Ukraine Crisis | Updates & Discussions

[BLACKEAGLE]

Ultra-nationalist Ukrainian battalion gears up for more fighting

By Gabriela Baczynska

URZUF, Ukraine Wed Mar 25, 2015 7:49am EDT

Ukraine's voluntary militia called the Azov Battalion holds artillery training in east Ukraine's village of Urzuf that sits west of the port city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea, March 19, 2015.

Credit: REUTERS/Marko Djurica


(Reuters) - The far-right Azov battalion, whose symbol resembles a black swastika on a yellow background, is preparing to defend the port city of Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine against a widely expected attack by pro-Russian separatists.

The 1,000 strong ultra-nationalist militia has a reputation as a fierce pro-government fighting force in the almost year-old conflict with the Russia-backed rebels in east Ukraine, and is disdainful of peace efforts.

But the radical views of the commanders of a group affiliated to Ukraine's national guard which works alongside the army, and the use of symbols echoing Nazi emblems have caused alarm in the West and Russia, and could return to haunt Kiev's pro-Western leadership when fighting eventually ends.

"We don't like the ceasefire at all. As with the previous ones, it'll only lead to another offensive by the enemy," Azov commander Andriy Biletsky told Reuters while watching artillery drills at Urzuf, on the shores of the Sea of Azov, about 40 km south-west of Mariupol.

"Appeasing the aggressor will only lead to more aggression. This war will inevitably continue - either until our complete defeat or until our full victory and return to our land in all east Ukraine and Crimea. We believe in the second scenario," said the 35-year-old from the city of Kharkiv.

As the drills continued, other members of the battalion were in combat with the separatists at the village of Shirokino, some 60 km (38 miles) to the northeast.

Shirokino, where Ukrainian and rebel positions are separated by only a few kilometers of village dwellings, is one of several places along the line of contact where fighting has continued despite a February ceasefire.

Mariupol, which Azov helped recapture from the rebels last year, is a big prize. Its capture would offer the separatists the chance to open a road further south a year after Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine. [ID:nL5N0W30SQ]

Kiev and the West say Russia drives the rebellion in east Ukraine and has sent in troops as well as weapons to help the separatists. Moscow has sided with the rebels but denies direct military involvement.

"PATRIOT OF UKRAINE"

The Azov battalion originated from Biletsky's paramilitary national socialist group called "Patriot of Ukraine", which propagated slogans of white supremacy, racial purity, the need for authoritarian power and a centralized national economy.

"Patriot of Ukraine" opposed giving up Ukraine's sovereignty by joining international blocs, called for rolling back of liberal economy and political democracy, including free media.

In 2008, Biletsky urged "thousands of young fanatic apostles" to advance its ideas. Local media have reported on several violent incidents in which the group was involved.

Since Azov was officially created last May, it has been involved in fighting on the outskirts of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk, a battle for the town of Illovaysk which Ukrainian forces lost last summer and across the coast of the Sea of Azov.

But, since Azov was enrolled as a regiment of Ukraine's National Guard in September and started receiving increased supplies of heavy arms, Biletsky has toned down his rhetoric.

Most of "Patriot of Ukraine" websites are now down or under restricted access. He denied Azov's symbol was a reference to Nazism, saying it was rather a Ukrainian nationalist symbol.

Biletsky said he now has infantry and artillery units and was building a proper tank force. His troops training on the cannons in Urzuf were heavily armed with quality uniforms.

Biletsky said his troops, all volunteers, were "officially" making 6,000 hryvnia ($316) a month but in fact around 10,000 hryvnia. Apart from getting funds from the interior ministry, Azov is believed to be getting support from among Ukrainian super-rich oligarchs.

Biletsky did not say whether and how his views have changed since he wrote the "Patriot of Ukraine" program but said his priority now was extinguishing the pro-Russian rebellion.

"We have only one goal right now - fighting for the homeland until all of it is freed. And then we will try to build a new Ukraine that we could all be proud of. We are patriots. We believe in our nation, nationalism is our ideology," he said.

Biletsky, a historian by education who is married with a son, was detained in 2011 on charges of assaulting a man.

He was released after an amnesty in February 2014 and his aides dismiss the case as an example of political persecution of Ukrainian nationalists under Ukraine's ousted president and Moscow ally Viktor Yanukovich.

He has since been elected to the Ukrainian parliament, riding a wave of an increased nationalist sentiment in Ukraine triggered by the war.

PRESSURE ON KIEV

Some Ukrainian politicians have defended Biletsky and his troops as patriots. There is lingering doubt, however, over what role Azov might play when the military conflict ends and whether its members could challenge President Petro Poroshenko and his government or threaten the wider public security.

Biletsky has criticized Poroshenko for losing out on in an information war against Russia and the rebels, and is dismissive of the chances for a negotiated solution to the conflict.

"How can we settle it peacefully if part of our territory is occupied? Will they give us Crimea back? How can there be a peaceful way to stop an aggression?," he said.

In a sign of persistent tensions between the pro-Ukrainian volunteer battalions and Ukraine's regular army, Biletsky blamed Ukraine's top military commanders for battlefield defeats.

He said he has lost about 60 men in the conflict and wants a revamp of Ukraine's armed forces to promote a new generation of field commanders who have fought on the ground in a conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people.

"We have loads of generals brought up in the Soviet Union who have no idea of combat, who rose as state officials in uniforms rather than commanding officers in the field. These people don't want to and don't know how to fight."

($1 = 19.0000 hryvnia)

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Kiev; Editing by Timothy Heritage and Anna Willard)
Ultra-nationalist Ukrainian battalion gears up for more fighting| Reuters

 

[Redheart]

Violence escalates in east Ukraine ahead of talks - Yahoo News

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine's military accused pro-Russian rebels on Monday of using heavy weapons that were meant to have been withdrawn under a ceasefire deal, after one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and six wounded in rebel-held territories.

With fighting intensifying once more, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany were due to meet in Berlin later on Monday to discuss the next steps in implementing a ceasefire agreement signed in the Belarusian capital Minsk in February.

"The rebels have not stopped firing at Ukrainian positions ... Over the past day, the enemy has used weapons banned under the Minsk agreements," Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said in a televised briefing.

Under the deal, weapons bigger than 100 mm caliber, including heavy artillery and powerful rocket systems, are meant to have been withdrawn from the front line.

Motuzyanyk said rebels had fired at government troops multiple times with 120-122 mm weapons.

Meanwhile separatist officials accused government troops of firing tank and artillery rounds repeatedly at rebel positions, the separatist news agency DAN reported.

It also quoted senior rebel commander Eduard Basurin as saying two local journalists had been wounded by Ukrainian firing around Pisky, near the rebel-held city of Donetsk.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the implementation of the ceasefire deal, also reported a sharp spike in hostilities over the weekend.

Speaking ahead of the four-way talks, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier were concerned by the ceasefire violations and a lack of political progress in Ukraine.

"We are going to remind our colleagues, both Russian and Ukrainian, that the Minsk process must be respected and must be respected before the end of the year," he told reporters.

Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in a Twitter post Monday evening: "Concerned by reports of resumed heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine. It's imperative that OSCE monitors have unfettered access immediately."

Over 6,000 have been killed since the conflict erupted a year ago, when rebels opposed to the ousting of a Moscow-backed president and the installation of a pro-Western government declared independence from Kiev. Ukraine and the West say they have evidence that Russia has sent men and weapons to support the rebels, a charge Moscow denies.

 

[Lieutenant]

Media Warfare.

Ukraine: Fighting Russian Propaganda

 

[Redheart]

Ukraine says government forces halt rebel attempt to advance on eastern town | Reuters

An attempt by pro-Russian separatists to advance on Ukrainian troop positions near the town of Maryinka in eastern Ukraine has been halted for now, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said on Wednesday.

"For the moment, storming operations have been halted," he told journalists.

Earlier, the Ukrainian military said separatists had launched a push using tanks and artillery towards Ukrainian government positions west of the big regional city of Donetsk in an escalation of the conflict in the east.

Senior rebel commander Eduard Basurin denied separatists had launched an offensive, rebel press service DAN reported.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Putin just launched a new offensive in Ukraine — here's what he's trying to do

ReutersPro-Russian rebels take cover, during what the rebels said was an anti-terrorist drill in Donetsk, March 18, 2015.

Russian-backed separatists launched a long-anticipated offensive maneuver on June 3 that fully severed a fraying ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. After weeks of military buildup and operational expansion along the front line, the Russian-backed forces stormed government-held military positions immediately west of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk before being driven back by Ukrainian troops.

A sustained Russian-backed offensive on these frontline positions may function as component of a larger maneuver to push south along the strategic Donetsk-Mariupol highway. The maneuver around Donetsk may also be part of a coordinated tandem offensive, a signature of Russia’s hybrid operations in eastern Ukraine.

Russian-backed separatists may synchronize the offensive west of Donetsk with a maneuver operation around the city of Artemivsk, a gateway to Ukraine’s regional military and administrative headquarters.

Moscow and the separatists may apply a large-scale tandem offensive to bully Kyiv into a peace settlement on their own terms for the third time in a year. The timing of the offensive on the morning after restarted ceasefire negotiations, which Kyiv accused the Russian delegation of abandoning, points to the existence of a political objective behind the operation.

ReutersA dog walks near members of pro-Russian self-defence units who take part in a festive procession marking the first anniversary of the Crimean treaty signing in Sevastopol, March 18, 2015.

Since March, Russian and separatists have accused Kyiv of flouting the key political component of the February ceasefire agreement, namely the constitutional recognition of the autonomy of occupied eastern Ukraine. The Kremlin may have ordered the launch of maneuver operations to not only expand the territory of the separatist “republics” but also to coerce Kyiv into giving them legitimacy.

Russian-backed separatists launched an offensive maneuver in eastern Ukraine early Wednesday morning, May 3, shattering the last semblance of a loose 100-day ceasefire that the separatists have steadily dismantled since April.

Wednesday’s assault on Ukrainian positions west of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk (1 on map) is the largest the Russian-backed forces have mounted since their February 18 capture of Debaltseve (2 on map), a key transit hub. The preparations for this offensive have been underway since April, prompting ISW to issue two warning intelligence products.

Institute of the Study of War

The separatists launched the maneuver one day following failed peace talks in Minsk, Belarus that Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of abruptly abandoning. Russia and the separatists may be applying sharply intensified military force not only to seize strategically important terrain but also to push Kyiv into granting autonomy to the territory the hybrid forces have captured over the past 14 months.

Russian-backed separatists under the flag of the self-styled “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR) assaulted Ukrainian positions around Marinka and Krasnohorivka (3 on map), government-controlled urban areas bordering the western city districts of DNR-held Donetsk. The Ukrainian military reported intensive bombardment and separatist attempts to encircle Ukrainian “Anti-Terrorist Operation” (ATO) forces west of Donetsk using a combination of armor and heavy weapons such as “Grad” multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS).

Maxim Shemetov/ReutersPro-Russian separatists from the Chechen "Death" battalion walk during a training exercise in the territory controlled by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, December 8, 2014.

International monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) recorded the movement of columns of heavy weapons moving toward southwestern Donetsk in the hours preceding the attack. According to the Ukrainian military, ATO forces in the area endured two large waves of assaults which killed at least three Ukrainian soldiers, wounded over 30, and left Marinka and Krasnohorivka in flames.

Ukraine’s military claimed to have repelled the separatist maneuver after a reportedly 1,000-man combined arms force made inroads into the government-held areas west of Donetsk. The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces announced that it redeployed heavy artillery withdrawn under the ceasefire agreement to the front line in response to the separatist offensive.

Reports of heavy shelling inside DNR-held Donetsk suggest that Ukrainian troops targeted the urban terrain that the separatists appear to have been using as a shielded launch point for attacks.Ukrainian forces claimed to have cleared separatist mechanized infantry from the town of Marinka, which separatist forces partially captured earlier in the day. ATO forces reportedly withdrew into Marinka from a checkpoint on a highway linking Donetsk to Ukrainian-held Zaporizhia, the capital of the neighboring province to the west.

Baz Ratner/REUTERSA pro-Russian separatist guards a checkpoint as tyres burn behind him, near the town of Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine May 2, 2014.

The escalation of separatist offensive activity along the front line since April 2015 places the maneuver west of Donetsk in the context of the larger Russian-backed military operation in eastern Ukraine. Following the capture of Debaltseve, both the separatist and Ukrainian forces began withdrawing heavy weapons in accordance with the February “Minsk II” ceasefire agreement.

The separatists continued to engage Ukrainian forces with indirect fire around key areas, most notably the ATO positions north of Donetsk and east of Mariupol (4 on map), the strategic city that anchors the highway from the separatists’ republics to Russian-held Crimea. Separatist forces began redeploying heavy weapons to the front line in April under the guise of preparations for May 9 “Victory Day” military parades.

Russia and the separatists have adapted Soviet operational art to their hybrid campaign in order to penetrate the Ukrainian front. The separatists gradually increased attacks from heavy weapons banned under the ceasefire agreement as the Russian-backed forces began bolstering their offensive capabilities along the front line in April.

Vadim Ghirda/AP

Over the course of several weeks the separatists broadened their offensive operations, expanding their artillery targets from a few key Ukrainian positions to the majority of the front line. The separatists’ operational shift from isolated shelling to widespread attacks across a large front disguised preparations for the maneuver west of Donetsk, an area untouched during the ceasefire period until the night of May 27.

Russian-backed separatists engaged Ukrainian forces around other key areas as the offensive transpired west of Donetsk and in the day following the maneuver. Ukrainian positions north of Donetsk received intensive shelling while positions east of Mariupol endured an uptick in shelling after recent periods of relative calm. At least two incidents of shelling deep into Ukrainian territory were reported from June 1 to June 3, demonstrating longer range than the separatists have typically exhibited in the “Minsk II” ceasefire period.

Igor Tkachenko/REUTERSPro-Russian rebels ride atop an armoured personnel carrier (APC) during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Donetsk, Ukraine May 5, 2015

Several attempts by the separatists to break through the frontline in areas away from Donetsk were reported during the same timeframe including at least one successful penetration. The separatists may have engaged ATO forces around other potential targets in order to prevent Ukraine from concentrating troops around Donetsk. Continued dispersed attacks also enable the separatists to probe for weak points in the Ukrainian defenses in order to launch a second synchronized maneuver.

The operational design that the separatists are using now likely mimics the tandem Russian- backed separatist offensive maneuvers that bookended the first Minsk ceasefire period. In August and early September 2014, Russian-backed separatists conducted a maneuver to envelop the rail hub of Ilovaisk (5 on map) while a regular Russian armored column opened a new front in the conflict by seizing coastal terrain (6 on map) along the Azov Sea. In January and February 2015, Russian-backed separatists seized the Donetsk airport before combined Russian-separatist forces encircled Debaltseve.

Igor Tkachenko/REUTERSPro-Russian rebels drive tanks during a rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade in Donetsk, Ukraine May 5, 2015.

These tandem offensives brought Kyiv to the negotiating table with the separatists and Moscow. The two ceasefires out of these negotiations allowed Russia to gradually bolster the military capacity of the separatists and consolidate the territorial gains made during the hot war into defensible proxy political entities. It is likely that Russia and the separatists will reapply this operational design in the current offensive to maximize territorial gains before Ukrainian forces are able to form a coherent response.

The Russian-backed separatist offensive around Marinka and Krasnohorivka may serve several operational and strategic objectives that are not mutually exclusive. These two urban areas lay between the separatists and a major government-held reservoir and thermal power plant in the city of Kurakhove (7 on map), 20 kilometers west of Donetsk. These infrastructure points provide clean water and energy for many separatist-held areas.

Separatist leaders have highlighted the priority of securing major infrastructure points as a means to create viable states independent of Kyiv. Separatists have often targeted Ukrainian-held energy infrastructure along the front line, resulting in regular outages particularly during the winter period. Kurakhove’s strategic position on elevated terrain would also make it highly defensible as a westernmost point of separatist control. Separatist penetration beyond Marinka and Krasnohorivka would reveal Kurakhove as the probable target of the maneuver.

The maneuver launched on June 3 is more likely part of an operation to seize the northern leg of the Donetsk-Mariupol H20 highway (8 on map). Russian-backed forces began shelling both Marinka and areas of the highway south of Donetsk at the end of May after three months of inactivity and continued to target the Ukrainian positions on the highway during the offensive maneuver. The coincidence of attacks west and south of Donetsk suggests that these efforts are part of a single coordinated operation to seize the H20 highway.

Marinka acts as the forward most Ukrainian positon to southwestern Donetsk, a primary axis from which the separatists would likely launch an assault on that road. The capture of the government-controlled highway is a necessary precondition for a Russian-backed siege on the strategic port city of Mariupol.

A separatist advance into Marinka and intensified targeting of Ukrainian positions south of Donetsk would indicate that the H20 is the target of the operation.

ReutersMap of eastern Ukraine locating recent flashpoints between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces, includes shaded area of control by the rebels and locates presence of Russian military units in the region.

If the tandem offensive is underway, Russian-backed separatist offensive operations will likely sharply intensify around a government-held pocket between the separatist frontline cities of Horlivka (9 on map) and Pervomaysk (10 on map).The second Russian-backed maneuver in this set would likely focus on the highway between separatist-held Debaltseve and Ukrainian-controlled Artemivsk (11 on map).

Artemivsk is strategic gateway to the Kyiv-backed regional government and the ATO headquarters in northern Donetsk Oblast (12 on map). Separatist forces are well positioned to attempt to encircle Artemivsk from the western and eastern flanks. Separatist forces demonstrated that the city is in range of both their artillery systems and their infantry sabotage groups on the night of June 1 by launching small attacks around Artemivsk, 15 kilometers beyond the front line.

The decision of the separatists, and likely Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, to launch an offensive as ceasefire negotiations resume likely indicates their intentions to apply military force to extract political concessions from Kyiv. Representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the separatist “republics” gathered in the Belarussian capital on the eve of the offensive to discuss the implementation of the February “Minsk II” agreement.

REUTERS/Grigory DukorBelarus' President Alexander Lukashenko (L), Russia's President Vladimir Putin (2nd L), Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko (R), Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel (C) and France's President Francois Hollande pose for a family photo during peace talks in Minsk, February 11, 2015.

They met in small working groups to discuss clauses of the agreement ranging from prisoner exchange to a Ukrainian constitutional amendment recognizing the autonomy of the separatist-held territory. The latter issue has been the primary focus of Russian and separatist criticism since March since they accused Kyiv of reneging on this key political clause of the ceasefire agreement.
Putin launches new offensive in Ukraine - Business Insider

Rather than recognizing the territories as autonomous, Ukraine’s parliament passed a law that classified them as “temporarily occupied” until internationally monitored local elections were held that would effectively bar the participation of the separatist leadership. While few details have emerged from the June 2 consultations, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk accused Russia of walking out on the talks and promptly ordering the launch of an offensive. Moscow and its proxies are again fighting in order to impose their own negotiating terms on Ukraine.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Reuters / Sunday, June 07, 2015
A boy sits on a swing near his building, which was damaged during fighting between the Ukrainian army and pro-Russian separatists, as an armoured personnel carrier (APC) of the Ukrainian armed forces is seen nearby in Avdeyevka near Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, June 7, 2015. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Reuters / Monday, June 08, 2015
A member of the Right Sector's Ukrainian Volunteer Corps fires a weapon from his position during clashes with pro-Russian separatists at the Butovka coal mine near Donetsk, Ukraine, June 7, 2015. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Reuters / Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Members of the Ukrainian armed forces gather on armoured vehicles on the roadside near the village of Vidrodzhennya outside Artemivsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

 

[Lieutenant]

How did the separatists managed to move armed wheels to the eastern side of the country?

 

[Scorpion]

How did the separatists managed to move armed wheels to the eastern side of the country?

All hail to Putin..

 

[Redheart]

Too late to be apologizing? Ousted Ukraine president is apologizing for his role in the Ukraine crisis.
Ukraine crisis: Yanukovych regrets bloodshed in Kiev - BBC News

Ukraine's former President Viktor Yanukovych has said he accepts some responsibility for the killings that led to his overthrow in February 2014.

"I don't deny my responsibility," he told BBC Newsnight, when asked about the shooting of demonstrators in Kiev's Maidan Square.

He never ordered the security forces to open fire, he said, but admitted he had not done enough to prevent bloodshed.

It is his first Western media interview since the civil war erupted last year.

"I did not give any orders [to use firearms], that was not my authority… I was against any use of force, let alone the use of firearms, I was against bloodshed.

"But the members of the security forces fulfilled their duties according to existing laws. They had the right to use weapons," he said.

More than 100 protesters died in the clashes on Kiev's central square, where huge crowds had confronted police for months.

A year after the bloodshed some witnesses told the BBC that fatal shots had also been fired at the police.

In February 2014 Mr Yanukovych was whisked away by Russian special forces to a safe haven in Russia.

Crimea 'tragedy'

Within weeks Russian troops in unmarked camouflage took over Ukrainian bases in Crimea. Then in April pro-Russian rebels stormed government buildings in the heavily industrial Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, triggering civil war.

Mr Yanukovych told the BBC that the war was a "nightmare" that had become a reality.

Russia's annexation of Crimea was a "tragedy", which would not have happened on his watch, he said.

"What happened there was very bad. And we need, today, to find a way out of this situation... Now there is war. They talk about getting Crimea back. How? By war? Do we need another war?"

He denied allegations that he had embezzled funds from the Ukrainian state and was hiding money in foreign bank accounts.

His opulent residence outside Kiev, thrown open to public gaze by protesters after he fled, did not belong to him personally, he said.

Receipts detailing millions of dollars spent on the complex were, he said, "political technology" and spin. The ostriches in the residence's petting zoo, he maintained, "just happened to be there".

"Yes, there was corruption, no one denies that. But a year and a half has passed, those in power have all the means at their disposal. Show us, where are the bank accounts of Yanukovych? They don't exist and never have done."

Interpol placed him on a wanted list in January this year, as Ukrainian officials accuse him of embezzling millions of dollars.

Viktor Yanukovych

* July 1950 - born the son of a poor metalworker and nurse in eastern town of Yenakiyeve
* Jailed twice for violent crimes in his youth
* 1970s - transport manager in Donetsk region in communist era
* 1997 - appointed Donetsk governor
* 2002 - appointed prime minister of independent Ukraine
* 2004 - elected president but ousted in Orange Revolution, as his election declared fraudulent
* 2006-2007 - serves as prime minister
* 2010 - wins presidential election fairly
* February 2014 - flees Kiev amid huge anti-government protests

Profile: Ousted President Viktor Yanukovych

Ukraine country profile
Rescued by Putin

He said Russian President Vladimir Putin had saved his life by ordering special forces to bring him to Russia on the night of 23 February 2014.

"The fact that Vladimir Putin took that decision, on the recommendation of his own special forces, that was his right and his business. He did not consult me.

"I am of course grateful to him for giving the order and helping my security to get me out, and save my life," he said, adding that he believed his life was still in danger.

He said he still hoped one day to be able to return to Ukraine.

The Donbas region - much of which is now controlled by separatists - should remain part of Ukraine, he said, urging the United States and the European Union to force Kiev to negotiate directly with the rebel leaders.

He said his opponents in Kiev "should not have carried out a military coup - they should not have drawn in radical far-right forces".

"I warned that they would not stop at Maidan - that they would go further. And they went further… They've broken up the country. They've drawn the whole world into this conflict."

 

[Lieutenant]

It's too late no doubt but the issue is how to get the swallowed part of Ukraine back fron Russia?

 

[Redheart]

I guess so.

The problem though is unless Ukraine is willing to work more closely with Russia [and Poroshenko won't give it a thought since he believes Ukraine is better off working with the West] Russia will hold onto what they've seized. After all, as long as Ukraine is divided no one is going to let them join any alliances or unions.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Reuters / Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Members of the Ukrainian armed forces take their positions near the town of Maryinka, eastern Ukraine, June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Reuters / Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Members of the Ukrainian armed forces gather on armoured vehicles on the roadside near the village of Vidrodzhennya outside Artemivsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko

Reuters / Tuesday, June 09, 2015
Members of the Ukrainian armed forces gather on an armoured vehicle on the roadside near the village of Vidrodzhennya outside Artemivsk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, June 9, 2015. REUTERS/Oleksandr Klymenko