[Winnipegger]

Has Russia admitted it's them, and not "pro-Russian insurgents"?

[PostFactum]

Winnipegger Winnipegger:

Has Russia admitted it's them, and not "pro-Russian insurgents"?

Of course not. they are not stupid.

[Goober911]

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/world ... tml?src=me

DONETSK, Ukraine — Not long ago, Alexander Borodai, a fast-talking Muscovite with a stylish goatee, worked as a consultant for an investment fund in Moscow. Today he is prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, zipping around town in a black S.U.V. with tinted windows and armed guards and commanding what he says are hundreds of fighters from Russia.

Mr. Borodai is Russian, but says he has come to eastern Ukraine out of a surge of patriotism and a desire to help Russian speakers here protect their rights. As for the Kremlin, he says, there’s no connection.

“I’m an ordinary citizen of Russia, not a government worker,” said Mr. Borodai, 41, whose face crinkles easily into a smile. “A lot of people from Russia are coming to help these people. I am one of them.”

The Cold War-style standoff over Ukraine may have subsided for now. President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has drawn his troops back from the border and has promised to work with Ukraine’s new government. But the shifting reality here in eastern Ukraine suggests the crisis has simply entered a new phase. In contrast to Crimea, which was seized by Russian troops in unmarked uniforms this spring, eastern Ukraine is evolving into a subtle game in which Russian freelancers shape events and the Kremlin plausibly denies involvement.

The central government building that Mr. Borodai’s forces now control, after sweeping out the ragtag local separatists who occupied it weeks ago, is festooned with a slick, Hollywood-style banner featuring Mr. Borodai’s friend, Igor Strelkov, a Russian citizen who is a rebel leader in the stronghold of Slovyansk. And on Thursday, rebel leaders shipped 33 coffins back to Russia through a remarkably porous border, announcing that the overwhelming majority of those killed in Monday’s battle with the Ukrainian Army were Russian citizens.

[PostFactum]

So today:
1. Explosives near Lugansk main government building, something exploded inside of it.
2. USA gives to Ukraine 18 mln dollars.
3. Ukrainian border guardian police fights with Separatists on Ukrainian border for the last 12 hours without help from government.
4. In Lugansk and Donezk oblast people have no food, many refugees.

[Goober911]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pro ... story.html

DONETSK, Ukraine — As many as 500 pro-Russian insurgents assaulted a border command center in a key eastern Ukrainian city before dawn Monday, sparking a furious battle that raged throughout the day and into the night.

The attack, by rebels armed with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, was perhaps the largest and most coordinated assault on a Ukrainian government building in the nearly two months that separatists have waged their insurgency here.

The scale of the fight reflected the critical importance of the border to both sides. In recent weeks, it has frequently been infiltrated by separatists bringing reinforcements and supplies from Russia to eastern Ukraine. The shipments have helped transform the insurgency from a somewhat ragtag guerilla force to one capable of carrying out major military assaults.

That transformation was readily apparent Monday, and it struck an ominous note for Ukraine’s prospects of hanging on to its southeastern provinces.

Lt. Col. Vladislav Seleznev, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said late Monday that the border guards, with help from Ukrainian special forces and the air force, had fended off the assault. But it was unclear whether the rebel contingent had been defeated or was simply regrouping for another push.

[Canadian_Mind]

USA gave Ukraine 18 million dollars?

I know it's late, but remember the C-17 purchase? If we deferred that we could be injecting billions into the Ukrainian economy by purchasing Antonovs.

[Winnipegger]

I was interested in family history. Ancestors on my father's side come from what is now East Ukraine. My sister has a copy of a book of family history.

$1:

Originally the Duecks came from Holland, settled in Poland, then settled in Russia.

Dietrich H. Dueck and his wife Helena Krahn were both born in 1872 in Schoenhorst, Russia during the time of Tzarina Catherine the Great. Dietrich H. Dueck arrived in Canada with his maternal grandmother Elizabeth Esau's family in 1881.

They changed spelling of their last name when they arrived in Canada; now spelled the Canadian way. They lived in what was then Southern Russia, only 1789-1881. I'm trying to compare the hand-drawn map from the book, with Google Maps. A similar map is in the Wikipedia webpage for the colony. I think what was the village of Schoenhorst is west of Zaporizhia, Zaporiz'ka Oblast. It looks like it's now a village called Ruchaivka.

Anyway, a connection. I thought it interesting that it's in East Ukraine. Won't find any relatives there, though. When Russia tried to "Russify" the ethnic groups, the entire Mennonite community moved to Canada. History keeps repeating.

[Winnipegger]

Canadian_Mind Canadian_Mind:

USA gave Ukraine 18 million dollars?

I know it's late, but remember the C-17 purchase? If we deferred that we could be injecting billions into the Ukrainian economy by purchasing Antonovs.

Yea, there was some discussion about that at the time. The Antonov An-124 Ruslan can carry a payload of 150,000 kg (330,000 lb) and costs US$70–100 million each, while the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III can carry a payload of 170,900 lb (77,519 kg) and costs US$218 million each. But the Harper government said it isn't "NATO", so bought the American one instead.

(Figures from Wikipedia. Don't know what Canada actually paid.)

However, Canada only bought 4 aircraft.

[Vamp018]

Here is a excellent write up on the RCAF's CC177. http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/can ... lub-02388/
Be happy your not the UK. They have outspent Canada and Australia just leasing the C17 lolol. I guess there the sucker's

[Winnipegger]

USD$1.6 billion to purchase 4 aircraft worth US$218 million each. Plus $1.6 billion for in-service support. And you say Canada is not a sucker?

One image from the page you linked.

[Goober911]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/ukr ... story.html

DONETSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian security forces clashed fiercely with pro-Russian separatists Tuesday near a rebel-held eastern city as the government sought to take the offensive a day after fending off a massive rebel assault on a border command center.

Residents reported heavy artillery fire near the city of Slovyansk, and a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier was hit by a grenade in what Ukrainian acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, writing on his Facebook page, called a “very intense firefight.”

Ukrainian combat aircraft carried out two airstrikes on the outskirts of Slovyansk, rebels told Russia’s Interfax news agency. The rebels said at least one civilian was killed and many injured. The report could not be independently verified.

[PostFactum]

So today:
1. Putin wasn't invited to Poroshenko inauguration.
2. Since august Russian internet companies will be giving to FSB logins and passwords of it's users.
3. Ukrainian border guards keep fighting with Russians on Ukrainian border.
4. No info about losses in fights. Some media say about eliminating 300 terrorists, but I'm not sure about it.

[Jabberwalker]

Putin's been invited to the D-Day commemoration services in France, even though the any Russians in that battle were probably fighting for the Germans, at the time. Anyway, there will be lots of opportunities for the leaders of France, Great Britain, the U.S. and Canada to publically shun him. Let's see what happens.

[PostFactum]

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

Putin's been invited to the D-Day commemoration services in France, even though the any Russians in that battle were probably fighting for the Germans, at the time. Anyway, there will be lots of opportunities for the leaders of France, Great Britain, the U.S. and Canada to publicly shun him. Let's see what happens.

He won't arrive, that's obvious.

[Jabberwalker]

PostFactum PostFactum:

Jabberwalker Jabberwalker:

Putin's been invited to the D-Day commemoration services in France, even though the any Russians in that battle were probably fighting for the Germans, at the time. Anyway, there will be lots of opportunities for the leaders of France, Great Britain, the U.S. and Canada to publicly shun him. Let's see what happens.

He won't arrive, that's obvious.

I can't imagine why he would turn down an opportunity to strut about as a "great world leader".