Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Tuesday 14 June. [Ukrainian sources]

TUESDAY

Please scroll down to view news items added during the day

News:
Again - 40 attacks yesterday by the Russian forces on the Ukrainian people.
Update 1230 - no deaths, but 6 injured.

Prisoner exchange with Russia -
apparently underway - for Yuriy Soloshenko and Hennadiy Afanasyev. See 15 posts' down.

Weather:
Cloudy, feels a bit cool this morning. Only 16. Chance of some light rain later.
But expected to warm up to 30 by the weekend.
I've got used to low 20s. Quite pleasant. 30 will be a shock.

Headquarters: Militants fired from artillery, mortars and infantry fighting vehicles
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/06/14/7111698/
Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 7:10

In the area of ​​ATU militants over the past day 40 times opened fire on the positions of Ukrainian forces.
The press center ATO headquarters reported on the page in Facebook.
19 attacks were registered in the Donetsk area, 18 - in Mariupol and 3 - in Lugansk.
In Donetsk direction on positions MAT militants fired mortar shells near Lenin, Novgorod, Opitnoe and Avdeevki .
Around midnight, with large-caliber artillery were fired strengthening forces ATO near Butivka mine. The fire was conducted from temporarily occupied territory east of Spartaca and residential areas of Donetsk.
On strengthening the forces ATO near Lugansk, and Trinity Avdeevki militants struck with large caliber machine guns and grenade launchers of various systems...

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English report -
Ukraine survives 40 attacks in last day, heavy artillery hits Butivka mine
http://www.unian.info/war/1374690-ukraine-survives-40-attacks-in-last-day-heavy-artillery-hits-butivka-mine.html

7:45
In Russia detained protesters "For Russia without dictatorship"
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/06/14/7111699/
The Russian Rostov-on-Don series of single protests, which took place on June 13 under the slogan "For Russia without dictatorship" over arrests of civil activists.
It is reported by "Radio Liberty".
Total police arrested 5 activists. Regarding reports on them were of inconsistent public event.
The event took place on the ground in front of Don State library at a specially designated for national assembly seats. Holding public events here does not require the consent of the authorities if the limit is one hundred.
The action "For Russia without dictatorship" was attended by about a dozen people detained began 15 minutes after the protest.
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Life under a dictatorship. Russia today.

Russian journalist Pavel Kanygin: "Corruption and war – that’s all they offer us to live with"
http://www.unian.info/politics/1374494-russian-journalist-pavel-kanygin-corruption-and-war-thats-all-they-offer-us-to-live-with.html
....In general, the population is tired of this rampant hysteria, militarism, permanent building up of tension and violence on TV. People are tired of "fascists" and "punishers" behind every corner. When such terminology is used too often, everyone’s sensitivity at some point begins to dull the "alarm" receptors. Overuse of highly emotional messages leads to the opposite effect – people no longer perceive them. In Russia, it happened at the end of 2015. Closed polls conducted for the government showed a sharp drop of public interest in geopolitical issues....

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But they are far too scared - in my opinion - to do anything about it. Fear is Putin's main weapon at home.

10:15
The situation in the Donbas is already similar to the frozen conflict, - Pifer (Hvilya)
http://hvylya.net/news/exclusive/situatsiya-na-donbasse-uzhe-pohozha-na-zamorozhennyiy-konflikt-payfer.html
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer...

10:19
There is no alternative: Paruby explained why Ukraine should join NATO (Columnist)
http://obozrevatel.com/politics/94785-alternativyi-net-parubij-obyasnil-pochemu-ukraina-dolzhna-vstupit-v-nato.htm
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100% no alternative.
Putin is a mad dictator. Proven over the past 2 years. And more.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-man-attacked-for-social-media-posts-against-government/572517.html
An employee for Russian social network website VKontakte has been attacked in St. Petersburg following posts criticizing the government, the Mediazona news website reported Monday.
The man was beaten by two strangers who accused him of being a “national traitor, Jew and fifth columnist” as he arrived at his apartment block on Sunday evening. The attackers also stole the man's phone, bank cards and money, leaving him with three broken fingers...
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My first throught was that this is like the Stasi. But then.. Putin worked in East Germany, and with the Stasi. So he knows what he is doing.

HQ: 6 wounded yesterday in the ATO zone
Tuesday, June 14, 2016, 12:53
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2016/06/14/7111735/

One day in the area of counter-terrorist operations, six soldiers were wounded.
This at a traditional briefing on Tuesday, spokesman of the Presidential Administration on ATO Colonel Andrei Lysenko.
"For the past day nobody killed as a result of fighting between Ukrainian military there, six soldiers were wounded," - said Lysenko.
He said it happened near Avdeevki and Marinka result of hostile fire.

Russia may intensify hostilities in Ukraine at any time, so the Ukrainian army must be prepared to repel this aggression.

Verkhovna Rada Speaker Andrii Parubii said at the NATO-Ukraine inter-parliamentary council meeting in Kyiv on Tuesday, Censor.NET reports citing Interfax-Ukraine.

"Russia may step up military campaign in Ukraine any day now," he said.

The speaker noted that Ukraine should be ready to repel the aggression of one of the world's largest armies.

Read more: Russia bears special responsibility for growing number of those killed in action in Donbas, Stoltenberg says

Parubii noted that today's ratio of the Russian army to Ukrainian one "is not in favor of Ukraine, but this motivates us to implement the defense sector reform."

"We have no other option," the speaker of the parliament added.

"Ukraine observes the Minsk agreements despite the fact that the other party continues violating its commitments daily. I emphasize that the Russian military attack our positions every single day and night while our fellows-in-arms are killed on the front line almost each day," Parubii said.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

Ukraine sees rise in prices of fruit and vegetables
http://www.unian.info/economics/1374701-ukraine-sees-rise-in-prices-of-fruit-and-vegetables.html
The price of Ukrainian consumers' fruit and vegetable basket rose by 11.6% during a week between June 4 and June 10, as evidenced by the Fruit & Vegetable index of APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruit....
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Frankly, I wouldn't read too much into this.
The first cherries and strawberries of the season are always more expensive. New potatoes also.
I have just - one hour ago - got back from the market. I bought some meat, chicken, greens, garlic, strawberries, some small berries, cherries, cucumbers, etc.
I would say that the price has fallen a little compared with last week. More cherries and strawberries available. Lots of greens now. All sorts. And a little cheaper.
Actually, with the cooler weather the season will last a bit longer.

What I did notice - the police are clamping down more on people operating on the roads outside of a market. They have started issuing fines, and the roads-pavements-sidewalks - for the first time that I can remember - were clear.

No question of lifting sanctions against Russia under current circumstances - Lithuanian Ambassador to Ukraine
http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/349996.html
Lithuania's Ambassador to Ukraine Marius Janukonis has said that at present there is no reason to discuss lifting sanctions against Russia, and, if fighting escalates in Donbas, the sanctions need to be toughened....
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The Lithuanians, of course, understand the Russian threat. They were occupied for decades.
The Greeks are just prostitutes for money.
If you offer a Greek money, they will do anything; even shoot their own mother. Putin knows this.
Add the French Senate and the Italian fascist party members to that group also. And other way-out nutters.

When I was in Ukraine last month, we stocked on strawberries nearly every day. Price was very good and they were abundant in the bazaar's.

As for cherries, my father-in-law has his own trees which is a savings. Took pictures of them, with another fruit tree that looked like green grapes but weren't not sure what they were. Also abundant amount on the tree.

Life after facts: how Russian state media defines itself through negation
https://opendemocracy.net/od-russia/alexey-kovalev/life-after-facts-how-russian-state-media-defines-itself-through-negation
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Interesting, but not brilliant.

13:45
Yesterday, four militants were killed in the ATO zone (ASN)
http://asn.in.ua/ru/news/news/50961-vchera-v-rajjone-ato-byli-unichtozheny-chetyre-boe.html
Yesterday, 13 June, in the area of ​​anti-terrorist operation killed four militants. It is reported by the press service of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense.
According to intelligence, killed two soldiers and wounded three separate 9 assault motorized rifle regiment of marines (Novoazovsk) and 7 separate motorized rifle brigade (Debalcevo), which operated as part of sabotage and reconnaissance groups to Mariupol and the Slavyansk areas.
Also, the death of two soldiers of the mortar battery 2 infantry battalion 11 separate motorized rifle regiment (Makiyivka), which carried out mortar attacks ATU forces in Avdeevka area.

Ukrainians Jailed In Russia Flying To Kyiv In Apparent Exchange
http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-russia-prisoner-exchange/27797209.html
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says two Ukrainian nationals jailed in Russia are aboard a Ukrainian plane and are flying to Kyiv.
Poroshenko wrote on Twitter on June 14 that Yuriy Soloshenko and Hennadiy Afanasyev would soon be in Ukraine in what is presumed to be an exchange with Moscow for Russians being held by Ukraine....

SBU says whom Ukraine swapped for Soloshenko, Afanasyev
http://www.unian.info/politics/1375489-sbu-says-whom-ukraine-swapped-for-soloshenko-afanasyev.html
....were exchanged for two Russian citizens related to the tragic events in Odesa on May 2, 2014, ....

Ukraine imports gas at $181.50 in May - ministry
http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/economic/350024.html
===
That's a pretty good price.
They are looking for about 175 in July. But.. we'll see what happens.
Ukraine will need to start buying for the "winter heating season" by August - September.
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This from a few weeks ago
The Ukrainian government has decided to cancel reduced prices of natural gas for households and set a single market price from May 1, 2016, at the level of a purchasing price of imported gas, according to a Cabinet resolution dated April 27, 2016.
The single price is fixed at UAH 6,878 (USD 275) per 1,000 cubic meters....
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So - if Ukraine is buying at about 180, and sells to its domestic consumers at 275 -
it might, after subsidies and the like, be able to break even.
And then it should have some money left over to build new tanks to fight on the eastern Front in the Russian war.

Exxon CEO back at Russia shindig after hiatus over Ukraine: sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-exxon-tillerson-idUSKCN0Z01H6
....Tillerson is among other oil major chief executives on the forum agenda, including Robert Dudley of BP (BP.L), Claudio Descalzi from ENI (ENI.MI), Schlumberger’s (SLB.N) Paal Kibsgaard and Patrick Pouyanne of Total (TOTF.PA)....

Exxon has also been involved in a joint oil and gas project with Rosneft, Sakhalin-1, which produces over 100,000 barrels per day of oil. Sakhalin-1 is not subject to the sanctions....
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Probably more about grovelling up to the Russians to protect their current investments.
Oil price today. www.oil-price.net
WTI Crude Oil
$48.88 ▼-0.19 -0.39%
Brent Crude Oil
$50.35 ▼-0.19 -0.38%

You're not going to invest a lot given those prices.

European Union Natural Gas Import Price:4.04 USD/MMBtu for May 2016
https://ycharts.com/indicators/europe_natural_gas_price

May 31, 2016 4.04
April 30, 2016 4.13
March 31, 2016 4.26
Feb. 29, 2016 4.90
Jan. 31, 2016 5.35
Dec. 31, 2015 6.10

The price has fallen by a third this year. But the rate of fall is slowing markedly. And soon the price will stabilize, and maybe even start to rise.

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Can't find a good converter at the moment, and different info...
try wiki
1 MMBTU ≈ 27.096 m3
So 4.04 x 1000 divided by 27.096 gives a price of 149.1
So Europe is buying gas at 149.1 USD in June.
Maybe Ukraine should get some of that.
Please - somebody correct my maths if it is wrong...

Plane with Soloshenko, Afanasyev lands at Boryspil airport: Swap operation over
http://www.unian.info/politics/1375588-plane-with-soloshenko-afanasyev-lands-at-boryspil-airport.html
....The airplane carrying the Ukrainian political prisoners Hennadiy Afanasyev and Yuriy Soloshenko from Russia after a successful swap has landed at Boryspil (Kyiv) airport, according to an UNIAN correspondent, while a Russian aircraft with Glishchinskaya and Didenko on board has arrived in Moscow, according to RIA Novosti.....

“We will rise from the dead to return”: Russian occupants from 291st artillery brigade of Russian Army in Donbas. PHOTOS
http://en.censor.net.ua/photo_news/392609/we_will_rise_from_the_dead_to_return_russian_occupants_from_291st_artillery_brigade_of_russian_army
In their new OSINT investigation, volunteers provide details of a “Rostov Ukrainian trip” of a 220-mm Uragan missile system of the 291st artillery brigade (military unit 64670, Ingushetia, Stanitsa Troitskaya, of the 58th general army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation Armed Forces), including names, dates and locations of a criminal trip of artillerists from Ingushetia, as well as some details of their career promotions. ...
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Yet more evidence, not that more is needed now, of the Russian invasion and occupation of eastern Ukraine.
The only idiots who can deny this are those who are very well paid by Putin -
a) Sergei Lavrov,
b) Cherkin, the UN Russian idiot,
c) The French Senate, and other ultra-right like Marine le Pen.
d) Italian fascists, and
e) Greek fascists and ultra-left nutters.
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For Le Pen and funding from Putin, see
Russia 'bought' Marine Le Pen's support over Crimea
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11515835/Russia-bought-Marine-Le-Pens-support-over-Crimea.html
France's far-Right Front National accused of taking millions of pounds in loans from Russian bank as "reward" for backing Vladimir Putin on Crimea...
$$$$$$
No morals. French fascist party scum. They love a dictator like Hitler, or Putin.

June 14, four rebels were killed and three wounded in Donbas, Ukraine army intelligence says June 15.

The rebels were part of the infiltration group that wanted to penetrate Ukraine army positions near Mariupol.

June 8, the bodies of 17 killed rebels were delivered from Avdiyivka area to a morgue in Khartsyzk.

In May, 180 rebels were killed in Donbas, almost half of them Russian servicemen, the army says, Tyzhden reports June 14. 

zik.ua

“If she is elected president in November, we may expect she will follow Barak Obama’s policy and may render bigger help to Ukraine. Depending on Russia’s behavior, Clinton may be more resolute in giving assistance to Ukraine including lethal weapons,” US ex-Ambassador in Ukraine Steven Pifer said, Segodnya reports June 14.

At the same time Donald Trump’s election will be bad news for Ukraine as Trump proposes to restore relations with Russia, Pifer said.

“None of Trump’s steps toward Ukraine will entail a good policy toward Kyiv,” Pifer said.

US presidential elections will be held on Nov. 8.

zik.ua

On Thursday, June 16, about 60 Verkhovna Rada deputies plan to fly a charter from Zhuliany airport (Kyiv) to France which is currently hosting Euro 2016.

Censor.NET reports referring to a source in the Verkhovna Rada

As reported, lawmakers are planning to visit the football match between Ukraine and Northern Ireland scheduled for June 16.

On Thursday, the Verkhovna Rada will consider a number of pressing issues, including the appointment of new members of the Central Election Commission, as well as other important bills.

The match between Ukraine and Northern Ireland will kick off at 7 p.m. (Kyiv time) on June 16 at the Stade des Lumières in Lyon.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko said one of the main tasks of this year restoration of public confidence in the Prosecutor's Office.

He said this, speaking in the European Parliament committee, reports Tsenzor.NET with reference to the channel " 112 Ukraine "

"The problem this year - to restore confidence and start a" great fishing. "Next year will be a year of career growth of new faces, come to local prosecutors and rise to higher levels of the system. When this happens, I am a politician considers its function exhausted. The emergence of new faces, restoring government prosecutors these new people, the abolition of the investigation will mean new Prosecutor General of Ukraine, not post-models "- he said.

See also the "Tsenzor.NET": Zamhenprokurora Telichenko of "cleansing" the GPU, "not all - garbage. a third of those who are ashamed of the present prosecution"

Recall Yuriy Lutsenko was appointed Attorney General on 12 May. To make this possible, Parliament approved amendments to the legislation that allow the Attorney General to become a person without legal training.

Chairman of the GPO have made ​​the first personnel changes in the department and appointed his deputies Dmitry Storozhuk, Eugene Valentine Yenin and Telichenko.

censor.net.ua   In Ukrainian/український

Stoltenberg said the ministers also agreed on measures to enhance defense and deterrence in the Black Sea region, saying, "There will also be more prepositioned equipment and supplies."

"NATO will continue to protect and defend all allies against any threats coming from any direction," Stoltenberg earlier told reporters. "That is the reason why we implemented the biggest reinforcement to our collective defense since the end of the Cold War."

"We don't seek a confrontation with Russia, we don't want a new Cold War," Stoltenberg also said. "We will continue to strive for more constructive and cooperative relationship with Russia."

Russia says any presence of NATO troops close to its borders is a threat to its security and warns it will take measures to respond.

Relations between the alliance and Moscow have reached their lowest point since the Cold War over Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and its support for separatists in the country's east..............

To read further go to this link:  rferl.org

Awash with arms and facing a breakdown in law and order, war-torn eastern Ukraine has all the elements required to become a major illicit international weapons market.

Long a nexus in the global arms trade, Ukraine is already witnessing a boom in black-market sales of arms seeping out of the conflict zone, fueling what authorities say is a wave of violent crime in the country.

"Everyone knows about the weapons market in eastern Ukraine, it's no secret," Myroslav Hay, a former Ukrainian volunteer who fought in the east. Speaking to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service recently, he described an enormous illegal-arms trade, with weapons and ammunition changing hands in some cases for merely a few bottles of alcohol.

For now, most of the illicit weapons trade appears to be isolated inside Ukraine, but there are worrying signs that could soon change.

Trade-Expansion Fears

Fears that at least some of those arms could end up in Western Europe, already on edge since attacks by Islamist extremists in 2015 in Belgium and France, were heightened after the Ukrainian Security Service announced earlier this month that it had nabbed a suspected French extremist with a cache of weapons who was allegedly bent on unleashing mayhem back home.

The man, identified as 25-year-old Gregoire Moutaux, was stopped on the Polish-Ukrainian border on May 21 with 125 kilograms of explosives, five AK-series assault rifles, two antitank grenade launchers, some 5,000 rounds of ammunition, and 100 detonators. Ukrainian officials claimed he was a hard-core nationalist who had planned more than a dozen attacks.

According to French media reports on June 6, Moutaux has no previous criminal record and had entered Ukraine as a "volunteer," using this guise to make contact with military units in eastern Ukraine.

Experts are concerned that the market for illicit arms in Europe could be flooded with weapons from Ukraine, much like 6 million guns from the Balkan wars of the 1990s that are still believed to be circulating in Europe. They see a major difference in the number and firepower of weapons, however.



"There is a threat of more substantial weapons coming out of Ukraine," explains Nic R. Jenzen-Jones, a weapons expert and director of Armament Research Services (ARES), a technical intelligence consultancy.

"What's perhaps different in this situation is the large number of light weapons, the large number of antitank weapons, and heavy antipersonnel weapons, that are outside of state control and remain outside of state control in Ukraine," he said. "And that poses, I think, a different caliber of threat to the EU."

Jenzen-Jones says most of the weapons ARES has catalogued being used in the fighting in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russia-backed separatists were already on the territory and were either seized in raids on government arsenals or taken in battle.

Kyiv claims that Moscow, which the West and Kyiv have accused of supplying fighters and weapons to the separatists, is adding to the stockpile of weapons.

Cheap Guns, Costly Effect..............

To read further go to this link: rferl.org