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Both sides bury dead as Ukraine slides towards war

Both sides have been burying their dead as Ukraine slides further towards war, with supporters of Russia and of a united Ukraine accusing each other of tearing the country apart. Tuesday was generally quieter than past days in most of eastern and southern Ukraine, but violence flared at dusk in the eastern port of Mariupol, where a spokesman for pro-Moscow militants told Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency that one person was killed and three wounded in an attack on a checkpoint. In Kramatorsk, a separatist-held town in the east that saw an advance by Ukrainian troops at the weekend, the coffin of 21-year-old nurse Yulia Izotova was carried through streets stilled by barricades of tires and tree trunks on Monday. Scattered red carnations traced the route. At the Holy Trinity Church, seven priests led mourners in prayer for a woman killed by large caliber bullets, which […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine Unrest Intensifies as Toll Rises From Offensive

Surging casualties are threatening to undermine Ukraine’s campaign to regain ground from pro-Russian militants in its easternmost cities, where insurgents killed four government troops and downed a military helicopter. Four government servicemen died yesterday in fighting that may have killed about 30 rebels, acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook account. French President Francois Hollande said he warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that Europe would continue to pressure him to let Ukraine hold a May 25 presidential election and if it is thwarted, “chaos and a risk of war” would follow. “We must do everything to avoid civil war,” Hollande said on France ’s BFM TV-RMC radio today. “You know when it starts but never when it ends.” Efforts by the government in Kiev to expel insurgents from the easternmost regions are at risk of stalling less than three weeks before the ballot. German Chancellor Angela Merkel […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Clashes in Eastern Ukraine as Moscow Issues New Warnings

Two days after Ukraine’s interim government declared itself all but helpless to control events in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian military and police forces on Friday resumed their effort to retake this rebel-controlled city, forcing armed separatists from the city’s outskirts with armored vehicles, helicopters and ground troops. When clashes drew to a close by early afternoon, the Ukrainian troops had advanced, capturing separatist checkpoints and posting infantry and armored vehicles on a bridge overlooking rail lines beside the city’s southern border. In the previously tranquil port city of Odessa, on the Black Sea, 38 people died in a fire related to clashes that broke out between protesters holding a march for Ukrainian unity and pro-Russian activists. The fighting itself left four dead and 12 wounded, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. Ukrainian and Russian news media showed images of buildings and debris burning, fire bombs being put together and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Energy Minister Questioned Ukraine's Ability to Pay for Russian Natural Gas

Russia’s energy minister on Friday questioned Ukraine’s ability to pay for Russian natural gas and said state-controlled OAO Gazprom will ask that deliveries scheduled in June be paid for upfront, which he said poses a risk of supply disruption to European customers. Ukraine owes more than $3.5 billion for Russian natural gas, said Energy Minister Alexander Novak after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Yuriy Prodan and European Union energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger. Kiev and Moscow have long quarreled over the price of natural gas Gazprom charges Ukraine’s state-owned energy firm Naftogaz. As of April 1, Russia nearly doubled what it charges Ukraine to $485.50 per 1,000 cubic meters from $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters. Mr. Prodan said Kiev isn’t ready to pay the price demanded by Gazprom, which supplies about 30% of Europe’s gas needs, with around half of that traveling through pipes that cross Ukraine. "We have discriminatory gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Energy Minister Questioned Ukraine’s Ability to Pay for Russian Natural Gas

Russia’s energy minister on Friday questioned Ukraine’s ability to pay for Russian natural gas and said state-controlled OAO Gazprom will ask that deliveries scheduled in June be paid for upfront, which he said poses a risk of supply disruption to European customers. Ukraine owes more than $3.5 billion for Russian natural gas, said Energy Minister Alexander Novak after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Yuriy Prodan and European Union energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger. Kiev and Moscow have long quarreled over the price of natural gas Gazprom charges Ukraine’s state-owned energy firm Naftogaz. As of April 1, Russia nearly doubled what it charges Ukraine to $485.50 per 1,000 cubic meters from $268.50 per 1,000 cubic meters. Mr. Prodan said Kiev isn’t ready to pay the price demanded by Gazprom, which supplies about 30% of Europe’s gas needs, with around half of that traveling through pipes that cross Ukraine. "We have discriminatory gas […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Ukraine attacks rebel city, helicopter shot down

Ukrainian forces attacked the rebel-held city of Slaviansk before dawn on Friday and pro-Russia separatists shot down at least one attack helicopter, killing a pilot, in a sharp escalation of the conflict. Describing the use of anti-aircraft missiles as proof of the presence of Russian special forces in the town that has become the military stronghold of the pro-Moscow movement, Ukrainian officials said Slaviansk was "tightly surrounded" and called on separatist leaders to release hostages and surrender. Reuters journalists in the city of 130,000 heard shooting from shortly after 4 a.m. (9 p.m. EDT Thursday) and saw a military helicopter open fire. Ukrainian troops could be in seen in armored personnel carriers in a southern suburb. The SBU security service said one military Mi-24 helicopter gunship had been shot down, killing one airman while a second had been taken prisoner by the rebels. It said […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple