July 12, 2019

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Zelenskyy: ‘No expensive military parade’

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that the country will not hold an “expensive” military parade as it has in years past on the country’s Independence Day, August 24. Instead, the president said in a video address posted to Facebook on July 9, the 300 million hrv ($11.7 million U.S.) typically used to showcase the country’s firepower and armed forces will be allocated to servicemen as bonuses. “It’s so pompous and definitely not cheap,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in his announcement. “It’s better to allocate this money to our heroes.” Ukraine has held military parades sporadically since 1998. It had stopped the practice between 2010 and 2013 under Moscow-friendly former President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia during the Euromaidan uprising in 2014. On the watch of his successor, Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine held annual, large-scale parades during which it showcased a reformed military that was expanded while fighting Russia-backed militants in the country’s eastern Donbas region. (RFE/RL)

 

Kyiv requests U.S. weapons

Ukraine has formally requested to purchase U.S. military equipment for the first time as the nation continues to battle Russia-backed separatist formations in parts of two eastern provinces. The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv published a statement by former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor announcing the nation’s request on July 7 on its Twitter page. Ambassador Taylor is leading America’s diplomatic mission in Kyiv during parliamentary elections scheduled for July 21. “We are beginning the review process for that request. The United States stands firmly with Ukraine in support of its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and defense sector reforms,” the envoy said in the statement. The U.S. has given Ukraine military support, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, worth about $1.5 billion since 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and fomented a “separatist” conflict in the Donbas region. Russia has given the fighters more than 450 tanks and 700 pieces of heavy equipment, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month. In an interview with RFE/RL on July 7, Mr. Herbst said Kyiv would likely order more Javelin missiles as the tanks continue to be a key problem for Ukrainian forces. However he said the country doesn’t have billions to spend on U.S. weapons. The purchase request comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to make his first official visit to the United States. The trip, which could take place in the coming weeks, would be the first meeting between President Donald Trump and Mr. Zelenskyy, who won in a landslide in April. A military sale to Ukraine could cap the first meeting between the two leaders. However, Mr. Herbst said the timing of the military purchase announcement should not be overestimated. “My understanding is that this has been in the works for a while,” he said. (RFE/RL)

 

Militants attack Ukrainian medical vehicle

Ukraine said one of its soldiers was killed after Russia-backed forces opened fire on July 1 at a medical vehicle in the eastern region of Donetsk. The Defense Ministry said that two other servicemen, a soldier and a military physician, were injured in the anti-tank-missile attack. The medical specialist later died of his wounds. The statement points out that attacks against military medical vehicles and personnel are banned by international treaties and agreements. The Defense Ministry said on July 2 that separatist fighters had violated a ceasefire 25 times in a 24-hour period, using 120- and 82-millimeter mortars that are banned under the Minsk peace agreements. On July 8, the ministry reported that one of its soldiers had been killed and three others wounded in a battle with Russia-backed forces in the Donbas and that separatist fighters violated a ceasefire 16 times in a 24-hour period. Since April 2014, more than 13,000 people have been killed in fighting between Kyiv’s forces and the Russia-backed militants who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Interfax)

 

U.S. envoy demands Russia end fighting

U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Kyiv William B. Taylor condemned Russia-backed forces in eastern Ukraine after reports of deadly attacks on medical personnel and called on Moscow and the “forces it backs” to end the fighting “immediately.” In a statement on the U.S. Embassy’s Facebook page on July 2, Ambassador Taylor wrote: “Attacks by Russia-led forces on medical personnel show a complete lack of respect for human life, international standards, and the Minsk agreements.” He added, “We call on Russia and the forces it backs to end the fighting immediately, protect civilians and humanitarian personnel, and withdraw armed forces and weapons.” Mr. Taylor is the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was brought back to serve as chargé d’affaires in Kyiv last year. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Interfax)

 

German sentenced for joining ‘separatists’

A German citizen who was born in Kyrgyzstan has received a suspended sentence for joining Russia-backed forces in eastern Ukraine. A court in the western German city of Dortmund found 43-year-old Alex D. guilty of “jeopardizing state security” on July 10 over his participation in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The man admitted that he had spent two years among the pro-Russian rebels, but denied that he took part in military conflict, saying he was just guarding a hospital in militant-controlled territory. He also said at his trial that he had decided to return to Germany after becoming disillusioned with the “separatists.” The trial is the second case in which a participant in the conflict is being prosecuted in Germany. In February, a court in Munich sentenced German citizen Sergej Kisseljow to two and a half years in prison on charges of planning to take part in military activities alongside the separatists in Ukraine. Mr. Kisseljow is a nephew of Dmitry Kiselyov, a Russian state media boss known for fiery anti-Western diatribes. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by Deutsche Welle and Die Welt)

 

Italy jails three for joining ‘separatists’

A court in Italy has handed prison terms to three men found guilty of fighting alongside Russia-backed forces in eastern Ukraine, local media report. The reports said that a Genoa court sentenced a 35-year-old Italian national, Antonio Cataldo, and a 39-year-old Albania-born man, Olsi Krutani, to two years and eight months each. A 26-year-old Moldovan man, Vladimir Vrbitchii, was handed a prison sentence of one year and four months, they said. The court concluded that the three men were mercenaries who received 300-400 euros ($340-450) per month to fight alongside militants holding parts of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions in 2017-2018. Messrs. Cataldo, Krutani and Vrbitchii were arrested in Italy last year after investigators in the northwestern region of Liguria uncovered a group of recruiters for separatist groups in eastern Ukraine. In April 2018, Ukraine’s Embassy in Rome said it had informed the Italian authorities that there were at least 30 Italians fighting against Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by La Stampa, Il Valore Italiano, and RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)

 

Four Ukrainian prisoners released

Russia-backed forces from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region have released four Ukrainian citizens, who have been flown to the Belarusian capital, Minsk. Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin Opposition Platform – For Life party, said in a televised news conference on June 28 that the four released prisoners are Eduard Mikheyev, Yakiv Veremeychyk, Dmytro Velykiy and Maksym Horyayinov. Three of the four Ukrainians are military servicemen, pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker Vadim Rabynovych said on Facebook. He didn’t specify who the three were. The four were scheduled to fly to Kyiv in the “near future,” said Mr. Medvedchuk, whose eldest daughter has Russian President Vladimir Putin as her godfather. The freed captives, who were transported from the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don to Minsk, were at Mr. Medvedchuk’s side during the news conference. Mr. Medvedchuk said that an agreement to release the men was reached after talks with Moscow-backed militants, who control about 3 percent of Ukrainian territory in the easternmost regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. More than 600 Ukrainian political and war prisoners are held in Russia, occupied Crimea, and in the non-government-controlled parts of the Donbas. An additional 400 pro-Russian Ukrainian “separatists” are being held in Ukrainian prisons. Ukrainian authorities say that between 2014 and 2018, 3,244 Ukrainian citizens were released from captivity on the territories controlled by Kremlin-backed militants. (RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, with reporting by 112 Ukrayina, UNIAN and Ukrayinska Pravda)

 

Citizenship for 14 who defended Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a decree granting citizenship to 14 foreigners who fought for Ukrainian volunteer battalions and the military in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. The decree, signed on June 28, states that the individuals, one of whom is a Russian woman, “took part in protecting the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.” Among the recipients was Yulia Tolopa, a resident of the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk who came to Ukraine at the height of the anti-government protests known as the Maidan in early 2014. She later joined the Aidar and Donbas volunteer battalions when a Russian-backed armed uprising erupted in April 2014 in eastern Ukraine. Ms. Tolopa later enlisted in the 58th Brigade of Ukraine’s armed forces. Migration authorities denied her citizenship three times because she couldn’t provide proof that she didn’t have a criminal record in Russia. In interviews she gave to Ukrainian media, Ms. Tolopa said she was afraid to enter the Russian Consulate in Kyiv to obtain documentation. Ms. Tolopa gave birth to a daughter in Ukraine and still serves in the army. (RFE/RL, with reporting by Hromadske.ua)

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