Fighting stops investigators
International investigators and observers are again prevented from entering the crash site because of the ongoing fighting between pro-separatists and Ukrainian forces. The group of 50 Dutch and Australian experts, accompanied by monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), was also forced to abandon its attempts to reach the site because of the fighting on two other recent occasions. The Dutch Justice Ministry says the team is unable to leave Donetsk because
there is too much fighting at the moment on and near the route to the disaster site.
PM and Cabinet resign
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and his Cabinet resign. He tells parliament:
I announce resignation after the collapse of the coalition and the blocking of government initiatives.
Fighter jets shot down
0 CommentsTwo Sukhoi-25 fighters are shot down in Ukraine over Savur Mogila. According to a Defense Ministry spokesperson, the jets may have carried two passengers each. The pilots ejected from the planes, but it is not known if they survived the fall, and search parties are looking for them. Reuters reports that Kiev blames the pro-Russian separatists for the incident.
Dutch PM asks Putin to use his power
With almost two-thirds of the people killed in the crash of flight MH17 being Dutch, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, urges President Vladimir Putin to use his power to influence the rebels to allow full access to the crash site. In a press briefing he says:
I want to see results in the form of unimpeded access and rapid recovery. This is now priority number one.
New Russia sanctions
Obama announces new sanctions against Russia aiming at banking, energy and defense entities. The new sanctions are mainly a response to the country allowing weapons to cross into Ukraine, as well as other related issues.
I have repeatedly made it clear that Russia must halt the flow of weapons and fighters across the border into Ukraine. I have made this clear directly to [Russian President] Putin.
Four escape downed plane
Four crew members escape and two others on board are taken as hostages from the transport plane that was shot down near the Russian border this week. Two people remain missing. All of the people that were on the plane are Ukrainians. The Defense Ministry says the four who escaped “are in a safe location.”
Military transport plane shot down
0 CommentsPro-Russian separatists take responsibility for shooting down a An-26 plane over Luhansk, but Ukrainian Defense Minister Valery Heletey says the aircraft had been flying too high for their rockets to reach it. Hetley tells President Petro Poroshenko, according to a statement on the president’s web site:
The plane was downed by another, more powerful missile weapon that probably was used from the territory of the Russian Federation.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Andriy Lysenko, tells reporters in Kiev that the plane was flying at about 21,000 feet and that they believed it had been hit either by a powerful Pantsir surface-to-air missile or by an air-to-air homing missile fired by a fighter jet from Russia’s Millerovo air base. Russia did not comment on the matter.
Russia warns of ‘irreversible consequences’
0 CommentsRussia is accusing Ukraine of lobbing a shell over the border and killing one civilian and are warning of “irreversible consequences” in response to the act. Ukrainian officials deny the accusation. A senior Russian legislator is now calling for pinpoint airstrikes on Ukrainian soil of the sort, he says, Israel is making in the Gaza Strip:
We need to use precision weapons, like Israel’s, to destroy those who launched the bomb.
One dead, two injured in Donetsk
0 CommentsA shells hits a courtyard outside of a residential building in Donetsk and kills one and seriously injures two others. Putin expresses “grave concern” over the incident. Ukrainian officials are denying that Ukrainian shells had fallen on Russian territory. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, was quoted by Interfax Ukraine as saying that Ukrainian forces:
do not fire on the territory of a neighboring country. They do not fire on residential areas.
He is placing the blame for the attack on the rebels themselves.
Overnight attack kills civilians
0 CommentsSeveral civilians die in an overnight shelling in Maryinka, a town in southeastern Ukraine near Donetsk. A cattle feed plant, a milk factory and a former tire plant were hit in the attack. A water purification station was also struck, leaving the town without water. There are also unconfirmed reports that an orphanage was destroyed. According to a resident of the town:
There are 2 bodies over here – and 1 more over there. In total, they say, 6 people have been killed.
EU names latest sanctions
The European Union extends sanctions to cover 11 leaders of the pro-Moscow rebellion in eastern Ukraine. Targets of the asset freeze and travel ban include two Russian spin doctors, Alexander Borodai, prime minister of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, and his counterpart in the Luhansk People’s Republic, Marat Bashirov, both formerly worked for Russian tycoons. Also on the new list were two men identified as rebel military leaders: Nikolai Kozitsyn, commander of Cossack forces, and Alexei Mosgovy, responsible for military training. The names were published today in the EU’s Official Journal; it brought the total of people affected by the EU’s Ukraine-related sanctions to 72, as well as two companies whose EU-based assets have been ordered frozen.
Missile attacks kills 19
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reports missiles fired at government troops near the Russian border killed 19 servicemen. A Defense Ministry spokesman says four other troops died, but does not elaborate on the circumstances regarding those deaths.
Donetsk bridges blown up
Explosions blow up three bridges leading into Donetsk. Although it is not clear who caused the explosions, they are being blamed on Russian rebels, as they attempt to hold on to one of the last major cities under their control. After being driven out of Sloviansk by the Ukranian Army, the rebels fled to Donetsk where they had previously declared their independence as Donetsk’s People’s Republic. Reuters is reporting bursts of gunfire in many of the neighborhoods in the center of Donetsk, and is saying people are fearful of warfare breaking out between the army and the rebels.
Russian separatists regroup at rally
Russian separatists regroup in the city of Donetsk after being driven out of Sloviansk by rebels. In front of a crowd of thousands, they are vowing to renew their fight against the government in Kiev. Pavel Gubarev, the self-described governor of the Donetsk People’s Republic, tells the crowd:
We will begin a real partisan war around the whole perimeter of Donetsk. We will drown these wretches in blood.
Reclaims Sloviansk
After a night of fighting, President Poroshenko and a rebel spokesperson report the Ukranian flag is now flying over Sloviansk. The city had been under rebel control since April 12, 2014. The military reports it destroyed a tank and four other armored vehicles during the overnight battle. A spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council:
Sloviansk is under siege. Now an operation is going on to neutralize small groups hiding in buildings where peaceful citizens are living.
Cease-fire agreement ends
President Poroshenko announces the cease-fire has ended in a television address. The agreement expires at midnight, and military operation in the east part of the country commence today.
Termination of ceasefire is our response to terrorists, insurgents, marauders … and (those who) deprive people of normal peaceful life.
Rebels free four
Pro-Russian insurgents release a second team of members from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who were being held captive since the end of May. The release happened after a EU summit on June 27, 2014. The first OSCE team was released earlier last week. The observers were released and met by organization officials in Donetsk. An OSCE spokesman says:
They’re in good health, they’re in good spirits.
Alexander Borodai, an insurgent leader says:
We have fulfilled our obligations before the Ukrainian side. All eight observers have been released.
EU trade pact problematic
Ukraine’s signing of a trade and economic pact with the European Union may bring “grave consequences,” Russia warns. The agreement prompts EU leaders to hold off on imposing new sanctions on Russia for its continued military presence in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko calls the agreement with the EU the “most important day” for his country since it became independent from the Soviet Union. Olexander Motsyk, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., told FoxNews.com:
It is our ambition to become a member of the European Union in foreseeable future, the purpose of which is not just to join the EU, but, most importantly, to build a free, democratic and prosperous European nation in Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.
There will undoubtedly be serious consequences for Ukraine and Moldova’s signing.
Peace is a possibility
Poroshenko says peace is possible if Russian President Vladimir Putin is in the right mood. In an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour he says:
Sometimes, the position of Mr. Putin is quite pragmatic, sometimes it is very emotional. I just try to find out the time when he is more pragmatic than emotional.
Thousands flee Ukraine
As the cease-fire truce nears an end, thousands of Ukranian citizens flee to Russia, many vowing never to return because they feel their government betrayed them. Over the past few months, tens of thousands have already fled to Russia seeking safety. Russia’s migration service reports they have registered the arrival of 90,000 Ukranians, with very few requesting refugee status, which would require them to stay in Russia for six months.