Ukraine crisis. News in brief. Saturday 24 June. [Ukrainian sources]

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HEADLINES:
Sources revealed details of the conversation Poroshenko during his visit to Trump.  Experts Suspect Russia Is Using Ukraine As A Cyberwar Testing Ground.  "Secret War" Kremlin adviser named Poroshenko true purpose of Putin's policy in Europe.  You do not know about the thousands killed by Putin? McCain read it tough creature Trump's position on Ukraine.  In Poroshenko told how Russia quietly "breaks" West.  Russia responded to the extension of Norway placing US troops.  Putin will arrive in the occupied Crimea to open a new place of "Artek".  Red Cross proposed to create a "security zone" in the Donbas.  Poroshenko's visit to the US, there was a curious document.

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Wired's Andy Greenberg says Ukraine has been the victim of a "cyber-assault unlike any the world has ever seen." Cybersecurity experts think Russia is perfecting attacks that could be used on the U.S.

TERRY GROSS, HOST:

This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. If you want to know what kind of cyberattacks Russia is willing to launch, look at Ukraine. My guest, journalist Andy Greenberg, writes that for the past three years, Ukraine has been the victim of a sustained cyber-assault unlike any the world has ever seen, undermining practically every sector of Ukraine - media, finance, transportation, military, politics, energy. Intrusions have deleted data, destroyed computers and in some cases, paralyzed organization's most basic functions.

Greenberg reports that many cybersecurity experts believe Russia is using Ukraine as a cyber-war testing ground, a way to perfect attacks that could be directed against the U.S. This is the subject of Greenberg's July cover story for Wired Magazine titled "Lights Out: How An Entire Nation Became Russia's Test Lab For Cyberwar." Greenberg is a senior writer at Wired and covers security, privacy, information, freedom and hacker culture. A few years ago, he wrote a book about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks called "This Machine Kills Secrets."

Andy Greenberg, welcome to FRESH AIR. So you think we should be looking at cyberattacks on Ukraine because Ukraine is kind of a testing ground for Russian cyberattacks. Why do experts think of Ukraine as a testing ground?

ANDY GREENBERG: Well, for one thing, Russia is in actual, physical war with Ukraine. So it seems like they believe they can get away with cyberattacks there that they wouldn't try on the rest of the world. They sort of already have gotten their sanctions for invading the Crimean Peninsula in the eastern part of Ukraine. So they can basically try things with impunity.

And they have, starting with the hack of the Ukrainian election after the revolution in 2014 in which what appeared to be hacker activists - that kind of grass-roots organization but we now know has links to a Russian military hacker group - took over the website or infiltrated the website of the central election committee and rigged it to show the wrong winner of the election, this far-right candidate who actually got a tiny percentage of votes instead of the actual winner, the current president, Poroshenko. So you can see that as a kind of precursor to the Russian hacking and meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

GROSS: Did the wrong candidate actually win in Ukraine, the candidate who did not get the most votes?

GREENBERG: So hackers tampered with the website of the Central Election Commission in Ukraine to try to make it appear momentarily - to confuse the media and the public - that the wrong candidate had won. In fact election officials found out about this tampering with only hours to go before the results were announced. They managed to fix it, but in fact the Russian media announced the wrong winner anyway, which shows that they were probably collaborating with the hackers.

So you know, once you start to go back into that history, you can see that there's a kind of syllogism here that Russia hacked the Ukrainian election, and then when they got away with that, they tried it in the U.S. And then Russia hacked the Ukrainian power grids. And then you have to wonder, is the next step that they're going to try that sort of attack on the West or on the United States?

GROSS: So your Wired cover story about Russian hacking in Ukraine starts with a cybersecurity expert at home in Ukraine watching Oliver Stone's film about Edward Snowden when at midnight his building loses power. What happened?

GREENBERG: So Oleksii Yasinsky is this cybersecurity researcher for a Ukrainian firm. I'd seen him give a talk about the forensic analysis of the blackout attacks in Ukraine. And so I - when I finally went to Kiev, I met with him to ask him technical questions really about how he'd tracked these hackers and figured out how they pulled off these really unprecedented attacks. But then I had discovered that he had actually experienced one of those attacks himself, that he and his family in his north Kiev apartment had actually had their own power turned off in the second of those two attacks which happened in December of 2016.

And that was a chilling moment for him. He'd been tracking these hackers for more than a year, and they had essentially reached into his own home, his own private space. And it became very real for him suddenly that these hackers had the ability to breach that sort of illusory zone of privacy, that they were not confined to the Internet, that they could attack physical infrastructure including his own home.

GROSS: But this, you know - fortunately for the people in Ukraine, this was the kind of hack where the engineers at the power station were able to turn the electricity back on, to switch it back on. But that doesn't mean that next time it might not be more devastating. So what are some of the fears about what Russian hacks can do to the power grid in Ukraine or in the U.S.?

GREENBERG: So both of these power grid attacks were really just a matter of hours. The first one was around six hours in these three regions of Ukraine. The second one was only one hour before the Ukrainian utility that runs the power and the capital of Kiev was able to turn the power back on. So the actual effects of those attacks themselves - they weren't catastrophes. But they're more disturbing when you think of them as experiments, as kind of dry runs for larger attacks.

In fact the second one, we now know, was caused by this very sophisticated piece of malware - malicious software - that's come to be known as CrashOverride. And it was basically a fully automated power grid attack. It could have been done, for instance, on more than one grid company at a time. It could have caused 10 or 15 different utilities to go out simultaneously. It could be adapted to work outside of Ukraine.

There are these modular components that could be swapped out to make it adaptable to other parts of Europe or the United States. So what that implies is that whoever built this piece of malware has created a kind of reusable, adaptable, evolving cyber-weapon that they will probably want to use again.

GROSS: So does this cyber-weapon turn off electricity, or can it actually damage the electricity grid, the power grid?

GREENBERG: So so far, we've only seen them turn it off. And what that means is that they basically take over the remote control systems, switch off the power. And then engineers have been able to sort of drive out to the substations and switch the power back on manually. But there was one hint in this new piece of malware, CrashOverride, that it might have the ability to cause permanent damage or, you know, to destroy equipment.

It contains this - what hackers call an exploit, a way of attacking a piece of Siemens equipment that is a protective device that's meant to function as a kind of kill switch if lines get overcharged so that if grid equipment is about to be damaged, it can basically turn off the power. If that device is disabled, as this malware seems like it's capable of doing, that could cause actual damage. It could cause lines to melt. It could possibly destroy these transformers that form the backbone of country's power grids.

GROSS: So there were cyberattacks on the Ukraine electric grid two years in a row - 2015 and 2016. Was the 2016 one worse than the one the year before?

GREENBERG: Well, at a glance, it seems not as serious because it only took down the power for about a fifth of the city of Kiev for about an hour, which is very, you know - not a serious thing. But then it's only kind of come to light very recently as the attack was analyzed how it worked. And it used this CrashOverride malware to essentially automate all the steps of the attack that were done in 2015 manually.

You know, in 2015, the hackers step-by-step broke in and manually took over the mouse controls of some of the engineers, even. And you could see them clicking circuit by circuit, turning them off. All of that in 2016 was automated. So it was essentially like a puppet where you cut the strings, and it continues the attack. It could be done on multiple targets at once. It could be adapted and used in other parts of the world.

And the other thing about the 2016 attack is that it kind of moved up the circulatory system of the Ukrainian power grid. In 2015, the attacks were on these regional energy companies, and they were attacking the distribution system, which are kind of like the capillaries of the electric system. In 2016, they were attacking a transmission station, which is kind of like an artery. So if you continue that progression, then you - logically, the next thing to attack would be the power generation, an actual power plant, which is one of the real nightmares that the cybersecurity industry has been warning about for decades.

GROSS: So in the past couple of years, there's been a barrage of attacks on Ukraine companies as well as government agencies, including Ukraine's pension fund, the country's treasury, its Sea Port Authority, its Ministries of Infrastructure, Defense and Finance. What kind of damage has been done?

GREENBERG: Well, there have been dozens or hundreds of computers destroyed in these - among these victimized organizations. There's been data deleted. The Ukrainian treasuries lost terabytes of data just as they were preparing the budget for the next year in 2016. But the - yeah, the power grid attacks were sort of a climax to what, you know, I think is fair to call a cyberwar. And after all, Russia is at war with Ukraine, so this is kind of the digital part of what Ukrainians call a hybrid war - that they're trying to humiliate the Ukrainian government, to destabilize a society, to give a general impression that things are going badly in Ukraine, to prevent foreign investment in Ukraine.

So all of this kind of chaos contributes to what Ukrainians tell me - you know, they believe Russia is trying to create a perception of a failed state. And the dysfunction that they're able to inflict certainly contributes to that perception.

GROSS: Do we know how the hackers got into the systems that they hacked?

GREENBERG: In the first of these two power grid attacks, we do have a sense of how that happened. And that's in part because the Ukrainian government brought in whole teams of Americans to analyze it who then published their results. And they found that the attacks, which is - this pretty common - started with a phishing email that had an infected attachment. It purported to be from the Ukrainian parliament, and it had a document that claimed to be a list of types of Ukrainian citizens who were eligible or who were subject to the draft, which is something that nobody can afford not to open in the middle of a war.

So that infected attachment then would run on the victim's computer, and it would plant this piece of malware that's really kind of just, like, spyware called BlackEnergy that's able to basically watch what you're doing on your computer. And then when BlackEnergy was able to grab the usernames and passwords of those victims, they were then able to use them to log into this VPN, a virtual private network, that provided access to the actual connections to control systems, the ability to start messing with the actual grid equipment like circuit breakers that can turn off the power.

GROSS: In one attack - and I think this was attack - an attack on a private company - hackers exploited the company's IT Helpdesk tool to take control of the mouse movements of the station's operators. And you actually have a video on the Wired website of this computer that's been taken over. And you just see the mouse being moved (laughter). It's opening things, and it's going places. And it's really scary.

GREENBERG: Yeah, and you have to wonder if the hackers were doing that because it's the most efficient way. This was actually the first power grid attack that - what you're talking about is an attack on one of these electric companies. And you have to wonder if that was the most efficient way to turn off the power or just the scariest. It is...

GROSS: Because you're seeing yourself lose complete control.

GREENBERG: Right. This is called a phantom mouse attack, or at least some hackers call it that. And the hackers - after they, you know, use that VPN to gain access to the control systems, they took over the IT Helpdesk tool and literally locked people out of their computers. And they had to - the engineers were watching their own mouse cursors click through the grid software and turn off - open these circuit breakers one by one, each of which turned off the power to thousands of Ukrainian citizens. And they were helpless to do anything about it. So I think that that was an effective kind of psy-op as well, that it definitely strikes fear into the - not only the Ukrainian populous but the electric company that was the victim of that attack.

GROSS: Are people in Ukraine worried that whole systems are going to be destroyed?

GREENBERG: To be honest, I didn't find that the Ukrainian citizens were effectively terrorized by these attacks. I think that they are experiencing an actual war that's killing people, that's killed 10,000 Ukrainians in the east. They have bigger problems in a way. I think that the electric companies - this was a disaster for them. The other targets like the government agencies, the media companies - all of them were thrown into chaos by these attacks when they were individually victimized. So you know, there are very real consequences.

But you know, another motive here for Russia - you know, if this is in fact Russia, and it seems to be by every measure - is a kind of practice grounds. They can get away with things in Ukraine that they can't try elsewhere. And they may be honing attacks that they'll use on Western Europe or the United States.

GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Andy Greenberg, who's a senior writer for Wired Magazine. And his new Wired July cover story is titled "Lights Out: How An Entire Nation Became Russia's Test Lab For Cyberwar." We'll be back after a break. And when we come back, we're going to talk about Russian hacking in the U.S. This is FRESH AIR.

(SOUNDBITE OF AHMAD JAMAL'S "THE LINE")...................

Access complete text of the editorial:  npr.org

Chairman of the Committee of the armed forces of the US Senate Republican John McCain harshly reacted to the unclear position of executive officer of Boeing Patrick Shenahena which Donald Trump has offered the post of deputy head of the Pentagon, the issue of lethal weapons Ukraine.

This was the CNN .

Recall, Boeing is one of the biggest weapons in the US.

At the hearing the Committee Shenahen said supporting arming Ukraine. But before he gave a written response to questions the Committee that it should more look into this matter because it does not have access to classified information.

This position caused outrage in Shenahena McCain.

"Weapon to protect this nation (Ukrainian - Ed.) - and your answer is" I need to look into this matter. "It does not fit, Mr. Shenahen. I'm glad you changed your mind, compared to what you gave, but it bothers me, I still worried after all these years, you say that you need to understand this issue ... ", - said McCain.

"You do not know thousands of people killed Vladimir Putin? Are you all missed it?" - he added.

Вы не в курсе о тысячах людей, которых убил Путин? – Маккейн в Сенате pic.twitter.com/smgjo7wGbI

— Крым. Реалии (@krymrealii) June 23, 2017

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, Advisor to President Vladimir Gorbulin Ukraine believes that Russia wants to lead not only to power their proteges in the West, but also completely change Western society.

This Gorbulin wrote in his article for publication " Mirror of the Week ".

"The principal objective - create an information and social chaos, political and social uncertainties give rise to doubts as political leaders and their business. But as a result - haotyzatsiya Western society as a whole", - he said.

As an example Gorbulin cited the situation in the US where continuing scandal of RF interference presidential election.

Advisor to the Ukrainian president said that the Kremlin's inability to realize the effective governance by their henchmen because Russia has "classic" negative "selection - worse is better."

"The Russian textbooks for special operations is called" organizational weapons "- to make the authorities were people whose actions (or even the fact of his tenure) destroyed the system of the state", - said said.

He added that Russia uses liberal values ​​to "break" the West.

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Putin will pay a visit to the island to visit the camp.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will arrive in the occupied Crimea, he plans to visit the "Artek". Reported Tsenzor.NET citing TASS.

It is reported that Putin "will take part in the opening ceremony of the seventh change in 2017, which is dedicated to the most famous" artekovke "in the world - American schoolgirl Samantha Smith".

As is known, the occupation of the Crimea government transferred to federal ownership of the largest Russian property on a peninsula children's camp "Artek" in March 2015.

in April 2016 Obolonskiy Kiev court seized the children's camp property.

At the same time the Court in Kiev granted permission to detain the head of the occupation of the Crimea Sergey Aksenov government upon taking possession and transfer of ownership of the property in Russia, belonging to the State Enterprise of Ukraine "International Children's Center" Artek".

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Alain Aeschlimann believes that this is the only way to avoid ecological catastrophe.

International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) proposes to establish a "security zone" around a series of objects of Donbass water infrastructure, reports Tsenzor.NET . This was stated by the head of the ICRC delegation in Ukraine in an interview with Alain Aeschlimann ZN.UA.

"We propose to create a security zone around Verhnekalmiusskoy Donetsk and filtering stations, as well as water supply, effluent from her then -. In the Golden-Day, the third pumping station and water pipeline from there to Gorlovskaya filter plant №1 and 2, and in the area Petrovsky intake ", - said the head of the ICRC delegation.

According to him, the only way to avoid an ecological catastrophe in the Donbass - is to ensure the safe operation of pumping stations and pipeline integrity

"After all, among other things, Donetsk and Verhnekalmiusskoy filter stations is huge stocks chloride used for water purification. They are of special cylinders. in the case of direct contact with the cylinder firings may explode chloride n will fall in the air, and forms a toxic cloud that can fall as precipitation anywhere - depending on the wind direction and because it all happens in the densely populated territory affected can hundreds of thousands of people "-. said Aeschlimann,

ICRC representative pointed out that the implementation of this initiatives hampered by the lack of trust between the parties to the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Director of the National Institute for Strategic Studies, Advisor to the President of Ukraine Vladimir Gorbulin told how Russia is trying to destroy the normal lifestyle of the West.

This Gorbulin wrote in his article for publication " Mirror of the Week ".

"If you try to pick the best analogy of how Russia" breaks "the West, the more likely it looks like sabotage of a complex mechanism set up for a long time and which finally started working normally," - he writes.

According to the adviser to the president, the actions of the Russian Federation alone does not constitute a danger, but the overall shape disastrous. As an example he cites stuffing information about "girl Lisa," far-right support, sponsoring anti-globalization, bribing politicians.

"As a permanent factor that accompanies such activity - outside legal information activities as implicitly" lured "and obviously" fed "media, operating under widely interpreted paradigm of" freedom of speech "- said Gorbulin, adding that such even minimal media does not meet the standards of journalism.

"And it is logical that the main blow inflicted on the elections in their procedure - a cornerstone of a democratic system, because, according to the classics," democracy - a procedure "- continues said. He noted that Russia uses as a" classic "compromise politicians and "non-classical" compromise the election against the background of attempts to influence the election cycle."

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / на українському

During the meeting the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko with senior US politicians have repeatedly raised the issue of corruption in high places in our country.

This "apostrophe" reported several MPs.

On the sidelines of the Ukrainian parliament said that because of this there is a "demonstrative whipping" of some MPs, including the GPU requests to remove immunity and bring to justice.

In turn, MP from the MFP Vladimir Aryan said that many agreements were reached within the military-technical cooperation, and strengthening sanktsiynoho pressure on Russia.

Other members of the coalition said the US Poroshenko no one discussed the reintegration strategy ORDLO.

Read more in the article "Apostrophe", " criticized and talked not about the Donbass, unexpected details Poroshenko's visit to Trump."

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Russian Embassy in Norway, said that the decision to continue the Oslo deployment of US Marines worsen relations with Moscow and could exacerbate tensions on the northern flank of NATO.

It is reported by Reuters .

According to the Norwegian government in the country by the end of 2018 will be 330 US Marines.

"We believe that this step is contrary to the policy of Norway for not placing military bases on its territory in peacetime," - said in a statement the Russian embassy.

As noted in the Russian department, in the future it "will turn Norway is not completely predictable partner that can also enhance the tension and lead to destabilization in the North region."

Note that on June 21 the Minister of Defense of Norway Ini Erikssen Soreyde said high constant presence of allies is a stabilizing factor.

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському

Team president Petro Poroshenko after talks with US President Donald Trump hard promotes successful communication of politicians, stressing the importance of the fact of such a meeting. But sources "apostrophe" in government and policy experts say that while too early to talk about success, because in Washington Ukrainian President pointed out that effective cooperation is important the fight against corruption a top, and here much success until the Ukrainian government does not demonstrate. Moreover, the topic of corruption, which chided Kyiv, was in negotiations is more important than a new strategy for the reintegration of Donbas, which the parties hardly mentioned, despite the expectations of the Ukrainian society. Western media paid attention mostly meeting, and those who have paid attention to it, called it " humiliation " for the Ukrainian president.

Meeting Poroshenko and Donald Trump administration Ukrainian President began to announce the winter, but the first talks Poroshenko and his American colleague were held only on 20 June. Representatives of the presidential team serves as a huge success that Trump Poroshenko met before with President Vladimir Putin. However, this raises the question of whether the rush was to the format of the meeting was perceived by several media as a "humiliation." There was no traditional meeting of delegations in wide and narrow format, no joint press conference, not to mention the other elements of the state, or even an official working visit of the head of state with which the US is a declaration of strategic partnership.

"Even informal dinner at the White House Poroshenko not treated," - bitterly joked one of the former Ukrainian diplomats, who spoke of "Apostrophe".

Indeed, if you compare the Trump meeting with other presidents who have visited Washington, the reception Poroshenko format Drop-in was more than cool, went into the next room to talk for a few minutes, exchanging courtesies and pictures, but not the full communion of Heads of State.

"Unfortunately, the president and his entourage focused not on practical results, and the PR. Unfortunately for Ukraine, most of the world media skepticism rated this trip, saw tensions Poroshenko and the fact of the meeting in the format of Drop-in - it probably one of the lowest of the meeting. I understand political and diplomatic protocol, the President of Ukraine had to take on the porch of the White house to hold a briefing and then hold it to the Oval office, spend the long hours of meeting, and then a joint press conference, but , unfortunately, was not. Maybe it is connected with the figure of Peter Poroshenko and his corruption. But for me the main signal was different: not signed any document, there is no practical, at least for now, the result of which you can see and touch it . Therefore, unfortunately, we can not say what the results will be, "- said the deputy of the" Fatherland "Sergey Vlasenko" apostrophe".

According to CNN, the Ukrainian president's meeting was held at "low" that especially caught the eye compared to other similar meetings, "Romanian President Klaus Yohannis standing next to Trump during a bilateral conference held this month ... Panama President Carlos Varela on the south portico of the White house met Donald and Melania Trump. They enjoyed long walks along the colonnade, and then in the Panamanian and American leaders met in the Oval office tete-a-tete."

Perhaps taking features were caused by the fact that its preparation have been involved not only official channels but also lobbying structure paid by the Ukrainian side. In particular, the disposal of "apostrophe" was the agreement concluded between the structure close to Bankova "Foundation support reforms in Ukraine" and the American company BGR lobbying from Washington.

For inquiries or publication Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, nor the "Fund support reforms in Ukraine" does not explain where spent 600 thousand. Dollars (see. P. 2 of the contract). At the same time, a former employee of the US Embassy in Ukraine, which gave "apostrophe" a copy of it, said that it was to organize meetings had spent the money. "Prices in Washington are all familiar - 250 thousand dollars lobbyists can seriously help in organizing the meeting. But, more importantly, needed a suitable context for the meeting. It just enter the Trump fails even in half if he does not see the point to meet" - he said. Now Trump appeared sense to meet with Poroshenko - the United States increasingly serious harassment campaign unfolds Trump because of its ties with Russia. So before meeting with Poroshenko important visit to Europe (summit "Big Twenty" July 7-, which, perhaps, will be the first contact with Putin was important for Trump counterargument against his enemies in internal American politics.

After talking with an American colleague Poroshenko said that Ukraine will sign an agreement with the US defense cooperation, including an agreement on defense procurement and the agreement on military-technical cooperation. He also said that an agreement on the purchase of US coal, which "should replace coal supply is suspended from the occupied territories through the confiscation of the Russian Federation Ukrainian coal mines."

Washington Poroshenko met not only with Trump but with US Vice President Michael Pence, US Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and the Secretary of State of the country's Rex Tillerson and several other top-level politicians.

In a White House statement distributed after the meeting of the leaders of Ukraine and the US, said that it "discussed support for peaceful settlement of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and the reform agenda of President Poroshenko and his efforts in the fight against corruption."

The fact that Poroshenko meeting with senior US politicians repeatedly raised the issue of top Corruption in Ukraine "apostrophe" told several MPs. They said Poroshenko made it clear that the Ukrainian leadership must successfully deal with corruption component in all branches of government. On the sidelines of the Supreme Council say, that this is why there is an " exemplary flogging" of individual MPs, including Prosecutor General's Office asking to withdraw immunity and brought to criminal responsibility , which is currently five deputies, Oles Dovgy ( "The will of the people"), Andrew Lozoviy (Radical Party Oleg Lyashko) Maxim Polyakov ( "Popular front"), Eugene Dade ( "Popular front") and Borislav Rosenblatt (Party "Block Petro Poroshenko").

However, most representatives of the presidential team does not comment on such talks about corruption, but only noted the importance of the meeting and achievements.

In particular, the MP from the MFP and a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Aryan told "apostrophe" that many agreements were reached within the framework of military-technical cooperation and to strengthen sanctions against Russia. "I would not be singled out particularly one this meeting (with Trump) because eight meetings at the highest level and communicate with Trump - only one of them. And tougher sanctions against Russia, and military-technical cooperation, and cooperation in the energy sector - have it all. I can say that this is probably the most successful visit to the United States from all visits of presidents who were, in my opinion ", - said the deputy.

According to "apostrophe" members of the coalition strategy for reintegration of Donbass, around which the second week of ongoing discussions in Ukrainian informprostori, Poroshenko in the US no one discussed. Although before the visit was repeated many assumptions that it is one of the points that Ukrainian President will discuss at a meeting in America.

According to the deputy of the "Fatherland" Alexei Ryabchyna, the main result of which we can say - Ukraine has friends in the Senate, but the situation with the administration Trump is somewhat different: "To analyze the results we will not in meetings, and the results, to be. Until we see that we have friends in the Senate who continue sanctions, and the administration Trump, by contrast, is looking for opportunities to ensure that these sanctions will not continue. so far, you can see some of the controversial things, so Ukraine important implications meetings."

American analyst on international affairs, Peter Zalmayev emphasizes that the meeting was successful in only one fact that it happened, and before the summit "Big Twenty", which Trump will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. "The meeting provides an opportunity to show the Ukrainian people that Ukraine still remains, if not a priority, it is an important issue for America and the American establishment understands that if you do not pay attention to Ukraine, it would mean to give up their fundamental principles. While Donald Trump itself not adhere to these guidelines, they are not for him something important. I know exactly what Ukrainian President came to Washington empty-handed, he has, among other things, were specific proposals on agricultural her subject. It should also be understood that in addition to this protocol meeting with Trump, was a long hour and a half meeting with Mike Pence, were meeting with the two leaders of the Republican majority in the Senate and Congress. It (a Poroshenko - "Apostrophe") have also been meeting with other congressmen, the heads of departments, it is the State Department, also met with the head of the Department of energy, the people in the Pentagon. it was a fruitful visit and I think that the very fact of this visit is very important, "- said Zalmayev in a comment" apostrophe."

The expert also believes that the apparent progress in the subject Ukraine caused some external factors. "For example, the FBI background investigation about the relationship Trump and members of his team from the Kremlin party, some gestures toward Putin's death is similar to the US president. And it is something the Republican Party is trying to protect itself, including through Ukraine to prevent any movement toward Putin "- said Zalamev.

But the Ukrainian diplomat and former Foreign Minister Konstantin Grishchenko advises not to focus on that as a meeting and wait that the results will be for Ukraine in the future. "The fact that the meeting took place earlier than with Putin, it is important in terms of PR, because our government is mainly concerned about is the way as the administration Trump, just as they have different objectives. On the one hand, we can say that it is better that such a meeting was still meeting with Putin, on the other hand, it is important not so much as she was, sooner or later, and what agreed. we do not have any documents public, signed by the parties, we are mainly evaluation provided or president, or those acting on his behalf. But this is not a victory, and very many clear signals from the American side, there is not so perceived. But, ultimately, it is better to happen than not happen. We can say that this is the beginning of the restoration of confidence between the administrations of the two countries ", - concluded the diplomat" apostrophe".

apostrophe.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському  

French President Emmanuel macron and former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recorded video sharing, where they promise to "re-make a big planet."

Schwarzenegger issued a video on Facebook.



"We are discussing President macron environment and" green "future", - said Schwarzenegger. In turn macron said that they will work together to "make a big planet again."

Note that his phrase echoes the slogan of the presidential campaign of Donald Trump - «Make America great again».

Recall, June 1, 2017, US President Donald Trump announced the release SSCHA of the previous administration signed the Paris Obama climate agreement.

Kantslerka Angela Merkel has said that he sees in the United States under President Donald Trump reliable partner and urges Europeans to rally.

However, leading members of the US Conference of Mayors, which brings together leaders of America 1408 settlements with a population of over 30 thousand people said they did not support the decision Trump to withdraw from the Paris agreement and continue to deal with the reduction of greenhouse emissions.

hromadske.ua, Original in Ukrainian / на українському