Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Sunday 29 November [Ukrainian sources]

SUNDAY

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

News -
Continued attacks by Putin's forces on Ukraine.
Update - saying that Putin's terrorists fired 35 times at the Ukrainian people yesterday.
Report of one soldier injured.
Polling stations have opened in Mariupol.

Weather -
0. Was raining. Now snowing. Similar west of Kiev, to Lviv.
But forecast is for +2 or 3 tomorrow, and during the next week, so the white stuff shouldn't stay around for long.
Update - amazingly, still snowing now at 1500. Slight accumulation of snow, but nothing serious. But a white landscape where I am.

Boxing -
Shock here as Klitchko finally loses his World title. I think he held the title for 8 or 9 years!

7:10
http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/11/29/7090579/
The press center reported ATO Staff page on Facebook.
"In Donetsk direction of the 82-mm mortars, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and small arms militants were unsighted shelling towards Verhnotoretskoho, Avdeevki and Pisky. In Artemovsk with the same weapons fired Artemovo, Zaitsev, Mayorsk and Kodemu" - said in a statement .
==
Also Opitnoe. Shirokino. No word on number of attacks.

http://telegraf.com.ua/ukraina/politika/2184991-poroshenko-edet-v-parizh.html
====
Climate conference. Putin also there. Urdogan. 147 leaders.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34954575
A decree signed by President Vladimir Putin (in Russian) covers imports from Turkey, the work of Turkish companies in Russia and any Turkish nationals working for Russian companies.
The decree also calls for an end to charter flights between the countries....
Russia is Turkey's second-largest trading partner, while more than three million Russian tourists visited Turkey last year....
====
Putin really turning the screw on Turkey. Turkey needs to find other markets for its goods. Russia will always be unreliable now.
The charter flights ban will really hit tourism. But probably not too much now - winter.

15:06
http://asn.in.ua/ru/news/news/23435-v-krivom-roge-mitingujushhie-prorvalis-v-zdanie-go.html
====
Opposition block mayor was elected, but many stories of irregularities. Yanukovich-Putin style election.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-opposition-dozens-killed-wounded-in-russian-strikes/2015/11/29/8e6ceb1c-967f-11e5-aca6-1ae3be6f06d2_story.html
The Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective, said the airstrikes struck a busy market, inflicting heavy casualties.
====
Putin and his Russian scum doing the work of Assad, and killing civilians. Not targeting ISIL.

http://en.censor.net.ua/news/362847/72_russians_suffer_economic_crisis
According to the Public Opinion foundation, the number of Russians talking of an economic crisis in their country has reached 72% compare to 68% in August.
====
And Putin's popularity grows and grows? If the Russian media said that the moon was made of cheese, would the Russians believe it? Probably.

http://www.ukrainebusiness.com.ua/news/16377.html
Always searching for someone to blame for whatever happens, the leader of Russia’s Duma says blame for anti-Russian sanctions should be placed on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).....
"It was largely due to its efforts (.... toeing the line of the United States) that the situation in this country reached a stalemate," .... adding that "it was the West rather than Russia that allowed Neo-Nazis to take root there, to unleash an armed inter-civil conflict ...."....
====
Graham Phillips - Shaun Walker school of journalism stuff from the Russian MP.
Walker always uses the words fascist or Nazi in the same sentence as Ukraine. Phillips also. Putin butt-kissers.

15:51
http://nbnews.com.ua/ru/news/167145/
[Donetsk oblast]

The downing of a Russian bomber leaves Putin with some tough decisions. Will he change his views on Assad and join a broader anti-"IS" coalition or stick with an alliance of two with Iran? Fiona Clark reports.

President Putin must be wondering where it all went wrong. It seemed for a moment that Russia had the upper hand with its involvement in Syria. America was caught on the back foot when Russia started its campaign in September, and with a terrorist attack on its plane and the tragic events in Paris, it seemed like Russia and France were forging a closer relationshipin their anti-"Islamic State" (IS) offensive.

But what a difference 17 seconds makes. That's the length of time the Russian bomber allegedly violated Turkish airspace for. I say allegedly because Russia still denies any airspace violation and in what seems an all too familiar refrain, the Russian media is publishing multiple stories about the number of times Turkish military planes violated Greek airspace - 2,244 times apparently in 2014 alone. But the 'everyone's doing it, so why can't we' just doesn't wash. Russia had been warned by NATO and by Turkey itself that airspace violations wouldn't be tolerated but it doesn't seem to take those warnings seriously. As the UK's Telegraph newspaper quite clearly, but not too tactfully stated, 'if you play with fire, you end up getting burned.'..............

To read further, go to: time.ua

The so-called ‘Luhansk people’s republic’ [‘LNR’] has released a video on which a man ‘confesses’ to having carried out sabotage and intelligence activities for Ukraine’s military. Despite being severely disabled, with both arms amputated, he has clearly been badly beaten and finds it difficult to even speak.

Leonid Pasechnyk, who is referred to as the ‘LNR’ state security minister stated on Nov 25 that they had detained somebody they call a saboteur who had blown up the ground underneath railway lines near Lutuhyne and an electricity pylon in Khrashchevate.

He claims that as the result of their ‘investigative operation’, they have established that the person is 45-year-old Vladimir [Ukrainian: Volodymyr] Zhemchugov, a Ukrainian national, registered in Krasny Luch, though living in Georgia. He is alleged to “have carried out several terrorist acts blowing up electricity lines and railway groundwork on the territory of the Republic”. He supposedly caught the attention of Ukraine’s military and security service [SBU] during his trips to Georgia where his wife lives, and was ‘recruited’ in Kyiv in the Spring of 2015.

The video which in more distressing form corresponds with Pasechnyk’s story was posted by the pro-militant News-Front. Zhemchugov says that he had openly opposed the overthrow of power in the Luhansk oblast, and had been approached by a person who suggested he actively help the Ukrainian military. He says that he had initially done this by providing information, but then, at a meeting in Kyiv, was invited to become part of a partisan resistance movement and carry out acts of sabotage.

He says that in Khrashchetvate he realized that one of the mines he had placed had not exploded and went back to set it up again. It exploded and when he came to, he realized that it had blown off his hands, and – at least on the arm that is visible – the lower part of the arm.

Pasechnyk says that Zhemchugov was also blinded, and claims that no force was used against him. It is unclear from the video whether the man can see, but there are marks indicating beating, and he is obviously dazed and in physical distress. This is two months after the alleged explosion during which time the militant claims that he has been receiving medical care.

The actual story is blurred. Informator.lg.ua reported back on Oct 1 that two Russian “volunteers” had tried to blow up the pylon, planning to pass it off as carried out by Ukrainians. Zhemchugov’s date of birth corresponds, but in the earlier report he is called a Russian national.

Pasechnyk reports that “the Kyiv office of one of the international organizations is planning to impact upon the exchange of prisoners of war”. He notes that there has been an open appeal from his wife, and officers to provide him with equipment and Ukrainian doctors to transport him to Kyiv.

Then, ominously, he states that “work is continuing with Zhemchugov, investigative units of the ministry are working and he is in hospital under the care of doctors”.

The ‘work’ carried out can certainly be seen on the video. What is not totally clear is why the militants have resorted to this grotesque display of their methods now.

Ukrainian MP Iryna Herashchenko reports that Zhemchugov’s wife phoned her very late and totally distraught, having just seen the video. Heraschenko says that they have been trying to secure Zhemchugov’s release for 2 months now, and that the militants are not allowed the International Red Cross to see him.

Hundreds of men from Ukraine's ‘Desna' volunteer battalion are undergoing special forces training in case regular Russian troops will attempt a militarized takeover of Kyiv.

Their main task for today includes a reconnaissance mission, planting an explosive at a railway juncture, and lastly, getting out alive.

Watch also Ukrainian cadets face grueling first aid war simulation

Over 240 men with no military background are undergoing the special forces training. Among them are managers, artists and engineers. But this rag-tag team of volunteers all share one common trait: they don't believe the Minsk ceasefire in east Ukraine will hold out for long. Many are waiting for the government to call a 7th wave of mobilization for service in the war with Russian-backed militants...................

To read further go to this link: uatoday.tv  

Astrophysicists Tom van Doorsslaere and Giovanni Lapenta from the University of Leuven in Belgium have questioned the statements made by Russia and Turkey regarding the shooting down of a Russian warplane by a Turkish fighter jet on November 24. They employed simple calculations taking into account flight speed, altitude and direction to show that neither official account added up.

Physicists from Belgium have used mathematics to show that neither Russia's nor Turkey's version of the downing of a military jet adds up. Turkey's downing of the Russian jet has strained relations between the countries.

According to Turkey, the aircraft was fired at because it traveled through Turkish airspacefor about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) for about 17 seconds after being warned to change its direction 10 times over a period of five minutes.

In a blog on the University of Leuven's website, van Doorsslaere and Lapenta claim that Turkey's version cannot be right. Based on where the wreckage landed, their calculations show that it had been traveling at 980 kilometers per hour (610 mph) before it got hit. At that speed, they say, the plane would have covered the distance of 2 kilometers in seven seconds, not the 17 seconds claimed by Turkish reports.

In regard to the Turkish air force's alleged 10 warnings for the Russian jet, the scientists point out that in five minutes a plane traveling at 980 kph would cross a distance of about 80 kilometers. From these facts, they conclude: "How could the Turkish air force predict that the Russian jets were about to enter Turkish airspace? Military jets are very agile, and in theory the Russian jets could have turned at the last moment to avoid Turkish airspace. The warnings issued to the Russian pilots were mere speculation at the moment they were made."

Russian version questioned

Russia's map shows that the jet made a 90-degree turn away from Turkey after it was hit. Kremlin officials insist that the plane did not enter Turkish airspace at any point and that it crashed on Syrian territory, close to the border.

According to the scientists, however, a 90-degree turn at such a high speed could only happen if the aircraft had been hit by something many times heavier or faster than itself.

"A missile is much lighter than a plane," van Doorsslaere told DW. "A 90-degree turn would be a more likely in a scenario where something like a train hits something like a car."

Not taking sides.................

To read further go to this link:   time-ua.com

The 27-year-old Fury won the titles of the three most important ranking organizations -- the IBF, WBO, and WBA -- in front of 45,000 spectators in the football stadium in Duesseldorf, Germany, late on November 28 after a unanimous points win over Klitschko, 39.

Klitschko's defeat, his first in 11 years, ended the Ukrainian's nine-and-a-half-year reign as heavyweight champion.

"It is still early and I have to process things but there will definitely be a rematch," Klitschko said after the fight.

He has held the IBF belt since 2006, the WBO title since 2008, and the WBA crown since 2011......

rferl.org

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak declared that Russia does not expect Ukraine to resume supply of electricity to Crimea.
Censor.NET reports citing Kommersant

As for now, we have no clear picture of how our further collaboration w ith the Ukrainian power system will look like. Therefore, we act on the premise that there is no electricity, and rely on our own resources," Novak said at a meeting with the 'government' of Crimea.

"Yesterday we concluded preparations that will allow the Crimean side to take in electricity [from southern Russia's Krasnodar region] via an energy bridge," chief controller Andrei Anokhin of Crimea's state-run Krymenergo company told Energy Minister Alexander Novak.

Anokhin added this was the first time in the history of the Crimean electricity grid that it had to be reconfigured from scratch and made self-sufficient.
Novak arrived in Crimea's capital Simferopol early Sunday to visit the head office of Krymenergo, which controls the regional power grid.

Earlier this week Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the first stage of the power bridge from Krasnodar Region to Crimea will be commissioned by December 20.

Crimea was plunged into darkness last week after Ukrainian activists blew up pylons that support electricity lines from Ukraine. Following the outage, Crimea declared a state of emergency and switched to locally-based emergency power generation.

censor.net.ua In Russian

Turkey is authorized to close the Straits to all foreign warships in wartime or when it was threatened by aggression

Turkey has begun a defacto blockade of Russian naval vessels, preventing transit through the Dardanelles and the Strait of Bosporus, between the Black Sea and Mediterranean.

According to the AIS tracking system for the movement of maritime vessels, only Turkish vessels are moving along the Bosphorus, and in the Dardanelles there is no movement of any shipping at all.

At the same time, both from the Black Sea, and from the Mediterranean Sea, there is a small cluster of ships under the Russian flag, just sitting and waiting.

The image below shows the situation with the ships using the GPS transponder onboard each vessel:



In addition, shipping inside the Black Sea from Novorossiisk and Sevastopol in the direction of the Bosphorus, no Russian vessels are moving. This indirectly confirms the a CNN statement that Turkey may have blocked the movement of Russian ships on the Dardanelles and the Strait of Bosporus.

There is a Treaty specifically covering the use of these waterways by nations of the world. That Treaty is the Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits.

It is a 1936 agreement that gives Turkey control over the Bosporus Straitsand the Dardanelles and regulates the transit of naval warships. The Convention gives Turkey full control over the Straits and guarantees the free passage of civilian vessels in peacetime. It restricts the passage of naval ships not belonging to Black Sea states. The terms of the convention have been the source of controversy over the years, most notably concerning theSoviet Union‘s military access to the Mediterranean Sea................

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

Yuri Vilkul must voluntarily resign mayor, because to be a "winner" in this way - it's a shame. This opinion was expressed on Facebook Adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs Zoryan Shkiryak.

According to him, the abolition of the previous results and new elections of the mayor (and possibly the City Council) in Krivoy Rog - the only way to stabilize the situation in the city.

"Today, these questions lie in the plane of activity solely ASU and senior management of the country. Of course, if such a decision is taken, to organize new elections in Krivoy Rog new CEC must, made up in the near future must be approved by parliament. The current CEC headed by Ohendovsky - a solid shame! It must stop once and for all "- said Z.Shkiryak.

He added that the situation is now calm in Krivoy Rog, deputies are constantly in contact with law enforcement agencies.

"The uncertainty that had taken place and the termination of the dialogue translated into a constructive direction," - said in a note.

glavcom.ua In Russian

On Sunday, November 29 Russian Air Force bombed the city Ariha in Idlib in northwestern Syria, near the Turkish border

According to Reuters, the Russian market has caused an airstrike, which killed at least 30 civilians.

In turn, the human rights group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 18 killed in the air strike on the town of Ariha. According to the organization, there are children among the dead and one of the leaders of the Syrian opposition.

Since the war began in Syria in 2011, Russia and Iran are supporting the Assad regime, while the country's NATO and EU accuse him of war crimes and demanding the transfer of power, reminiscent of ZN, ua.

Within two months of air attacks of the Russian aircraft in Syria, according to human rights activists killed several hundred civilians, including more than a hundred children. According to the investigation of the British independent expert group Bellingcat, Ministry of Defense causes false information about airstrikes. Previously, Britain has accused Russia of killing hundreds of civilians, saying that Russia's actions in Syria only prolong the conflict.

glavcom.ua In Russian