmed without the presence of a lawyer and under pressure after I was wounded and had been operated on.

”

Meanwhile, in Russia, a Ukrainian military pilot faces up to 25 years in jail if found guilty of killing two journalists.

Russian prosecutors say Nadezhda Savchenko intentionally targeted civilians while attacking rebel positions in June.

She has asked for a lie detector test:“I said completely seriously that I want to give evidence with the use of a lie detector or polygraph. I have already taken a lie detector test but the results have not been presented in court. The prosecution is afraid that their false case will fall apart if the polygraph shows I am not lying.”

Russian officials deny smuggling Savchenko across the border after she was captured.

time-ua.com

Russia’s attempt to become a central player in resolving the Syrian civil war has exposed some of the political divisions among European governments both about Syria and about how to deal with Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the initiative at the UN General Assembly on Monday, calling on other nations to join an international coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, also known as Isis or Daesh. He also urged western countries to support the “legitimate” Assad regime.

With the fighting in eastern Ukraine currently in a lull, taking some of the immediate political sting out of that conflict, Mr Putin’s Syria intervention has been greeted with contrasting responses from European governments.

Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, called on the Russian president to back up his rhetoric about taking on Isis with military action. “The international coalition is striking Daesh, France is striking Daesh, Mr Bashar al-Assad only a little bit, and for the moment, the Russians not at all,” Mr Fabius said. “You have to look at who does what.” .....................

Recommend to read further go to this link: ft.com

In a poll run by a Russia-based agency VTsVGD, 31% of respondents are for neutrality in the conflict with Ukraine (41% last year), UNIAN reported Sept. 30.

Every fourth Russian believes Russia should recognize the independence of the breakaway republics.

Merely 3% of respondents stressed the need for Kyiv to regain control of the occupied territories.

zik.ua

This poll seems to show that they don't really care. If only 16% think Donbas should become part of Russia, only 3% think Kyiv should control the occupied areas. So 97% think Kyiv should do nothing about Donbas?

There was a report I heard this morning that 80% of Russians think Russia should stay out of foreign conflicts, such as Syria and Donbas.

Putin's bit more than he can chew. Of course, his fear of his people is a number one priority. Seems he's deathly scared of his own people wanting his head on a platter.

Oct. 1, 70 National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) detectives assumed office, the Bureau Head Artem Sytnyk said.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle he said that the average salary of detectives would make UAH 31,000 (about $1,455), "the salary which may reduce the risk of corruption," Censor.NET reports.

"We now have 70 detectives selected by public commission. Some 2,700 applications have been submitted. After passing law, psychological, and lie detector tests, 70 people were selected. This week we announce a new competition, we want to employ 70 more detectives," he said.

"All of them have a law degree, two years of working experience in the field. I am certain about them. They have been selected with the direct participation of the public - the selection board includes representatives of different NGOs. In addition, the internal control department is being established, its head having just been chosen through an open competition. It is a kind of special service that will permanently keep a close eye on detectives' life style to identify possible corrupt actions in their work, " Sytnyk said.

He added that the NABU would have a special operations department, its first employees having been already enrolled. "They will be responsible for three basic functions - detention of corrupt officials, ensuring safety of parties in criminal cases as well as bureau's personnel. We will have all means at our disposal necessary to detain an official of any rank," the head of the bureau said.

According to him, the NABU has two priorities: "Fighting corruption in the judiciary and public procurement."

censor.net.ua In Russian

Kyiv is considering Moscow's request to hold a meeting of Ukrainian and Russian presidents.
This was announced by deputy head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Kostiantyn Yelysieiev, Censor.NET reports citing Interfax-Ukraine.

"As of today, we have a request by the Russian party to conduct a bilateral meeting in Paris. It will depend on the Ukrainian side whether it happens. We are currently considering the matter," Yelisieiev said at the briefing in Kyiv on Thursday.

censor.net.ua In Russian

The West’s diplomatic tussle with Russia will move back to the theatre of Ukraine on Friday, as European leaders consider compromising with Vladimir Putin over the waning eastern conflict even as Moscow steps up air strikes in Syria.

Paris will host a potentially pivotal summit between the leaders of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine — the so-called Normandy Four — aimed at finding a political path to salvage a much-violated Minsk ceasefire accord.

A dramatic de-escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine since September raised hopes of compromise on divisive political issues within Minsk, including election plans in areas under the control of Russian-backed separatists.

“We’ve reached a point where everybody wants to strike a deal. The grand bargain has been in the works,” said Otilia Dhand of Teneo Intelligence. “It won’t be spectacular on Friday, but we could see adjustments with serious practical implications.”.......................

To read further go to this link: ft.com

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko intends to negotiate only with the legally elected authorities.

This was stated by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine Konstantin Yeliseyev, commenting on the possibility of talks with the leaders of Poroshenko terrorist organization "Donetsk People's Republic" and "People's Republic of Lugano", writes Interfax-Ukraine.

He also stressed that the elections in Ukraine temporarily uncontrolled part of Donbass must take place exclusively on the Ukrainian legislation.

"For us it is crucial all the same to hold local elections in some regions of Donetsk and Lugansk regions solely in accordance with the laws of Ukraine and by the standards of the OSCE / ODIHR," - said the deputy head of the AP.

As reported by the "Observer", Poroshenko called for increased sanctions against the Russian Federation and its controlled terrorists in eastern Ukraine after the decision of the leader of "DNI" Zakharchenko hold elections in the temporarily occupied parts of the Donetsk region.

obozrevatel.com In Russian

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed his own and his government "death sentence", in violation of international law during the annexation of Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

Such an opinion on the air 5 channel expressed journalist Vitaly Portnikov.

"Putin was buried when he broke international law and joined the Russian Crimea. All the talk about Putin as a living political man - this is a very strange conversation. Putin can, of course, such as the act in his agony, to kill people, kuda then send the aircraft, but in principle - all activities of the deceased, "- he says.

Portnikov believes that Putin's regime will eventually lead to the disintegration of the Russian Federation.


"The man who dismantles the Yalta peace and calls into question the international law thus signed a death sentence not only himself and his regime, but also to the State, which today is in fact the most common international criminal and, I think, will go to the non-existence in its current configuration, together with the political regime of Putin "- summed up the journalist.


As reported by the "Observer", formerly a Russian journalist Alexander centurion criticized fellow citizens who supported the annexation of the Crimea. He stressed that they are "infected with the virus a criminal."

obozrevatel.com In Russian