War in Ukraine

And it's Washington that's bankrolling the worst of it. It will come as no surprise to anyone that the Kiev forces are also shelling the area of the plane crash, and the investigators have had to retreat.

Bonny, this is very hard to take but I know that that is what is happening. US taxpayers are funding this.      

I can see from the US media how outraged people are, Lily.   

Every single headline about the latest lie from the State Department, whether it's about the economy, the border, the Ukraine, anything, is being met with anger - people just don't believe ANYTHING coming from this administration.

It's on a scale of incompetence, corruption and malice I have never seen before; Washington needs cleaned out from top to bottom, IMO.

It most certainly does, Bonny. Dare I say it, also the people who are the proverbial power behind the throne.

We need a clean slate.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/29/world/europe/ukraine-crisis/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

But sanctions have so far failed to stem the flow of weapons or the fighting, which appeared to enter a dangerous new phase Tuesday on reports that Ukraine's government in the last 48 hours used short-range ballistic missiles against the rebels, according to three U.S. officials.
The weapons have a range of about 50 miles (80 kilometers) and pack up to 1,000-pound (454-kilogram) warheads. If the reports are accurate, they are the most deadly missiles used in the conflict to date.
The U.S. officials did not specify where the missiles hit or what damage they caused.
One U.S. official said so far, there has been no reaction from Russia. A second official said it is not clear if the United States will show satellite imagery of the Ukrainian missile firings "because these are the good guys."
Another of the U.S. officials said using the missiles is "an escalation, but Ukraine has a right to defend itself."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin on Tuesday acknowledged that his country's military has short-range missiles, but denied that the military fired any.

So, now the Kiev fascists have the right to 'defend themselves' with ballistic missiles against civilians, just like Israel has the right to 'defend itself' by killing children? It figures, especially with so many of the Kiev government having close ties with Israel.

A row of sighs.

Know what's fascinating? How many members of the Kiev government are closely linked to Israel. No doubt it's just a coincidence that the airliner was brought down only minutes before Gaza was attacked by Israel, and that both Israel and Kiev are committed atrocities with the backing of the US.

For a change of war zone:



That's the result of Kiev shelling 'Russian terrorists' in eastern Ukraine. At least those poor souls can get out, over the border to Russia.

More atrocities....  

http://www.infowars.com/ukrainians-protest-against-conscription-orders/

NATO’s war against Ukrainians opposed to the State Department installed regime is in serious trouble.

In addition to mounting casualties and desertions within the Ukrainian army a growing number of citizens are protesting against conscription imposed by the government.

In response authorities have promised to arrest anybody who uses social media to engage in political activism against the war. The order was issued by Anton Gerashenko, an advisor to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Virtually ignored by the establishment media in the West, the antiwar movement presents a serious obstacle for the regime following an order by the country’s recently elected president, Petro Poroshenko, to mobilize for a third effort to put down the rebellion.

More at link.

http://rt.com/news/177740-ukrainian-military-russia-refuge/

Over 400 Ukrainian troops cross into Russia for refuge
Published time: August 04, 2014 06:23
Edited time: August 04, 2014 09:27 Get short URL




More than 400 Ukrainian troops have been allowed to cross into Russia after requesting sanctuary. It’s the largest, but not the first, case of desertion into Russia by Ukrainian soldiers involved in Kiev’s military crackdown in the east of the country.

According to the Rostov Region’s border guard spokesman Vasily Malaev, a total of 438 soldiers, including 164 Ukrainian border guards, have been allowed into Russia on Sunday night.

One of the Ukrainians was seriously injured on his arrival in Russia. He was taken to the hospital for surgery, the officials added.

The other Ukrainian soldiers have been housed in a tent camp deployed near the checkpoint via which they entered Russian territory. The Russian border guards are providing them with food and bedding.

Kiev officials confirmed the Russian report, but they have a heroic version of what happened to the troops from the 73rd Motorized Infantry Brigade.

“After a four-hour shelling a decision was taken to fight their way through the encirclement. Part of the troops launched an attack and made it through. Others stayed behind to cover their fellow fighters. After they had not ammo left, they destroyed whatever vehicles they had and went to the Russian Federation,” spokesman for the military crackdown operation Aleksey Dmitrashovsky told 112.Ukraine TV channel.

More at link.

Another EPIC FAIL by Kiev - there is simply no way to make their troops legging it to Mother Russia sound anything except bad. No wonder they're calling up any man between 16 and 60, Volkssturm-style, and directly taxing their long-suffering citizens to pay for this bloodshed.

http://cbmalaparte.wordpress.com/2014/08/03/august-1-donetsk-the-guys-are-back-in-town/

They’ve shown up, finally. Tired, hungry, sweaty, wearing flak jackets, American photographer Patrick Lancaster and freelancers David F. and Chris A. have crossed the threshold with a smile. Because after 16 hours of detention even the hostel you found on the net is worth being called home.
It was not the first time. It’s happened to all of us and we have overcome it with no particular difficulty.
The guys were told their names were not in the Database of Accredited Journalists in Ukraine. This was the explanation of the officer who handled their case. Sounds reasonable, right? A quite legitimate reason, indeed. After all, that’s a war zone and who comes here must have a compelling reason to do it. It’s not like reporting from Kiev, that’s clear. By the way, on June 6 despite their valid accreditation 2 Russian crews were kicked out of Verkhovna Rada building by the Radical Party leader and psychopathic criminal Oleg Lyashko. Weird, isn’t it?
Last week, the British stringer Graham Phillips, after 3 days of detention was deported from Ukraine to Poland, and banned for 3 years from entering the country. He was told, “You work for RT, it’s the enemy.” And that’s the reason for his interdiction.
His fellow detainee, beaten and threatened to be held captive, was Vadim Aksyonov, a Russian-speaking Ukrainian cameraman working for Anna-news agency—it should be another enemy, I suppose.
In today’s Ukraine, a TV network can be singled out as an enemy of an army. And therefore, enemy of the country—Lyashko himself wrote on his facebook page that it’s because of propaganda and subversive activities of Russian journalists that there’s bloodshed in Ukraine.
So, not 20 years of corrupt politics, not Soros and his funding of Maidan revolution, not US and EU foreign entanglements, not the CIA, whose director J. Brennan arrived secretly in Kiev end of April, not US Deputy Defense Secretary D. Chollet, who openly said he was taking part in the development of military operation against the South-East, not Polish Secret Service… Russian journalists are guilty for the bloodshed in Ukraine.

You could immediately close the issue by answering that Lyashko is a lunatic who should be locked up in a room with padded walls, wearing a straitjacket, but the problem never was just one single person. In the Germany of the 30s, the problem was not a guy with a weird mustache, sputtering out chauvinistic words. The problem was there were millions of gullible Germans that gave him reason.
Recently, during a radio interview, I was asked an opinion about the work of the press in the Donbass. The first thing I felt like saying was that hundreds of journalists had flocked here in consequence of the downing of Malaysia Airlines aircraft, which filled the news for some days. After that, they all left. Because here there is nothing else to tell, right? Everyone is familiar with the anti-terrorist operation: a fistful of Russian-Chechen mercenaries backed by Putin carries out atrocities on the population meaning to destabilize the country, and the US Adm faces the crisis by imposing economic sanctions on Russia, in an attempt to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
This version, worthy of 2014 Joseph Goebbels Award for the Presstitute Whores, has filled the heads of millions of TV addicted zombies—those still believing the mainstream media to be engaged in providing information. Some of these guys, for some strange reason, occasionally write me on social media. For a moment they remain speechless when I say that there are neither terrorists nor Russian Army in the Donbass, that no one here thinks Russia is the enemy, and that Russian-speaking civilians get targeted by Ukrainian Army. A moment later, they find the words and return them to me under the form of insults and accusations of pro-Russian propaganda.
I have lived long enough to realize that most of the people prefer a reassuring lie to an uncomfortable truth that challenges their faith—whatever it is. People live cradled in their deceptive security. At least until a rather dramatic occurrence comes to mess up everything in their life.
Patrick and I were surprised in the street by shelling on Kramatorsk. We were in the right place at the right time to witness what was not relevant to Western and Ukrainian media—those regularly included in the Database of Accredited Journalists.

The democratic president Poroshenko was bombing the Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens.
The following morning, after seeing the damage to the city center, Patrick sat beside me and said, “I didn’t believe it was true. Thought it was Russian propaganda. So many civillian homes destroyed!”
Which president would give the order to bomb the citizens of his own country, I wondered? The president of a country whose Prime Minister (Yatsenyuk) in a comment on the official webpage of Ukraine Embassy in the US, called the Russian-speaking Ukrainians with the Nazi word ‘sub-humans’—how proud should Pope Francis be for having him received at the Vatican on April 26! The president of a country where a journalist from the weekly Ukrainska Nedelya, Bogdan Butkevich, can state there are too many useless people in the Donbass, and that according to his calculations no less than 1,500,000 must be killed. In 2014, Ukraine is a country where a psycho who openly proposes mass murdering as a solution to political matters is paid to write on a magazine and speaks on TV.
Thumbs up for all those included in the Database of Accredited Journalists in Ukraine!

'Ethnic cleansing' seems to be acceptable these days, as long as its US allies that are doing it. And it's amazing how closely Kiev is linked to Tel Aviv, what with that airliner going down minutes before Israel attacked Gaza....

http://rt.com/news/177956-kiev-abandons-ukrainian-soldiers/

Kiev ‘gave up on us’: Ukrainian commander tells why 400 troops escaped into Russia

[video]

The command in Kiev has blatantly abandoned a group of more than 400 soldiers encircled by the self-defense forces, the senior Ukrainian officer who requested sanctuary in Russia with his men has revealed.

Lack of ammunition, food, fuel and clear orders from the command on how to act in the condition of encirclement has made the Ukrainian troops cross the border, Major Vitaly Dubinyak, a battalion commander, told Itar-Tass news agency.

“For two weeks, we were fighting back without ammunition and fuel. I didn’t have the opportunity to feed my men for almost two weeks. We even ran out of first strike ration. The personnel were more exhausted by despair than by the actual shelling,” Dubinyak said.

“Other than giving us a command to ‘hold on,’ Kiev provided us with no other assistance. And during the last week, they’ve aborted all communication. They’ve simply given up on us,” he added.

A total of 438 soldiers, including 164 Ukrainian border guards, were allowed into Russia on Sunday night.

The troops have been housed in a tent camp deployed near the checkpoint via which they entered Russian territory.



Ukrainian soldiers in a tent camp in Rostov Region. (RIA Novosti / Feodor Larin)

“In order to save the people, the commanders of units have made a decision to cross the border with Russia. All the equipment and weaponry had to be left on the Ukrainian side. The main thing was to save the people,” the commander stressed.

‘This civil war must be stopped’
Dubinyak said that he was surprised by “almost brotherly” treatment his men had received from Russian colleagues.

“Those, who give order to us are lying that we are in war with Russia. None of the Russian’s even gave a wry look. They understand that we are hostages in this troubled situation,” he said.

READ MORE: Activists seek probe into Ukraine’s use of child soldiers in Donbass

“A medical check-up was organized for us here. The wounded received assistance. We were fed. We showered for the first time in a month. We were given clothes, with conditions required for recreation created for us,” the commanded added.

According to Dubinyak, his men went through “a meat grinder” and they won’t return to battle again.

He urged the decision makers in Kiev to “fight on their own and send their own children to die.”

READ MORE: Kiev deploying missile launchers, multiple rocket systems near Donetsk - Moscow

The commander also admitted that the fighting in south-eastern Ukraine has turned into a full-scale civil war.

“I don’t know how I’ll look into the eyes of the mothers of those of my boys, who died. But I know for sure that this civil war must be stopped. I’ve seen enough tears of the locals and enough suffering of my men. I’m sick of it. The main thing is that we’re alive. We’ll deal with the rest after we get home,” Dubinyak concluded


Poor sods; at least they're safely out of it, and not being forced to kill other Ukrainians.

Hope their families join them soon and they find better lives.

Quite possibly, as a good number of Ukrainians seem to be heading for Russia, Lily:

Ukraine's refugees:

About 730,000 people have left Ukraine for Russia this year due to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, UNHCR's European director Vincent Cochetel said on Tuesday.

That figure implies a far higher exodus than the 168,000 who have fled and applied to Russia's Migration Service.

A further 117,000 people are displaced inside Ukraine, a number that is growing by about 1,200 per day, he said.

UNHCR stripped out the seasonal figures and numbers for people who would normally have crossed the border in the course of trade or tourism to arrive at the 730,000 figure, Cochetel told a UN news briefing.

[Reuters]

So, if the West is supposedly supporting the 'good guys' aka the Kiev loonies - why are so many people fleeing into Russia, as Russia is supposed to be the Evil Enemy?

Very good question. It's not as if the other side might be 'bad' is it?   

The world's been turned upside down, Lily. Israelis have turned into nazis and Ukrainians are fleeing the West to the safety of Russia.

I wish it would right itself, Bonny. That we can deal with, lies we cannot.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/08/un-warns-worsening-conditions-ukraine-2014865132554337.html

UN says Ukraine violence will affect millions Power and water supplies becoming scarce as civilians in the east continue to bear brunt of conflict, official says.



Fighting across eastern Ukraine has forced more than 285,000 people to flee their homes [AFP]

A senior UN official has warned that ongoing violence in Ukraine will affect four million people living in the country's east as water and power supplies have sustained significant damage.

John Ging, director of UN humanitarian operations, said at an emergency meeting on Tuesday that violence, especially in urban areas, will put more people at risk and lead to "an increase in the numbers killed" if a political solution cannot be reached.

He warned the Security Council that the humanitarian situation in eastern Ukraine is steadily worsening as power and water supplies become scarce, homes are destroyed and health workers flee.



"Immediate action is therefore required to prevent this," he told council members.

In Donetsk and Luhansk, the water supply has been cut to a few hours per day, health supplies are running low and an estimated 70 percent of health personnel have fled, he said.

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's UN ambassador, said the situation in the east, particularly in Luhansk and Donetsk, is "disastrous".

He accused the Ukrainian military of indiscriminate shelling of housing.

In many small towns, he said, 80 percent of the houses have been destroyed and hundreds of buildings have collapsed.

Churkin said Russia wants to send a humanitarian convoy to Luhansk and Donetsk under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

NATO concerns

NATO, meanwhile, said Russia had amassed about 20,000 troops on Ukraine's eastern border and were concerned Moscow could use "the pretext of a humanitarian or peace-keeping mission as an excuse to send troops into Eastern Ukraine," spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement.

Stating the conflict in Ukraine was fuelled by Russia, Lungescu said that the troop build-up had further escalated "a dangerous situation".

"We're not going to guess what's on Russia's mind, but we can see what Russia is doing on the ground - and that is of great concern. Russia has amassed around 20,000 combat-ready troops on Ukraine's eastern border," she said.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Pavel Felgenhauer, a military analyst, said: "It is possible that this could happen, it is not the first time such an accusation has been made, but it does not seem like a definite decision has been made.

"It is certainly something Russia could do, but it depends how the situation on the ground develops as to whether they will."

To date, 1,367 people, civilians and combatants, have been killed, according to the UN.

The meeting, requested by Russia, comes after fighting in eastern Ukraine reached the main rebel stronghold of Donetsk.

Meanwhile, Russian Defence Minister General Sergei Shoigu said the country's peacekeeping forces should be in constant readiness to perform their tasks, Moscow's Interfax news agency reported.

"The world has changed, has changed dramatically. As you know from previous examples, including the brigade, peacekeeping units can be required suddenly," Shoigu said on Wednesday.

"That is why the division and brigade of peacekeeping forces should be in constant combat readiness," the minister added.

Pro-Russia separatists and government troops on Tuesday exchanged rocket fire in the latest clashes since the two sides began battling in April.

Ukraine and western countries have accused Russia of providing the pro-Russia separatists with weapons and soldiers, a claim the Russian government has repeatedly denied.

Oleksandr Pavlichenko, Ukraine's deputy ambassador, denied there was a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine but said the humanitarian situation in Donetsk and Luhansk is still serious.

"The situation is manageable by the government of Ukraine, which remains open to cooperation with international partners," he said.

Mark Lyall Grant, Britain's UN ambassador, said: "It is deeply ironic that Russia should call for an emergency meeting of the council to discuss a humanitarian crisis largely of its own creation."

Fighting across eastern Ukraine has forced more than 285,000 people to flee their homes, according to UN figures released on Tuesday.

I don't remember Russia overturning an elected government to suit itself....no, it wasn't Russian, it was the US, aided by NATO and the EU, in the Cookie Coup.

http://rt.com/news/178612-maidan-clashes-police-activists/

Police & activists clash on Maidan, tires burn anew in central Kiev
Published time: August 07, 2014 07:56
Edited time: August 07, 2014 15:50 Get short URL



Maidan self-defence activists clash with fighters of Kiev-1 volunteer battalion on Independence Square in Kiev on August 7, 2014.(AFP Photo / Sergei Supinsky)

Activists and police have clashed in the Ukrainian capital’s center after communal workers tried to dismantle the camp. It follows a months-old conflict over the camp with the city administration.

Up to 10 people have been detained as a result of the Maidan clashes and a criminal case has been launched alleging hooliganism, according to Interfax.

Fifty law enforcers from Ukraine’s interior ministry’s battalions, Kiev 1 and Kiev 2, were wounded, with three of those receiving serious injuries, police chief Aleksandr Tereshchuk told a media briefing.

It is currently unclear whether there were wounded among the protesters.

Camp residents are currently fortifying the old barricades and building new ones, Ria Novosti reported.

Law enforcement officials have been injured in the clashes with activists on the Kiev’s Independence square, according to the Interior Ministry press service.

It’s not known how many people were injured, ITAR-TASS reports. The majority of injuries were from stones thrown by protesters.

The smoke from burning tires can be smelt all over the city center, witnesses say.
“Police were carrying out public order maintenance and the work of communal services, but then the camp caught fire, and the fire brigades are now dealing with the blaze,” the Kiev police press service stated to Interfax Ukraine.

Sources in law enforcement suppose that the camp residents set their tents on fire themselves to prevent the communal services from doing their job. There’s also information that there are weapons in the camp.

Earlier on Thursday, communal services were dismantling the barricades, and confiscated about 20 boxes containing bottles of flammable mixture.

Law enforcement officials and Kiev authorities have been urging the activists to leave Maidan and free the seized buildings for months, but the activists have refused to do so.

In July, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema urged the activists to leave Kiev’s Maidan and free seized buildings.

Yarema underlined that the refusal to obey would entail criminal responsibility.

Kiev’s Independence Square has been the main hub of the popular uprising since last November. Around a thousand people were still on the square in July, according to Kiev’s Mayor Vitaly Klitschko.

Protesters seized 19 buildings, including administrative offices and hotels, with almost 500 activists living there, according to the prosecutor general.

Whoever could have forseen this happening? Nuland had better hurry up and hand out cookies to the rioting thugs, like she did last time.

An Orthodox priest throws a tyre as Maidan self-defence activists clash with fighters of Kiev-1 volunteer battalion on Independence Square in Kiev on August 7, 2014.(AFP Photo / Sergei Supinsky )

     

http://rt.com/news/eastern-ukraine-army-operation-680/

Fighting continues in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions where, according to UN data, at least 1,129 people have been killed since April. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is urging for snap parliamentary elections in the war-torn country.

Monday, August 11
10:08 GMT:
568 military have been killed since the start of the Kiev campaign in eastern Ukraine, Andrey Lysenko, spokesman for the Ukrainian Security Council said at a briefing on Monday. He added that “2,120 Ukrainian military have been injured as at 9am today.”

08:06 GMT:
On Sunday evening, 106 inmates escaped from a Donetsk prison after it came under artillery fire, the city administration reported. One inmate was killed in the shelling, while 18 others were injured. Some of the escapees returned later.

The Ukrainian military continued the shelling of Donetsk on Monday morning where one of the city’s factories is located, causing power disruption in the region.

02:26 GMT:
Ukraine is at risk of an environmental disaster as Kiev’s army continues to bomb the Donestk Region, nearly hitting its largest chemical plant that stores lethal agents, the plant’s spokesperson warned. The minimum impact zone would be at least 300 km.

“Due to the irresponsible actions of the Ukrainian army, citizens of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus are exposed to a deadly threat from an ecological disaster on a daily basis, the size of which cannot be predicted,” Pavel Brykov, a spokesman for the Stirol chemical plant in Gorlovka, said in an “urgent” YouTube message on Sunday.

According to Brykov, an accident at the plant could cause a toxic leak of nitrochlorobenzene – a lethal substance which, if it enters the human body, affects the liver, heart, and bone marrow, causing death.

The minimum impact of the accident would be at least 300 kilometers, Brykov said, adding that the risks of the accident are being silenced in the Ukrainian media.

Another triumph for US foreign policy aka meddling in countries thousands of miles away so the Vice President's son can loot their energy resources.

I do hope someone's keeping an eye on Chernobyl....