Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Monday 28 December. [Ukrainian sources]

MONDAY

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

News -
Putin fired 35 times at the Ukrainian people yesterday.
Update - no dead or injured yesterday in the ATO zone.

Weather -
Still warm. +6 overnight. But this is the last warm day for a while.
Tomorrow and beyond, probably -10 for a week.
Update - 2pm, +7 and rain. But turning cold overnight.
Now 5pm. Already -1 in the capital. Could get icy. Or snowy. A serious shock for people at the tail end of what I would expect to be a record warm December.

http://espreso.tv/news/2015/12/28/boyovyky_za_dobu_35_raziv_vidkryvaly_vogon_u_zoni_ato
During the last days the terrorists 35 times violated the ceasefire conditions in the area of ​​counter-terrorist operations
It is stated on page Press Centre ATO on Facebook, sends Espreso.TV.
"From 18:00 until midnight yesterday, 13 times gunmen used weapons against the Ukrainian defense" - said in a statement.
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Пісків, Авдіївки, Новгородського та Троїцького.
Usual places - Pisky, Avdeevka, Novgorodskoi, Troisky.

http://obozrevatel.com/politics/27950-timoshenko-zayavila-o-poyavlenii-v-rade-novoj-koalitsii.htm
Leader of "Batkivshchyna" Yulia Tymoshenko said that during the adoption of the draft state budget for 2016 in the Verkhovna Rada, there emerged a new coalition of factions "People's Front", "Petro Poroshenko block" and former deputies of the Party of Regions.
She stated this on the TV channel "Inter", reports UNN.
In her opinion, "the parliament was divided into those who live in the old way, and those who are really ready to upgrade and change your country, and this distribution was evident."
Faction leader spoke about the consistent position of "Batkivshchyna", which unanimously voted against the "devastating" government budget for 2016, and other deputies who did not vote, so as not to become "accomplices of corruption."
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As I recall, Tymoshenko's party and the Opposition block (Regions) were the main parties to vote against the budget.
It looks like the "new opposition" is the Yanukovich - Tymoshenko block!
This woman, a billionaire, who declares her income to be about 50 bucks a month, is a slimeball in the Yanukovich mould, in my opinion.
In another report she says that deputies were offered up to 10 million dollars to vote in favor.
http://obozrevatel.com/politics/29746-golosa-deputatov-za-byudzhet-yatsenyuka-skupali-po-10-mln-dollarov-timoshenko.htm

Conclusion - she is going for the popular vote, and creating a position on her own, where she will stand a chance to become president.

Pro-Russian gangs in the evening several times unsighted opened small arms fire, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns at the Pisky, Avdeevka, Novgorod and Troiskoi. This was on the morning of Monday, December 28, reports on his Facebook page the press center of the ATO.

In Shirokino enemy sighting hit from heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.

In addition, in the area boundary line "Donetsk - Gorlovka" militants with small arms, in particular enemy sniper fired one of the strongholds of the east Ukrainian Novoselovka. Later, near the village Novoselovka Second small group of mercenaries tried to check Ukrainian defense.

As a result, a half-hour battle the enemy retreated. Among the attackers losses.

glavcom.ua In Russian

http://obozrevatel.com/photo/23047-otzhali-i-otkryili-v-donetske-poyavilsya-torgovo-razvlekatelnyij-tsentr-vremen-perestrojki.htm
7:28
The new shopping and entertainment center with a half-empty storefronts opened in the occupied militants' Donetsk.
It is reported by the "Today".
While the center is filled with "only 30%, but in the near future all the shop windows SEC will dazzle new product" promise the occupiers.
The so-called head of the regional administration Vasily Tkachuk said he was satisfied with the opening of the shopping center, and despite the difficulties of war, the city is developing.
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Visitor said it resembled store from the late-Soviet Perestroika era!!
The city is "developing". !!! Need a lot of Shaun Walker journalists to push that story!

http://www.osce.org/ukraine-smm/212736
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As typical with the osce they don't say who shot at them.

Russian passenger plane flying from annexed the Crimea, he has deviated from the set course and flew for a while in the area of ​​the ATO in the Donbas. Over occupied the Donbas he disabled the transponder, which is used in aircraft to radar signals to make the aircraft more visible to radar, and then continued its course in the direction of Moscow.

About country flight of civil aircraft according to the project coordinator in the social network "StopTerror" Semen Kabakaev.

"A passenger plane from Simferopol to Moscow, strongly deviated from the course, turned around and flew into the area of ​​the ATO, turning off the transponder. Including those already near Moscow ", - he wrote Kabakaev.



Interestingly, no airports in the occupied territory have left because of the war destroyed all runways. It is known that during the summer months, the militants tried to pour concrete, only a kind of take-off site for the helicopter.

It is expected that this provocation was carried out deliberately to using allegedly civilian aircraft, air defense systems to analyze the response to the invasion. However, despite the statements of the Secretary of the NSDC Alexander Turchinov "to shoot down Russian planes violate air borders of Ukraine," the General Staff did not respond to Russian provocations.

glavcom.ua In Russian

Kremlin has buried the project "New Russia", because Russian President Vladimir Putin is not need a big war in the Donbass. This opinion was expressed in an interview with an apostrophe Russian military journalist Arkady Babchenko.

"I think that the Kremlin is that buried a large project" New Russia ". Great War on the territory of Ukraine to Putin, in my opinion, is not necessary. And given the fact that without the support of Moscow's successful large-scale offensive by armed groups is not possible, it soon and will not be, "- said a military journalist.

"So I think that the war in the Donbas will flow at the current scenario: calm, calm, calm, and then some podlyanka, and then - again the truce. Options big offensive without Russia's help to me seem unlikely, "- said Babchenko.

glavcom.ua In Russian

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/how-russia-ejected-foreigners-and-took-back-control-of-its-media/553713.html
The logic was simple. After its annexation of Crimea in spring 2014 and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, Russian state-owned media unfurled a campaign of propaganda. Amid deteriorating relations with the West, Dengin and other officials believed that foreign owners, whose control was particularly strong in print media, would promote foreign propaganda for their own governments.
"The media is a weapon, more serious than a Kalashnikov," Dengin said.
===
From Dec 24.

http://time-ua.com/en/news/politics/15697-bread-basket-case-putin-lets-russians-eat-cake
...All of this makes you wonder what exactly will be left on supermarket shelves in Russia come the New Year. They aren't empty at the moment, but the assortment of products is significantly reduced, especially when it comes to dairy products. There used to be a myriad of yogurts and cheeses, but now the varieties are extremely limited, and even though Russia is making copies of popular types of cheese such as Gouda or mozzarella, the majority are made with palm oil because Russia can't produce enough milk to satisfy demand. ...
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And Putin's popularity will continue to grow?!

http://www.unian.info/politics/1224315-former-right-sector-party-leader-yarosh-to-create-new-opposition-movement.html
At the same time, Yarosh stresses that "as was before, we do not abandon the revolutionary path, but we categorically reject pseudo-revolutionary activity that threatens the existence of Ukraine as a state and stains the reputation of the patriots."
"We are in opposition to the incumbent government, but we do not consider blood sheding, doomed-to-failure revolts against it as an option. With all the above reasons, my team and I are leaving the Right Sector national liberation movement. We are initiating the creation of a new political movement whose founding congress is scheduled for February. We are now working on its development, the concept of [our] activity, programmatic guidelines," Yarosh said in the statement.
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Frankly, the last thing Ukraine needs now is more opposition parties.
There is the "Opposition party", Tymoshenko's party, Liashko's mob, Samopomich basically in opposition.
What Ukraine needs are people who can govern. Criticising is easy. Tymoshenko is the world's expert in this.
Governing wisely is something rather different.

http://www.unian.info/war/1224583-ukraine-intel-reports-7-russian-kias-12-wias-in-last-fights-in-donbas.html
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Department has reported the death of seven Russian soldiers in a fight near the village of Mayorsk, Ukraine-controlled suburbs of the militant-held town of Horlivka, and the town of Maryinka in Donetsk region.
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Also says that Zakharchenko has gone to Moscow to get new orders from his overload, and supreme ruler, Putin the dictator.

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http://www.unian.info/economics/1224374-ukraines-gas-stocks-shrink-by-385-mcm-within-week.html
decreased by 385 million cubic meters (mcm), or 2.6%, to 14.415 billion cubic meters (bcm) from December 19 to December 26,
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Reported by Unian as if it is bad news. In fact, it is very good news. At that rate Ukraine has enough gas for over half a year!
But, of course, tomorrow the weather will turn colder, and Ukraine will need to purchase more gas, probably in January, or early February, depending upon conditions.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-28/ruble-drops-to-2015-low-on-year-end-budget-flows-as-oil-tumbles
The ruble fell to its weakest level this year as oil resumed declines and investors speculated a traditional pick up in end-of-year budget spending will hurt the Russian currency by pumping extra cash into companies and banks.
The currency depreciated 2.1 percent to 72.1730 per dollar by 1:49 p.m. in Moscow, its third straight loss, as Brent crude headed toward $37 a barrel.
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Which all means less money for the Putin war machine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35028142
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Very strange. A good article by the BBC. Not by the Moscow Putin butt-kissing crowd, but by an American, David Stern. For more on him, see our journalists' blog in the stickies.
https://ukraine-english-news.forumotion.com/t1118-journalists-reporting-on-ukraine-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly
He's in the first post on the thread, no.10.

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www.bloomberg.com/energy/

Crude Oil & Natural Gas
INDEX UNITS PRICE CHANGE %CHANGE CONTRACT TIME ET 2 DAY
WTI Crude Oil (Nymex)
USD/bbl. 37.10 -1.00 -2.62% FEB 16 08:19:59
Brent Crude (ICE)
USD/bbl. 37.08 -0.81 -2.14% FEB 16 08:19:39
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You can't get much closer than that!

http://kiyany.obozrevatel.com/life/19354-kievskaya-zhara-v-dekabre-pogoda-pobila-20-temperaturnyih-rekordov.htm
16:01
Thus, the current December [26th] was the warmest for 135 years of weather observations.
The average temperature was 5.8 degrees Celsius, higher than the previous record, recorded in 1912 by 2.9 degrees. The maximum temperature in Kiev climbed to 10.4 Celsius, exceeding the previous historical significance of 1993 at 3.5 degrees. The minimum temperature of 1.5 degrees higher than the previous record in 1973.
On Sunday, December 27 Observatory weather station were recorded two more temperature records for that day. the average temperature repeated temperature 2011, and has remained at around 5.9 ° C +. The maximum temperature in the capital reached 11,3 ° C +, which is 3,3 ° C higher than the historical values ​​in 2011.
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AND -
this is about to all come to an end.
At 2 pm I saw the temperature was about +7. It has now - at 1630 - fallen to about +1. BUT it is still raining...
Not good... could be serious ice tonight, or snow. I want the rain to stop, and the skies to clear, to keep the roads clear, but this doesn't look like it is going to happen. We will see.

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Igor Girkin, an outspoken ex-rebel commander and ex-FSB officer, says Vladimir Putin will be toppled by his immediate entourage, Apostrof reports Dec. 27.

“Putin will repeat the way of tsar Nikolai II. He will be de-crowned by the same guys to whom Khodorkovsky promised they would remain in power even after Putin was gone,” Girkin said.

Girkin stressed there is no country in the world where Putin can flee.

zik.ua

Prime Minister of Ukraine Arsenii Yatseniuk has signed a financial agreement (Ukraine Agri-Food Apex Loan) between Ukraine and the European Investment Bank on Monday, Dec. 28

Censor.NET reports citing the press service of the government.

Implementation of the Agreement will attract EUR 400 million for 12 years with a 4-year grace period to support the agricultural sector in Ukraine. The funds will support projects in the field of growing grain and oil seeds, as well as the upgrade of the fish sector and aquaculture in Ukraine.

The European Investment Bank will act as the lender under the Project, while Ukraine will be the borrower of resources through the Ministry of Finance, which jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and in cooperation with Ukreximbank JSC will carry out a selection of projects as well as monitor their implementation.

The EIB loan funds can cover up to 50% of the identified projects. The rest will be financed by own funds of participating banks or by final beneficiaries. Therefore, the Project aims to accumulate financial resources in an amount equivalent to at least EUR 800 million.

censor.net.ua In Russian

The Security Service of Ukraine has foiled an attempt by the Russian agents to invalidate computer networks of some electricity utility companies, SBU says Dec. 28.

Experts detected virus software was found in some networks, SBU says.

The virus attack was timed with nonstop telephone flood at utility plants’ technical support departments.

zik.ua

“Part of the sacked officers contested the sacking and were reinstated by courts,” Lviv police sheriff Dmytro Zaharia said Dec. 28.

Lviv oblast Governor Oleh Synuytka said the rulings passed by such judges are to be analyzed and considered during the attestation of judges.

This year, 1,233 policemen have been sacked, including 94 due to retirement age, 227 due to poor health, 492 due to restructuring.

56 policemen failed during the probation period, 37 were sacked for discipline offenses, and 13 for committing crimes.

zik.ua

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the Ukrainian authorities are hatching up plans for a new military operation.

Censor.NET reports citing Interfax.

"At the same time, Europe is becoming more aware of what is going on, including the fact that a new attempt of the Kyiv authorities to resort to military force - and such plans are being hatched - would have grave, tragic consequences first of all for the Ukrainian people," the foreign ministry said.

Meanwhile, Lavrov said that the sides to the conflict, and, above all, Ukraine, "must find the political will to implement via negotiations those compromises which are enshrined in the Minsk package of measures."

censor.net.ua In Russian

What a load of bull. If Europe or the US were going after Ukraine for that, we'd hear about it. And there hasn't been a word said.

Problem I see is, there hasn't been much said about how many times the terrorists orchestrated and joined by Kremlin troops have broken the Minsk Agreement. UNSCN, Obama and many others just let it happen.

But remember from recent articles, both Russian troops and terrorists have been killed. As many as 7 Russians invaders alone, recently. Since day one, the toll taken has mainly been on the enemy's side. So, I imagine that's why he's complaining.

Deputy Prime Minister Arkadiy Dvorkovich does not rule out a short-term drop in oil prices to $25 per barrel.

He stated this in an interview with vestifinance.ru, Сensor.NET reports.

According to him, the current decline in oil prices will lead to reduction of investment in production, resulting in a price growth.

"Unfortunately, there is a big game going on," Dvorkovich explained.

Read more: Saudi Arabia killing Russian economy in its campaign to control oil prices, - Business Insider

In turn, Minister of Energy Alexander Novak said that "Saudi Arabia has increased its production by 1.5 million barrels per day this year, thereby destabilizing the situation on the market."

Brent reached its 11-year low last Tuesday, dropping below $36 a barrel. Now it is being traded a bit above $37 a barrel.

"I believe this can not continue for too long," the deputy prime minister said.

"For a number of months, for some time any producing country can sustain such low prices. But then, investment will go down, production will fall, and prices will grow," Dvorkovich said.

censor.net.ua In Russian

Currently: As of 13:46:45 ET on 12/28/2015

WTI Crude Oil: $36.83  $-1.27  -3.33%
Brent Crude Oil: $36.87  $-1.02 -2.69%
USD $1=RUB:  72.0800 RUB

Dmytro Yarosh, former leader of Right Sector, who stepped down in the beginning of November, has announced the withdrawal of his team from the organization and said that he intends to create a new political movement.

"My team and I are leaving the national liberation movement Right Sector. We are starting a new political movement with a founding congress set for February. Currently, we are working on the development of the movement, its concept, program principles," said Yarosh in a statement published on the website of the Right Sector on Monday.

Yarosh also spoke about the prospects of the Ukrainian Volunteer Corps (UVC), which, according to Yarosh, defended Pisky, Donetsk airport, Shyrokyne, Savur-Mohyla, and created the medical battalion Hospitaliers, saying that "it should grow and develop further, move to a new level". "That is why the fifth and eights battalions of the UVC along with the medical battalion Hospitaliers are reorganized into the Ukrainian Volunteer Army. It will constitute one of the structures of the new movement that is being created," Yarosh said.......................

To read further go to this link:  interfax.com.ua