US/NATO/EU and the desperate subversion of Ukraine

[John Dolva]

*partial answer to

"Posted by John Dolva on 28 May 2014 - 07:56 AM in Political Conspiracies ?It seems hard to find any junta election results. Apparently less than 50% of potential voters voted at all and about 25% voted for the choclate guy. iow 75 % did not. I'd like to see a complete breakdown of all that the potential voters did not vote for This should include a count of all 'spoiled' papers. 'None of the above' et.c.?"

:

WASHINGTON, June 18 (RIA Novosti), Lyudmila Chernova – The recent attack on the Russian Embassy in Kiev casts doubt on President Poroshenko’s ability to have a say in the government, Martin Sieff, an Irish-American veteran journalist and author believes.

“It [the attack] will generate further tensions between the current government in Kiev and Russia. Besides, it throws further doubt on the ability of Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko to function as anything more than a powerless figurehead at the mercy of more extreme forces in his government.”

Hundreds of protestors attacked the Russian embassy in Kiev on Saturday. Radicals were hurling petrol bombs, eggs and paint, smashing windows, and overturning cars near the embassy. They tore down the Russian flag and replaced it with the Ukrainian national. Police stood by, not taking any actions.

Sieff emphasized that Poroshenko still has not taken any credible action to rein in, or replace the extremist and chaotic interim government that seized power after the toppling of President Viktor Yanukovych in a violent coup on February 22.

The expert stressed that Yanukovych was elected in a free and fair election with 12.481 million votes for a five year mandate in 2010 with 24.5 million participants. Poroshenko, by contrast, was supported by only 9 million voters with only 18 million people participating in the election in total.*

“Far worse, he has shown no ability or determination to try and convert even that a weakened mandate into effective domestic power,” Sieff asserted. “He has taken no effort beyond empty rhetoric to heal the erupting civil war between eastern and western Ukraine.”

“Instead of acting for reconciliation, he immediately approved on taking office a major military operation against local groups in eastern Ukraine that has already killed at least hundreds of innocent civilians,” he added. “The death toll looks certain to rise into the thousands.”

Sieff believes that to head off this escalating crisis, the Obama administration should seek to create an urgent working partnership with Moscow as soon as possible, and to rein in the irresponsible forces holding power in Kiev from further violent and rash military and paramilitary actions.

“Ukraine can only be restored to peace after the escalating clashes of this year by recognizing that power must be decentralized and self-government provided at local levels within a new federalized structure,” he concluded.

[John Dolva]

09:55 GMT:

Having established a temporary ceasefire, Ukrainian troops and the pro-federalist self-defense forces in the Lugansk region have conducted an exchange of dead bodies of each other’s fighters. Witnesses claim the Ukrainian side collected over 100 coffins with bodies, many of them reportedly killed during the siege of the Lugansk airport.

09:14 GMT:

Donbass miners give Pres Poroshenko 24hrs to stop military op in E. #Ukraine http://t.co/VEWkRrxJ8e via @ReportnRoman pic.twitter.com/DiwoZ0FENC

— RT (@RT_com) June 18, 2014

08:56 GMT:

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said that Tuesday’s explosion at a pipeline in the country’s Poltava region had been caused by a bomb placed under a concrete support, Reuters said.

“We assume that the explosive device was placed under a concrete block supporting the pipeline and that there were two explosions,” Avakov said. Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk on Wednesday ordered security to be strengthened at pipeline installations.

[John Dolva]

Wednesday, June 18

21:34 GMT:

There have been reports the Ukrainian military has demanded a ransom for the dead militia men during a temporary ceasefire and exchange of dead and the wounded between Ukrainian forces and Self-Defense units of the People's Republic of Lugansk (PRL).

“They have asked $5,000 for each of the dead,” Valery Bolotov, the head of the People’s Republic of Lugansk told reporters.

Bolotov also noted that Kiev's side “violated the conditions of the temporary ceasefire,” to allow the exchange of the corpses. “They fired at our roadblocks – artillery and mortar fire." He also said that the military moved its armored vehicles which also violates provisions of the ceasefire.

The head of the PRL, said that self-defense forces have fulfilled all of the obligations.

Bolotov says that they managed to get 9 bodies and 12 wounded militia men, but the Ukrainian side he says “took over 100 of the dead near the village of Metallist.”

21:07 GMT:

The Ukrainian Parliament is considering a new bill that could pave the way for the government to create its own gas transportation operator. Under its provisions, EU and US companies could own up to 49 percent of the stock, RIA Novosti reports.

20:59 GMT:

The Ukrainian army intends to purchase new armored vehicles to deploy them in operations in the east of the country, said Vladimir Chepovoy, a spokesman of the National Security and Defense of Ukraine.

"The Armed Forces of Ukraine will hold a comparative test of BTR, BTR E3E1 and 4E ‘Bucephalus’ [and] will purchase about 1 thousand units,” Chepovoy told RBK-Ukraine.

20:16 GMT:

The self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk has creates its own Committee for State Security (KGB) and counterintelligence agency SMERSH, that would be involved in locating those responsible for the deaths of Russian journalists, the head of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk Valery Bolotov told reporters.

“Beginning from today we are announcing the formation of the State Security Committee of Lugansk's Republic, one of the units of which will be SMERSH, the functions of which will be to battle spies and saboteurs,” Bolotov said.

SMERSH was the acronym used for special counterintelligence units used by the Soviet Army during World War II.

15:31 GMT:

The UN has acknowledged in a new report that members of Ukrainian nationalist groups, including Right Sector, took part in the Odessa May 2 massacre and beat anti-government protesters trying to escape the burning Trade Union House building, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“The circumstances of this tragedy are so outrageous that it is impossible to cover up the tracks, despite all the attempts of Kiev. The [uN Human Rights Monitoring] mission had to acknowledge that the Ukrainian authorities, including the Interior Ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), were unwilling to cooperate with it, and the fact that the overwhelming majority of those detained in connection with the May 2 events are pro-federalization activists,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement after studying the recently released report by the UN mission in Ukraine.

Only two criminal cases have since been launched against the radicals who attacked the anti-government protesters’ camp and in both cases the suspects “got off” with a house arrest, the Foreign Ministry said. Most of the nearly 50 people who were killed in the May 2 clashes and fire were anti-government protesters.

However, the new UN report still largely reflects the “one-sided and politically motivated interpretation of the events” surrounding Kiev’s military operation in eastern Ukraine, the Foreign Ministry said. The only information on the fallout of the so-called “anti-terror operation” highlighted in the report is the one “fitting the ready-made conclusions,” with no evaluation given to the Kiev forces’ use of air strikes, heavy artillery and armored vehicles against the civilian population, it said.

According to the ministry, the “hypocritical recommendation” to Kiev to continue with the military operation “in line with international norms and standards” can be likened to an “indulgence” for further escalation of the conflict and more atrocities against the civilian population with impunity.

11:24 GMT:

At least 356 people, including 257 civilians, have died since the beginning of the “anti-terrorist” operation in Ukraine’s eastern regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, according to UN calculations. There were 14 children among the dead.

The results prepared by the UN special commission in Ukraine have been presented by Gianni Magazzeni, head of European Department of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.

[John Dolva]

Miners from Eastern Ukraine to take arms if Kiev fails to stop army operation

World

June 18, 21:19 UTC+4

The people of the DPR will fight. First of all the foreign enemy, and then oligarchs’ turn will come,” an official of the self-proclaimed republic says

© ITAR-TASS/Konstantin Sazonchik

At least 10,000 gather in Donetsk to protest against Kiev’s military operation

DONETSK, June 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Miners from the Donetsk Region in eastern Ukraine will take arms if the Kiev authorities do not stop their military operation in the region within two days, a deputy coal industry minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Konstantin Kuznetsov, said Wednesday.

“Miners have given (the Kiev authorities) two days to stop the so-called antiterrorism operation. Unless that happens, they are taking up arms and are going to defend their land, wives and children,” Kuznetsov said.

Commenting on the situation in the Donetsk Region, DPR Prime Minister Alexander Borodai told ITAR-TASS that “it is now absolutely clear to each DPR resident that the Nazi junta is carrying out genocide of the population under the guise of an antiterrorism operation.”

Borodai said this is a patriotic war for the region’s residents. “The people of the DPR will fight. First of all the foreign enemy, and then oligarchs’ turn will come,” he said.

Donetsk, Luhansk leaders say contacts with presidential settlement envoy are impossible

A rally against combat operations conducted by the Ukrainian military and law enforcers subordinate to Kiev took place in the city of Donetsk on Wednesday. The event gathered miners from coal mining enterprises of Donetsk, Gorlovka, Yenakiyevo, Snezhnoye and Torez. The rally reportedly numbered 5,000-10,000.

The Ukrainian military and militias have been engaged in fierce clashes with each other in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which refused to recognize the authorities who had been propelled to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

A Kiev-led punitive operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine's East that Kiev calls an antiterrorism operation involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. It has already claimed hundreds of lives, including civilian, and left some buildings destroyed and damaged.

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which border on Russia, held referendums on May 11, in which most voters supported independence from Ukraine. Their independence has not been officially recognized.

Russia has repeatedly called on Kiev to end the punitive operation and engage in dialogue with Ukraine’s Southeast. The operation, however, continues under newly elected President Petro Poroshenko, who won the May 25 early presidential elections and took office on June 7.

[John Dolva]

TSKHINVAL, June 18. /ITAR-TASS/. South Ossetia has recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, Eastern Ukraine, South Ossetian President Leonid Tibilov, who had signed a relevant decree, told ITAR-TASS on Wednesday.

“I believe that it is a good and right decision, which was passed after numerous consultations. We considered each appeal from Luhansk very carefully. They keep coming from ordinary people who are asking us to recognize the Luhansk People’s Republic,” Tibilov stressed.

“We are supporting the people of the Luhansk People’s Republic and are going to help them as much as we can,” the South Ossetian president said, adding the republic would take all the necessary steps following the official recognition.

South Ossetia and the Luhansk People’s Republic are starting negotiations on establishment of diplomatic relations.

[John Dolva]

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Havana. June 18, 2014

Poroshenko - President of all Ukraine?

Odalys Buscarón Ochoa

The new Ukrainian President, Piotr Poroshenko, swore an oath to the unity of a divided country, a country at war, with some inhabitants subjected to bombings and persecution by a government supported by the West.

Poroshenko has occupied various government positions and was one of the oligarchs who financed the anti-governmental rebellion in Kiev which led to a coup d'état, and the ousting of legitimate President Víktor Yanuókovich, last February.

Poroshenko ran as an independent candidate, but made evident his preference for the road taken by the coup junta, in close collaboration with the United States, and the complicity of fascist sectors. He has not distanced himself from the government's violent response to discontent and rebellion in eastern regions which favor federalization.

The popular mayor of Slavyansk, in the north of Donetsk, Vyacheslav Ponomariov, considers Poroshenko a man prone to lying, who should not be believed or trusted. Ponomariov responded to the new President's promise to promote a dialogue with "peaceful representatives in Donbass," by saying he has nothing to discuss, adding that expectations of the millionaire Poroshenko are low in this region. According to Forbes magazine, the President chocolate magnate's fortune is close to 1.3 billion dollars.

In the Popular Republic of Donetsk, Prime Minister Alexender Borodai told the press that Poroshenko "is the president of another state and his pronouncements about the future of a united Ukraine, and Ukrainian as the only official language" are of no interest in Donetsk.

He recalled that on May 11, with overwhelming support for independence expressed in a referendum, the Popular Republic became a sovereign state.

Kiev, like the United States and European Union, does not recognize the votes in Donetsk or Lugansk, which indicated more than 90% majority support for independence. The central government is likewise reticent to consider federalization as a solution to the conflict.

Leaders of the rebel regions insist that any negotiations must be preceded by an end to combat operations and the withdrawal from their territory of regular armed forces, as well as repressive commando units.

Upon claiming victory in the Presidential elections, Poroshenko called on military leaders to "clean" the regions demanding independence, before his inauguration June 7.

The mayor of Slavyansk responded that the city would not be handed over to anyone, saying that the land is theirs, that they have a way of life with orthodox beliefs, like those of their ancestors, "The people must feel free."

Deputy Oleg Tsariov from the southeastern region does not believe the new President has the authority to dialogue with residents of the East.

Tsariov commented to Russia 24 that Saturday, June 7 dawned with bombing and attacks in Slavyansk, yet in Poroshenko's first speech as head of state, he said nothing, gave no order to halt the operation.

Tsariov, who is being pursued by the Kiev regime and denied parliamentary immunity by the new legislative majority, emphasized that Poroshenko is now legally responsible for the consequences of military-police operations begun by the previous government in April. He should condemn these actions as criminal and investigate them, Tsariov said. Only under these conditions, can discussion about a possible dialogue be considered, according to the deputy.

In a recent interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia, Tsariov said that his condemnations of the fascist coup plotters irritated the powers that be. They have burned both his home and office, and are looking to arrest him, in violation of his status as an elected deputy, he said.

Tsariov expressed the opinion that the current government has lost its authority and faced with impotence is attempting desperate measures. He does not believe that Poroshenko will remain in power long.

The new President's statements were not well-received in Lugansk either.

The President of this Popular Republic, Valeri Bólotov, told the Russian News Service that Poroshenko's promises are not taken seriously by local leaders or residents subjected to repeated bombings.

A disheveled economy, social discontent, growing polarization, repression by the central government and a fratricidal war no doubt limit the chances of a prompt resolution of the crisis in Ukraine, now with its fifth President at the helm. (PL)

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[John Dolva]

Number of reported refugees from Ukraine in Russia reaches 19,000

Russia

June 19, 10:05 UTC+4

Over 200 temporary camps for refugees set up in Russian regions bordering Ukraine

MOSCOW, June 19. /ITAR-TASS/. According to official reports, around 19,000 refugees from Ukraine are staying in Russia.

[John Dolva]

DRAMATIC: Self-defense forces in E. Ukraine hand over bodies of Ukrainian troopers

[John Dolva]

Thursday, June 19

10:05 GMT:

#OSCE

spokesperson says org. 've managed to make contact w/ the 2 missing groups of observers in

#DPR

&

#LPR

. "They're fine",official says.

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT)

June 19, 2014

09:45 GMT:

The airplane with the bodies of Rossiya TV’s journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin on board has landed Thursday morning at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. The funerals for the victims of Ukraine’s army shelling near Lugansk are scheduled to take place Friday, June 20.

Wednesday, June 18

23:10 GMT:

The UN has not discussed the possibility of extending its human rights mission in Ukraine post the September deadline said Farhan Haq, the deputy UN Secretary General spokesman, Itar-Tass reports.

In early June, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry sent a written request to UN chief Ban Ki-moon asking him to extend a UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine for 3 more months.

edit add :

DPR - People's Republic of Donetsk

LPR - People's Republic of Lugansk

Edited June 19, 2014 by John Dolva

[John Dolva]

KEMEROVO, June 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia's Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko believes the report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights about the situation in Ukraine is absolutely biased and unjust.

"An absolutely biased and absolutely politicized report. We consider the report unjust and not objective," Matviyenko told reporters on Thursday.

"We just can't stop wondering how it is possible not to hear and not to see what is obvious. How it is possible to say white is black and black is white. How it is possible to prepare a report that is so one-sided," Matviyenko said, noting that there was no need to travel to Ukraine to prepare such a report. Apparently, there were meetings only with the Kiev authorities, she said.

Matviyenko noted that the OSCE chairman, for example, had met with families who had fled combat zones. "He felt everything. It was seen from his reaction that he felt the grief, troubles and sufferings from what was happening in Ukraine," she said.

"We are not surprised any more by double standards and politicized assessments made not only by some states, but international organizations that are greatly influenced by them (some states)," the speaker noted, referring to the OHCHR.

Miners from Eastern Ukraine to take arms if Kiev fails to stop army operation

The third report of the OHCHR monitoring mission in Ukraine was published on Wednesday, June 18. It covered the period from May 7 to June 7. The report said the human rights situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions deteriorated in the past month and, with the government forces' more intensive operation, led to more casualties.

The OHCHR mission was set up in March to collect information about possible violations of human rights. It numbers 34 people. The mission has representatives in Kiev, Lviv, Odessa, Donetsk and Kharkiv.

Russian Foreign Ministry official Alexander Lukashevich said in his comment on Wednesday that the OHCHR report had no objective assessment of crimes of Kiev, that has been carrying out combat actions against the civilian population, and ignored deaths of civilians in the military operation in Donbass.

[John Dolva]

Two children reported dead after Sloviansk shelling

MOSCOW, June 19./ITAR-TASS/.Fire was opened on an old church in Sloviansk on Thursday. One man was killed, the local diocese said.

"Artillery fire was opened on the city from the height of Karachun at six o'clock in the morning. It lasted for half an hour. This time, the Resurrection Church was a target. The watchman was killed when he went to open the gates and a fragment of a shell hit him right on the head. He was rushed to a hospital, but he died. We pray for deceased Alexander," the Gorlovka and Sloviansk diocese website quoted archpriest Nikolai Fomenko as saying.

The entire southern front side of the church was damaged, but the building was not destroyed. One shell flew half a metre close to the dome. The second exploded on the road near the territory of the church, and the third hit a central gas line near a lake. The main gas line was blocked, the priest said.

Ukraine’s National Guard continues ocassionally shelling Sloviansk

The Resurrection Church in Sloviansk was built in the 18th century. St. John of Kronshtadt once stayed and served at the site. There is a centre of Slavic culture at the church located at a historic site the territory of the old estate Villas of Maria, a historic and architectural monument.

It is the fifth case of the Ukrainian forces' shelling of churches in Sloviansk. On May 26, when the district of Artyom was under fire opened by the National Guards, a woman was killed in a mortar shell explosion near the Church of the Enthroned Icon of the Mother of God. The building was seriously damaged. Fragments of shells broke glass in windows, damaged one side of the building and destroyed the fence. On Holy Trinity Day, June 8, a church in the central part of the city was under fire. On the night to June 16, a church in the village of Cherevkovka was a target of shelling. The gatehouse and the refectory were completely destroyed. On the same day, the Ukrainian army opened fire on the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sloviansk.

Petor Poroshenko stated on June 18 about the start of “a peaceful plan” “to establish order in the region.” On the same day parliament-appointed acting Defense Minister Mikhailo Koval noted that “a peaceful settlement plan will be translated into life right in a few days.” Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Borodai named all these words about ceasefire as “absolutely absurd.”

[John Dolva]

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has promised a ceasefire, urging anti-government fighters to lay down their arms. Donbass militias are skeptical as hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in Kiev’s ongoing military campaign.

Thursday, June 19

20:51 GMT:

Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone conversation with newly elected Ukrainian leader, Petro Poroshenko, stressed the urgent need to stop the military operation in south-eastern Ukraine, “in order to achieve a viable solution to the conflict,” his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Itar-Tass.

The Ukrainian President’s office said in a statement that Poroshenko outlined the key pillars of a 14 point plan aimed at deescalating the situation.

"President outlined the key positions and schedule for implementing the peace plan on the situation in the east of the country ... The Ukrainian leader said that ... he relies on the support of the peace plan"

Earlier on Thursday, Poroshenko met with Kiev-installed representatives of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, in which he presented his peace plan to resolve the situation in eastern Ukraine. Poroshenko promised to order a ceasefire and declare amnesty so that local self-defense fighters can lay down their arms, and if they wish, leave Ukraine.

“The President voluntarily renounces the ability to appoint governors and heads of regional state administrations,” and has agreed to hold early local elections, the presidential press service said.

Despite the promises of a ceasefire however, the humanitarian crisis in eastern Ukraine is worsening day by day, amid disruption of water supplies and electricity, while emergency medical aid is unavailable due to gas shortages as fighting continues in some areas.

19:57 GMT:

In Rome: action under the European Union mission: Hands off Ukraine. The EU - an accomplice of the Nazis in Ukraine pic.twitter.com/uy7PSonQ9g

— AntiMaydan Ukraine (@AntiMaydanUA) May 13, 2014

18:25 GMT:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed the potential cost of Russia's gas dispute with Ukraine for Europe in a telephone call with his German and French counterparts, the Kremlin said in statement on Thursday.

In a three-way call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, Putin also voiced "serious concern" over Ukraine's military operation against an uprising in the east, it said.

"They also discussed the potential consequences for Europe's energy security and economy of the failure of negotiations with Kiev on the settlement of its debt for Russian gas deliveries," the Kremlin said. (Reuters)

16:27 GMT:

The OSCE has re-established contact with two teams of observers that went missing in eastern Ukraine last month, a spokesman for the democracy watchdog said on Thursday.

"We now have contact with both teams," a spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said, adding the contacts had been re-established in the past 48 hours.

"We know that the first ones, the ones that were taken longer ago are alive and unharmed," the spokesman said. Asked about the second group, the spokesman said: "They are fine as well."

The security and rights watchdog lost contact with the international monitoring teams late in May amid intense fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian fighters engulfing the eastern flatlands of the former Soviet republic. (Reuters)

13:13 GMT:

Russia has submitted a revised draft resolution on the crisis in Ukraine to the UN Security Council that includes references emphasizing the Security Council's commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

He added that the conflict in Ukraine in still escalating and the refugee flow is increasing.

"Unfortunately, despite the Ukrainian authorities' statements on their willingness to start the dialogue, reports prove that the de-escalation continues in the country," he said.

13:11 GMT:

Self-defense forces in Lugansk have “practically destroyed” Ukraine’s Aydar battalion, the head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic, Valery Bolotov, told reporters. He added that some Ukrainian troops were taken prisoner.

13:06 GMT:

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he will sign an association agreement with the European Union on June 27 and will also send his new foreign minister to Luxembourg next week to lay out a peace plan for the east to EU ministers.

Referring to plans to sign the association agreement, Poroshenko said: "That for which we have waited for so long will take place next week." (Reuters)

12:52 GMT:

The latest news from Slavyansk in the report of RT's Roman Kosarev

12:30 GMT:

Russian has resumed its military buildup near Ukraine with "several thousand" more troops deployed, NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

“I can confirm that we now see a new Russian military buildup – at least several thousand more Russian troops deployed to the Ukrainian border, and we see troop maneuvers in the neighborhood of Ukraine,” Rassmussen told reporters in London.

“If they’re deployed to seal the border and stop the flow of weapons and fighters that would be a positive step. But that’s not what we’re seeing.”

[John Dolva]

MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov has expressed concern over Kiev’s apparent intent to replace dialogue with brute force in Ukraine’s east, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement following a phone call with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“During an exchange of opinions on the developments in Ukraine, Sergei Lavrov drew attention to the urgent necessity to immediately stop the violence in the country’s southeast and engage in a genuine nationwide dialogue,” the message read. Further noting, “The concern is that some remarks by the Kiev authorities indicate they are trying to substitute nationwide negotiations, with equal participation from all its regions, for plans to crack down on protesters in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.”

Russian and German foreign ministers agreed it was necessary to stick to the principles stipulated in the Geneva communique of April 17, 2014. “Emphasis was on the importance of a thorough and objective investigation into the tragic events, with the help of the OSCE and UN, including the May 2 massacre in Odessa and journalist killings, as well as on the punishment of those responsible,” the ministry said following the phone consultation.

On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he would order a unilateral ceasefire in the east after his troops regained the upper hand on the border, but acting Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval said the plan was also to wrest control of the area in a few days.

Since mid-April, Kiev authorities have been conducting a special military operation to suppress the pro-independence movement. Hundreds of people, including civilians, have died in the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics in the east of Ukraine over the past months. Moscow, which describes the ongoing military actions as a punitive operation, has repeatedly called for an immediate end to the bloodshed.

ROSTOV REGION, June 19 (RIA Novosti) – Hostilities in eastern Ukraine are a “civil war steadfastly heading toward genocide,” according to the Kremlin chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov.

Speaking at a meeting with volunteers who help accommodate Ukrainian refugees in Russia’s southern Rostov Region, Lavrov said Thursday that, “What is going on there [in Ukraine] is, in my opinion, a civil war steadfastly heading toward genocide of [the country’s] own population.”

Vladimir Gromov, a Luhansk-based opposition activist who heads southeastern counter-intelligence forces, has accused Ukrainian command of deliberately targeting civilian quarters during their sweeping missile attacks on the city.

“They target the most defenseless citizens. It is systematic genocide. An ethnic cleansing,” Gromov said Wednesday in a comment to RIA Novosti.

Violence in southeastern Ukraine has been on the rise since the beginning of a punitive operation launched by the Kiev authorities in mid-April that has claimed hundreds of lives.

Over the past few days, the Ukrainian army increased the intensity of mortar attacks, pounding residential districts and places with high population density.

Moscow has called for an immediate end to the bloodshed, but despite numerous promises to initiate the de-escalation process, Kiev has so far not made any moves to stop the attack.

MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti) – The West is hindering the UN Security Council’s work on a draft resolution on Ukraine and Russia has called on the Council to show its commitment to the peaceful resolution of the country’s crisis, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday.

“Frankly speaking, we are perplexed that many western members of the Security Council are continuing to look for various pretexts to maximally hinder the work on the Russian project, which opens true possibilities in starting the process of settling the situation in Ukraine using political methods through broad national dialogue and holding constitutional reforms that have been needed long ago,” Lukashevich said.

“We call on UN Security Council members to support the Russian draft and therefore prove their commitment to the peaceful resolution of the crisis in Ukraine,” Lukashevich said.

Russia earlier this week submitted a revised draft resolution to the UN Security Council that includes references confirming the commitment of the UN Security Council to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The draft resolution also takes into consideration comments by UN Security Council member states, and includes changes to the activity of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The document includes parts of two earlier resolutions that Russia circulated calling for humanitarian aid, a ceasefire and a national dialogue in crisis-hit Ukraine.

Amid the rising independence movement in Ukraine’s eastern regions, authorities in Kiev launched a large-scale military operation in mid-April. The operation, which has triggered violent clashes between independence supporters and government soldiers and led to numerous casualties, has repeatedly been condemned by Moscow.

[John Dolva]

Thursday, June 19

22:36 GMT:

Self-defense forces of the Donetsk's Republic claim to have taken down a Ukrainian Su-25 plane in the battle for the village of Yampol in the north of Donetsk region, militia headquarters told RIA Novosti.

"We have brought down a Su-25 and also destroyed one tank and several BMD airborne combat vehicle” self-defense forces said.

The battle for Yampol lasted all day on June 19. Ukrainian army used self-propelled howitzers and mortars, tanks, armored personnel carriers, fighter jets and helicopters.

Earlier estimates by Kiev operations staff, Vladislav Seleznev, claimed the Ukrainian security services lost four people in the battle while militia suffered the loss of 200 fighters. Yet self-defense forces told RIA Novosti that the casualty figures given by Seleznev “to put it mildly, highly exaggerated."

[John Dolva]

Western media doing Kiev’s job in hiding its ‘fascist allegiances’

Beginning his working life in the aviation industry and trained by the BBC, Tony Gosling is a British land rights activist, historian & investigative radio journalist.

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Published time: June 19, 2014 00:53

A local resident stands in front of the blown out windows and walls of a residential building after it was hit by mortar shells during clashes between the Ukrainian army and anti-Kiev forces in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk, on June 11, 2014. (AFP Photo/Daniel Mihailescu)

The western media does not give a balanced view of the situation refusing to recognize fascist elements in Ukraine, virtually giving the government a free hand in using troops against its own people, investigative journalist Tony Gosling told RT.

RT:President Poroshenko has again reiterated that he wants to end the violence, is he serious?

Tony Gosling: Well, you just said an international outcry, but there’s been not a lot of coverage of this in the western media, which is really rather worrying. It was a little bit like about a month after the coup in Kiev, when we had Alekander Pantalinov, he was boss of Ukraine’s BBC basically, the state broadcaster, who was beaten up by members of the Svoboda Party, the Fascist Party. And what’s going on here, in the West is a failure to recognize what’s going on; this is the first fascist government we’ve had in Europe since the end of Franco*. That’s what happening and that’s why people are very worried across the west, is that our media is really not explaining this.

The problem is from a media point of view, is that’s there’s no real need for the people in Kiev to hide their fascist allegiances – their pictures of Stepan Bandera for example on the wall, who was this Nazi fascist leader in Ukraine in World War II – because the Western media are doing their job for them.

That’s what’s so worrying is that we’re not getting the balance on both sides. I would say probably in Russia too, you know, there’s not the balance. But we’re certainly not getting that here in the West.

Roza Gerasimenko,79, surveys the damage in her home following what locals say was overnight shelling by Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk May 20, 2014. (Reuters/Yannis Behrakis)

RT: Now the Prime Minster has to agree too, could that be the reason the President’s calls to end violence have so far rung hollow, do you think?

TG: I think as an oligarch, he’s not really representing the whole of Ukraine. He’s more of a hired hand of the fascists now in power over there. I mean the roots of the problem in Ukraine now go right back to World War II. We have to look at some of the people that helped create NATO back in the United States and Britain. We had Edward the eighth of course who was fascist. We had Montagu Norman who was in charge of the Bank of England during World War II who had extreme Nazi sympathies and people like Desmond Morton working in the intelligence services. Over in the United States, probably even more openly the Dulles brothers and Prescott Bush.

So this is the problem, is that since World War II we’ve had all these institutions created, particularly NATO, which have actually got their roots in some of the fascism from the Second World War, and that’s not really being explained to us, and we need some action because the EU is backing this. What we need is the Council of Ministers to recognize that there are these fascist elements in Ukraine, and actually fail to back them until these fascists are moved out. Because they are in some of the key jobs, the attorney general for example in Ukraine now, as well as the defense ministry and the interior ministry in charge of policing national security. All of these important jobs are now taken by these fascist parties who the World Jewish Congress have begged really with the European Union to ban these parties and begged with the previous Ukrainian government to ban them. And there’s a failure to deal with this, which comes I think, because the biggest problem, one of the biggest problems anyway is that NATO is actually backing these people, and we’re not getting a recognition from that at all really here in the West.

Yekaterina Len, 61, cries outside her destroyed house following what locals say was overnight shelling by Ukrainian forces in the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian town of Slaviansk May 20, 2014. (Reuters/Yannis Behrakis)

RT: You touched on it there Tony. You said the West accuses Moscow of not trying hard enough to stop the conflict in Ukraine’s east, is that fair, is Kiev trying hard enough themselves?

TG: Of course they’re not. I think they want conflict, that’s what seems to be happening isn’t it? Words are one thing, but let’s look at what’s taking place on the ground. They are trying to fly troops in at night, this kind of thing, in order to control that part of the country. I think ultimately I order to stop a civil war, there’s going to have to be some kind of division, a border in Ukraine now.

I mean, particularly with the banning of these Russian language TV channels, we’ve just heard about. With this kind of things, there is clearly not an interest in Kiev anymore of having plurality across the country. And if that’s coming from Kiev, then I’m afraid that various parts of eastern Ukraine are left with very little choice but to have an armed population and to secede, if the government is using the troops against its own people.

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* Franco - seems a good analogy to me. - The Spanish Civil War. Supported by Nazi Germany and other western powers.