DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: The Hours Before The Ceasefire Between Ukraine And Pro-Russian Rebels – In Picture

DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: The Hours Before The Ceasefire Between Ukraine And Pro-Russian Rebels – In Picture

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 14, 2015: Fears for Ukraine’s ceasefire as clashes with Russia-backed rebels intensify. Neither side seems to expect an end to the conflict, and both were trying to shore up their positions before the deadline.

Fighting between government and rebel forces in eastern Ukraine trailed off in the first hours after a midnight ceasefire began – but steady shelling resumed later in the morning near the besieged city of Debaltseve.

Kiev and the breakaway republics in the east said fighting had quietened and the ceasefire was mostly being observed.

But the Guardian heard mortar fire to the east of Luhanske on the highway to Debaltseve, where up to 8,000 Ukrainian troops have been under rebel attack for weeks.

The UN security council was convening an emergency session on Sunday to hear a Russian resolution on the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

South of Luhanske is a 10-mile stretch of road that is often shelled by rebels and is reportedly mined, largely cutting off Debaltseve from the rest of the Ukrainian forces. Further north on the highway a destroyed troop transport truck was still smoking on Sunday morning.

Soldiers at the last checkpoint in Luhanske said the guns had gone quiet after the midnight ceasefire, but shelling of Ukrainian positions in the area had resumed around 6am – a report confirmed by the press service of Kiev’s “anti-terrorist operation”.

“There’s no ceasefire here,” said a Ukrainian soldier who would give only his first name, Andrei.

“It’s a present from Putin,” joked another soldier, gesturing in the direction of the shelling.

The soldiers said Ukrainian forces were not shooting back, but some of the shelling to the east of Luhanske sounded like outgoing fire. Ukrainian army command said its forces were observing the ceasefire but would return fire if attacked or if the rebels shelled residential areas.

Related - DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: The Hours Before The Ceasefire Between Ukraine And Pro-Russian Rebels – In Picture

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DTN News - UKRAINE NEWS: Ukraine-European Union Ratify A Landmark Political And Free Trade Deal Agreement

DTN News - UKRAINE NEWS: Ukraine-European Union Ratify A Landmark Political And Free Trade Deal Agreement

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources European Parliament / News
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - September 16, 2014: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shows a document about the ratification of a Ukraine-EU agreement after it was signed by him in the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, 16 September 2014. 

The parliaments of Ukraine and the European Union were set 16 September to ratify a landmark political and free trade deal, but some lawmakers expressed displeasure over a delay in the agreement. 

The political and trade deal ratified by parliaments in Ukraine and the European Union were the first step towards membership in the bloc, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said. 

The European Parliament gave its consent to the EU-Ukraine Association agreement, which includes a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA), on Tuesday in Strasbourg. At the same time, the Agreement was also ratified by the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev. The deal will establish a deep political association and economic integration between the EU and Ukraine and provide for mutual free market access.

MEPs backed the agreement with 535 votes in favour, 127 against and 35 abstentions.

"Through this ratification, Ukraine's European choice will be institutionalized and will bind the futures of the EU and Ukraine together. Ukrainian society has paid the highest price for its European aspirations, grieving the deaths of numerous people, suffering territorial occupation by Russia and experiencing deteriorating economic conditions. With this ratification, the EU gives Ukraine the strongest sign of support, despite the regrettable proposal to delay implementation of the agreement" said rapporteur Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP, PL) before the vote.

He added that the agreement was "not a definitive goal of EU-Ukraine relations" and stressed that the common future of the EU and Ukraine must now be protected from Russian aggression by introducing "increasingly heavy sanctions until the cost for Russia will be too high to sustain its policy".

"This is an historic moment", said EP President Martin Schulz in his address to MPs in the Strasbourg and Kiev chambers via a video link. "The two parliaments freely determined to vote today at the same time on this agreement. This is free democracy, the opposite of directed democracy. The European Parliament has always defended the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and will continue to do so", he added.

Just before the Ukraine Parliament ratified the deal, President Poroshenko said "The Ukrainians have reversed the express-train going East, and I hope that also today's vote will confirm that. Our synchronised ratifications will be a feast, not just for Ukraine but also for Europe because without Ukraine there is no united Europe. I would like to thank Europe for the support it has given us in these difficult times. At the same time I would like to address our government - the EU only asks for one thing in return from us - the reforms. I urge you not to delay them in any way".

What does the deal involve?

The deal provides both for a political association and for free trade. The political provisions take Ukraine one step closer to the EU, by opening new channels for political dialogue and establishing ground rules for cooperation in areas such as energy, transport, and education. It requires Ukraine to implement reforms and respect democratic principles, human rights and the rule of law.

Among other rules, the deal provides for greater movement of workers, sets targets for establishing a visa-free travel regime and aligning the two sides’ regulatory systems by laying down detailed timetables for Ukraine to transpose parts of the EU acquis legislation into its national laws and put them into effect.

The Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement part substantially integrates the EU and Ukraine markets, by dismantling import duties and banning other trade restrictions, albeit with specific limitations and transitional periods in “sensitive” areas, such as trade in agricultural products. It will also partially integrate public procurement markets.

When will it take effect?

As a result of today's votes both in the EU and Ukrainian Parliament, the deal will be applied provisionally but the date still needs to be confirmed by the Council. To take full legal effect, the deal has to be ratified by the 28 EU member states. So far, it has been ratified in six member states,, but several years may elapse before the process is completed in all member states.

It was planned to apply the trade rules from 1 November this year, but last Friday 12 September the EU, Ukraine and Russia agreed in talks to delay the provisional entry into effect of the trade rules until 31 December 2015.


The EU Commission says that it will continue to apply EU “autonomous trade preferences” to Ukraine, which in effect opens the EU market to Ukraine unilaterally. A decision to prolong these preferences later would need the backing of the European Parliament.

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DTN News - UKRAINE UNREST: Kiev Says Two Russian Armoured Vehicles Captured in East Ukraine

DTN News - UKRAINE UNREST: Kiev Says Two Russian Armoured Vehicles Captured in East Ukraine

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources AFP
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 22, 2014: (KIEV) — Ukraine's military on Thursday said its forces in the east of the country had captured two Russian armored vehicles with documents linking them to an elite army paratrooper unit.

"Ukrainian soldiers captured two armored vehicles of Russia's Pskov Airbourne division in a battle near Lugansk," said security spokesman Andriy Lysenko at a briefing.

"One of the vehicles had a full set of documents, from driver's licenses to military documents," he said, adding that the vehicles had been abandoned by their drivers.

Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala, who is travelling with Kiev's army in the Lugansk region, published pictures on his Facebook page claiming to show a vehicle with its plates scratched out and various items apparently found inside, including a Russian passport.

A social networking page of a 20-year-old Russian with the same name and date of birth shows him posing in a typical Russian paratrooper uniform. The page was last updated in July.

Russia swiftly rejected allegations that it had sent vehicles into Ukraine.

"Among the daily 'exposure' of Russian presence in Ukraine this is the 1001st such piece of 'evidence'," military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told Russian state agency ITAR-TASS.

He said that Ukraine's army has the same equipment and the documents allegedly found inside had been stolen.

Kiev has accused Russia of sending weapons and soldiers into eastern Ukraine to aid the rebels as it mounts an offensive to surround Donetsk and Lugansk and cut off the area from the Russian border.

NATO has recently accused Russia of engaging in "hybrid warfare" and sending "secret commandos" across the border.

The 76th Chernigov airborne assault division based in Pskov, a city in western Russia close to the borders with Estonia and Latvia, is Russia's oldest paratrooper unit.

It participated in various conflicts and peacekeeping missions in the former Soviet Union and beyond, as well as Russia's war in Chechnya.

In February, Pskov lawmaker Lev Shlosberg wrote in a blog that the division has been sent to Crimea, where days later soldiers appeared armed to the teeth but without any identifying insignia.

The so-called "little green men" helped to seize Ukrainian military bases in the peninsula after a hastily organized referendum led to its annexation by Russia.


On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the Pskov division an award "for successful completion of combat missions and showing courage and heroism," without specifying where it had fought.

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DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Navigating Airspace Over Warzones

DTN News - AIRLINES NEWS: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17: Navigating Airspace Over Warzones

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources CBC
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - July 18, 2014: The Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 catastrophe in Ukraine could have been a tragedy for another international carrier, aviation experts say, noting the doomed jet’s flight plan was the very route that was, until recently, used by several European airlines.

The European Cockpit Association, which represents 38,000 pilots, said Thursday the path taken by the doomed Boeing 777 flying to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam is the "the most common route for flights from Europe to Southeast Asia."

MH17 ended up flying over a volatile region near eastern Ukraine.

A surface-to-air missile reportedly shot it down on Thursday after the commercial airliner carrying 298 people was believed to have drifted about 300 kilometres off its normal course to evade a thunderstorm.

'Mischance'

"The flight was diverted … into an area where the conflict was very active," said Ted Lennox, president of LPS AVA Consulting.

People place flowers outside Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, on July 18, 2014. The attack on a Malaysian jetliner Thursday afternoon killed 298 people from nearly a dozen nations, more than half being Dutch, including vacationers, students and a large contingent of scientists heading to an AIDS conference in Australia.   

"It was mischance, in some respects."

Amid calls for an international investigation, airlines and aviation authorities around the world ordered flight routes to circumvent the region.

"It’s a mistake a lot of people were making, and until now, very few were avoiding," said retired Air Canada and Canadian Air Force veteran Russ Cooper.

"The only ones that were basically opting out [of flying over the region] were the Americans because of the FAA."

Passengers' nationalities

Jos Nijhuis, CEO of Schiphol Airport, confirmed the 15-member crew were Malaysian nationals and said that along with at least one Canadian, the plane also carried:

154 Dutch passengers.
27 from Australia.
28 from Malaysia (including two infants).
12 Indonesians (including one infant).
Nine from the United Kingdom.
Four from Germany.
Four from Belgium.
Three from the Philippines.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority warned American aircraft on April 25 to steer clear of the region near the Crimean peninsula, where Ukraine’s military and pro-Russian separatists have clashed for months.

Air Canada released a statement Thursday confirming the carrier "has been proactively avoiding airspace over the region for some time already."

Before the disaster, there appeared to be little reason for concern given MH17’s high altitude, noted Pierre Jeanniot, a former Air Canada CEO who once negotiated flight routes over conflict areas.

The International Civil Aviation Organization had also deemed the route, known as L980, a safe corridor.

"I would think there are a lot of precedents around the world," Jeanniot said. "I mean, we flew over Afghanistan at those levels. We fly over Syria, we fly over Iran and Iraq … and we fly over a lot of Middle East points. We fly over Egypt, over a lot of potential problem areas, and no incidents have taken place. No major events."

Earlier in the week, however, Ukraine claimed that a military transport plane was downed by a Russian missile.

That should have raised red flags among risk-reduction analysts, said Arthur Rosenberg, a New York aviation lawyer.

"I don’t think anyone can dispute the fact that this is a warzone and no commercial airline should have been flying — in my view — in, near, or around this area," he said.

Knowledge of open or closed airspace and "war exclusion zones" are communicated through documents called "NOTAMs" (notice to airmen), which would be reviewed by everyone from the airline to the pilot, air traffic controllers and dispatchers.

Studying up on NOTAMs is part of routine flight planning, explained John Maris, president of the Ontario aerospace research firm Marinvent.

NOTAMs issued by each country

"The NOTAM will give you whatever information you need to stay out of trouble. So in Quebec we’ve got fireworks displays in the summer, and they’ll establish a little zone above the fireworks display prohibiting flight over that area, and give whatever altitude limit is required," he said.

A man uses his mobile phone to film the wreckage at the site of the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Grabove, in rebel-held east Ukraine on July 18.

For a space shuttle launch, a NOTAM would inform pilots whether an area has become "hot" or active, and indicate whether a patch of airspace that is normally dormant should be avoided at any altitude.

The publicly accessible documents would also advise pilots about whether an airport is closed, a taxi runway is congested, or whether local air shows or military test sites are active in the area.

"If you're going to fly all the way across Europe, you'll get the French NOTAMs, the German NOTAMs, Greek NOTAMS, all in one big dump, if you will. It's up to you as a pilot to decide how you'll react to them," said Maris, who has conducted aviation accident investigation work.

'The argument would be that at that altitude, the airplane is not a threat. Who's going to shoot down an airplane at 35,000 feet?' - Mike Boyd, aviation expert with the Boyd Group

The non-profit Nav Canada runs and lists national NOTAM data. Ukraine’s civil air navigation system publishes its own.

If carriers failed to follow Ukraine’s aeronautical advisories then, they’re much more likely to heed them now.

"I guarantee there’s not going to be a commercial airline within a 1,000 kilometres of that place now," said Mike Boyd, a Colorado-based airline security consultant and president of the Boyd Group.

While North American airliners exercised caution around Russia and Ukraine, Boyd said, "you can make the argument legitimately that Malaysia should have known better than to be there."

Yet it appears Malaysia flight never actually violated closed airspace near Dontesk in Ukraine’s east.

A deadly presumption

Eurocontrol, which co-ordinates European airspace, said its records showed the Malaysian airliner was flying at a cruising altitude of roughly 10,000 metres, or 305 metres above restricted airspace.

Although the airline company may have believed that to be a "safe" distance from the reach of military ground fire, Boyd said that was a deadly presumption to make.

"The argument would be that at that altitude, the airplane is not a threat," he said. "Who’s going to shoot down an airplane at 35,000 feet?"

Cooper called that a grave "miscalculation."

The BUK missile launcher, also known as the SA-11, is sophisticated radar-guided weaponry that can launch missiles with a range of up to 80,000 feet.

Saving on fuel costs

While flying in the Persian Gulf during his Air Force days, Cooper said, he narrowly escaped a variant of the same missile fired at his fighter jet by the Iraqi Republican Guard.

"My F18 at the time had pretty state-of-the-art (radar) jammers and I had a lot of training with regard to how to avoid missiles, and I had to use every trick in my book to avoid being taken down by one of those SA-11s," he said. "There’s no way a civil airliner could come out of this on the bright side."

But knowing that transport planes have already been taken down in the region, why would any airline continue to take the risk in that airspace?


Cooper, who was tapped after the 9/11 attacks to work as a member of the Air Canada Pilot’s Association Security Committee, supposes the main reason in many cases is companies don’t want to hurt their bottom line.

MH17's flight path was considered to be cheaper, busier and more direct.


"Airlines run on a real tight profit margin and one of the biggest factors is fuel," Cooper said. "You go around things, you make your travel longer, you burn more fuel, you lose more money, and sometimes, saving money is the name of the game."

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DTN News: Ukraine Crisis Top Stories / Headlines News Dated June 25, 2014

DTN News: Ukraine Crisis Top Stories / Headlines News Dated June 25, 2014

 Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth 

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - June 25, 2014: Comprehensive daily news related to Ukraine Crisis Top Stories / Headlines News for the world of TODAY.
*Comprehensive daily news related to Ukraine Crisis Top Stories / Headlines News for the world of TODAY

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DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: Separatists Shoot Down Ukrainian Helicopter

DTN News - UKRAINE CRISIS: Separatists Shoot Down Ukrainian Helicopter
*Rebels shoot down Ukraine military helicopter; 14 dead

Among victims is a Ukrainian general; rebel leader in Donetsk admits his fighters include Russian 'volunteers.'

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Haaretz
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 30, 2014: A Ukrainian Mi-24 military helicopter. 

Pro-Russian separatists shot down a Ukrainian army helicopter on Thursday, killing 14 soldiers including a general, as government forces pressed ahead with an offensive to crush rebellions in the east swiftly following the election of a new president.

After weeks of accusations from Kiev of Russian involvement in the uprising, a rebel leader in the eastern city of Donetsk acknowledged that some of his fighters who died in the government offensive had been "volunteers" from Russia, saying their bodies were being returned home across the border.

In Kiev, acting president Oleksander Turchinov said the helicopter, which had been carrying supplies in eastern Ukraine, had been brought down by anti-aircraft fire from near the town of Slovyansk, which has been under the control of separatists since early April.

It was one of the heaviest losses inflicted by the separatists on the army in two months of unrest in Ukraine's eastern regions, and followed a fierce assault by government forces in which 50 or so rebels were killed earlier this week.

"I have just received information that terrorists using Russian anti-aircraft missiles shot down our helicopter near Slovyansk. It had been ferrying servicemen for a change of duty," Turchinov told parliament.

The bodies of some of the separatists killed this week when the Ukrainian military tried to regain control of Donetsk international airport were being prepared for return to Russia on Thursday, the rebel leader said.

In a stark admission that the rebels were being supported by Russian militia fighters, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, said: "Those who are volunteers from Russia will be taken to Russia today."

Interior minister Arsen Avakov accused the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin of being behind the airport violence. Weapons collected at the airport after the rebels were forced out by airstrikes and a paratroop assault had been brought in from Russia, he said.

"These are not our weapons - they were brought from Russia. Serial numbers, year of production, specific models ... I am publishing this photograph as proof of the aggression of the Putin regime," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page.

Kiev's leaders have long asserted that Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March, has fomented the separatist rebellions in the east of Ukraine with a view to bringing about dismemberment of the country.

Moscow denies this but they also allege that it is failing to stop Russian fighters from crossing the long land border into Ukraine together with truckloads of guns and live ammunition.

Defense Minister Mikhailo Koval said on Thursday: "We have put all our forces and equipment into the anti-terrorist operation. We have covered the whole state border."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday accused the West of pushing Ukraine into "the abyss of fratricidal war", and reiterated his call for an end to Kiev's military offensive.

Fierce Assault

The assault launched last Monday was the first time Kiev has unleashed its full military force against the fighters after weeks of restraint and came the day after Ukrainians overwhelmingly elected Petro Poroshenko as president.

Poroshenko, 48, a billionaire confectionary magnate who became the first Ukrainian since 1991 to win the presidency outright in a single round of voting, marked his clear victory by calling for a swift and effective offensive to crush the eastern rebellions.

Though he is unlikely to be inaugurated before June 7, Poroshenko will have an opportunity to meet Putin when both attend commemorations of the 70th anniversary of World War Two's "D-Day" landings in Normandy on June 6. On June 3, Poroshenko is also expected to have talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Warsaw.

The separatist authorities say those who died on Monday and Tuesday included a truckload of wounded fighters blasted apart as they were driven away from the battlefield. The government said it suffered no losses in the operation, when its aircraft strafed the airport and paratroops landed to reclaim it.

At Donetsk's Kalinin morgue, where the dead from the violence were taken, 30 coffins were laid out in rows on Thursday.

"Yes. They're going to Russia," said an orthodox priest, who was edgy and did not wish to be named.

In another part of the morgue lay a local man, 43-year-old Mark Zverev, who had also been killed in the airport fighting. "Europe should know what is happening. He's not a terrorist. He is a defender of his home, of his people and of his land," said his mother, clutching his portrait.

A separatist leader in another part of the region acknowledged his men were holding four monitors from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) who went missing in eastern Ukraine on Monday.

Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, whose group controls Slovyansk, said the OSCE had been warned not to travel in the area, but had sent a four-man team out all the same. He said they would be released soon.

The OSCE sent in about 300 observers to monitor compliance of an international accord for de-escalating the crisis in troubled eastern Ukraine, where separatists have seized control of strategic points in several towns.

*Link for This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Haaretz
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