Russia declares war on Ukraine. Live updates from inside Ukraine

originally posted by: victor7
It will be really interesting to see how the events turn out after May 25 elections in Kiev and Western part of Ukraine.

East will boycott most probably. Some Oligarch might take to power and throw concessions towards Russia.

If Right Sector and Svoboda types are not too much in parliament, then peace might take some shape.

New powers in Kiev will have to declare non-interest in joining the NATO.

That might not only save them lots of trouble but also prevent their country from breaking up.

what will be more interesting is if Russia turn off the gas supply in 2 weeks time.
I doubt Ukraine can afford to repay its debt even at discounted price.
Another interesting thing to see is how long is Ukrainian economy going to last under current circumstances.
With no control over the large portion of country, expensive military operation, large debt and IMF on its throat..
there is hardly any space for optimism.
I bet most of people wish Maidan never happened.

Looks like they tracked down the manpads being used by the separatists to a group captured by Russians in Georgia.

Mystery of the Day: How Did Pro-Moscow Separatists in Eastern Ukraine Get Hold of Polish-Made Portable SAM Missiles?


www.matthewaid.com...

interesting read

The Nazi Danger -- A Letter from Odessa
By T., a teacher from Odessa -- submitted by Bruce Gagnon

I have lived in Odessa since my early childhood and adore this sunny south city with its hospitable and witty people. Odessa is a multinational city which is reflected in the names of its streets: French and Italian Boulevards, Greek and Bulgarian Streets, Moldavian district, etc. Odessa was built according to a decree issued by the Russian empress Catherine the Great over 200 years ago as a Russian port city on the Black Sea. And it was constructed by French and Italian architects and engineers invited by Catherine. That is why it is said to resemble Paris …

During the Soviet period Odessa was a part of the Ukrainian SSR – one of the 15 republics comprising the USSR at the time, though it was Russian, both by its population and the language it spoke. But it was not of principal importance for the numerous nations and nationalities living there, as all of them had equal rights and comprised one and the same Soviet people. When I studied at school there were Russians, Ukrainians, Jews and Bulgarians in my class, and it didn’t matter – we were the citizens of one and the same country.

After the USSR collapsed, the Ukrainian Republic became Ukraine and started building its own independent state seeking to prove its self-sufficiency and ability to become a powerful and prosperous state. But it failed. Instead the state succeeded in splitting and embroiling the two people inhabiting it – Ukrainians and Russians. Being a teacher I can definitely state that in 23 years of independence there appeared a generation of young people brought up in a Russophobic spirit. It was made possible due to the anti-Russian policy of the state which tried to shift the discontent of its citizens from itself onto its external neighbour-state – Russia (the so-called “younger-brother syndrome”). But to make hatred to one’s fraternal people a country’s national idea is, to my mind, absurd and a crime against its own people.

Ukraine could be called “an artificial state”. If one takes interest in its history, it will turn out that the state has existed in its present form not so long ago, and consists of heterogeneous parts. One of the major reasons of the present crisis in Ukraine is that the neo-nazi and Russophobic ideology of one of these parts, Galicia, is imposed upon the entire Ukraine. The slogans of the Kiev “Maidan” like “Glory to Ukraine! – Glory to heroes!”, “Nation is above all!”, “Death to enemies!” are the slogan of the nationalists and Bandera-followers from the west of Ukraine. Their enemies are Russians, and their heroes are Bandera, Shukhevich and the like, who were fascists’ henchmen during the last war, and who became notorious for their flagrant atrocities against peaceful population in the west of Ukraine.

warisacrime.org...

originally posted by: ALoveSupreme
One thing shocking occurred to me today -- I am acquaintances with one of the Donetsk militants!

Remember the Cossack mercenary, Babay'?

I did not pay attention to his name before when they identified him on VICE as 'Alexandr Mozhaev'.

I know of this man, but not with a beard like that! Alexandr was the head of 'VIP security' and personal body guard to Gafur Rakhimov at the Burj Al Arab hotel a few years ago. When I finally heard his name I suddenly recognized him.

Very bizarre. I will try to find more information.

I hope he does not get himself killed over this insanity.

Heres your friend using a rather derogatory statement against Obama and threatening to kill him.Arent Russians sepratists so cute and cuddly think id rather have the NAZIs lol.

originally posted by: dragonridr

originally posted by: ALoveSupreme
One thing shocking occurred to me today -- I am acquaintances with one of the Donetsk militants!

Remember the Cossack mercenary, Babay'?

I did not pay attention to his name before when they identified him on VICE as 'Alexandr Mozhaev'.

I know of this man, but not with a beard like that! Alexandr was the head of 'VIP security' and personal body guard to Gafur Rakhimov at the Burj Al Arab hotel a few years ago. When I finally heard his name I suddenly recognized him.

Very bizarre. I will try to find more information.

I hope he does not get himself killed over this insanity.

Heres your friend using a rather derogatory statement against Obama and threatening to kill him.Arent Russians sepratists so cute and cuddly think id rather have the NAZIs lol.

Not my friend. I knew him by regular appearance and staffing role.

I cannot believe his mindset, to go there. Disgusting racism and hatred in his words.

a reply to: ALoveSupreme

I would be on the look out for CIA now that they know you are aqaintences to that man. they do not take kindly to threats on the president.i woudnt be surprised he gets droned sooner than later for this direct threat.

Once again Russian media caught lying to the puplic Russian propaganda is falling apart.

White House accuses Russia of anti-U.S. propaganda war in Ukraine

Russia has warned for weeks that American security contractors like those accused of killing 14 unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2007 have been ordered into Ukraine to guide the interim government's crackdown on Russian-speaking separatists.

This month, corroboration seemed to appear in a photo that showed five men dressed in black and carrying assault weapons on a featureless city street. State Department officials say the men were New Orleans police or contractors trying to prevent looting after the 2005 hurricane. The photo, they say, was doctored by "Kremlin-sponsored websites" to remove the sign of an American fast-food joint.

www.chicagotribune.com...

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said an antidemocratic coup occurred in Ukraine in February. "Antidemocratic events keep occurring in Ukraine. Many people say power has gone into the hands of a group of dangerous Nazis. Kiev keeps running into debts, the country has no money to pay for essentials, for example, gas," Berlusconi told the Italian private television channel La7 on Tuesday.

Berlusconi said it was natural for the people of Crimea, who found themselves in difficult economic and political conditions, to ask Russia for support.
"The Russian military on the borders was a guarantee that there will be no massacre in Crimea, where people were afraid of Kiev," Berlusconi said. "The referendum in Crimea was a manifestation of the people’s right to self-determination," he said.
Asked whether "Russia took the right position", the politician said confidently, "Absolutely".

Read more: voiceofrussia.com...

The US Administration, visibly irritated with Israel's "neutrality" towards the political crisis in Ukraine, has been putting pressure on Tel-Aviv, the Haaretz newspaper reports.

White House and US State Department officials "express deep disappointment with the lack of support from Israel for the American position on the Ukraine crisis and with the fact that the Israeli government puts its relations with the United States and with Russia on the same plane," the newspaper writes.
Washington is also displeased with the fact that Israel holds its relations with the United States and Russia to be equally important, the Haaretz says.
Washington couldn't conceal its irritation over the absence of Israel's representative from voting on the late March UN General Assembly resolution on the situation in Crimea, TASS reports.
It indicated that recent public remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman "in which they maintained their "neutrality" and failed to back up the United States" added more fuel to Washington's rancor.
"We have good and trusting relations with the Americans and the Russians, and our experience has been very positive with both sides," Lieberman told Israel's Channel 9 television when asked about the Ukraine crisis. "So I don't understand the idea that Israel has to get mired in this."
Read more: voiceofrussia.com...

Well, how fast he became a billionaire even faster he is going to lose everything.

MARIUPOL — Calls by eastern Ukraine’s richest man for demonstrations against Russian-backed separatists met with a mixed response Tuesday as many workers stayed on their jobs. Billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, whose coal mines, steel plants and other factories are the industrial might of the Donets Basin in eastern Ukraine, had called on all of his 300,000 employees to take part in the rallies against a separatist movement that the tycoon warns is endangering the region’s economy. At the entrance to Akhemtov’s Iliych steel plant in Mariupol, an industrial port city in southeastern Ukraine, bystanders and workers said nobody emerged when the factory sirens wailed at noon, the time for the demonstration.

Denis Pushilin, a leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, tweeted that they would begin nationalizing the properties of regional oligarchs. He did not mention Akhmetov by name, but in a follow-up tweet, Pushilin made it clear he was talking about the tycoon. He wrote:

Akhmetov made his choice. Unfortunately, it is a choice against the people of Donbas.

niqnaq.wordpress.com... wapo/

As I said before many would wish Maidan never happened. Welcome to IMF's trap.

Who will benefit from the IMF's $17bn bailout of Ukraine? Not its people
It should be remembered that the actual beneficiaries of all such IMF bailouts are not the people of the country concerned but their creditors, the holders of government bonds and the large banks. The bondholders are set to be paid out in full despite their failed bets. Operating within the "Washington consensus", IMF bailouts are a supranational form of loan-sharking. Their impact is familiar to hundreds of millions of people in developing countries, especially in Africa and in Latin America. They are also increasingly familiar to the populations of the European periphery whose living standards have been driven lower throughout the current economic crisis.

The prescription in what the fund calls special adjustment programmes is always the same: privatisations, lower government payrolls, lower government social spending and lower wages. The latter are always a particular point of principle, disregarding the fact that the world cannot become more competitive against itself. Lower wages do not in any event lead to greater competitiveness, otherwise Ukraine would already be one of the most competitive countries in the whole Eurasian land mass. But lower wages do boost profits, which benefits the new private owners of formerly state-controlled sectors.

The effect of the IMF intervention, then, acting as it does in the interest of western creditors rather than the Ukrainian people, will be only to further impoverish the population of Ukraine.

www.theguardian.com...

a reply to: cosmonova

What an excellent article.........thanks and 5-STARS * * * * *

About time Kiev imprisons all of the right wing and kicks out the "cookie and sandwich ambassadors" from Ukraine.

Operating within the "Washington consensus", IMF bailouts are a supranational form of loan-sharking.

Their impact is familiar to hundreds of millions of people in developing countries, especially in Africa and in Latin America.

www.cnbc.com...

AP journalists have seen 11 dead bodies at a Ukrainian military checkpoint. Witnesses said that pro-Russian insurgents attacked the checkpoint in the village of Blahodatne in the eastern Donetsk region on Thursday.

11 dead seems like a high number for this skirmish.
One witness talks of shelling..

Patskan, who wasn't hurt, said she was hiding under a kitchen table with her cat, Timofey, when the shelling came.

what kind of rebels have artillery?

How Many showed up at the United Rally in Ukraine Donetsk soccer stadium?

Greg Palkot

Hmm. Less than massive show of support at #Ukraine unity rally at #Akhmetov's #Donetsk soccer stadium. pic.twitter.com/AJQ3bwM2Tp

a reply to: dragonridr

Oh look its what the White House Says what the Great LEADER Obama says! so what the White House says it must be true right?

whether heavily armed men in a grainy image are trigger-happy American mercenaries in Ukraine

I am sure there weren't any trigger-happy American mercenaries in either Libya, nor Syria of course not Obama is the man.

According to you.

Russian propaganda is falling apart.
Since its from chicagotribune obama's hometown news paper then it must be true right?

In the Donetsk region Volnovaha during clashes between rebels and forces ATO.

Reported by the group coordinator Dmitry Timchuk Information opposition.
"The forces of ATO is dead. (..) In Volnovaha, to our knowledge, Ukrainian security forces killed 8, wounded 18,"

"Near the city in the Donetsk region Volnovaha terrorists cunningly, ambush, opened fire from massed small arms, hand grenades and anti-tank mortar checkpoint where soldiers served one of the military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine", - reported in the department.

www.pravda.com.ua...


Aftermath of the battle from the news story above,

a reply to: Agit8dChop

What kind of rebels have mortars? the russian supplied kind.

originally posted by: Agent_USA_Supporter
a reply to: dragonridr

Oh look its what the White House Says what the Great LEADER Obama says! so what the White House says it must be true right?

whether heavily armed men in a grainy image are trigger-happy American mercenaries in Ukraine

I am sure there weren't any trigger-happy American mercenaries in either Libya, nor Syria of course not Obama is the man.

According to you.

Russian propaganda is falling apart.
Since its from chicagotribune obama's hometown news paper then it must be true right?

In case you hadnt figured it out Russia is using footage from the Hurricane that occurred in the US. And claiming this is Ukraine it turns out there police officers during disaster relief id say thats a lie no matter how Russian television tries to spin it. You can claim all you like there is Americans on the ground but if they were than why is Russia making up footgage? Either US intelligence agency is vastly superior to Russians and can hide it from them so effectively they have to fake evidence or there is no US troops there pick one.

This explains some of the battles at checkpoints as they attempt to keep the separatists isolated. Couple things interesting one being there professionals as stated but mostly it shows the Ukrainian military doesnt know how to create trap points. They need to get some military advisers in there to show them how you force traffic to slow down and set up trap zones putting a group of people standing by the road is not a checkpoint.

www.kyivpost.com... .html

Prince Charles has compared the recent actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine to those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in World War II, media reports said Wednesday.

Marienne Ferguson, a 78-year-old who fled the Nazis at aged 13 and lost family members in the Holocaust, said the heir to the throne made the controversial remark during a tour of a museum in Canada.

Related: UK politicians say Charles 'free to speak' after Putin-Hitler row

"I had finished showing him the exhibit and talked with him about my own family background and how I came to Canada," Ferguson told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper.

"The prince then said: 'And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler'.

"I must say that I agree with him and am sure a lot of people do.

news.msn.com...