Rocket attack in residential area of Kramatorsk kills at least six in Ukraine

#kramatorsk #horlivka #ukraine #rocketattack #poroshenko A rocket attack was launched by pro-Russian activists on a residential area of Ukraine leaving at least six civilians dead as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 11 February 2015. In addition to the deaths, more than 20 explosions were seen striking homes and buildings during the two minute attack on Kramatorsk. This is a town located about 30 miles from the front lines.
Also hit was the Ukraine's military headquarters in the east of the country – it is from here that the military of Kiev directs its campaign against pro-Russian separatists.
As per local officials, apart from at least six people being killed in the bombardment, another 21 are reported injured. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has informed parliament that Russian-backed rebels had launched an artillery strike on the town. In his words – ‘… the main headquarters of our anti-terrorist operation took a strike from a Tornado rocket. The headquarters took this strike, but a second strike was carried out on residential areas of Kramatorsk…’.
The government-controlled Donetsk regional administration has clarified that the rockets had been fired from the rebel-controlled Horlivka area – this is located about 50-Km from Kramatorsk which was the site of major fighting until July when pro-Russian separatists retreated.

President Obama says arming Ukraine is an option in case all others fail

#angelamerkel #barackobama #ukraine #EU #francoishollande Ukraine is gradually becoming a major issue between the two super powers and both the US and Russia are snapping at each other’s feet while the whole world waits with bated breath for the outcome. President Obama is, apparently, losing patience and he has confirmed that his administration is examining an alternative like sending arms to Ukraine to help the country beat back Russian-backed separatists, in case diplomacy fails as reported in foxnews.com dated 9 February 2015.
The President made these comments at the time of a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, following a meeting between the two leaders at the White House.
Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have been trying to push through a peace plan. They have plans for a summit later this week with the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine and president Obama wants to give sufficient time for those talks space to play out.
He has once again stressed that a diplomatic resolution to this issue must be encouraged – however, lethal military aid is on the table. He has added that he has yet to take a decision on whether to approve such a plan.
Of course, Angela Merkel does not favor the arming of Ukraine by the US and wants to pursue a peaceful solution.
Already plenty of sanctions have been imposed on Russia because of its annexing Crimea and the European Union has decided to temporarily hold off slapping more sanctions on Russians and Ukrainian separatists as they wait for the outcome of the peace talks.
The death toll in the violence in Ukraine ever since the Russian annexation of Crimea is now more than 5,300 as per UN tally and has increased over the past two weeks.

Russia claims that Ukraine had downed MH17 killing 298 people on board

#MH17 #Ukraine #sukhoi25 The Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 had crashed over Ukraine in July and lives of 298 people was lost in the crash and it was believed that it had been shot down by the Russians. This has been consistently been denied by Russia and now, Russia claims to have unearthed proof that MH17 had actually been shot down by Ukrainian fighter planes.
Russian investigators have now announced that they had new proof from a witness who has not been named. It seem he worked at an airfield in the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk where he has claimed to have seen a warplane take off on 17 July with air-to-air missiles and return without them.
In the opinion of the investigative committee, this testimony “is important proof that Ukrainian military was implicated in the crash of the Boeing 777.”
The MH17 “secret witness” has revealed that he worked at the airport on the day the Boeing 777 was downed. As per his statement, he had seen a Sukhoi-25 jet take off armed with air-to-air rockets and return to the base without them.
He has also added that the pilot of the Sukhoi-25 could have launched the missile into the Boeing out of fear or revenge or, probably, he might have mistaken it for another plane.
It may be recalled that MH17 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over territory in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists, who have been fighting Kiev forces since April.
Ukraine and the west have been accusing Russia of supplying the rebels with a surface-to-air missile launcher but Russia has issued several opposing theories, one of these is about seeing a Ukrainian military jet flying next to the Boeing.

Putin pushed into a corner – Obama orders ban on trade with Crimea

The annexation of Crimea by Vladimir Putin in the month of March has forced world leaders to impose bans on it and people and agencies who have dealings with it.
After bans were announced by the European Union earlier this week and which have come into effect on Saturday, Canada announced its own sanction on Friday and US President Barack Obama has also added to the list by ordering ban on the export of goods, technology and services to Crimea.
Moreover, the executive order also imposes new sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian individuals and companies and, as indicated by President Obama, the move was proof that the US would never accept Russia's annexation of Crimea.
In addition to the ban on goods, technology and services, US individuals or companies cannot now buy any real estate or businesses in Crimea or make funds available to Crimean firms.
As far as the EU is concerned, it has banned investment in Crimea along with participation in Russian oil and gas exploration in the Black Sea. European cruise ships will also not be able to visit the ports in the peninsula.
Following the annexation of the peninsula, pro-Russian separatists had taken control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine in April, and later declared independence. On a rough estimate, nearly 4,700 people have died and another million have been displaced by these fighting and clashes in recent months.