The situation on the ground is very confused, there are a lot of rumors and few verifiable facts. Still, a few things are becoming obvious:1) So far the offensive of the neo-Fascists is lame, at best. So far, no determined and sustained attack has occurred. There was an exchange of gunfire with casualties and at least one fatality reported in Slaviansk, but that occurred on the outskirts of the city
No assault in eastern Ukraine after ultimatum deadline passed Iatseniuk mentioned the possibility of a referendum MVD and SBU offices in Donetsk seized by armed men Alpha anti-terrorist team refused to attack Cops (militia) also refused to attack Slaviansk: city revolts, locals takeover building and built barricades Kramatorsk: gunfire reported around government buildings Police building seized Police SWAT teams have refused to “fire a single shot” against the people and
The OSCE has agreed to send observers to the Ukraine. Their task shall be to monitor the situation and to investigate reports of human right violations. The OSCE has had to accept the fact that Crimea is now part of Russia, thus the observers shall not be deployed to the Russian Peninsula. The situation in the Ukrainian military is one of total chaos. Not only have three tanks and one
Serious clashes have taken place in the city of Donetsk. According to most accounts, the newly appointed billionaire governor Taruta attempted to organize a demonstration in support of “a united Ukraine”. For his purpose he bused in from Kiev and western Ukraine. The local population organized a counter-demonstration. The cops tried to keep the two groups apart, but failed, and soon violent clashes happened. The Banderites were fewer in numbers,
The new authorities in Banderastan have taken the decision to block all Russian TV channels previously received in the Ukraine. The latest polls in Crimea indicate a 85% for a ‘yes’ in the upcoming referendum. Crimean Tatars have indicated that they will accept the will of the majority of the people as expressed in the referendum. OSCE observers, which had been invited to monitor the referendum, have refused to come
There are 160 billion dollars invested by Russia in the West. There are 248 billion dollars invested by the West in Russia. Sanctions anybody? Russia still has the option of shutting down the NATO route to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan. This is an option with Russia did not exercise over the war in Syria, but which it will almost certainly exercise in case of a NATO intervention in the
In the city of Lugansk a crowd of demonstrators stormed to local administration building and forced the Kiev-appointed governor to resign. Donetsk: 10’000 people have prevented a pro-nationalist rally featuring Vitalii Klitchko from taking place and have demanded the release of the popularly elected governor (still held in Kiev). The chief of the neo-Fascist organization Right Sector, Dmitri Iarosh, has announced that he will run for President in the upcoming
A deputy of the Ukrainian Rada who spoke on Russian TV from Moscow said that his contacts in the Crimea had informed him that the Ukrainian side had deployed unknown number of Grad BM-21M multiple-launch rocket systems (MRLS) just 2 way from the first Crimean checkpoints (these relatively old systems – they were built in the 1960s – have a 20 miles – 30km – range). Big demonstration in Kharkov
The situation outside Crimea is rapidly deteriorating. Yesterday, a SWAT team of the Ukrainian SBU has arrested the “popular governor” of the Donetsk region. He whereabouts are unknown. The local police has also arrested an unknown number of anti-insurgent demonstrators. Arrests of protesters have also happened in other cities of the Ukraine, including Odessa. To my knowledge there are no signs of police forces siding with the anti-insurgent forces anywhere
The Crimean authorities have just announced that the referendum of the future of the Crimea will be held on March 16 and that the two questions will be: Are you in favor of Crimea becoming a constituent territory of the Russian Federation? or Are you in favor of restoring Crimea’s 1992 constitution? Crimean MPs voted on Thursday for the region to “to become part of the Russian Federation as its
The situation in the city of Donetsk is becoming unstable again. The local people have elected a “people’s governor”, but the local police forces seem to be loyal to the oligarch appointed as governor by the insurgents. The local people had been occupying the local governor’s offices and parliament building until this morning when the police told them that there was a bomb threat and that they needed to evacuate.
A mass rally took place today in the city of Odessa. The demonstrators surrounded the local parliament building and demanded the the elected officials adopt a referendum on the future of the city of Odessa. The elected officials suggested a 1-2 days of cooling off. The demonstrators rejected that offer and stormed the building which they now control. Close to 700’000 refuges from the Ukraine have sought refuge in Russia.
