21:26
2.6.2014
The White House has announced that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will attend Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko's inauguration, scheduled for June 7. The White House also said:
The Vice President will also hold meetings with Ukraine’s leaders to discuss President-elect Poroshenko’s agenda, the situation in the east, and how the United States can assist Ukraine with fighting corruption, strengthening its democratic institutions, and putting its economy back on a path towards sustainable growth.
21:24
2.6.2014
A look ahead at this week's NATO goings-on from our correspondent in Brussels, Carl Schreck, along with a compiled wrap-up of today's developments:
BRUSSELS -- A senior NATO official says that defense ministers from the alliance’s 28 countries this week will discuss whether to station permanent forces in the bloc’s eastern-most states in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
Ministers at the June 3-4 meeting in Brussels will reassess NATO’s 1997 deal with Russia in which the alliance said it would refrain from “additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces.”
Several former Soviet-bloc countries who have since joined NATO have expressed security concerns after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March.
“This is the key to everything that’s going on here at NATO,” the official told reporters in Brussels on June 2.
Any decision on such deployments would likely be made at a summit of NATO leaders set for September in Wales, the official said.
Moscow's Move
Russia, meanwhile, has called an emergency UN Security Council meeting to introduce a resolution calling for an immediate end to fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow's UN Mission said the draft resolution would also call for creating humanitarian corridors to allow Ukrainians to escape areas affected by the fighting.
At least two people were killed in what separatists controlling Ukraine's eastern city of Luhansk claimed was an air strike on their headquarters launched by Ukraine's military.
The military denied the report, suggesting separatists' mishandling of a heat-seeking weapon caused the blast, but Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Kiyv of committing "another crime" against its people.
On the outskirts of Luhansk, Ukrainian border guards were engaged in a continuing battle with separatists who attacked their local headquarters in the early hours of June 2.
Gas Deal?
The European Union Energy Commissioner says the heads of Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogas have reached a tentative deal in a row over gas supplies.
Guenther Oettinger made the announcement after three hours of talks in Brussels on June 2.
He said the two chief executives “have a shared proposal for a bulk deal: for the resolution of unpaid invoices through a redemption plan and for an acceptable price for both sides to be charged in future."
Oettinger added that gas supplies were guaranteed until a final round of negotiations that is to take place this week or next.
Earlier, Gazprom announced it has delayed the introduction of advance payment for gas supplies to Ukraine to June 9 after receiving a $786 million payment from Kyiv for part of its estimated $5.2 billion gas debt to Moscow.
Ministers at the June 3-4 meeting in Brussels will reassess NATO’s 1997 deal with Russia in which the alliance said it would refrain from “additional permanent stationing of substantial combat forces.”
Several former Soviet-bloc countries who have since joined NATO have expressed security concerns after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March.
“This is the key to everything that’s going on here at NATO,” the official told reporters in Brussels on June 2.
Any decision on such deployments would likely be made at a summit of NATO leaders set for September in Wales, the official said.
Moscow's Move
Russia, meanwhile, has called an emergency UN Security Council meeting to introduce a resolution calling for an immediate end to fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow's UN Mission said the draft resolution would also call for creating humanitarian corridors to allow Ukrainians to escape areas affected by the fighting.
At least two people were killed in what separatists controlling Ukraine's eastern city of Luhansk claimed was an air strike on their headquarters launched by Ukraine's military.
The military denied the report, suggesting separatists' mishandling of a heat-seeking weapon caused the blast, but Russia's Foreign Ministry accused Kiyv of committing "another crime" against its people.
On the outskirts of Luhansk, Ukrainian border guards were engaged in a continuing battle with separatists who attacked their local headquarters in the early hours of June 2.
Gas Deal?
The European Union Energy Commissioner says the heads of Russian energy giant Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogas have reached a tentative deal in a row over gas supplies.
Guenther Oettinger made the announcement after three hours of talks in Brussels on June 2.
He said the two chief executives “have a shared proposal for a bulk deal: for the resolution of unpaid invoices through a redemption plan and for an acceptable price for both sides to be charged in future."
Oettinger added that gas supplies were guaranteed until a final round of negotiations that is to take place this week or next.
Earlier, Gazprom announced it has delayed the introduction of advance payment for gas supplies to Ukraine to June 9 after receiving a $786 million payment from Kyiv for part of its estimated $5.2 billion gas debt to Moscow.
20:30
2.6.2014
ITAR-TASS quotes EU Energy Commissioner Oettinger as saying that the next three-party talks on Ukraine's gas debt to Russia will be held this week or next week.
19:57
2.6.2014
Another Ukraine Unspun that's worth a read, "LifeNews Blames Right Sector, Conscripts For Luhansk Border Fighting." Here's an excerpt:
For more of Glenn Kates' and others' unraveling of information coming from Russian and Ukrainian media, politicians, and activists, go to our #UkraineUnspun page.
[H]ere's how LifeNews -- an Internet video service said to have ties to Russia's security services and criticized as a Kremlin mouthpiece -- frames the battle:
"The [Ukrainian] National Guard has opened fire on a southern region of a city in Luhansk," says an anchor for the news portal. "They are using not just small arms but also artillery."
She then brings in Aleksei Repin, a correspondent who is reporting from an apartment block apparently located near the fighting.
"When did the [Ukrainian] special forces begin their attack and what's happening now?" the anchor asks.
Amid the sound of gunfire, Repin explains: "Two-hundred meters from here is the military garrison of the Ukrainian border guards. There are 200 fighters -- including contractors, conscripts, and national guardsmen. We also have information that Right Sector is there as well."
Right Sector, an ultranationalist Ukrainian group, has become the go-to bogeyman for Russian authorities, who have accused Ukraine of promoting "fascism."
Claims of the group's omnipresence have become more difficult since its presidential candidate, Dmytro Yarosh, received just 1 percent of the voteon May 25.
"The [Ukrainian] National Guard has opened fire on a southern region of a city in Luhansk," says an anchor for the news portal. "They are using not just small arms but also artillery."
She then brings in Aleksei Repin, a correspondent who is reporting from an apartment block apparently located near the fighting.
"When did the [Ukrainian] special forces begin their attack and what's happening now?" the anchor asks.
Amid the sound of gunfire, Repin explains: "Two-hundred meters from here is the military garrison of the Ukrainian border guards. There are 200 fighters -- including contractors, conscripts, and national guardsmen. We also have information that Right Sector is there as well."
Right Sector, an ultranationalist Ukrainian group, has become the go-to bogeyman for Russian authorities, who have accused Ukraine of promoting "fascism."
Claims of the group's omnipresence have become more difficult since its presidential candidate, Dmytro Yarosh, received just 1 percent of the voteon May 25.
For more of Glenn Kates' and others' unraveling of information coming from Russian and Ukrainian media, politicians, and activists, go to our #UkraineUnspun page.
19:49
2.6.2014
Via Reuters, AFP, and UNIAN:
Here's our updated interactive map of the hot spots of the past two weeks:
Russia called an emergency UN Security Council meeting for tonight to introduce a resolution calling for an immediate end to fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Russia's UN Mission said the draft resolution would also call for creating humanitarian corridors to allow Ukrainians to escape areas affected by the fighting.
Russia's UN Mission said the draft resolution would also call for creating humanitarian corridors to allow Ukrainians to escape areas affected by the fighting.
Here's our updated interactive map of the hot spots of the past two weeks:
19:47
2.6.2014
ITAR-TASS has flashed that "Russia and Ukraine agree not to take gas row to arbitration."
The agency added:
The agency added:
Ukraine should pay gas debt for November-December 2013 at $385 per 1,000 cu m - Gazprom CEO Miller.
19:37
2.6.2014
This Anna report from the scene of the explosion sure makes the affected area of the Luhansk building appear small (warning: graphic language).
19:30
2.6.2014
This Ukrainian Border Guard Service interactive map looks deceptively calm on that eastern border.
19:21
2.6.2014
Russia's Foreign Ministry has issued a statement accusing the government in Kyiv of committing "another crime against its own people" in connection with the blast at a regional-administration building in Luhansk.
There has been no confirmation of the source of the blast, which caused a still-unspecified number of casualties, with each side blaming the other (see posts below).
"Everything that has happened testifies to the clear unwillingness of Kyiv authorities to seek interethnic harmony in the country," the Russian statement says.
It also urges "our Western partners to use all their influence in Kyiv" to help Ukraine avert "a mounting national catastrophe."
18:51
2.6.2014
From our newsroom:
An explosion at the regional administration building in Ukraine's eastern city of Luhansk has reportedly caused casualties, but it remains unclear what caused the blast.
The pro-Russia separatists who seized the building several weeks ago claimed an air strike hit their headquarters on June 2, killing at least five people and injuring 10.
A local health official said at least two people had been killed.
A Defense Ministry spokesman said the blast was most likely caused by careless handling of explosives.
A witness was quoted as saying the explosion was probably caused by a missile fired from another separatist-occupied building.
There has been fighting in Luhansk since the early hours of June 2, when in a separate incident separatists tried to storm the local headquarters of the Ukrainian border guards.
Based on reporting by dpa, UNIAN, and pravda.com.ua
The pro-Russia separatists who seized the building several weeks ago claimed an air strike hit their headquarters on June 2, killing at least five people and injuring 10.
A local health official said at least two people had been killed.
A Defense Ministry spokesman said the blast was most likely caused by careless handling of explosives.
A witness was quoted as saying the explosion was probably caused by a missile fired from another separatist-occupied building.
There has been fighting in Luhansk since the early hours of June 2, when in a separate incident separatists tried to storm the local headquarters of the Ukrainian border guards.
Based on reporting by dpa, UNIAN, and pravda.com.ua