Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Tuesday 17 November [Ukrainian sources]

TUESDAY

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

News -
25 attacks by Putin from 1800 to midnight - just six hours. Serious escalation.
Also reading of Russians using Grad again. Looks like Putin is going back to full scale war. All a game to him.
Update: saying 0 dead, but 3 soldiers injured - officially.
Excellent Bellingcat report out on the presence of Russian troops in Ukraine.

Weather -
Cold again this morning. Zero. May get up to 4. Misty, foggy, typical November day.
Update. Cleared by about 10 am. Warmer than predicted. 6 now.

Footie -
Ireland won 2-0 to advance to the finals of Euro 2016.
Today - the big game - Slovenia v Ukraine. Ukraine lead 2-0 from the first leg.

7:01
http://24tv.ua/rosiyskiy_zhurnalist_viznav_shho_russkiy_mir_zaznav_povnogo_krahu_v_ukrayini_n631453
The ideas of "Russian World" and "Russian spring" suffered a complete defeat in Ukraine. This was stated by well-known Russian journalist Alexander Nevzorov.
Informs Apostrophe.
The journalist added that the end of the Russian "heroic epic" is not the same as originally planned.
According Nevzorov, "all now understand that no matter how many people and technology was thrown into this hell, to overcome the situation will not succeed."
"Throwing this toy called Donbass, Russian society shifted to Syria. They really like someone to bomb. They are happy when they know that someone is being bombed. For them it is a sign of national faculty. That this is their understanding of the greatness of the state" - said the journalist.
By the way, the so-called "DNR" actively disseminate information about the possible resumption of hostilities by Mariupol. Fights are restored on 1 December.

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/uk-and-europe/2015/11/13/136-brigade-in-donbass/
The following is an English translation of Askai707’s Russian-language post on the presence of the 136th Motorized Infantry Brigade in eastern Ukraine in August-September 2014.
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Long report, detailed, lots of photos, evidence. As if we didn't know.
The investigator tracks down half-a-dozen of the Russian soldiers in that brigade, and also their fire-control vehicle.
Here is a photo of one of them in Lugansk



Where are they from? Buynaksk, Dagestan. Area bordering Chechnya.
136th also involved in occupation of South Ossetia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buynaksk

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/16/australia-excluded-from-syria-peace-talks-after-russian-objection
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Putin behaving like a deranged spoilt child.
He was clearly unhappy with his treatment at the last G20 in Australia. So now - his idiotic "revenge".
Australia stood up very much for Ukraine regarding Putin shooting down MH17. Putin didn't like this.

7:56
http://gazeta.ua/articles/comments-newspaper/_putin-ne-perekonav-obamu-v-drugoryadnosti-ukrayinskogo-pitannya/659894
- The conversation between Putin and Obama took place in a cafe at gunpoint a dozen cameras. But this is not a success for the Kremlin - says political scientist Paul Nuss, 29 years old. - Moscow wanted to shift the Ukrainian issue at the position down. This was not possible. The Americans once again gave Putin understand resolving Russian-Ukrainian crisis - one of the main international issues. If Moscow will not do the Minsk Protocol on her introduce additional sanctions.

http://euromaidanpress.com/2015/11/15/in-the-wake-of-paris-bombings-shelling-in-the-donbas-resumes/#arvlbdata
Putin craves a “new Yalta” – a meeting between the US and Russia (possibly with the participation of China) aimed at carving up the globe.
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I have no doubt that Putin will do whatever to take advantage of the Paris attacks.
Certainly he has stepped up the action again in Ukraine. More deaths.
As an article posted above pointed out, the Russians do not feel "powerful" unless they are bombing somebody.
How far from civilisation can you go? In Russia's case - a long long way.

http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-klitschko-kyiv-mayor/27369088.html
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Quite a long article. Well written.
Mayor of Kiev - not as easy job after Maidan. And it was never going to be easy.

http://interfax.com.ua/news/general/304478.html
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Allegations of major ballot stuffing in the Mayoral runoffs.
Supposedly won by Opposition block = Yanukovich old guard.

http://hvylya.net/news/digest/premer-kanadyi-na-sammite-g-20-prizval-putina-prekratit-agressiyu-v-ukraine.html
At the summit of "G20" in Turkey, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw from Ukraine.
"I pointed out to him that, although Canada and has changed its approach to a wide range of multilateral and international issues, we remain loyal to the need to stop Russian intervention in Ukraine", - said Trudeau.
He also called on the President of the Russian Federation to carry out the agreement in Minsk.
"I told Putin that we stand with the citizens of Ukraine and expect that he will fully participate in the Minsk peace process", - said the Canadian Prime Minister.
======

New PM. But looks like a good supporter of Ukrainian freedom.

http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/11/17/7089095/
Tuesday, November 17, 2015, 12:50
The last day in the area of anti-terrorist operation passed without loss.
This at a traditional briefing on Tuesday, spokesman for the presidential administration Alexander Motuzyanyk ATO.
"For the past because of the fighting, no Ukrainian military was killed, but three are injured," - he said.

The current aversion to Russians among Ukrainians is a tragedy, primarily for the residents of Russia, says famous Russian journalist Aleksandr Nevzorov in his interview to The Apostrof Nov. 17.

“90% of the Russians are absolutely convinced that there are Ukrainian Fascists and that they should have been dealt with using arms, violence and hypocrisy.

“Luckily, these convictions are shared in Russia by those who easily change their opinion depending on what they see on television. However, the conflict with Ukraine will stay long, same as the aversion of Ukrainians toward Russians,” Nevzorov said.

“It is really a tragedy, primarily, for Russia,” the journalists stressed.

zik.ua

Nov. 13, goons threw stones at mosque in the village of Zavit-Leninsky, Dzhankoi district, Crimean Tatars press service reported Nov. 16.

The attackers broke mosque windows, walls and curtains in the praying hall.

The police came and picked up about 50 stones from the mosque floor, deputy imam Lenur Yahya said.

The attack followed a chain of similar accidents. As usual, the police failed to find the criminals, Tatars say.

zik.ua

The Ukrainian party to the Joint Control and Coordination Center (JCCC) on cease-fire and demarcation line stabilization has passed to the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE) evidence of residential areas shelling conducted by pro-Russian separatists from Grad BM-21 MLRS in the Donbas region.

This is reported by Censor.NET citing the Ministry of Defense press service.

"Nov. 16, separatists shelled residential areas of Krasnohorivka village with Grad MLRS after 8 p.m., and residential areas of Hirnyk, the Donetsk region, at around 9 p.m. The total of 12 missiles have been fired," the message reads.

Evidence of the shelling has been recorded and passed to the OSCE SMM.

"The Ukrainian party to JCCC is currently preparing relevant proposals regarding possible examination and proper investigation of the issue within the Tripartite contact group," the JCCC noted.

Terrorists' activities clearly show trends of artificial escalation of the situation on the eve of the Minsk talks on the conflict settlement, the JCCC said.




censor.net.ua In Russian

Whereas the OSCE mission has confirmed the withdrawal from the touchline of heavy artillery by Ukraine army, it cannot do the same about the pull-out by the rebels, Pres Poroshenko’s office says Nov. 16.

According to president’s spokesman on Donbas Andry Lysenko, the OSCE has not provided a report on the pull-out by the rebels.

On many instances, the rebels denied OSCE monitors access to some areas of their territory where the heavy artillery should have been kept.

Ukraine army accuses rebels of using heavy mortars to shell its positions, the weapons which had to be pulled out from the touchline.

zik.ua

The Superior Administrative Court of Ukraine declared illegal and denounced the decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to strip Mosiichuk of immunity and arrest him.

The relevant decision was announced by the judge during the hearing, Censor.NET reports citing 112 Ukraine TV channel.

"The court rules to comply with the action of Ihor Mosiichuk against the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the action of third party Oleh Liashko against the Prosecutor General of Ukraine on the recognition of his actions as unlawful, recognition of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decision as illegitimate and its cancellation."

censor.net.ua In Russian

Yanukovych and his henchmen are preparing for return to Ukraine to take revenge.

Journalist Serhii Ivanov writes in his blog in Ukrainska Pravda, Censor.NET reports.

According to him, a number of events taking place in Ukraine indicate the fact that has long acquired the feature of clear evidence: Yanukovych henchmen are trying to return. The journalist says he does not mean the return of pronounced separatist Olena Bondarenko to the Ukrainian TV channels or that of one of the most notorious representatives of Yanukovych regime, Olena Lukash, who has managed to live in downtown Kyiv for a year and a half while being in the wanted list. Ivanov writes it is not about arthouse short movies with former head of Inland Revenue Department Klymenko and Andrii Portnov defeating current Prosecutor General with his entire agency.

Ivanov discloses the corrupt practices used by Yanukovych cronies to reclaim their assets with the help of notorious Pechersk district court of Kyiv. The mentioned court is considering a motion of the representative of the Odesa oil refinery to lift the attachment imposed on the oil owned by the company of Kurchenko. The commodity was seized by Prymorskyi district court in Odesa in March 2014 immediately after the escape of Yanukovych with his accomplices in Russia since the specified oil fell within its jurisdiction. The attached commodities are allegedly impeding normal operation of the enterprise, according to the lawsuit.




Besides, the journalist once again draws attention to the fact that the Pechersk district court of Kyiv, which has already made several rulings in favor of Kurchenko and Russian oil monopoly Rosneft, is considering the case beyond its jurisdiction since the decision on attachment has been made by the district court, where the refinery is located. This logic allows making a conclusion that Kurchenko has found a gap in the Ukrainian legal system with the assistance of law firms and uses it to its fullest to reclaim the property previously misappropriated from the state. According to Ivanov, the name to this gap is the Pechersk district court of Kyiv. The journalist does not exclude that the next step of the Pechersk judges will be the return of the entire Odesa refinery to Kurchenko or Rosneft, if not the total release of the attachment from the accounts of Yanukovych cronies with their subsequent return to take revenge.
censor.net.ua In Russian

NATO Air Policing jets have intercepted a Russian military plane above the Baltic Sea.

As reported by Censor.NET citing the Europeiska Pravda, this was announced by the Latvian National Armed Forces on Twitter.

Air Policing jets on 17 NOV in international airspace above the Baltic Sea near LV border identified RU AF 1x Il-20.

- NBS (@Latvijas_armija) 17 ноября 2015

The Twit reads that the Air Policing jets intercepted an IL-20 jet over the Baltics not far from the Latvian border, which jet has been identified as belonging to the Russian Federation air force.

As reported, Russian military jets increased their presence near the Baltic states since the beginning of the Donbas conflict and growing animosity between the West and Russia.

In particular, 250 flights of Russian military jets were conducted in the past six months.

The jets do not violate air or maritime space of the countries, but pose a threat to civil aviation.

Baltic states and Great Britain have stated earlier that with these flights Russia is flexing its muscle and testing NATO reaction.

censor.net.ua In Russian

The European Union has informed of its readiness to launch the free trade area with Ukraine effective Jan. 1, 2016.

EU just informed us that all is ready to launch a free trade zone with Ukraine as of Jan. 1, 2016.

#EU #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/iqueuNpFMX

— Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) November 17, 2015

censor.net.ua In Russian