February 5, 2014: Statement of Ukrainian Diplomats in Support of Maidan

February 7 – 5 Ukrainian military were killed and 26 injured in the conflict area in Donbas in the last 24 hours, – informedVolodymyr Polevyi, deputy head of the Information Center of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

February 7 – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during Munich Security Conference. NATO Secretary General has said that the alliance is strengthening collective security system as well as spoke about providing political and practical support to Ukraine on behalf of NATO.

February 7 – The West should not rule out military resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, – said on Saturday in MunichSupreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO Allied Command Operations, Gen. Philip Breedlove, writes Spiegel Online. "We are not talking about sending troops to Ukraine," – said Breedlove. In addition, he called Vladimir Putin's proposals on the resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine "totally unacceptable".

February 7 – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has held tripartite talks with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and US Vice President Joe Biden – "The parties have coordinated further steps and stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire as well as continued dialogue on the implementation of all provisions of the Minsk agreements".

February 7 – Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has publicized intercepted conversations, which suggest that Russian military are provoking clashes between the ATO forces and militants of "People's Republic of Donetsk". They must be getting new "arguments" ready for Putin's negotiations.

February 7 – Armed Forces and the National Guards of Ukraine have received new military equipment – a modernized armored vehicle "Spartan", equipped with heavy machine gun and "Stugna" missiles.

February 7 – Ukraine is ready to support ceasefire at any time, – stated the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in his comments to journalists at Munich Security Conference. Whereas the issues of state's federal structure or the autonomy of certain regions (Putin's wishes), may only be decided at a national referendum, not in Moscow or Berlin. All is needed for peace in Donbas is closed borders with Russian Federation and withdrawal of Russian troops, not peacekeeping forces. In his speech at Munich Security Conference, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko presented the passports and military service cards of Russian soldiers who "must have gotten lost in Ukraine" and were detained by Ukrainian military.

Near Debaltseve after attack Russian terrorists appeared "cemetery" Russian tanks (video).

Poroshenko in Munich (20 min)

By Taras Kuzio

Arm Ukraine and force Putin back to the negotiating table

Russia, despite its repeated denials, is sending large quantities of military equipment to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine along with 9,000 of its troops. Movement of Russian forces, including the Pantsir-S1 missile system, are being tracked by think tanks and western intelligence agencies. Only Russian professional (not conscript) troops and intelligence officers can operate highly sophisticated Russian military equipment – not irregular separatist forces.

Respected Russian military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer has concluded that the aim of Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, is to destroy Ukraine's independence by installing a satrap in Kiev similar to Chechen warlord Razman Kadyrov, thereby ending Kiev's goal of integration into Europe.

Putin reportedly told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Kiev should deal with the separatists by buying them off with autonomy and money as he had in Chechnya, which to her was unacceptable.

Russia and its separatist proxies have never abided by the September Minsk peace accords and last month tore them up and demand a new agreement that would lend legitimacy to their territorial gains. Military assaults have claimed a growing number of civilian lives, including 40 in rocket attacks on the port city of Mariupol and a Luhansk hospital, with the total number of civilians killed rising to 5, 500, according to the UN. Growing numbers of combatants continue to die on both sides, as illustrated by these gruesome photos of a column of 16 Russian and separatist tanks that was destroyed yesterday.

In the face of the new Russian-backed offensive, pressure on US President Barack Obama to send defensive military equipment to Ukraine is becoming ever more intense. The release of a report for the Atlantic Council of the US by eight US ambassadors calling for military assistance was published along with a crescendo of commentaries in The Times, The Guardian, The Financial Times (here, here andhere), The Wall Street Journal (here and here), The Washington Post, The New York Times, The American Interest, The Christian Science Monitor, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times and Spiegel Online.

This chorus of support was backed by influential former US National Security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. A bipartisan group led by Republican and Democratic Senators Rob Portman and Dick Durbin called for military assistance to Ukraine "to defend its sovereign borders against escalating Russian aggression".

The New York Times reported that the US was considering supplying arms to Ukraine, something reportedly confirmed by Douglas Lute, the US Ambassador to Nato. Ashton Carter, President Obama's choice to become his fourth Defence Secretary, said three days later he was "very much inclined" to provide arms to Ukraine to fight Russian-backed separatists.

Ukraine has been seeking western weapons since the summer of last year but so far has received only non-lethal equipment such as winter clothing, bullet proof vests and night vision goggles. The US did send 20 light counter-mortar radars late last year and, with two-decades of cooperation in Nato's Partnership for Peace programme, is beginning to train four companies of Ukraine's National Guard.

Arguments against the supply of weapons, the Wall Street Journal wrote, "look increasingly naïve". Nevertheless, Canadian commentators have pointed to Ukrainian corruption (see here and here) and the presence of "UkrainianNazis" as a way perhaps to justify the Stephen Harper government's decision not to providie military support. High levels of corruption never stopped the supply of Canadian military equipment and special force trainers to Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. Although Putin and the Russian media have repeatedly raised accusations of"fascism" in Ukraine, it is the Russian (rather than the Ukrainian) regime that more closely resembles the political science definition of "fascism".

Nato will not send weapons to Ukraine but the UK, Poland and Canada would follow the US lead. President Obama is fighting against his own Democratic party if he sticks with the position of Chancellor Merkel, who continues to put naïve faith in a peaceful solution.

Economic sanctions (helped by falling oil prices) have not discouraged Putin's reckless and bloody intervention in eastern Ukraine. Some of those advocating military support to Ukraine believe – as in the 1980s through weapons supplied to the Afghan Mujahedeen – that only a growing number of casualties will force realignment in Russian policy to that of public opinion, two thirds of which is against intervention in eastern Ukraine.

The Donbas conflict, engineered and sustained by Moscow, is already Europe's worst security challenge since World War II. There have been 40 close military encountersin the air between Russia and the west since the annexation of the Crimea in March last year. Putin believes he is fighting a "Nato legion" through alleged Ukrainian proxies and has always claimed the Euromaidan revolution was a western-backed coup. Russian soldiers dying at the hands of western weapons would return the world to the Cold War of the 1980s, although it remains unclear which US congressman would today step up as the new Charlie Wilson.

Putin will stop his destabilisation of Ukraine and return to negotiations only when western arms equalise both sides on the battlefield.

Taras Kuzio is a research associate at the Centre for Political and Regional Studies, Canadian Institute forUkrainian Studies, University of Alberta and non-resident fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations, School of Advanced International Relations, Johns Hopkins University.

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February 3 – Russia began using barrier troops, which shoot its own army in the back, so that pro-Russian terrorists and Russian soldiers have nowhere to retreat. Putin, Stalin – can you see the difference? The retreat of pro-Russian terrorists near the town of Vuhlehirsk was stalled by barrier troops of the Dzerzhinsky Division of Russian Interior Ministry, – informed NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

February 3 – "There are almost no printed media in Ukrainian and no official versions of regional and municipal media in Ukrainian in Crimea today. Only one Ukrainian television show is being broadcast out of four that had existed before. Internet websites in Ukrainian are being disabled for Crimean residents", – stated Valeriya Lutkovska, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

February 3 – ATO press center informs that after another Putin's "humanitarian aid convoy" has arrived in Ukraine, the number of attacks and their intensity has increased again, said ATO spokesman Olekdsandr Motuzyanyk. "After another convoy arrived from Russia, the number of attacks and their intensity has intensified significantly. That is to say that they [the militants and regular troops] basically received the ammunition they needed. Otherwise a question arises – where do the militants get so much ammunition from if they are able to continue attacks almost around the clock".

February 3 – At NATO headquarters they expect that in the near future Russian Federation will continue to absorb unrecognized territories that appeared as a result of conflicts involving Russia, – stated NATO official during a meeting with journalists (who asked not to be named).

February 3 – President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko plans to meet with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the end of this week, – informed NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu.

February 3 – in NATO headquarters they say that they expect a noticeable deterioration of the situation during the time of the interaction with journalists a NATO high official who asked that his name not be divulged, reported from Brussels a correspondent of European Truth. "Russia is ready to support the conflict in Ukraine as long as there will not be a political solution which suits Moscow. AAnd in this is the root of the problem," stated the representative of the Alliance. "No one knows how long the conflict in Ukraine will last and how specifically will be resolved. However, there are all reasons to expect that the safety situatioon in eastern Ukraine will deteriorate. And the proof of this lies not only in the events of the last few days but also in earlier facts," he added. The co-speaker also mentioned that Russia is strengthening its activity in the conflict. "The possible deterioration of the safety situation is also supported by the increaseof Russian presence in eastern Ukraine and we have valid affirmations to assuredly state that the Russian army is acting on the side of the separatists," he emphasized.

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March 25 – On Monday Pechersky District Court (Kyiv) arrested a ship Kanton flying the flag of Island of Tuvalu, which in July 2014 has attended the port of Sevastopol (occupied by Russia and closed for ships) and in March visited the port of Kherson to load the cargo.

March 25 – The Head of State Emergency Service Sergiy Bochkovskyi and his deputy Vasyl Stoyetskyi were arrested at cabinet of ministers of Ukraine meeting, broadcasted live. Officials were read the charges, handcuffed and led out of the room. They were accused of corruption.

March 25 – 20 railcars with ammunition has arrived at the railway station Krasnodon from Russian Federation, – informs NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

March 25 – 10 high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles arrived in Ukraine as part of military aid from the United States for Ukrainian army, – informs NSDC spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

March 25 – Germany is ready to discuss sending a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine, stated today Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier during a meeting with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Groysman.

March 25 – OSCE monitoring mission hasn't received detailed information from the parties to the conflict in Donbas on withdrawal of heavy weapons, stated Deputy Head of the OSCE's mission Alexander Huh.

March 25 – Passenger bus blew up as a result of hitting a mine in the area of Donbas occupied by Russia near the checkpoint on the way from Horlivka to Artemivsk, killing 4 people.

March 25 – European Parliament has voted to grant Ukraine an assistance package amounting to 1.8 billion Euro.

March 25 – President Petro Poroshenko signed the request of Ihor Kolomyiskyj to leave his position as the Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration.

The Parliament Deputy, Anton Herashchenko commented thus on this event: "This night that happened which was due to happen sooner or later. Kolomyiskyj and his team – Hennadiy Korban, Bpris Filatov, Sviatoslav Oliynyk and many other Dnipropetrovsk patriots, whom they united, and made a real feat in the spring and summer of last year, when they did not permit the pro-Russian forces to arrange a riot not only in Dnipropetrovsk but also in Zaporizhzhia regions."

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