US/NATO/EU and the desperate subversion of Ukraine

[John Dolva]

Ukraine's Luhansk, Donetsk Republics Ratify Union of People's Republics Constitution

Voting at the first session of parliament of the Union of People's Republics in Donetsk

© RIA Novosti. Maksim Blinov

18:19 26/06/2014

Tags: Constitution, Donetsk, Ukraine, Luhansk

DONETSK, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - The parliament of the union of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics ratified a constitutional act that proclaims the creation of the Union of the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk during its first session on Thursday.

The constitutional act, which was passed unanimously, states that the Union of the People’s Republics (UPR) is “a democratic, confederate, and state based on justice” that acknowledges and protects the equal rights of citizens. According to the constitution, the UPR is open to the accession of other states and is a denuclearized zone.

On Tuesday, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk republics declared the official union of their constitutions and the formal creation of Novorossiya as a confederate Union of People's Republics.

Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation to suppress independence supporters in the southeast of Ukraine who refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new Ukrainian authorities after the February coup and formed the people’s republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in a May 11 referendum.

Last week, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko ordered a ceasefire for all military personnel for one week. Later, Donetsk and Luhansk independence forces also promised to stop all attacks until June 27. The truce has been shaky since, with both parties blaming each other for bouts of violence committed after the agreement had been made.

[John Dolva]

Kiev, Jun 26 (Prensa Latina) The constitution of the Union of People''s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk was approved today in a joint session attended by legislators from both territories oppossing Kiev in the wake of the coup d'' Etat of February 22.

Gathered in Donetsk, the 49 legislators of the United Parliament elected the president of the South-East Front, Oleg Tsariov, as president of the legislative body in this area under siege by thousands of government troops, reported Russian satellite television RT.

US journalist George Eliasson denounced today on his blog from the field the damages to the civilian population and the humanitariian crisis caused by bombings launched by the Army, the security corps, the National Guard and the paramilitary squadrons.

Reality in Donbass is ethnic cleansing, he warned refering to indiscriminate attacks with planes, armored vehicles, and Grad rocketlaunchers, mortar shells and other heavy weapons.

The Ukranian Health Ministry informed that as a result of the operation of punishment against the southeastern population of Donetsk and Lugansk at least 270 people were killed and another 700 were wounded.

However, the rebels say thousands of people have been killed and other thousands have been wounded while tens of thousands have been displaced.

The Defense Ministry imposed after the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovich reported 147 deaths among its forces.

sgl/ef/rma/mgt/jpm Modificado el ( jueves, 26 de junio de 2014 )

[John Dolva]

Friday, June 27

08:12 GMT:

Self-defense forces have seized a military headquarters in the city of Donetsk after three attacks amid seven hours of heavy fighting, the Ukrainian National Guard’s press service declared. The battalion chief was taken captive, and the rest of the troops were transported to another military HQ “in order to save the military men’s lives.”

08:11 GMT:

The ceasefire announced by Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has ended in the southeast of the country, ITAR-TASS reported. The leader’s act came into force a week ago at 11pm Moscow time (19:00 GMT) and stated that “if any armed attack is carried out on the Ukrainian military headquarters or civilian population, the army will open fire.”

[John Dolva]

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UN: 110,000 people fled Ukraine to Russia this year

Published time: June 27, 2014 09:37
Edited time: June 27, 2014 10:26

The number of Ukrainian refugees in Russia has reached 110,000 people, while the 54,400 others have been internally displaced, the UN’s refugee department stated.

Some 16,400 people fled their homes in eastern Ukraine in the past week, many citing a deteriorating situation and fears of abduction, bringing the number of displaced within the country to 54,000.

"We are seeing a sharp rise in (internal) displacement in Ukraine," Melissa Fleming, chief spokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing.

9,500 people have officially applied for the asylum in Russia Melissa Fleming said, while 700 others have gone to Poland, Belarus, the Czech Republic and Romania.

Russia is taking “very good care” of refugees from Ukraine by helping them to cross the border and providing proper accommodation, the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Baisa Vak-Voya, told RT, after visiting a refugee camp in the Rostov region on the Russian side of the border.

"Russia is very favorable. The government is taking care of them very well. They cross the border in a very organized way. Those who have relatives there go to their relatives. Those who don’t go to the government organized tent camp, which is run by the Ministry of Emergency. To be honest, this is one of the most equipped and well-run and professionally managed camp I have seen,” he said.

[John Dolva]

Ceasefire expires in south-east Ukraine

MOSCOW, June 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has emphasized the need for a lasting ceasefire in Ukraine ten hours before the truce expires.

“Ukraine should embark on the path of peace, dialogue and accord. The priority is to conduct substantial talks between the authorities in Kiev and the south-east,” Putin said on Friday.

“We stand for the complete termination of bloodshed on the whole territory of Ukraine, including along our borders,” he said.

Russia is doing its best to contribute to the peace process, Putin said.

Attempts to make Ukraine to choose between Russia and Europe pushed the country to the split, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin added.

Militia fighters in Luhansk Region amid ceasefire in southeast of Ukraine

Putin voiced concern over the continuing events in Ukraine.

“The anti-constitutional coup d’etat in Kiev pushed the country to painful confrontation,” Putin said on Friday.

“First of all, peaceful civilians fall victims of such events. The blood is shed in the country’s southeast. The state faces the real humanitarian catastrophe. Dozens of thousands of refugees have to search for shelter in Russia. Journalists are persecuted and killed. In violation of all norms and conventions diplomats are attacked,” he said.

Putin mentioned the incidents with the Russian Embassy in Kiev and the Consulate-General in Odessa.

[John Dolva]

12:53 GMT:

Kiev has taken no particular steps to establish a dialogue with the south-east regions about constitutional reforms, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a press-conference in Moscow.

“So far, since April 17 [the signing of the Geneva agreement], no urgent steps have been made [by Kiev] to establish a dialogue about constitutional reforms with the participation of all regions. Instead, it was announced that the reform was completed on paper and submitted for consideration to the Verhovnaya Rada [ukraine parliament],” he said.

Lavrov added that Moscow hopes that the extension of the cease-fire for 72 hours is not just a postponement of Kiev’s “ultimatum” to anti-government activists in southeastern Ukraine. Kiev earlier announced that those who failed to lay down their weapons following the truce in eastern Ukraine “will be destroyed.”

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, June 27 /ITAR-TASS/. Leaders of the newly proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic promise to take urgent measure to quit from Ukraine’s legislative environment in a bid to protect the economy from negatives impacts of the association agreement official Kiev signed with the European Union on Friday.

“Having signed this agreement, Ukraine actually cuts itself from the Russian market,” Andrei Purgin, the first Deputy Prime Minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said on Friday. “To 99%, it is machine-building, metallurgy, partially the farming sector, etc. Losses in trade with the Customs Union (of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) will be from 50% and more.”

“We need take urgent measures to withdraw from Ukraine’s legislative environment and to integrate with the Customs Union, since our industrial sectors are the most vulnerable in case these markets are lost,” he noted, adding that the machine-building sector provided jobs to nearly the majority of the local population. “If it is stalled, the republic’s budget will suffer serious losses,” he said.

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, June 27. /ITAR-TASS/. Alexander Borodai, the prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, has said the republic’s self-defense forces are ready to extend the truce for the same period as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

“We hope that the ceasefire will become something more than empty talk and empty statements. But this hope is slim and modest,” Borodai told journalists after consultations on the peace settlement in southeast Ukraine.

Alexander Borodai also pledged to release the four detained OSCE observers.

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, June 27 /ITAR-TASS/. Alexander Borodai, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told a news conference held after a regular round of consultations on settling the conflict in southeast Ukraine late on Friday what he thought about the demands set forth in the final document of the EU summit on Ukraine that has ended in Brussels.

The European Council expects that the following steps will have been taken by Monday, June 30:

Agreement on a verification mechanism monitored by the OSCE for the ceasefire and for the effective control of the border;

Return to the Ukrainian authorities of the three border checkpoints (Izvarino, Dolzhanskiy and Krasnyi Partizan);

Release of hostages including all of the OSCE observers.

Alexander Borodai said that the leadership of the Donetsk People’s Republic was not ready to hand the above-mentioned border checkpoints back to the Ukrainian army. However, he invited OSCE observers to work in all areas of the military conflict.

“We disagree that the three border checkpoints (Dolzhanskoye, Izvarino and Krasnyi Partizan) should be returned to the Ukrainian side but we agree and, moreover, we are inviting OSCE observers, with or without Russian participation, just an OSCE mission to come to the aforesaid checkpoints and to other areas of the military conflict that could be embraced,’” Borodai went on to say.

PM of Donetsk People’s Republic pledges ceasefire until June 30

He pledged to release the remaining four observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) detained in southeast Ukraine in the next few days. Borodai categorically disagreed with the word “hostages” used by the European Council and suggested using the words “detained” or “withheld” instead.

“We want the exchange to take place on the all-for-all basis. We have promised to draw up the lists of persons (whom we want back) and we hope that the opposite side will also prepare such lists,” the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said.

And, finally, the EU summit insists on launching substantial negotiations on the implementation of the peace plan proposed by Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko.

In response to this demand, Alexander Borodai reiterated the stance of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics: they are ready to start the peace talks after the Kiev authorities withdraw the Ukrainian troops from their territories.

“We have a natural desire and agreement for these negotiations to start. We will sit down to talks only after the Right Sector, the National Guard and the Interior Ministry has withdrawn their forces and special units from the territories of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic,” Borodai stressed.

Meanwhile, the prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic has said the republic’s self-defence forces are ready to extend the truce for the same period as Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko would wish to extend the ceasefire.

Earlier on Friday, Poroshenko told a news conference in Brussels that he intended to extend the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine for another 72 hours upon his return from Brussels.

“I need to return (to Kiev) and hold consultations with the military and the government. The ceasefire will be in force until Friday evening. The decision will have been passed by that time,” Poroshenko said.

Initially, the ceasefire was supposed to expire at 23:00 Moscow time on Friday though both parties in conflict claim that in reality there has been no truce or ceasefire in the ground.

[John Dolva]

Saturday, June 28

12:53 GMT:

The Ukrainian army attempted to take control of the Krasny Partisan border checkpoint, the Lugansk People’s Republic’s authorities said, as cited by ITAR-TASS. They added that the Ukrainian forces are being deployed to the city of Schastye and Metallist village near Lugansk. Two Grad rocket launchers and 12 infantry combat vehicles were stationed there, the authorities added.

12:47 GMT:

The Ukrainian army is not committed to the ceasefire declared by the Ukrainian President, said the head of the Supreme Council of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Aleksey Karyakin, at a media conference.

“Even after an agreement at [the highest] level Ukrainian troops <…> aren’t reacting to the president of Ukraine’s statements and continue their activity," against local militia, he said.

12:46 GMT:

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has refused Russia’s humanitarian help, offered on Friday and intended for the southeastern part of the country, according to the ministry’s press-service.

The refusal was based on the “uncertainty of its final destination,” it said. "Given the fact that the Donetsk and Lugansk region, as well as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are an integral part of Ukraine… citizens of Ukraine on this territory in principle cannot have the status of refugees,” the ministry said.

12:46 GMT:

Right Sector fighters are replenishing the National Guard’s Aydar squad, which was destroyed by eastern militia forces earlier in June, said the head of the Supreme Council of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Aleksey Karyakin, at a media conference. This is being done “to show that it wasn’t destroyed,” he added.

After self-defense troops eliminated the Aydar squad, which stormed Lugansk on June 17, the Ministry of Defense ordered the break up of the squad. However, the newly elected President Petro Poroshenko reversed this decision.

[Steven Gaal]

Ukraine and the battle for South Stream

By Tony Cartalucci, OP-ED

Blacklisted News

Saturday, Jun 28, 2014

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine, admittedly an attempt to expand both NATO and the European Union (EU), has escalated in terms of dominating Europe’s energy markets. Attempts to halt the ongoing construction of Russia’s South Stream natural gas pipeline appears to be a direct attempt to further penalize Russia for its role in defending Ukrainians currently under siege by aircraft, artillery, heavy armor and irregular troops.

Toward a Europe “Whole and Free,” and its Energy Market Too
“Toward a Europe Whole and Free” was literally the title of NATO’s Atlantic Council’s May 2014 event celebrating NATO’s continuous expansion since the fall of the Soviet Union and its aspirations to integrate all along Russia’s borders and even Russia itself into its geopolitical socioeconomic order. The Atlantic Council’s official program webpage for the event stated:

This two-day conference will honor the historic milestones that have forged a strong and prosperous Atlantic community and explore the most pressing challenges to the completion of a Europe whole and free. This vision, successfully implemented for two decades with a bipartisan and transatlantic strategy, has been called into question both within current NATO and EU members and by Russia’s aggressive actions. Leaders and experts will gather at the Council’s headquarters to debate the opportunities and challenges in Europe’s east and south with the aim of exploring a renewed common transatlantic approach.

What is essentially a celebration of expansionism, military aggression, and extraterritorial political subversion, the event featured many of the chief protagonists in Ukraine’s current crisis. These included US Secretary of State John Kerry and US Vice President Joseph Biden, along with NATO commanders and US corporate-financier funded policymakers who have authored America’s decades of “exceptionalism.” It also included US Senator John McCain who literally flew to Kiev during the height of the “Euromaidan” protests and took the stage with ultra-right Neo-Nazi Svoboda Party leaders.

In their own words, those attending the Atlantic Council gathering describe the battle for Ukraine being fought to “complete” their socioeconomic consolidation in Europe – this includes “integrating Russia.” Secretary John Kerry at the gathering would literally state:

Our European Allies have spent more than 20 years with us working to integrate Russia into the Euro-Atlantic community.

By “integrating” Russia, of course, Kerry means overthrowing any independent national political order that exists in Moscow and replacing it with one that answers to Wall Street, London, and now Brussels. This can be seen clearly in attempts by the West to replicate its model of “color revolution” within Russian territory itself.

But Kerry and the rest of EU-NATO, recognizing that efforts to subvert and overthrow an independent political order in Russia have failed, have resorted to a policy of encirclement, containment, and confrontation, with Ukraine being only one of many battlefields the West is fighting upon. Kerry would declare Europe’s energy market as another.

He stated (emphasis added):

“…if we want a Europe that is both whole and free, then we have to do more together immediately, with a sense of urgency, to ensure that European nations are not dependent on Russia for the majority of their energy. In this age of new energy markets, in this age of concern about global climate change and carbon overload, we ought to be able to rush to the ability to be able to make Europe less dependent. And if we do that, that will be one of the greatest single strategic differences that could be made here. We can deliver greater energy independence and help to diversify energy sources that are available to the European markets, and we can expand the energy infrastructure across Europe, and we can build up energy storage capacity throughout the continent.”

And immediately they did. After resisting pressure from the EU regarding Russia’s South Stream pipeline, Bulgaria has been forced to suspend ongoing construction, jeopardizing interests and opportunities not only for Russia, but for the nations the pipeline is to pass through.

The Battle for South Stream
The halting of construction followed a visit by US Senators John McCain, Christopher Murphy, and Ron Johnson – with McCain in particular directly supporting the armed overthrow of the Ukrainian government earlier this year. In a Washington Post article titled, “Bulgaria halts work on South Stream gas pipeline,” it states:

Bulgaria’s prime minister has ordered on Sunday a halt to construction work on the Gazprom-led South Stream pipeline project planned to bypass Ukraine as a transit country and consolidating Russia’s energy grip in Europe.

Plamen Oresharski said after meeting U.S. Sens. John McCain, Christopher Murphy and Ron Johnson that he has ordered all work on the disputed project to continue only after consultations with Brussels.

Moscow responded by pointing out the obvious nature of what are in all intents and purposes sanctions against Russia. The Moscow Times reported in an article titled, “Russia Sees Underhanded Sanctions in Bulgaria’s Suspension of South Stream,” that:

Bulgaria’s decision to suspend construction of the Russia-led South Stream pipeline project on its territory, undermining Russia’s efforts to diversify its gas transportation infrastructure to Europe away from Ukraine, is an underhanded economic sanction thrust on Russia by the West, a top Russian diplomat and Russian industry analysts said Monday.

The article would also point out that once the South Stream pipeline is completed it will diminish Ukraine’s importance as a transit point for Russian natural gas into Western Europe. It appears that the moves against South Stream are designed to at the very least, delay this inevitable outcome for as long as possible, to maintain leverage as the West struggles to consolidate power on behalf of their teetering proxy regime in Kiev.

For Bulgaria’s part, not only have they disregarded US sanctions on Russia, choosing a Russian firm to build the pipeline, they appear eager to resolve the legal obstacles conveniently laid down amid the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, and complete the pipeline as soon as possible.

Exploiting South Stream’s Delay
The West’s plans to use South Stream’s delay to extort concessions from Russia and those working with it on the project. Additionally the delay will help preserve the benefits of Ukraine’s current monopoly on transporting Russian natural gas to Western Europe. To ensure maximum leverage, the West is placing key personnel within Ukraine’s energy sector, in addition to propping up the regime in Kiev. Perhaps the most indicative of the overall illegitimacy and criminal nature of the current EU-NATO posture was the appointment of Hunter Biden, son of US Vice President Joseph Biden, as a member of Ukraine energy giant Barisma’s board of directors.

Biden Jr.’s nepotist appointment is not where the conflict of interest begins or ends. Biden Jr. was also a director of the US State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) subsidiary National Democratic Institute (NDI). The NED/NDI played an admitted role in building up opposition parties in Ukraine prior to the so-called “Euromaidan” protests and admittedly engineered the so-called “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine in 2004. More recently, they served as “election monitors” lending their stamp of approval of polling in Ukraine where entire provinces failed to vote in the east, opposition parties were unable to campaign in the west, and the aerial bombardment of cities across the country was underway.

In effect, Biden Jr.s NDI overthrew a government ahead of himself being appointed as a director in the targeted nation’s largest energy company – a dizzying conflict of interest. Coupled with the stated US agenda of reducing Russia’s influence in Europe’s energy market, this conflict of interest becomes a self-evident impropriety and an obvious component of the West’s agenda of encircling and containing Russia.

It remains to be seen how long the South Stream delay lasts and what other moves the EU, NATO, and Ukraine’s openly foreign-influenced regime and industries take in implementing Secretary Kerry’s stated goal of confronting Russia. For nations like Bulgaria, the cost to their sovereignty upon entering the European Union can now be acutely felt. Bulgaria is now unable to pursue their own interests because of dictates from Brussels made on behalf of special interests operating well beyond their borders and in absolute disregard to the peace and prosperity of the Bulgarian people. It is a cautionary tale for other nations around the world seeking to enter into similar supranational “communities,” most notably Southeast Asia’s ASEAN/AEC.

NATO and the EU’s open intent to “integrate” all of Europe including Russia into their geopolitical order, clearly by force if necessary, their abuse of the EU’s legal framework to impose thinly veiled sanctions on Russia, overt nepotism, as well as obstructing the completion of projects that are demonstrably beneficial to their own member states reveals an emerging political order of immense criminality unbound by the rule of law and a clear and present danger to global stability. For those in eastern Ukraine weathering air raids, artillery barrages, and mechanized “national guard” composed of ultra-right Neo-Nazi militants, that instability is already a deadly, daily reality.

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[John Dolva]

Saturday, June 28

19:12 GMT:

The people's militia of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic gained control of a military unit guarding a plant that destroys and recycles explosives in Donetsk on Saturday.

Control of the plant was gained through negotiation with the guarding unit, who were given the option of joining forces with the militia or returning home.

While some members left, others stayed and have until Monday to make a final decision on whether they want to join the Donetsk People's Republic militia forces or return home.

16:13 GMT:

Ukrainian authorities on Saturday blocked Mauricio Ampuero, correspondent and presenter for RT Spanish, from entering Ukraine. Ampuero was heading for the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, where he previously covered anti-Kiev protests in April. According to the correspondent, a Ukrainian border guard told him that he was being banned from entering for “being a journalist of a Russian channel.”

"Deportado, por ser periodista de un canal ruso" me dice un militar antes de expulsarme de #Ucrania. pic.twitter.com/PwLCLkpsMW

— Mauricio Ampuero (@MauricioAmpuero) June 28, 2014

12:53 GMT:

The Ukrainian army attempted to take control of the Krasny Partisan border checkpoint, the Lugansk People’s Republic’s authorities said, as cited by ITAR-TASS. They added that the Ukrainian forces are being deployed to the city of Schastye and Metallist village near Lugansk. Two Grad rocket launchers and 12 infantry combat vehicles were stationed there, the authorities added.

12:47 GMT:

The Ukrainian army is not committed to the ceasefire declared by the Ukrainian President, said the head of the Supreme Council of the Lugansk People’s Republic, Aleksey Karyakin, at a media conference.

“Even after an agreement at [the highest] level Ukrainian troops <…> aren’t reacting to the president of Ukraine’s statements and continue their activity," against local militia, he said.

12:46 GMT:

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry has refused Russia’s humanitarian help, offered on Friday and intended for the southeastern part of the country, according to the ministry’s press-service.

[John Dolva]

21:19 Russia

Russia voices protest over attack on its border checkpoint by Ukrainian army

Mortar shells from Ukraine have again hit Russian territory, damaging a building at a border checkpoint and creating holes in the ground in two villages. The Russian Foreign Ministry has protested the “provocation,” demanding that Kiev investigate it.

READ MORE: ‘Over 20 killed’ in bloody Slavyansk battle despite ceasefire

At least three shells were launched over the Russian-Ukrainian border into Russia on Saturday, with one blasting a border-crossing checkpoint in the Rostov Region.

“Today, on June 28, Gukovo checkpoint came under fire. One of the shells hit a building and exploded,” a spokesman for the Federal Security Service’s (FSB) Border Guard administration in Rostov Region, Vasily Malaev, told RT.

Украинский снаряд разорвался на посту таможни России, повреждено здание пункта пропуска Гуково в Ростовской области. pic.twitter.com/PDDtNREbGZ

— Александр Дедуренко (@ADedurenko) June 28, 2014

The building was severely damaged, but, luckily, nobody was injured in the blast, Malaev said. Some 30 Ukrainian refugees were completing their documents at the checkpoint at the time of the attack and were evacuated together with border guards after the shelling started.

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded with a statement calling the incident a dangerous “provocation” and demanding that Kiev investigate it.

“The Russian side strongly protests such provocations of the Ukrainian side, which fragrantly violate the underlying principles of international law,” the ministry said in a statement, demanding that “a thorough investigation into what has happened” be carried out and the perpetrators be punished.

Reminding that both Russian citizens and Ukrainian refugees crossing the border could have come under harm, Moscow said the incident is “yet another link in the chain” of Ukrainian ceasefire breaches which undermine Kiev’s dialogue with eastern Ukraine and a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

[power outage for 8 hrs]

[John Dolva]

Sunday, June 29

10:28 GMT:

The railway near the town of Chuguevsk in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region was blown up during the night, Itar-Tass reports, citing the country’s Interior Ministry. Explosions damaging the rails occurred around 2 am local time, not long before a passenger train from the Russian city of Adler to Kiev passed.

“The vigilance of railroad workers made it possible to avert the accident,” the ministry’s statement says.

Traffic along the damaged part of the railway was restored by 8:55 am local time.

[John Dolva]

Sunday, June 29

20:43 GMT:

Ukrainian troops have left a military base in Donetsk after being surrounded for three months by self-defense forces, Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page on Sunday. He added that the commander ordered to blow up all the ammunition stored at the warehouses after the approximately 300 troops left the base.

Explosions were confirmed by a representative of the self-defense forces, who suggested the blasts were triggered remotely, RIA Novosti reported.

19:28 GMT:

The Klitchko brothers – Vitaly, the mayor of Kiev and leader of the Udar party, and famous boxer Vladimir – have allocated from personal funds over US$270,000 for arming the Kiev battalion in its fight against local militias in the coup-appointed government’s punitive operation in the east.

17:07 GMT:

Berlin, Paris, Moscow, and Kiev held phone talks on Sunday concerning the Ukrainian crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President François Hollande, and Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to extend the ceasefire.

Moscow said the “possibility of deploying OSCE observers to checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border” was discussed, according to the Kremlin press service.

Poroshenko "urged the Russian president to strengthen the state border” and ordered the Ukrainian Border Service to consult with their Russian colleagues “to ensure effective control” of the border, according to Kiev’s press service.

Similar quadruple talks are scheduled for Monday.

16:59 GMT:

The head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic, Valery Bolotov, has accused Kiev of masterminding the sabotage on the rail tracks in Kharkov region overnight.

Bolotov told journalists the tracks were blown up “as a result of actions of the Ukrainian side,” calling it the latest of Kiev’s “provocations.”

Earlier on Tuesday, a railway bridge was blown up in Zaporozhye region, and a similar attack on June 22 targeted tracks in Donetsk region, derailing 14 wagons of a Russian freight train.