Intense artillery duel rocks Mariupol
KYIV – Reports from eastern Ukraine say seven people were killed overnight in fighting along the front lines between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine – including an intense artillery duel at the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Residents described the battle as the heaviest fighting there in more than three months. Correspondents say the fighting on August 17 was between government forces on the eastern side of Mariupol and artillery positioned to the east of the city in territory under the control of pro-Russian separatists. Reports say houses were destroyed in the village of Sartana about 20 kilometers east of Mariupol, and that an oil depot has also been damaged. Regional police in Mariupol said that two civilians – a man and a woman – were killed by separatist shells that landed in Sartana. Separatists said at least three people were killed by government shelling of Horlivka, a hot spot northeast of Donetsk. There also were reports of heavy shelling by government forces into separatist-controlled Donetsk early on August 17. Donetsk city officials say at least two people were killed by shells that exploded within the administrative center of Donetsk. The latest violence comes after a week of intensifying clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists near the government-held coastal city on the Sea of Azov. Much of the fighting has been along a key road linking Mariupol with the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk to the north. Mariupol sits along a strategic coastal route linking Russia and separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine with Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in March 2014. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters, BBC, Interfax, TASS, and Bild am Sonntag)
Steinmeier warns of ‘explosive’ crisis
BERLIN – Germany’s foreign affairs minister says the situation in eastern Ukraine is “explosive” and that urgent talks must be held to prevent “a new military escalation spiral.” Frank-Walter Steinmeier made the comments in an interview published on August 16 in the Bild Am Sonntag. Mr. Steinmeier said he has proposed that representatives of Kyiv and the Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine meet immediately with representatives of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for talks on reducing tensions. About 6,400 people have been killed in the fighting in eastern Ukraine since the violence erupted last year. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and Bild Am Sonntag)
Civilians killed during surge in shelling
KYIV – Three civilians were killed in eastern Ukraine during what government forces said was record-high shelling since the start of a fragile ceasefire in February. Authorities in Ukrainian-controlled territory along the front line told Agence France-Presse on August 15 that two civilians were killed and 15 more injured as a result of shelling over the past day. Senior separatist commander Eduard Basurin said that one civilian was killed and another three were injured in Horlivka, that five civilians were injured in Yasynuvata, and that one was injured in Makiyivka. “Over the past 24 hours we recorded the highest level of firing by the illegal armed groups for the past six months,” Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on August 15. He added that two government soldiers had also been wounded. Recent fighting has focused on control of a strategic highway linking the government-held southeastern port of Mariupol with Donetsk, which sits to the north. Most of the road is currently controlled by pro-Kyiv units. On August 14, Russia and Germany expressed concern about ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine and the risk of a new escalation in fighting. A spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry described it as “a case of dangerous brinksmanship.” The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on August 14 that its monitors had observed the use of heavy weapons, tanks and smaller-caliber weapons. The OSCE said that most of the violence observed took place in residential areas, endangering civilian lives. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Interfax)
Poroshenko to visit Brussels for talks
BRUSSELS – The European Commission said on August 18 that Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko plans to visit Brussels within the next two week to discuss a recent surge in violence in eastern Ukraine that has cast doubts on a ceasefire deal between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian government forces. Commission spokeswoman Annika Breidhardt did not announce a specific date for Mr. Poroshenko’s visit but said it would take place before the end of August. Skirmishes between government forces and separatists around Ukraine’s southeastern port city of Mariupol raised concerns that a fragile ceasefire agreement reached in Minsk in February could break down completely. The Minsk agreement is meant to be fully implemented by the end of 2015. The European Union faces new decisions in the coming month about sanctions it has imposed on Russia after pledging to lift them only after all conditions of the Minsk deal are met. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Agence France-Presse and Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
U.S. provides military field hospital
KYIV – The United States on August 18 officially transferred to the government of Ukraine a $7.6 million expeditionary military field hospital to help enhance the country’s ability to treat soldiers injured in ongoing operations to defend Ukraine’s sovereign territory against aggression by Russian-separatist combined forces in eastern Ukraine. Col. Carol Northrup, defense attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, presented the facility on behalf of the government of the United States at a ceremony in Zhytomyr, Ukraine. Col. Andrii Verba, director of the Ministry of Defense Military Medical Department, and Yaroslav Lahuta, deputy governor of Zhytomyr Oblast, accepted it on behalf of the Ukrainian government. Known in the U.S. as the Expeditionary Medical Support System (EMEDS), the field hospital is a light, lean, resuscitative care facility that can be forward deployed to provide rapid medical support for a broad range of military operations. It can be used to treat wounded soldiers, stabilize patients, and prepare casualties for medical evacuation to facilities that can provide a higher level of care, as well as provide primary care, dental services and force health protection. The facility is designed to be manned by 30 medical /medical support personnel. It can provide care for up to 3,000 troops. It consists of four tents, takes about 24 hours to erect, and can operate in an austere environment for up to 10 days until resupply. U.S. military personnel are training their Ukrainian counterparts on how to make full use of the facility this month. (U.S. Embassy Kyiv)
Kerry expresses concern to Lavrov
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has called Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov to express “grave concern” about the sharp increase in separatist attacks in eastern Ukraine, the State Department said on August 13. According to a State Department spokesman, Mr. Kerry also urged for an immediate ceasefire to take place. Ukraine said two soldiers had been killed in the heaviest clashes with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine since a fragile ceasefire was negotiated in Minsk in February. Secretary Kerry also expressed concern about the visit by Iranian elite Quds force leader Qasem Soleimani to Moscow in late July. The spokesman said the visit would be discussed with Russia at an upcoming New York meeting on violent extremism. Mr. Soleimani is one of several Iranian officials targeted by a 2007 U.N. travel ban because of their alleged links to Iran’s nuclear or ballistic-missile programs. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and Agence France-Presse)
Poll: negative views of Russia, Putin
WASHINGTON – A new opinion poll shows that both Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, are viewed unfavorably around the world. A U.S.-based Pew Research Center poll released on August 5 shows that a median of just 30 percent have a positive opinion of Russia among respondents from 39 countries around the world, excluding Russia. Only 24 percent in the countries surveyed expressed confidence in Putin “to do the right thing regarding world affairs.” Of the 39 countries polled, only Vietnam (75 percent), Ghana (56 percent) and China (51 percent) yielded a majority of respondents who viewed Russia in a favorable light. Mr. Putin garnered a majority favorable rating only in Vietnam (70 percent) and China (54 percent). He received an overwhelmingly positive assessment inside Russia, where 88 percent of respondents expressed support for their head of state. Relations between Russia and the West have plunged to lows not seen since the Cold War, driven by the Kremlin’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region last year and a simmering war between Kyiv and Russian-backed insurgents in eastern Ukraine. In response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the United States and the European Union have imposed several waves of sanctions on Russian officials, companies, and wealthy businesspeople close to Putin. The punitive measures have angered Russia, which denies accusations by the West and Kyiv that it is backing the rebels in Ukraine despite mounting evidence of such support. Russia accuses Washington and Brussels of sponsoring a coup against former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, a Kremlin ally, and backing a pro-Western government in Kyiv that Moscow regularly portrays as right-wing extremists. The damaged relations between Moscow and the West are reflected in the new Pew Research Center poll. Only 11 percent of Russians said they trusted U.S. President Barack Obama, down from 41 percent in 2011, at the height of his so-called “reset” policy aimed at improving ties with the Kremlin. Among U.S. respondents, 75 percent said they had “no confidence” in Mr. Putin’s handling of world affairs compared to 21 percent who said they trust the Russian leader. The poll, conducted March 25-27, surveyed a total of 45,435 respondents from 40 countries. (RFE/RL)
Video posted of captured Russian soldier
KYIV – Ukraine’s state security agency has released a new video purporting to show a Russian army officer who was detained last month in eastern Ukraine appealing to President Vladimir Putin to secure his release. The soldier in the video was identified by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) as Maj. Vladimir Starkov, who Ukrainian officials say has admitted that he was serving in Russia’s armed forces at the time of his capture. Ukraine is likely to use the video to bolster its case that Russia is backing separatists fighting Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine in the 15-month-long conflict and undermining a ceasefire deal reached in February in Minsk. Russia has repeatedly denied its soldiers are fighting in Ukraine, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. The Kremlin has conceded that Russian citizens, including servicemen, have fought alongside the rebels but says they are volunteers operating outside of official control. Moscow has also denied providing heavy, sophisticated weaponry that has been repeatedly seen in eastern Ukraine to separatist forces. In the video published on August 13 on YouTube by the SBU, the man, who does not identify himself, is shown wearing a camouflage jacket and is clean-shaven except for a mustache and goatee. Speaking Russian, he appeals directly to Mr. Putin to acknowledge his service and asks the Russian president to help free him. “I’m not a combat officer. I am only a ‘paper,’ a clerical officer,” he says. “I served 19 years in the Russian Army. And now they don’t acknowledge me. They’re saying there’s no one by that name. He didn’t serve. How could they do such a thing?” he adds. It was unclear when the two-minute video was made or whether the man was pressured to make the claims. SBU chief Vasyl Hrytsak told reporters earlier that Maj. Starkov had been detained on July 26 at a checkpoint outside the separatist-held city of Donetsk. Mr. Hrytsak said on July 29 that Maj. Starkov had been charged with terrorism, an allegation denied by the man shown in a video released by the SBU on August 13. “I’m not a terrorist. I didn’t come here to kill anyone. Before my detention, I didn’t put up any resistance because I knew that officially, we weren’t enemies,” the man says. “I request that someone acknowledges that I’m a [Russian] soldier and helps me somehow transfer out of here,” he adds. Following Ukraine’s announcement of Starkov’s detention, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov repeated denials of Russian involvement in the conflict. A day earlier, meanwhile, Euronews also published excerpts of an interview with a man who appears to be the same man from the SBU video. In the interview, the man – whom Euronews also identifies as Starkov – was quoted as describing how he was ordered to go to Ukraine. “Senior officers gathered us in a conference room and announced that our positions would be the same as promised, but we should do our military service in Ukraine: in the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics,” he was quoted as saying, using the names of the self-proclaimed separatist governments. “It was forbidden to inform our relatives about this,” Euronews quoted him as saying. (RFE/RL)
Russia expands food import ban
MOSCOW – Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that four countries have been added to its import ban list for foreign food. He also threatened on August 13 that Ukrainian products would be added to the Russian blacklist if Kyiv implemented the economic parts of its Association Agreement with the European Union. Mr. Medvedev named the four additional countries as Albania, Montenegro, Iceland and Lichtenstein. He said Ukraine would be added at the start of 2016 unless Kyiv reached a settlement with Moscow that circumvents the economic regulations in Ukraine’s trade accord with the EU. The ban has already made it illegal for Russians to import food from the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union. It was imposed by the Kremlin in 2014 in retaliation for U.S. and EU sanctions over Russia’s invasion and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and the Kremlin’s support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL based on reporting by Reuters, the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Interfax and TASS)
Groysman explains Donbas status
KYIV – Changes to the Constitution are not expected to grant any special status to the Donbas, according to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Volodymyr Groysman. According to August 11 media reports, he explained that special status and special procedures of local self-governance are not same. “Powers within the responsibility of local self-governance are defined by the Constitution, while the special status is about peculiarities of executing state functions and partially of granting signs of a state to the territory. In other words, peculiarities of local self-governance in no way alter the unitary state, while the special status means increased autonomy and is a step towards federalization,” he said. (Ukraine Crisis Media Center)
PACE president writes to Savchenko
OTTAWA – Nadiya Savchenko’s attorney, Mark Feygin, released a letter from Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) President Anne Brasseur to the Ukrainian pilot, member of the Ukrainian Parliament and member of Ukraine’s PACE delegation, who has been illegally imprisoned in Russia for over a year, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress reported on August 14. Ms. Brasseur wrote, “It is with great concern that I have learned from your letter of 15 July 2015 that the court hearings in your case would be held in the city of Donetsk, Rostov Oblast, Russia. As you are aware, since your appointment as member of the Ukrainian delegation to the [PACE] I have repeatedly appealed to the Russian government to release you… I am deeply concerned that these, as well as other actions taken by the Assembly, have so far not led to your release. Therefore, as a follow-up to your letter I will appeal once again to the Russian authorities for your release. …On behalf of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, allow me to convey a message of support to you in the extremely difficult situation you are living through. I hope that our efforts will be successful and I will soon have the honor of welcoming you in Strasbourg in the Assembly chamber.” (Ukrainian Canadian Congress)
Kasich: Help Ukraine defend itself
DERRY, N.H. – During a campaign stop at a town hall in New Hampshire on August 12, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said the United States should be aiding Ukraine against Russian aggression. “For the life of me, I cannot understand why we are not giving the Ukrainians [the ability] to defend themselves against Putin and the Russians,” Gov. Kasich said. He explained that the Ukrainians should get the help they deserve. “They’ve been through hell over the course of their existence, and we’ve got to let them fight for themselves.” (dailysignal.com)
Trump indifferent to Ukraine in NATO
DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, the brash businessman who has upended the field of Republicans vying for their party’s 2016 nomination, has responded with blunt indifference to Ukraine’s possible membership in NATO. “I wouldn’t care. If [Ukraine] goes in, great. If it doesn’t go in, great,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with NBC on August 16. In the wide-ranging interview, he spoke briefly about Ukraine. Mr. Trump also said that Europe should bear the brunt of the responsibility for standing up to Russia in the Ukraine conflict. “I don’t like what’s happening with Ukraine. But that’s really a problem that affects Europe a lot more than it affects us. And they should be leading some of this charge,” he said. The United States and the EU have spearheaded international efforts to punish Russia with sanctions over its Crimea land grab and the war in eastern Ukraine, where some 6,400 people have been killed since the violence erupted between Kyiv’s forces and the rebels in April 2014. Mr. Trump accused Germany – whose chancellor, Angela Merkel, has been a stinging critic of Russia in the conflict – of “sitting back” and “accepting all the oil and gas that they can get from Russia” while the United States is “leading Ukraine.” The EU gets about 30 percent of its natural gas from Russia, which increased its gas supplies to Germany by nearly 50 percent in the second quarter of this year, Bloomberg reported on August 14. “Why are we leading the charge in Ukraine?” Mr. Trump said. At an August 14 campaign event, Mr. Trump said U.S.-Russian ties have become “pretty well-destroyed” under President Barack Obama and that if elected, he “would have a great relationship with Russia and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.” Asked whether he would roll back sanctions against Russia, Mr. Trump said: “It depends, depends. They have to behave also.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by the Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg and c-span.org)
NATO warns Russia against territory grab
BRUSSELS – NATO has warned Moscow that any attempt by Russian-backed separatists to take more territory in eastern Ukraine would be “unacceptable.” NATO said in a statement on August 19 that its 28 member states had discussed the recent escalation in violence in Ukraine and added that “Russia has a special responsibility to find a political solution” to the crisis. It called on all parties to “de-escalate tensions and exercise restraint.” NATO said any attempt by the rebels to move further into Ukraine would be “unacceptable to the international community.” Fighting between government forces and the separatist forces around the southern port city of Mariupol in recent days has led to several people being killed. NATO also called on all sides to ensure that monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) can perform their jobs “safely and without restrictions.” (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Reuters and Deutsche Presse-Agentur)
Putin on archeological dive off Crimea
MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin used a visit to Crimea to join experts on a research submarine in the Black Sea on August 18. Mr. Putin and the experts from the Russian Geographic Society dove to the wreck of a Byzantine ship from the 11th century, which sank near Sevastopol. “This dive should motivate people to get interested in history,” he said. “It’s roughly the 10th-11th century, just the time when Russian [sic] statehood was taking shape and ties with the Byzantine Empire and other countries were developing. Therefore, I think, this should be interesting both to specialists and the general public and should prompt us all to pay more attention to national history.” It was not the first time the Russian president dove in a small submarine. He made a dive in Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world’s deepest lake, in 2009. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Deutsche Presse-Agentur, TASS and Interfax)