Ukraine News in brief. Monday 18 September. [Ukrainian sources]

MONDAY

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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
Tillerson met with Lavrov in New York - talked about Ukraine and Syria.  Russia may be involved in an auditory attack on American diplomats.  UN mission should facilitate the restoration of Ukraine's control over the occupied territories. U.S. Ukraine Envoy Welcomes Russia Proposal For Peacekeepers, But Sees 'Obstacles'.  The West indicated that the Kremlin was ready to be flexible in the issue of the war on the Donbas.  Military expert explained why Putin will not just break up the situation in the Baltics.  Russia may try to leave its troops in Belarus after the end of the West-2017 exercise.  Poroshenko at the UN General Assembly will propose the creation of an international group for the de-occupation of the Crimea.  In the German elections, a system for transmitting information from hand and mouth was introduced. Fine for driving in a state of intoxication can raise up to 40 thousand hryvnia.   Ukrainian teenager kidnapped and kept in Russia, Paul Gryb deteriorates, because he has not been given medicine for a long time.  The priest from the ATO clearly compared the Russian Orthodox Church with unrecognized DPR and LNR.

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In New York, within the framework of the 72nd General Assembly of the United Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met.

This was reported by Reuters.

The meeting lasted 45 minutes and was informal.

It was noted that the sides discussed cooperation on the Syrian issue and other aspects of the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as the progress of the implementation of the Minsk Agreements.

Earlier it was reported that Tillerson and Lavrov talked about Ukraine over the phone.

hromadske.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

US investigators consider Russia's involvement in acoustic attacks by US diplomats in Cuba

It is reported by "Interfax" with reference to the AP.

Among the alleged attack organizers, apart from Russia, investigators also consider Cuba, Iran, North Korea, China and Venezuela.

Read also: In Cuba, acoustic weapons dropped by US and Canadian diplomats. What is it in general?

The US Department of State said that as a result of acoustic attacks, 21 Americans were injured. Some of them were diagnosed with hearing loss and minor brain damage, while others complained of continuous headaches, nausea and bells in the ears. Part of the victims said that she felt vibration and loud, piercing sounds, while others did not feel anything like that.

On August 11, it became known that the employees of the American Embassy in Cuba began to feel sorry for hearing loss.

Subsequently, the US State Department said that the number of victims of acoustic attack is 18 people.

espreso.tv , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Ukraine must restore control of the occupied territory and the border.

The UN peacekeeping mission should not freeze the conflict on the Donbass. About it the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada with the countries of Eastern Europe MFA of Germany Andreas Peshke said in an interview with LB.ua , reports Tsensor . NET . "We do not want a frozen conflict," Peshk said. Also read: Russia launched an initiative on peacekeepers in the Donbass through the consistent pressure of the United States - Volker.

According to him, Germany would like to have such a mission, which will serve to resolve the conflict in the Donbass, in the spirit of the Minsk agreements. "In order for it to just restore peace and control of Ukraine in those territories that are not yet under its control, we just see the restoration of Ukraine's control over these areas and the restoration of control over the border that it has not yet controlled with Russia. This is our goal and philosophy Minsk agreements", - said the diplomat.

In addition, this mission should operate not only on the line of demarcation, but also throughout the territory of the occupied Donbas - as was known after the conversation of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel with the Russian president.

"There are quite a lot of confidential conversations with our European partners and with the US and, of course, with the representatives of Ukraine, on these issues, and we hope that it will be possible to discuss this topic at the next General Assembly of the United Nations, which will open next week. and we are, of course, eagerly awaiting the vision of the President of Ukraine regarding this peaceful mission. That's all I can tell you, so to speak, about the current situation with the diplomatic workshop, "Peshkha said.

ua.censor.net.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

The U.S. special envoy for efforts to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine has called a Russian proposal to send United Nations peacekeepers to the region a "step forward" but warns there are still many "obstacles" to the plan suggested by Moscow.

The envoy, Kurt Volker, on September 16 said, "It's very interesting that Russia proposed a UN protection mission.... This is a step forward in a way bringing it up for discussion and bringing it to the [UN] Security Council."

"There's more on the table now that we can work with," he said on the sidelines of the annual Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv.

But he added that the mandate of any UN force must not "deepen the division" of the country.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that the purpose of a proposed UN-mandated peacekeeping mission in war-torn eastern Ukrainian must be to foster peace, not to cement what he called "Russia's occupation" of a chunk of his country.

Poroshenko said the mission should patrol the whole conflict zone including the border between Russia and the separatist-held parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which Kyiv says is used to ship weapons and military personnel in from Russia.

Russia initially indicated that under its plan, the peacekeepers would operate only along the front line separating Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists. Russia also said the plan should be subject to approval by the separatists.

But Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 11 signaled his willingness to look into the idea of deploying the peacekeepers not only along the conflict line but also in other areas where monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) work.

Some 600 observers from the OSCE are in eastern Ukraine, but their presence has failed to halt the fighting.

Volker reiterated that the UN force's mandate should not be limited to protecting the OSCE observers along the conflict demarcation line between zones controlled by Kyiv and those held by the pro-Russia separatists.

The current proposal, he said, "would only protect monitors, not people. It would not give access to control the Russia-Ukraine border. There's a lot of obstacles, a lot of problems with the way it was proposed."

Volker said the force should control the Ukrainian side of the border with Russia, enabling it to help prevent any movement of heavy weapons from Russia to the separatists......................

Access complete text of the editorial:  rferl.org In English

Russia is trying to ease the pressure from the West for its participation in the war in Ukraine. Because of this, she has to take a more flexible position.

This is stated in the report of the private American intelligence-analytical company Stratfor, which is at the disposal of "Apostrophe".

"Russia will continue to support non-controlled areas of the Donbas through the region's location on the border, but Moscow is ready to be more flexible in its approaches and levels of support for selected districts of Donetsk and Lugansk regions," the private intelligence report said.

Experts also note that the future UN General Assembly is unlikely to agree on the introduction of peacekeepers in the Donbas, but it can allow Russia to reduce the degree of confrontation with the West.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not only disorganize NATO, putting pressure on the Baltic states.

This was reported by the military expert Zvi Arieli, the newspaper "Today" reports.

The Baltic States are taking active steps to protect their statehood and are protected from Russia's interference in their internal affairs.

"It seems to me that Latvia has made more efforts to push Russian-speakers into the arms of the Russian Federation. I mean, squeezing out Russian-speakers, even those who have the third, the highest category of Latvian language, for example, my mother worked in the National Library, she retirement remained virtually the only Russian-language in the library,"- said the expert.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Russia may try to leave its troops in Belarus after the end of the West-2017 exercise contrary to Lukashenko's will.

This was announced by a well-known volunteer, a military instructor, a former military officer of the Israeli Defense Forces, Zvi Ariel, Today .

"If we take more rigid scenarios than mere demonstration of force, I think it's a more realistic chance that the Russians will leave a limited contingent of their groupings in Belarus, not only to demonstrate strength and threat but also to intimidate the Belarusian authorities," the instructor said.

Lukashenka earlier advocated the creation of a Union state with Russia, supported the strengthening of ties with Russia, but later turned away from this tactic, wishing to turn Belarus into a mediating state between Russia and the West. Arieli also believes that Russia, probably, does not like such plans, so one should expect attempts to impose integration into the Belarusian leadership.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Last night, a powerful hurricane passed through Romania , killing eight people there.

This is reported by the BBC.



About 70 people were in hospitals, while the wind speed was over 100 kilometers per hour. The blizzards of the wind rolled trees and tearing down the roofs of houses. Damaged many power lines and water supply channels. The city of Timisoara suffered most.

"No one warned us that it was waiting for us. The weather forecast promised only rain," said Timişoara Mayor Nicholas Rob in an interview with the Romanian TV channel Digi 24.

After Romania, the hurricane traveled to the Transcarpathian and Chernivtsi regions, where dozens of trees fell.



apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

This week, Petro Poroshenko will propose to the 72nd General Assembly of the UN to create an international group of countries on the issue of de-occupation of the Crimea.

This was stated by the representative of the president in the Verkhovna Rada Irina Lutsenko, the correspondent of the Public.

"Speaking at the UN General Assembly, the president will propose to the countries that oppose the annexation of the Crimea to unite efforts and create an international group of countries to support and implement the issues of de-occupation of the Crimea," Lutsenko said.

She also added that the president would ask the Council and the UN General Assembly to extend the peacekeeping mission to the Donbas.

Recall that United States President Donald Trump will meet President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on September 21 in New York during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly.

hromadske.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

On the eve of the parliamentary elections in Germany, which will take place on September 24 and which will depend on who will become the Chancellor of Germany, unprecedented security measures have been taken to protect Russian cyberattacks, The Times reports .

In particular, the computer software of the election commission was replaced and an analog backup was introduced - the information will be transmitted in writing by hand or verbally. Helping Germany to cyber-fight against Russian hackers is provided by the US Army.

Merkel's assistant explained that the German Chancellor did not use e-mail and communicated via SMS from a separate secure phone.

"Russian intervention is obvious. It is not known if it is always directed by the Kremlin, or there are also private players ... It is not always clear where the smoke comes from, because it is part of Moscow's international policy, "Merkel said.

Earlier, 16GB of data was stolen from the German parliament, including Merkel's correspondence. This was done by a hacker group connected with the Kremlin intelligence services, which was also involved in intervening in the presidential election and in the cyberattack on French President Emanuel Macron. There are fears that stolen information may be merged with Russian propaganda platforms.

glavcom.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Fines for drunk driving can increase to 40 thousand hryvnia.

The bill No. 6679 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada , which suggests intensifying the fight against drunk drivers.

Draft Law No. 6679 proposes to give the police the right to carry out systematic checks of drivers on the state of alcohol intoxication.

According to statistics, over the past six months, 46 thousand protocols for driving under the influence of alcohol have been made.

According to the World Health Organization, alcohol is one of the most common causes of accidents.

The draft law states that an appropriate mark will be installed in the inspection area, and the stop / reversal of the vehicle in front of it involves a mandatory driver review of the state of alcohol intoxication.

The decision on the forthcoming inspection and its details (place, sample) is taken by the head of the patrol police.

In the spring of 2017, Kyiv City Council deputies decided to appeal to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers to introduce obligatory application on the route vehicles of blocking vehicles for the start of an internal combustion engine in the presence of alcohol in the exhalation of the driver (alko-blockers).

hromadske.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

The condition of the Ukrainians kept in Russia, Paul Mushroom deteriorates, because he has not been given medicine for a long time

About this on the air of the channel "112 Ukraine" said the father of the detainee Igor Mushroom, reports Espresso.TV .

He confirmed that his son was allowed by the consul, but they were banned from speaking to Ukrainian , nor did they allow the consul to ask questions about the case.

The next meeting between them is planned to be held on September 27 in order to eventually obtain the results of the medical examination of Pavel.

"It does not give him any drugs, according to the consul's words, his face, neck and body sprayed him with ulcers, indicating that the liver is probably unable to cope with the burden, he needs constant medication, but he does not take medicine for almost a month" , - said Mushroom.

-Pavlo Grib disappeared on the territory of Belarus on the Independence Day of Ukraine - August 24. On that day he went to Gomel for a date to his girlfriend, whom he met in the Russian social network VKontakte.

-Igor Grib believes that in this way the Russian intelligence agencies could have lured and kidnapped his son.

-As it turned out later, at that time Paul was already wanted by Art. 205 of the Criminal Code of Russia (terrorist act). The initiator is the Russian FSB administration in the Krasnodar Territory of Russia.

-On August 31, Belarus officially recognized that the missing Ukrainian Mushroom crossed their border.

-September 2, the head of the SBU, Vasily Hrytsak, said that the disappeared in Belarus, Ukrainian Pavlo Mushroom most likely in the hands of FS B.

-The first and only meeting of a lawyer with Grib-Jr. was held on September 11th . Then the boy said that in Gomel he was seized by the unknown, who took him to the Russian city of Smolensk, where he was transferred to other people unfamiliar to him.

-As it was reported, on September 15, Ukrainian sister Pavlo Grib Olga Grib informed that she was transferred from a SIZO to a hospital.

espreso.tv , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

The priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Mykola Medinsky (Zalizniak), believes that the ROC is comparable to the so-called DNR and LNR.

He said this in an interview with the "Apostrophe".

"It's like an unrecognized DNR / LNR, they recognize themselves as" republics ", although they are actually terrorist groups, and the Moscow church itself recognizes itself as a church, but is actually a heretical group, albeit quite large, it's just heretics - and no more" , - said the priest.

Medinsky recalled that on June 21, 2016, on the island of Crete, the eighth Ecumenical All-Orthodox Cathedral, the Moscow church was convicted and accused of heresy of ethnophyleticism.

"The heresy of ethnophyleticism is the accusation of confusing the church with the imperial, serving the interests of the empire to the detriment of the interests of the church and the true truth of God as a whole." The charges were made, but Moscow began to defame - that they were not there, no one else was at the Cathedral, which was not authorized and so on ... General theses are some ", - he specified.

The priest stressed that the statement sounded canonically and was not subject to denial.

"But somehow it was forgotten, it was dying - and there is no tangible result of that accusation for the year. I do not know what Moscow managed to do within the framework of the world Orthodox community, but today's statement is silent, as if nothing was there, and I think that I have to talk about this - and speak loudly. Since Moscow was screaming about some sort of exceptional canonism, they continue to do so now, "he said.

According to Medinsky, the next step after accusations of heresy should be repentance. But if the Moscow church does not do this, then it will actually exclude itself from the world community of Orthodox churches.

"The accusation automatically becomes a sentence, and while they will not repent until they reject the lie in which they are accused and will not commit an act of repentance before the world community of the Orthodox churches - they will remain outside the world Orthodox community, as it is now. will remain heretics, "he concluded.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

Kiev looks to bond issue as significant step on road back to economic normalization


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Ukraine has raised $3bn in its first international bond deal since the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014, in what Kiev considers to be a significant step on the road back to economic normalisation.

The 15-year deal, priced at 7.375 per cent, includes exchanging $1.7bn of bonds due to mature in 2019 and 2020 for the longer dated paper.

Order books reached $8.75bn, in the latest sign of hot investor appetite for relatively high-yielding sovereign debt.

The transactions stand to ease Ukraine’s debt burden in the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 2019 and boost budget resources as the country completes a second year of growth following a deep 2014-15 recession that saw GDP plunge by nearly 17 per cent.

Ukraine finance minister Oleksandr Danylyuk said the bond issue marked a significant milestone for the country and its companies, and “removed some pressure” on the budget in the near future.

“It will enable us to further improve our [credit] rating and that will not just make government finance cheaper but also for companies, which will improve businesses’ finances and [operating] conditions,” he told the FT...................

Access complete text of the editorial:  ft.com In English

Russia planned to engage units in the occupied territory of Donbas in the military exercises "West-2017"

This was stated by the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Andriy Lysenko, reports Radio Liberty .

According to Lysenko, these units were unable to participate in exercises due to lack of fuel and equipment malfunction.

"We tried to involve Russian-occupation forces in the Donbas to these exercises, and we received intelligence that most of the columns that would have to go to focus points for parallel tasks in the" West-2017 "exercises just did not reach because of the expired fuel In one of the units from Lugansk region, which had 11 tanks, only 3 tanks could carry out tasks, all the others were defective", - told Lysenko.

According to the Ministry of Defense, the analysis of the state of technology of the two army corps of the "DNR" and "LNR" groups indicates a malfunction of 60% of equipment.

-Russian-Belarussian   studies "West-2017"  began  on September 14.

-Recall that the  military leadership of Poland is  concerned about the possibility of exacerbation through military exercises "West 2017", where Russia and Belarus will participate.
-
Commander-in-Chief of the US Army in Europe Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges noted that Russian military exercises "West 2017" in Belarus could turn out to be a  "Trojan horse,"  because the Kremlin could leave imported military equipment there.

-The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine prepared a  set of measures  to react the Ukrainian army to the threats that may arise during the Russian-Belarusian exercises "West-2017".

-According to NSDC secretary Oleksandr Turchinov, the real number of participants in the military exercises "West-2017" is estimated at 230-240 thousand people,  which is more than 10 times higher than the officially declared figure.

espreso.tv , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

President Petro Poroshenko believes if the United States of America will provide Ukraine with defense weapons, this decision will open the possibility of supplying weapons from other countries

This was written by the spokeswoman of the President Svyatoslav Tsyogolko in his microblog Twitter.

"The decision to provide Ukraine with defense weapons will open the same opportunities with other countries," the president said at a meeting with the Ukrainian community and the Crimean Tatar organizations in the United States.

Poroshenko also added that during the antiterrorist operation more than 10 thousand Ukrainian citizens died.

"Ukrainians are a nation of peace, but we paid over 10,000 human lives for our independence," he said.

The Head of State also thanked the Ukrainian diaspora for its contribution to the adoption of a positive decision on the imposition of sanctions against Russia.

The United States Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, does not consider it logical to argue against the provision of high-precision American lethal weapons to Ukraine, which are heard in the information space.

espreso.tv , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

US President Donald Trump is disappointed with the actions of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

This was stated in an interview with the "Apostrophe" by a former speaker of the US House of Representatives and a freelance advisor to President Donald Trump, Republican and presidential candidate in the 2012 New York Gigric.

"I think he (Trump) believed that there was a chance that Putin would change his behavior. It seems to me that all the available evidence suggests that Putin was on a path incompatible with US policy. And that is why I think, we see that the Congress has adopted much more powerful sanctions, and we hear about plans to help Ukraine, which strengthens the positions in the Baltic countries and we are more boldly interfere in all directions, "he said.

However, he stressed that Trump hardly allowed the possibility of a large "US-Russia agreement", because it requires significant changes.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

The priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Mykola Medinsky (Zalizniak), believes that sooner or later God's wrath will fall on Russia, and it will cease to exist.

He expressed such an opinion in an interview with "Apostrophe".

"And believe me, the wrath of God will fall upon them, the Lord is slow to anger, for a long time he has been waiting for the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, but when (I will say, jokingly) God's patience has burst - sulfur and ashes. because the criminal empire can not exist for a long time, "he says.

At the same time, Medinsky reminds that in 1988 nobody could hope for the fall of the USSR.

"But what happened is that any human power can not overcome it, but the power of God's hurdle does not happen." And this powerful empire of evil was scattered-somehow quietly, imperceptibly, it was settled and the ash broke up, "he explains.

According to the chaplain, such a fate awaits the Russian Federation, adding that it consists of a gathering of captured, annexed small peoples.

"They are not monolithic, but anything that is not monolith and is joined together with the help of artificial glue sooner or later loses its properties.

And the punishment of God will be. What she will be - let's see. But the truth of God's shame can not be. And the fact that for centuries they try to lie, to make the truth, to repaint, whiten, cuddle and lie - even in the life of the church - will not go unpunished. The recent Ecumenical All-Orthodox Council confirmed this when there was actually an anathema on the Russian Church..."- he explained.

apostrophe.ua  , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

During the joint Ukrainian-Russian military exercise "West-2017" in Belarus seriously fear the commission of provocations on the border with Ukraine.

This is Igar Tyshkevych, an analyst at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future, in his column on "Apostrophe".

"That is why the protection of the Ukrainian border area is normally well understood, which is why the local population was asked to report strangers, and especially people in camouflage, which was why several groups of smugglers were detained in the Grodno region," Tishkevich wrote.

The expert noted that Belarus is seriously preparing for possible provocations, maximizing border guarding.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою

On Monday, September 18, a citizen of Ukraine committed an act of self-immolation in the center of Volgograd (Russian Federation).

This was stated by the representative of the regional head of the Interior Ministry, Anton Kornaukhov, according to Interfax-South.

"At about 2:00 a 74-year-old woman, according to preliminary data, a citizen of Ukraine, near the bus station in the Central district, set fire to her dress," he said.

According to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, a woman was hospitalized in the hospital №25 of Volgograd. She was diagnosed with burns of 30% of the body.

"Now it turns out what the woman wanted to do with her deed," added Kornaukhov.

As reported by the Apostrophe, earlier in the center of Munich, a 54-year-old man drove into his car in the pedestrian area of ​​the Marienplatz square, after which he poured several liters of gas into himself and launched an act of self-immolation.

apostrophe.ua , Original in Ukrainian / Українською мовою