Ukraine News. Thursday 17 May. [Ukrainian sources]

THURSDAY HEADLINES:
SBU hands over Volcker testimony of 435 former hostages on facts of Russian aggression and torture in the Donbas.  US President Trump seeks to punish Russia for missile treaty violations.  In Russia, criminal cases were opened against Ukrainian judges who did not recognize the annexation of the Crimea. "Russian ‘peacekeepers’ were to conduct operation all across Ukraine," - Internal Troops ex-Commander Shuliak on Yanukovych’s request to Putin.  Ukrainians will not be able to return the territory already occupied by Russia.  Russian engineering troops digging trenches on their border with the occupied Donbas because of the threat of massive mercenary movement into Russia. Mass poisoning in Cherkasy: substance has not yet been established, the health of all patients is out of danger. The action in support of Sentsov took place near the Russian embassy in Berlin. Canada condemns construction and partial opening of Kerch Strait Bridge. Russian mercenaries shelling populated areas of Donbass with "Grad".

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The Security Service of Ukraine issued testimony from 435 former hostages on armed aggression in Russia and torture in the Donbas. The head of the special service, Vasyl Hrytsak, passed this
testimony to the Special Representative of the US Department of State for the Affairs of Ukraine Kurt Volker.

This was reported by the press service of the SBU.

"Stories from another 42 former hostages who were illegally held by inhumane militants and tortured from 189 to 1083 days were made public on the pages of the next newsletter. This is the sixth documentary, prepared according to the results of the survey by employees of the special services of dismissed Ukrainian citizens", - noted in the department.

Today the collections contain fragments of interviews with 435 witnesses of crimes of Russian terrorist groups.

Based on the testimony of the SBU, he identified the identity of six militants who personally mocked the captured Ukrainian military and civilians.

Founders of intruders are being searched by law enforcement agencies to prosecute, one of them, nicknamed "Cruat", has already sentenced a Ukrainian court to 10 years in prison.

"The Security Service of Ukraine continues to collect and disclose evidence of the armed aggression of Russian troops against Ukraine, as well as the facts of physical violence and mistreatment of Ukrainian citizens in torture chambers in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts," the press service added.

On May 16, Poroshenko discussed Volker's situation in the Donbas.

Earlier, Volker stated that Russia's offer to peacekeepers in the Donbass would strengthen the division of Ukraine.

Recall that the president, Petro Poroshenko, said that more than 40 countries are ready to participate in the peacekeeping mission on the Donets Basin.

Earlier it was reported that Turkey supported the introduction of UN peacekeepers in the Donbas.

Earlier, Poroshenko said that Ukraine is ready for talks on the implementation of the UN peacekeeping mission in the Donbass. However, for this, according to him, it is only necessary to "squeeze Russia".

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine reported that peacekeepers should gradually take control of the Donbas.

The UN expert report said that the organization should consider attracting 20,000 non-NATO peacekeepers and 4,000 other policemen to help resolve the conflict in the Donbas.

hromadske.ua  In Ukrainian/український

U.S. President Donald Trump issued a memorandum on Wednesday ordering the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Commerce, and the Director of National Intelligence to propose sanctions on Russia in response to violations of a 1987 missile treaty.

As reported by Censor.NET citing Gordon, a spending bill for fiscal year 2018 requires that Trump develop and submit to Congress a plan to punish Russia for its non-compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

"By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby delegate to the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Director of National Intelligence, the functions and authorities vested in the President by section 1244(c)(1)-(4) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018 (Public Law 115-91)," the presidential memo reads.

The measures listed in section 1244(c)(1)-(4) include travel bans and asset freezes on senior Russian officials identified as being responsible for ordering or facilitating Russia’s non-compliance with the pact.

The INF Treaty prohibits the development, deployment and testing of ground-launched ballistic or cruise missiles with ranges between 300 and 3,400 miles.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Investigation Committee of Russia opened criminal proceedings against 15 judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for not recognizing the annexation of the Crimea

This is reported by Radio Liberty.

According to Russian investigators, Ukrainian judges adopted a discriminatory decision "on the recognition of the Declaration of Independence of the Crimea that does not conform to the Constitution of Ukraine."

In March 2018, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine issued a statement of suspicion to the head of the Constitutional Court of Russia Valery Zorkin and 18 judges of this court in complicity in encroachment upon the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine during the annexation of the Crimea.

This is a suspicion of committing a crime, as provided for in Part 5 of Art. 27, part 3 of Art. 110 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (aiding in intentional actions committed to change the boundaries of the territory and state border of Ukraine in violation of the procedure established by the Constitution of Ukraine, representatives of the authorities, at the prior conspiracy by a group of persons, if they caused grave consequences).

On May 8, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against the employees of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, which opened proceedings against judges of the Constitutional Court of Russia on suspicion of aiding in annexation of the Crimea.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

Stanyslav Shuliak who was Interior Ministry’s Internal Troops commander during Yanukovych tenure testified that Ukraine’s runaway ex-president asked Russia’s Putin to deploy ‘peacekeepers’ all across the country.

As reported by a correspondent for Censor.NET, the former official said Thursday giving testimony at a hearing of Yanukovych treason case at the Obolonskyi district court of Kyiv.

Asked on what ground the Russian Armed Forces were used on the peninsula in 2014, he said: "The peacekeeping operation was supposed to be held all across Ukraine, not just in Crimea."

Judge Deviatko later asked Shuliak a clarifying question: "Should the Russian troops have been technically deployed throughout the territory of Ukraine?"

"Absolutely!" he said and explained that the Russian ‘peacekeepers’ were supposed to be deployed throughout the conflict zone which was the whole territory of Ukraine at that time.

On May 17, 2018, the Obolonskyi district court of Kyiv held 50th hearing on the merits of the case against ex-President Viktor Yanukovych indicted on charges of high treason. The court heard testimony of Stanyslav Shuliak - Yanukovych era commander of the Internal Troops.

Crimea resident Andrei Nikiforov, Chief Security Officer at Mezhyhiria presidential residence Anatolii Kobylinskyi, and Yanukovych’s ex-bodyguard Dmytro Ivantsov gave their testimonies at two previous sessions.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Ukraine is now not able to return the territory captured by the Russian invader Russia because it is still very strong.

According to Censor.NET, referring to the League , such a view was expressed by the Special Representative of the United States Department of State in Ukraine Kurt Volker, referring to the military actions, according to the results of the visit to the Donbass BBC service .

"Yes, Ukrainians will not be able to return the territory already captured by Russia: Russia is too strong," he said.

In addition, according to Volcker, the price of the continuation of the war on the Donbass and the possible further offensive of the Russian hybrid army has already increased.

"And they will grow further," the representative of the State Department said. "In this case, those who sit in Moscow have to ask themselves: what do we get from this? We experience the loss of the death of Russian soldiers who perish in Ukraine... For what?".

The Special Representative of the State Department is convinced that equipping the Ukrainian Army with the modern weapons of the West is a guarantee of peace in the future, because "if Ukraine can not hold its position, it will be an invitation to new offensive", and the deliveries to the Armed Forces of the United States "will give Russia a clear understanding: you are not get even more without paying a high price."

The diplomat again expressed hope that Moscow would agree to the "western" option of the UN peacekeeping mission to end this war.

Recall that on September 5, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed the opinion that the presence of UN peacekeepers in the Donbass would be in favor of resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and instructed the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs to make a corresponding draft resolution for consideration by the UN Security Council.

On September 20, Poroshenko, speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, said that "Ukraine needs the United Nations peacekeeping arm" and urged the Secretary General to send an evaluation mission to Ukraine.

Iryna Gerashchenko, First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, a representative of Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group on the Situation on the Donbass, said that the introduction of a UN peacekeeping mission on the line of collision in the east of Ukraine could not be the language, peacekeepers should be introduced to the entire territory occupied by Russia.

In numerous statements of the Russian authorities, it was stressed that peacekeepers should be placed only on the line of separation of the warring parties, but not on the entire occupied territory of the Donbas and especially not on the Russian-Ukrainian border. On January 29, 2018, US Special Envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker stated that Russia was ready to ensure that the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Donbass was deployed not only on the line of collision, but throughout the Donbas.

April 13, I President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that more than forty countries are ready to take part in a peacekeeping operation in the occupied territory of Donbas.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

49 children and 4 adults who were hospitalized from a school line in Cherkasy already at home.
As informs Censor.NET, this is stated in a press release from the Ministry of Health.

According to the agency, three more children are still in the children's regional hospital, but they are being treated for concomitant illnesses found during the examination. These diseases are by no means related to poisoning.

It is also reported that the Cherkasy Regional Laboratory Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine carried out a sampling of soil, water, air on the day of the incident. Laboratory analysis of air and soil showed no critical substance content that could cause the body to react. Water and air are safe from sanitary and hygiene.

"Children and adults who approached medical institutions in the city of Cherkasy after attending school events on May 8 showed a toxic reaction to inhalation contact with an unknown substance, which, fortunately, had no harmful effects on their health.

Establishing the final causes of the toxic reaction involved in the relevant authorities, "- said in a message.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

On Wednesday evening, in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin, a picket was held in support of Oleg Sentsov and other Ukrainians who were hostages of the Kremlin.

The action was held with the support of Amnesty International, reports Censor.NET with reference to Ukrinform.


"We think it is necessary to get out here today, almost four years after the arrest of Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, and show solidarity, it is important for those who sit, we can not be indifferent," said Berlin activist Friederie Frayer.



She and other activists are seriously concerned about reports that, on the eve of Sentsov, he declared an indefinite hunger strike.



In addition, this week in Berlin there were screenings of a film by Russian director Askold Kurov "The process" about Oleg Sentsov. On Thursday, the film will be shown in Hamburg.

Recall that North-Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don in August 2015 condemned O. Sentsov, detained in Crimea in 2014, for up to 20 years of a strict regime colony for attempting to set up a terrorist community on the territory of Crimea. The Ukrainian director was found guilty of creating a terrorist community on the peninsula. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation later recognized the lawful sentencing. O. Sentsov is serving a punishment in the colony of a strict regime in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (RF), better known as the "White Bear".

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The bridge that links Russia to illegally-annexed Crimea represents yet another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by the Russian Federation.

As reported by Censor.NET, Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland said in a statement on May 16.

"Canada condemns the construction and partial opening today of the Kerch Strait Bridge," she said.

"The bridge, which links Russia to illegally-annexed Crimea, represents yet another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by the Russian Federation. It aims to harden Russia’s unlawful hold on the peninsula and to forcibly isolate it from the rest of Ukraine.

"Canada reiterates its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We call on the Russian Federation to cease its violations of this fundamental tenet of the rules-based international order," Freeland said.

As reported, President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced the need to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait immediately after the annexation of Crimea in March 2014. Originally, the bridge was expected to be built before 2018 and put into operation in the summer of 2019. Putin attended the official bridge opening ceremony on May 15.

ua.censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український