Ukraine crisis. News in Brief. Saturday 31 October [Ukrainian sources]

SATURDAY

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

News -
Sadly one Ukrainian soldier killed by the Russians in the area of Donetsk airport.
Reading of a Russian airliner down in Egypt. After Russia shot down MH17, and then offered only lies, one can feel no sympathy.
Putin, of course, will want an investigation. But what about the 300 people he killed on MH17?? Killed by Russians. Or the 8000 he has killed in Ukraine?

Weather -
Another beautiful morning. Perhaps -2 during the night. Now - blue sky, sunshine, warming up. High will be around 10 again.
Really quite pleasant for All Hallows Eve.

Observation -
Having returned to Ukraine after a visit to Greece and Cyprus, the two countries that had yet to ratify the Associate Agreement with Ukraine, the heavy war seems to have died now. But talking to people yesterday, they say - Putin has got what he wanted. He took Crimea, he took the Donbass. And he has destabilized Ukraine. He has not yet got his corridor to Crimea, but he is working on that. Dneprpetrovsk, Odessa will be his major targets for getting his people - i.e. the old Party of Regions bandits - in control, and then stopping any EU integratiion no doubt. That is the opinion of a good number of Ukrainians. Negative, but maybe realistic after what has happened.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34687139
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Apparently an Airbus A-321. That is a big plane. I flew on one this week! It is like a stretch version of the A-320.
I think it can seat about 240 people.
In fact I was seated in the last row... row 35, if I remember correctly... so... 35 x6... The A321 is very long...
Did Putin shoot it down because it had some opposition member on it? Putin is an expert at shooting down airliners. His profession.
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I have read that there were only Russians onboard, but I have also read that 3 Ukrainians were on board. Who knows... Apparently all 221 people died.
Also read that 2 Ukrainians and 1 Belarusian died. Sad.

http://tyzhden.ua/News/150255
One Ukrainian soldier was killed, another - wounded.
In the area ATO for previous day was not without casualties Ukrainian military. This AP spokesman for ATO Andrey Lysenko during a daily briefing.
According to him, for half an hour enemy was shooting for Ukrainian military positions near Donetsk airport, using small arms and automatic grenade launchers. As a result of the incident one Ukrainian soldier was killed, another was wounded.
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Putin still killing Ukrainians. See also longer report at
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15:00
In Donbass ATU fighter was killed during a battle at the Donetsk airport (Politeka.net)
http://politeka.net/96328-na-donbasse-boets-ato-pogib-vo-vremya-boya-pod-donetskim-aeroportom/

13:50
http://focus.ua/country/339669/
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Shows action around the area just outside of Donetsk - Pisky. Near the airport.

13:50
http://zaxid.net/news/showNews.do?u_lvovi_na_lichakivskomu_kladovishhi_ukrayintsi_ta_polyaki_provedut_molitvu_primirennya&objectId=1371286
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An amazing cemetery perhaps 10 minutes tram ride from the centre of Lviv. Historical.
Sadly now - many young - hundreds of - Ukrainian men buried there - the war against Russia.

14:01
http://www.unn.com.ua/uk/news/1515696-pid-odesoyu-protestuyuchi-znovu-perekrili-trasu

14:50
http://zik.ua/ua/news/2015/10/31/u_rf_stvoryly_petytsiyu_por_zvilnennya_dyrektora_biblioteky_ukrainskoi_literatury_638480
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Only in Russia - arresting people who work in libraries. Dangerous places. You can read and learn things there that are not accepted according to Putin TV, and the Shaun Walker school of journalists.



Will Sarah Rainsford of the bbc do a report about this? Don't hold your breath. I watched her pro-Russian cr@p on BBC World all week. Revolting.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/11952821/Russia-braced-for-a-long-night-time-of-the-mind-and-soul.html
...The Moscow Times, the capital’s long-running English language daily, has announced it is going weekly from the end of the month. People who work for it tell me they fear it is going to be transformed into a lifestyle magazine for expats, and some of its best names are bowing out....
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Oliphant - and his idiotic boss David Blair - are very pro-Russian. So articles by them need to be read with a critical and open mind.
But interesting - the rumours about the MT. Looks like Putin is going to close it slowly - change it into garbage.
Blair - famous for an article stating that Ukraine was being "heavy handed" in its war against Russia's 30,000 tanks.
Mega idiot - better on Africa, where he was born. Naive and stupid on anything anywhere else in the world.

1 ноября в России – день траура по погибшим в авиакатастрофе
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/50598
November 1, Russia - a day of mourning for those killed in plane crash
The president signed a decree "On the declaration of mourning in connection with the plane crash occurred in the Arab Republic of Egypt."
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So the murderer Putin - the man who ordered MH17 to be shot down over Ukraine by Russian soldiers, armed with Russian missiles, now asks for a day of mourning?
When MH17 was shot down the Russian press were rejoicing in glee - another "Ukrainian transport plane" shot down by Shaun Walker's "DNR guys".

How about a day of mourning for those killed by Putin in Ukraine? Thousands and thousands killed by the murdering Russians.
Note - this news item from a Russian source, i.e. the Kremlin website.

I wouldn't put it past Putin that he set this up to happen, to get eyes off him downing MH17. Nobody would doubt it.

http://www.rferl.mobi/a/russia-meet-italian-architect-who-designed-putin-palace/27333725.html
"Like all Russians, I know there is a president," Cirillo told RFE/RL recently in his fluent, if often grammatically flawed, Russian. "He is a very good man. We as citizens all respect him very much."...
For Russia's political opposition, the property has become a brazen symbol of rampant state corruption running straight to the top...
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What a scumball.
Putin's palace makes Myzhigorhya look like a garage in the Bronx.
The stink of corruption. No wonder Putin got on well with Yanukovich. Murderers and thieves make good bedfellows.

http://telegraf.com.ua/ukraina/mestnyiy/2141579-glava-gschs-ukrainyi-dolozhil-o-situatsii-v-svatovo.html
Employees GSCHS destroyed 96 explosive objects in Svatovo.
...100% restored electricity and water. Work continues on the reconstruction of gas supply (60% restored)," - he wrote on the Facebook page.
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Where an Ukrainian ammunition depot blew up. No explanation why. Possible enemy fire.

http://www.unian.info/society/1170127-auto-maidan-protesters-arrived-at-poroshenkos-residence-demanding-shokins-resignation-photos.html
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Shokin - prosecutor general in Ukraine.
Frankly all the judges in Ukraine are dodgy. They all need replacing. Yatseniuk said something like, we need to wait until new judges are trained.
But the old school - they are only trained in taking bribes. I know this because I have had involvement with Ukrainian courts on several occasions.
In Ukraine who pays the most to the judge wins the case. Pure and simple.
So - new judges. They don't need training - they simply need some sense of right and wrong. This is better than keeping the garbage that is Ukraine's justice system in place.

I've been out of Ukraine for a few weeks, so on returning I checked the Bureau de Change today.
The hryvnia has fallen further after a period of stability.
It was around 22. But today I saw 23.7 / 24.3 to a dollar. So close on 10% down.
The pound I saw online is now around 36. It was 32/33 when I left.
This might add further to inflation. Imported goods will increase in price. This includes petrol/ gas, as well as things like olive oil, citrus fruits, and so on.
But on Thursday I noticed that the price of petrol at the pumps was still around 22. Just under 1 dollar a litre. So no increase there yet in price.

http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/10/31/7087047/
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Hryvnia.
To be honest, this is peanuts. I am sure he took out billions in dollars and gold when he went running to his mentor, and fellow murderer, Putin.

"It is very important that the vote took place in the part of Donbas controlled by Ukrainian authorities. For the first time Donetsk and Luhansk regions chose their local authorities at quite competitive elections, which have never been held in those parts of the region before. For the first time the monopoly of certain political forces, which has been forming for several years, has been broken there. For the first time pro-European parties will be represented in the councils of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. They are all the more obliged to coordinate efforts to control the actions of the local majority," Poroshenko said.

interfax.com.ua

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) confirm the detention of the leader of a political party Ukrainian Union of Patriots – Ukrop, Hennadiy Korban, and declare that he is suspected of creating a criminal group, according to Olena Gitlyanska, SBU spokeswoman, and PGO spokesman Vladyslav Kutsenko, an UNIAN correspondent reported from a briefing in Kyiv.

"Yes, information about the detention of Korban is true. He was detained among other suspects from a criminal group," said Gitlyanska.

In turn, Kutsenko added: "We are now considering request for the immediate arrest of Korban, we are studying the question as to his leadership of this criminal organization."

Kutsenko noted that the main articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, under which joint operation of the PGo and the SBU is being carried out are: Art. 255 (establishmen and activity of a criminal group), Art. 191 (embezzlement) and Art. 349 (kidnapping).

READ ALSOUKROP party says its leader Korban detained in Dnipropetrovsk
"As you know, the detentions are being carried out, other proceedings proceedings, including searches and interrogations," said Kutsenko.

He also stressed that there is no political component in this operation.

"We do not care what political party the individuals under investigation and those detained represent; it is important for us is whether there is the fact of their participation in this organization, its criminal activity, or there is no such fact," said Kutsenko...............

To read further go to this link: unian.info

Russia's finance minister expressed concern about a possible rule change by the International Monetary Fund that would enable it to keep lending to Ukraine even if Kyiv defaults on its debt to Russia.

"Russia does not want Ukraine to be left without financial support," Anton Siluanov said on October 30, but Russia is suspicious of the "hastiness" of the rule change at the IMF.

"We are concerned that the changes in the policy of the fund are forced in the context of a very politicized issue of restructuring of the Ukrainian debt," he said.

The IMF has said it is considering easing a long-standing rule against lending to countries in default in "carefully circumscribed circumstances" to keep Ukraine's $17.5 billion bailout package alive.

Ukraine, running short of cash, has sought to restructure its $3 billion debt to Russia the same way it has rescheduled its privately held debt, but Russia has refused to go along.

Moscow -- which is also running short of cash and reserve funds -- insists it should get full repayment on schedule by the end of the year.

Ukraine must make a critical payment on the debt to Russia next month. The IMF rule change would increase the likelihood of Ukraine defaulting on that payment, a possibility Ukraine has admitted it is considering.

Under its current rules, the IMF is not allowed to lend money to a country when it is in default on debt to an "official" lender such as another government.

Under those rules, if Kyiv defaults on the $3 billion Ukrainian Eurobond bought by Russia, the IMF would have to cut off its credit, even though the country is reeling from a deep economic recession and pro-Russian insurgency in the east.

The rule change would allow the IMF to keep lending to Ukraine as long as Kyiv has made a "good faith" effort to renegotiate its debt with Russia.

While Russia objects to the rule change, Siluanov said that even if the IMF went through with it, Ukraine would not meet the new criteria.

"Ukraine has not carried out such negotiations with Russia," he said.

A meeting between Siluanov and Ukraine's finance minister earlier this month failed to produce any agreement on restructuring the debt because of Russia's objections to changing the terms.

Siluanov said Kyiv at the meeting refused to consider any alternatives apart from equating Ukraine's debt to Russia with its debt to private investors.

Under pressure from the IMF, Ukraine and its private creditors reached an agreement this summer that wipes out $3.6 billion in debt and reschedules repayment on $8.5 billion.

In a statement October 29, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry said that creditors involved in that debt restructuring should expect to receive new Ukrainian sovereign securities on November 12.............

To read further go to this link: rferl.org

Russians....
What absolute scum.
A dozen years of Putin and they are like wild baying animals - returning from a glimpse of civilisation back to the forest and the wilderness.

They can't stand that the IMF is working with Ukraine on something they want to see the opposite happen. They want nobody to assist Ukraine and let it go down in flames. But they're not getting their way and it's pissing them off. DYPAKI