Ukraine News in brief. Sunday 4 March. [Ukrainian sources]

SUNDAY HEADLINES:
Blackmail with Ukraine: an explanation was given, why Putin scares the West with nuclear weapons. The United States made a loud statement regarding the recognition of Putin's election in the Crimea.  "The prospect of his mission is reduced to zero," the RF RF responded to Volker's statement on the elimination of "A / DNR".  Putin responded to Volker's loud words about the liquidation of the LNR-DPR.  Journalists from Russia-24 arrived at the position of Russians and mercenaries: provocations are being prepared for the truce announced on March 5.  The video got into the network with the moment of attack on Sobchak.  It became known what a powerful weapon put Putin into the Crimea and how many Russian soldiers there.  Naftogaz: Ukraine has prevented Russia from attempting to create an artificial gas crisis. We need to better inform the world community about daily violence and living conditions in eastern Ukraine, UN Deputy Secretary General Müller. Instead of asphalt: the network showed video of unusual winter repair of roads in Russia. Incredible beauty: there is a video of frozen waterfalls in the Carpathian region.

WEATHER:
-6c / 21f HI | RealFeel -15c / 4f
Precipitation 85%
Breezy; a little morning snow followed by periods of snow this afternoon, accumulating 3-6 cm

US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Jovanovic said that the United States will not recognize the results of the presidential elections in Russia, which will be held on the territory of the annexed Crimea.

She reported on this on the air of the direct channel "Direct".

"As with all elections in the Crimea, the way we treated these elections in the past is such that we did not recognize them," said the US ambassador.

Recall that the presidential election is scheduled for March 18.

Earlier, the United States did not recognize the results of the elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation (September 18, 2016) that took place in the territory of the occupied Crimea. However, the illegitimacy of the entire membership of the Russian parliament was not discussed at that time.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Russian President Vladimir Putin, with his demonstration of a cartoon about the destruction of the United States, wanted, among other things, to intimidate Americans so that they would take Ukraine.

This was stated in an interview with "Apostrophe" by Russian political scientist and publicist Andriy Piontkovsky.

"As for the response from Washington, in my opinion, the most adequate response came from the Pentagon that they are much more aware of all Russian projects than Mr. Putin, and a crazy propagandist [Artem] Shanein shouted that Trump was awakened 28 times during Putin's statement, they were for some reason certain that the whole West was horribly frightened (these missiles), but this only caused the laugh of what they were shown in this performance. But on the other hand, the State Department of Interior officially stressed that it was extremely unpleasant for relations when on such in Soko collection show animated film about the destruction of the United States. Which then cooperation and partnership we can talk?"- said the analyst.

He noted that one of Putin's motives was an extremely brutal military defeat on the night of February 8 in Syria (the destruction of mercenaries from the Wagner's "Wagner", "The Apostrophe").

"And one more very important moment, which is extremely important for Ukraine." He repeated all the time: "I did not want to talk, but now we will talk in completely different conditions." This is all the same nuclear blackmail, they say, "I can be scared Spit, and do not want to, let's negotiate. "And to agree in his language means to acknowledge his right to full domination in the post-Soviet space as a minimum." Recognize my right to do with Ukraine what I want "is the center of his policy, " - said Piontkovsky.

According to a political scientist, Putin "is not going to launch these stupid things tomorrow."

"He is not going to run these stupid things tomorrow. He knows perfectly well how he can destroy America ten times, so he will destroy him once in twenty. " Well, maybe crazy Hitler or crazy Stalin would be ready to destroy (the enemy). But neither Hitler nor Stalin had a trillion dollars in the United States, there were no houses there, there were no children at universities, wives and mistresses in the palaces, it's a crazy lame - to steal and loot a huge country to build a trillion dollars in the West and intimidate them with nuclear destruction.

And Ukraine is now the center of world politics, because the conflict that Putin imposes on the West means: "Give me Ukraine or I can destroy you with nuclear weapons." But this question has already been answered for a long time. No one will agree with him. And the day after his speech, Putin called "agent of influence" Trump continued sanctions against Russia. He can obviously slow down penalties and protect Putin, because it will accelerate its path to impeachment. And the State Department has finally announced that it sells to Ukraine Javelin. That is, the only rational explanation for Putin's insane behavior was blackmail and an attempt to intimidate the Americans so they would give them Ukraine. And this Kremlin's plan failed", - said the political scientist.

 apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

In the Russian Federation Council say that without the consent of the terrorist organizations "LNR" and "DPR" no peacekeepers in the Donbass will not be.

As informs Tsensor.NET, this was written by Twitter head of the commission on the information policy Alex Alexey Pushkov.

"The US Special Representative for the breakdown of the Minsk Agreements does not require a lot and does not have to: liquidate" LNR "and" DPR". I forgot that they are part of the Minsk agreements, and without their consent, there will not be any peacekeepers in the Donbass. With this approach, the prospect Volcker's mission is reduced to zero,"- says Pushkov.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Kostiantyn Kosachev, Chairman of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation on International Affairs, spoke on the statement by the Special Representative of the US State.

Department on the affairs of Ukraine Kurt Volcker on the need for the elimination of the so-called "DNR" and "LNR".

This is reported by the Rambler.

"This statement confirms in an exhaustive manner that Mr Volker and, in conjunction with him, the American side as a whole are not an objective and impartial mediator in the context of the crisis in the south-east of Ukraine, whose task is a real settlement of the conflict," Kosachov said.

Also, the Russian senator saw in Volker's words the desire to get rid of the inhabitants of the occupied Donbas.

"Mr. Volker demonstrates that his approaches to 100 percent coincide with the approaches of Kiev, which for him, as well as for the Kiev regime, those structures that exist in the south-east of Ukraine, as well as those who live there, is a kind of annoying factor , no more, from which it is necessary to get rid of any means: political or, God forbid, military,"- he said.

Let's remind, before Volker declared about the necessity of liquidation of terrorist entities in the Donbass, as the given formations do not correspond to the Constitution of Ukraine.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

In the near future, the illegal armed formations supported by Russia are planning to resort to serious fire provocations both against the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and against the civilian population.

This is reported by the press center of the ATO headquarters.

"At the same time, they are going to resort to the insidious tactics repeatedly tested by them, when, firing up the positions of the Ukrainian army, the Kremlin mercenaries will simultaneously carry fire to the unidirectional Ukrainian government of settlements. Possible provocations are related to the arrangements of the Tripartite contact group on the full commitment to comprehensive, permanent and perpetual ceasefire, starting from March 5, 2018, from 00:00 (Kyiv time)", - the statement reads.

Through such cynical actions, the occupiers will try to create conditions for accusing ATO forces of allegedly shelling uncontrolled Ukrainian authorities to front-line settlements.

According to the ATO headquarters, Russian-occupying troops are planning to engage the media controlled by them and the crew of the "Russia-24" TV channel, who arrived in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, in their ATP headquarters.

"According to the plans of the occupation administration of the Russian Federation, they should remove and publish the relevant picture in order to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the military and military-political leadership of Ukraine," the ATO command emphasized.

Recall that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready to establish and adhere to the cease-fire regime from midnight on March 5, 2018.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

A video appeared on the network, in which the time of the attack on the Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak was recorded .

The video publishes the Telegram Channel Mash, posted on YouTube.



Apparently, the video was made by the attacker himself. Before he was pouring water into the presidential candidate, the man said: "this is for Zhirinovsky."

Sobchak herself claimed that the attacker pushed her, which resulted in her falling, but not recorded in the photographs.

According to the Telegram channel Mash, the assistant head of the Moscow City Duma Oleksiy Shaposhnikov appeared.

apostrophe.ua    In Ukrainian/український

In the territory of the occupied Crimea, Russia places a large number of modern missile weapons.

This was stated in an interview with Crimea. The military expert, ex-speaker of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vladislav Seleznev, said in a statement.

"This is an air defense system, including the S-400" Triumph "complex, and modern frigates capable of carrying rocket weapons, and the" Caliber "complex, aircraft, heavy equipment," he says.

According to Seleznyov, since the occupation Russia began to actively fill the personnel and weapons not only the military towns operating in 2014, but also to restore the old ones.

Seleznev notes that the exact number of n military on the peninsula is impossible. However, according to intelligence, their number is about 30 thousand people.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Gazprom has lowered the pressure on gas pipelines by 20% on its side of the system. Because of this, Ukraine allegedly had to increase its energy consumption in order to ensure transit of gas to the EU.
Naftogaz head Andriy Kobolev in an interview with The Wall Street Journal said that the differences between Gazprom and Ukraine do not threaten the transit of gas from Russia to the European Union.

Tsensor.NET informs about this, citing UNIAN.

"For Europe, risks have disappeared. We did our best to ensure that the artificial crisis that Russia has been trying to create has not happened," Koboliev said.

In his opinion, Gazprom has lowered the pressure on gas pipelines by 20% on its side of the system. Because of this, Ukraine allegedly had to increase its energy consumption in order to ensure transit of gas to the EU.

As reported, the Stockholm Arbitration ordered Gazprom to pay NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine $4.63 billion for the short supply of agreed volumes of gas for transit. Thus, according to the results of two arbitration disputes between companies for the supply and transit of gas, Gazprom has to pay NAK $2.56 billion.

For its part, Gazprom has confirmed that it will pay Naftogaz of Ukraine $ 2.56 billion by arbitration in Stockholm.

At the same time, Gazprom refused to begin supplying gas to Naftogaz of Ukraine in March and repaid the prepayment, insisting on the necessity of signing an additional agreement to the current contract for 2009-2019.

Ukrtransgaz said that Gazprom has not met the technical requirements since the beginning of the year, supplying gas to the Ukrainian border with a lower than contractual pressure.

Head of NJSC "Naftogaz of Ukraine" Andriy Kobolev said about Ukraine's gas shortage of about 10 million cubic meters per day due to frost and the refusal of Gazprom in its deliveries, because of this, proposed to introduce restrictions on gas consumption in the country on 3-4 March 2018.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

According to the United Nations, more than 2,530 civilians were killed and 9,000 injured four years ago in an armed confrontation in the Donbas.

This is written by Tsensor.NET with reference to Voice of America.

"This crisis broke out in the yard of Europe, but it was mostly forgotten by the world," said Ursula Müller, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, at a European conference devoted to the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine and the way forward that took place in Brussels.

"We need to better inform the world community about the daily violence and living conditions in eastern Ukraine that affect millions of people," added Müller, who is also a Deputy Coordinator for Emergency Situations.

She noted that the number of human victims of armed conflict in the east of Ukraine is staggering. According to reports, more than 2,530 civilians were killed and 9,000 were injured. As a result of hostilities, thousands of homes, hundreds of hospitals, schools and facilities for water supply and electricity have been damaged.

"Countless ceasefire agreements did not work, and it is this political inability to end the conflict continues to force 4.4 million Ukrainians who suffered from conflict, endure daily suffering and make elections impossible," she warned.

Despite hostilities, mines and explosive remnants have already taken hundreds of lives. Eastern Ukraine is rapidly becoming "one of the most abundant territories in the world." "If we do not tackle this problem, it will affect the pace of reconstruction and development for decades," Muller said. All affected conflict areas urgently need demining facilities and training programs on the risks and dangers posed by mines, especially along "contact line", including checkpoints.

Monthly through a 457-kilometer "contact line" is a million people. Thousands of them each day face delays and barriers to access to basic services, pensions, social benefits and markets.

In December last year humanitarian organizations in Ukraine consolidated a comprehensive and priority humanitarian aid plan in the amount of $187 million, which provides for emergency assistance and protection of vulnerable Ukrainians in 2018.

"It's hard to believe that only four years ago Ukraine did not need humanitarian assistance," Muller said.

According to the 2018 estimate, the need for all sectors continues to grow, particularly in areas uncontrolled by the government and along the "contact line". Ursula Müller called on the de facto authorities to facilitate the restoration of the activities of all humanitarian organizations. She also appealed to the Government of Ukraine to do its utmost to ensure the free movement of civilians and to suspend the ban on commercial transportation through a "line of separation".

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

On the territory of the Russian Federation "road surface repair was carried out using snow.

The corresponding video is published by a Twitter user under the name of the Brain Brain.

This incident occurred in Vyazma city of the Smolensk region of the Russian Federation.

The man who made the video said that such "repair" was after the public announcement by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin about the need to improve the expensive in the regions.

Also, the author of the video drew attention to the fact that the "repaired" section of the road roll off with the help of a truck "KamAZ". Apparently, this kind of slipping has not helped much to improve the quality of the road surface - snow in the road pit can split your hands.

Ну что, ядерные ракеты новые построили, а на дороги уже не хватило.

В РОССИИ ЯМЫ ЗАДЕЛЫВАЮТ СНЕГОМ. pic.twitter.com/qAXlmKd94Q

— РБ головного мозга (@belamova) March 3, 2018

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

In the network there were video of waterfalls Dzhurinsky and Zhentskyi Guk in the Carpathian region, which became ice sculptures because of severe frosts.

The Zhenetian Guk waterfall in Tatarro frozen a couple of weeks ago. Almost entirely he is bound by ice and only occasionally from under it break through small streams. Locals say that not less beautiful spectacle opens when the waterfall begins to melt.

In the 16-meter ice block of frost turned and the largest plain waterfall in Ukraine - Dzhurinsky.

This year, all the waterfalls in the Carpathian region were frozen. According to weather forecasters, in some areas the temperature dropped to minus 28 degrees. They also say that the waterfalls will melt for a long time, since rapid warming is not expected.



apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Russian Senator Volodymyr Dzhabarov, who was supposed to watch the parliamentary elections in Italy on the line of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the Foreign Ministry refused to issue a visa.

This is reported by RIA Novosti.

"The Italians have not responded for a long time to the request for my participation as an observer through the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, as a result of the refusal", - said the Russian senator.

According to him, the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly was to ensure the unhindered access of members of the organization to participation in any official events of the OSCE PA.

"However, the Italian Foreign Ministry was frightened by the pressure of the European Union, Italy sent a note to our embassy in Rome," added Jabar.

Recall that in the case of Vladimir Dzhabarov, the US and the European Union imposed personal sanctions on its public support for Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

apostrophe.ua  In Ukrainian/український