Ukraine News. Thursday 1 February. [Ukrainian sources]

THURSDAY HEADLINES:
"Europe becomes a target for Russian missiles": Moscow commented on the US withdrawal from the missile treaty.  NATO supported the US withdrawal from the missile treaty and claimed responsibility for Moscow.  Ukraine plans to launch a large-scale procurement of weapons from the United States, Vice Prime Minister.  Poland wants the United States to place nuclear missiles in Europe.  US backs Ukraine’s future membership in NATO, - Volker.  US, EU might impose new sanctions on Russia for actions in Kerch Strait, - Volker. Russia-held Ukrainian Gryb might die without immediate surgery, father says. 'Cold peace' unnecessary because of no war between Ukraine and Russia, - Kremlin responds to Poroshenko. A ship with a Russian crew and 9.5 tons of cocaine was detained in Cape Verde.

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In the Federation Council stated that in the event of the US withdrawal from a missile treaty, Europe becomes a target for Russian missiles
This was stated by the member of the international committee of the Federation Council Oleg Morozov.

"It is important for Europeans to realize that they will now become targets for Russian missiles," Russian agency Morozov quotes RIA Novosti.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

The North Atlantic Alliance strongly supported the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Intermediate-Range Missile Treaty and declared Russia's material breach of its obligations under the Treaty.

This is stated in a NATO statement.

The Allies expressed regret that Russia continues to deny violations, refuses to provide any trustworthy answer, and does not take any obvious steps to comply with the treaty.

The NATO allies called on Moscow to use the next six months in order to resume the operation of the PCM Treaty, and to destroy the 9M729 missiles.

"The Allies regret that Russia continues to deny violations, refuses to provide any credible answers and does not take any obvious steps to return to full compliance with the treaty," the statement said.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

Ukraine is interested in launching a large-scale procurement of high-tech defense equipment from the United States

This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers reports.

According to her, Ukraine hopes to become an active participant in the US Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program.

"US assistance continues to improve the training of combat units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, their equipment, medical and logistical support. I hope that with the new legislation, our cooperation will be even stronger," she said.

In turn, the US spokeswoman for the high-level strategic advisers of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Lieutenant-General of the United States Army, Keith Dayton, said his team was focused on helping Ukraine implement quality defense sector reforms.

espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

Polish Foreign Ministry head Jacek Chaputovich spoke for the deployment of American nuclear missiles in Europe

He said this in a comment on  Spiegel.

"It is in our European interest to have American troops and nuclear missiles on the continent," said Chaputovich.

He did not exclude that one day NATO missiles will be located in Poland.

"We do not want this at all, but everything will depend on how Russia will behave in the future, whether it will continue its aggressive arms-related behavior, and will depend on the decisions that the Alliance will take," the minister said.

 espreso.tv  In Ukrainian/український

The United States supports Ukraine’s future membership in NATO, said the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker on Jan. 31.

He added that Ukraine still has to do a lot for this to happen, Censor.NET reports citing Krym.Realii.

Volker said that the U.S. encourages Ukraine’s future membership in NATO, as it was decided at the summit in Bucharest in 2008.

He also mentioned that the U.S. continues to help Ukraine strengthen its system of defense, but reminded that to become a NATO member, Ukraine has to take on a military reform, as well as have strong democracy and economy, good relations with neighbors and meet a lot of other criteria.

Ukraine has to do a lot to become a member and there is no consensus inside NATO about sending the invitation to Ukraine, but doors for the future membership remain open, said Volker.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Russia has extended the arrest of Ukrainian sailors at least until Ukraine presidential elections are finished. U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker says that the sailors might be used as a tool for political pressure.

Censor.NET reports citing Voice of America.

Volker said Russia will not be unpunished for its aggression in the Black Sea. The possibility of new sanctions is being discussed by the West.

Both United States and Europe are looking into what additional measures we should be taking if Russia fails to return the sailors and continues to make those assertions of control of the Kerch Strait, Volker said.

He added that in February, the U.S. would be reviewing the set of sanctions introduced over the illegal annexation of Crimea.

He also mentioned that the EU is looking at additional sanctions as well.

Nothing has been agreed yet, but the EU have foreign ministers' meeting coming up also in February, Volker said.

And they do call on Russia to release the sailors immediately and try to come back to a diplomatic track of resolving this crisis, said the Ambassador.

Volker also welcomed the initiative to accept German and French monitors into the Kerch Strait. He argued that the presence of the monitoring mission would lessen the possibility of escalation. At the same time, the idea receives a lot of critisism from Ukraine as well, said Volker. It is about the presence of OSCE monitors in the territory not related to the conflict zone in a situation when OSCE mission includes a lot of Russians.

U.S. representative also commented on the new peace plan for Donbas suggested by the Special Representative of the OSCE head in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Martin Sajdik.

Martin Sajdik outlines a detailed plan of what the OSCE and UN missions wold do in Donbas. Some of the ideas he suggested are useful to consider. However, to implement the plan we must first solve the basic problem. And that is, whether Russia is ready to accept the presence of international peacekeepers in Donbas instead of the presence of the Russian armed forces. Russia continues to deny that it is occupying this territory. It continues to insist that only OSCE monitors are needed there, but not real peacekeeping forces. Russia blocks any attempts to bring international peacekeeping forces to Donbas. And this is a fundamental problem, Volker concluded.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The father of Ukrainian political prisoner in Russia Pavlo Hryb says his son has symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease.

As reported by Censor.NET, the prisoner’s father told in a comment to currenttime.tv.

"After examining medical tests made by Russian doctors, professor Vasyl Prytula, who has been providing treatment for Pavlo since childhood years, has come to a conclusion that Pavlo’s health has declined. He is in the initial stage of cirrhosis. Neurologist even said there might have been symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease," said the father of political prisoner.

Ihor Hryb reminded that in 2017, before his abduction, Pavlo was preparing for a surgery.

"He’s been behind bars for almost two years. He’s been beaten and tortured, has experienced psychological pressure and inhuman conditions. He has been disabled since childhood. He might die if the immediate surgery will not be provided," said the father.

As reported earlier, Aug. 24, 2017, Pavlo Hryb, aged 19, left for Belorussian city Gomel to see a girl he met on social media, without knowing her personally, his father told. The girl was supposed to come from Russia. Pavlo was to return home on the same day, but he didn't. His father went to search for his son in Gomel the next day, and found out that Pavlo was on the wanted list by the Russian FSB for an alleged terrorist attack.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

Kremlin says that there is no war between Ukraine and Russia, only "civil war" in the territory of Ukraine.

As reported by Censor.NET citing UNIAN, Russia president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov responded to Poroshenko’s statement on the need for "cold peace" with Russia.

"There is no war between Ukraine and Russia. There is civil war in Ukraine and there are developments in Ukraine that were triggered by the authorities in Kyiv and that resulted in the establishment of the two republics in the country's southeast region," Peskov told journalists.

Peskov said that such developments have lead to the escalation along the front line in Donbas and that there are consequences for the socio-economic situation in the two "republics" associated with "Kyiv's policy of alienating these two republics from Ukraine."

Peskov also mentioned Russia’s negative assessment of "discriminatory measures against Russian companies," such as "infringement upon their property" in Ukraine. He also talked about attacks on Russian media, freedom of press and Russain journalists.

"We would certainly like to dispose our bilateral relations of such ugly developments," Peskov added.

As reported earlier, Ukraine President Poroshenko admitted that Ukraine needed "cold peace" with Russia as people were tired of war.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український

The Cape Verde authorities detained a vessel with 11 Russian sailors and 9.5 tons of cocaine aboard.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to UNIAN

According to the Naval Bulletin, the ship ESER under the banner of Panama traveled from this country to Morocco (Tangier city) and forced a forced stop at Praia in Cape Verde. This happened after one of the crew members died for an unidentified reason.

Local police found 9.5 tons of cocaine aboard. The authorities detained the crew, the ship is in the port.

The representative of the Russian embassy in Cape Verde confirmed that, according to preliminary information, the detention is associated with suspicion of drug smuggling.

censor.net.ua  In Ukrainian/український