08:52
10.6.2014
Good morning. Starting the live blog for another day.
08:55
10.6.2014
This just in:
Moscow has threatened to cut off gas supplies to Ukraine at 0600 GMT on June 10 if Kyiv didn't pay, but an immediate energy crisis in Europe has been temporarily averted as the parties decided to meet again either on June 10 or 11 in Brussels.
Reuters quotes sources at Russian gas giant Gazprom as saying on June 10 that Russia was supplying the EU and Ukraine with the usual volumes of gas.
Reuters quotes sources at Russian gas giant Gazprom as saying on June 10 that Russia was supplying the EU and Ukraine with the usual volumes of gas.
09:05
10.6.2014
09:46
10.6.2014
"In #Slovyansk, #fighters trying unsuccessfully to break out of ATO [antiterrist forces] ring."
09:46
10.6.2014
10:27
10.6.2014
SN.ua cites a Hromadske TV report saying that the family of Roman Lyagin, the head of the "Donetsk People's Republic's" so-called election commission and the breakaway group's "labor and social affairs minister," lives in Germany.
10:32
10.6.2014
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service shot this videa as Ukrainian military forces inspected motorists' IDs and searched suspicious vehicles at one of the roadblocks outside the embattled eastern city of Slovyansk. This checkpoint is on the road between Slovyansk and Izyum, a district hub in the southeast of Kharkiv region.
10:45
10.6.2014
Vladislav Seleznev, a spokesman for the Ukrainian counterterrorism operations, says via Facebook that two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in fighting overnight or early today as militants tried to break out of the military cordon around Slovyansk.
In Kramatorsk, Seleznev says, Ukrainian troops were targeted by mortar fire for three hours. They returned fire, he adds, killing 40 "mercenaries" and destroying mortars and enemy positions.
Also, Seleznev says, breakaway militants shelled the airfield in Luhansk.
In Kramatorsk, Seleznev says, Ukrainian troops were targeted by mortar fire for three hours. They returned fire, he adds, killing 40 "mercenaries" and destroying mortars and enemy positions.
Also, Seleznev says, breakaway militants shelled the airfield in Luhansk.
10:56
10.6.2014
Former U.S. Ambassador to Kyiv and current Brookings Institution senior fellow Steven Pifer offers some insight via "Kyiv Post" toward "Settling Ukraine's Crisis":
He outlines those reasons, then goes on:
And as for newly inaugurated President Petro Poroshenko's task when he makes his promised trip to eastern Ukraine:
Kyiv’s foreign policy is of interest to many Ukrainians—and potentially controversial. Many in the east do not want deeper ties with NATO. How far Ukraine wishes to take its relationship with the Alliance is a decision for Kyiv and NATO. Poroshenko appears interested in cooperation but has ruled out moving toward membership.
That is a sensible policy...
That is a sensible policy...
He outlines those reasons, then goes on:
The European Union presents a different question.
Poroshenko, the Rada and a majority of Ukrainians favor drawing closer to the European Union and signature of the Ukraine-EU association agreement, which is now scheduled for June 27. Moscow complained last fall that the European Union refused to discuss the association agreement with Russian officials. Kyiv could suggest that it is prepared for a trilateral EU-Ukraine-Russia discussion on steps that the European Union and Ukraine might take to ameliorate negative effects that the association agreement might have for Ukraine-Russia trade—but not on the question of Ukraine’s right to decide for itself whether or not to sign the agreement.
Poroshenko, the Rada and a majority of Ukrainians favor drawing closer to the European Union and signature of the Ukraine-EU association agreement, which is now scheduled for June 27. Moscow complained last fall that the European Union refused to discuss the association agreement with Russian officials. Kyiv could suggest that it is prepared for a trilateral EU-Ukraine-Russia discussion on steps that the European Union and Ukraine might take to ameliorate negative effects that the association agreement might have for Ukraine-Russia trade—but not on the question of Ukraine’s right to decide for itself whether or not to sign the agreement.
And as for newly inaugurated President Petro Poroshenko's task when he makes his promised trip to eastern Ukraine:
When Poroshenko goes to Donetsk, a principal challenge will be persuading the population there that his presidency will look out for their political and economic interests, in the same way that it will watch out for the interests of western and central Ukraine. A package along the lines of the above elements—which build on points that oroshenko has already articulated—could help him win the confidence of the east.
Such a package would secure support from Europe and the United States. And it would give Poroshenko the clear high ground in dealing with Moscow.
Such a package would secure support from Europe and the United States. And it would give Poroshenko the clear high ground in dealing with Moscow.
10:58
10.6.2014