The Crimea blockade appears to be working. From Interfax.
KYIV. Sept 21 (Interfax) -- The blocking of truck traffic to and from Crimea across the border with the Kherson region continues.
"Trucks are being turned back in part and are leaving their [current] locations in Kalanchak and Chaplynka. We have secured our positions in Changar: mobile roadblocks have been delivered there and defense lines have been created," deputy head of the Kherson regional police department Ilya Kyva told the television channel 122 on the phone on Monday morning.
He said that not a single truck crossed 'the administrative border' last night.
A number of Ukrainian politicians had declared their intention to start blocking the delivery of Ukrainian commodities to Crimea on September 20 to protest against the peninsula's reunification with Russia. The authorities of the Russian region replied that Crimea was receiving most commodities from Russian producers, and that the siege would primarily do harm to the enterprises of southern Ukraine oriented towards the Crimean market.
The situation on the administrative border of Crimea in Kherson Oblast remains calm as of this morning, RFE/RL's Crimean desk reporters say. All three checkpoints that lead from mainland Ukraine into Crimea are under a blockade.
About 300 people are currently at the Chonhar checkpoint. Among them are Mejlis representatives, civic activists, military personnel, and journalists. Chairman of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov has also arrived at the checkpoint.
About 90 trucks remain at the Kalanchak checkpoint on the territory of Ukraine, and about 20 others are in the neutral zone. Around two dozen activists are at that checkpoint. This morning two cars with OSCE markings arrived there.
At the Chaplynka checkpoint there are around 80 trucks, according to the Crimean desk.
Kherson Vesti has produced a drone video of the Crimean blockade. The video, shot at the Chongar checkpoint, shows people holding Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar flags while preventing cars from passing.
No trucks have passed through the administrative border from mainland Ukraine to Crimea overnight, said Oleh Slobodyan, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Service.
Some trucks have been returning back to Ukraine, he said, according to RFE/RL's Crimean desk .
As of 11 a.m., there are about 80 trucks at the Kalanchak checkpoint, 110 at Chaplynka, and no trucks at Chonhar.
A day before, around 150 trucks were at Kalanchak, and around the same number -- at Chaplynka.
At the same time, Slobodyan said that cars cross the border easily, along with trucks that are returning to Ukraine, provided they have all the necessary documents.
BREAKING from Reuters: GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN SAYS RUSSIA SHOULD EXERCISE INFLUENCE ON SEPARATISTS IN EAST UKRAINE TO PREVENT HOLDING OF LOCAL ELECTIONS
This is getting a lot of play on Twitter today. The feelings of the new leader of the U.K. Labour Party on Ukraine-Russia-NATO:
Odesa activists are blocking the border with Transdniester, a Russian-backed breakaway region of Moldova.
According to the far-right Azov battalion in Odesa, the blockade is taking place from 12 p.m. until 2 p.m. today. The activists will only block cars with Transdniester license plates.
“This event is aimed, primarily, to pressure the Kremlin...powerS in Transdniester, who constantly lie in their propaganda about an alleged Ukrainian economic blockade of Transdniester,” reads an Azov statement.
According to the organizers of the event, Moldovans who were forced to leave the separatist region due to “political persecutions,” will block the border from the other side.
The Odesa wing of Right Sector will also take part in the blockade. According to its spokesperson, Varvara Chernoyvanenko, the blockade will also be held in solidarity with the Crimean Tatars’ blockade of Crimea.
More on Seibert's comments:
The German government has criticized Russia for not distancing itself from plans by Russian-backed separatists to hold local elections in eastern Ukraine without consulting Kyiv.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said on September 21 that it "is regrettable that Russia so far has not distanced itself from these plans."
The German Foreign Ministry said the same day that "we expect Moscow to use its influence so that the separatists cancel these elections."
The statements came after Igor Plotnitsky, a self-styled leader of the areas under separatist control in Ukraine's Luhansk region, said local elections in those areas would be held on November 1.
The ministry said it views plans to hold the elections "with great concern" and added that they would be a serious violation of the Minsk peace agreement signed in February.
Ukrainian leaders and other Western countries have also criticized the plans by rebel representatives in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions to hold elections.
Chairman of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov was filmed talking to truck drivers as they tried to negotiate their passage through the blockade.
Smoking a cigarette at a table, surrounded by drivers, Chubarov explains that it is not only Crimean Tatars who are blocking the border, as there are many activists from different Ukrainian cities, he said.
“If you want, let them join the conversation," he says."Don’t pressure me to pity you, because I am a Crimean Tatar. It’s just that I know more about my own grief. I can say something else to you. Look, guys, Oleh Sentsov -- 20 years in prison! How much money does that cost?”
A Kherson entrepreneur left dozens of tons of potatoes for activists blocking the administrative border between mainland Ukraine and Crimea.
“A true example of the patriotism of this campaign," said Henichesk District Administration Head Oleksandr Vorobyov to RFE/RL's Crimean desk correspondent. "The cargo owner understood the situation, didn’t make any complaints and left the goods to the participants of the blockade. We don’t even know the name of this entrepreneur, but we thank him.”
Now the activists are dividing about 40 tons of potatoes among the three checkpoints that are under blockade.