From Reuters:
Crimeans should pay back loans to Ukrainian banks - Russia
Crimeans should pay off their debts to Ukrainian banks despite now living under Russian law, a Russian central bank official was quoted as saying, marking a change in position by Moscow which had suggested ignoring any payment demands.
Reuters reported last week that thousands of Crimeans were not paying their debts to Ukrainian banks, with many taking their cue from Russian President Vladimir Putin who in April told one resident wondering how to pay off a car loan: "Please use the car and don't worry."
His spokesman later said Putin was referring to the fact that the banks' branches had closed in Crimea since Russia annexed the peninsula in March, making it difficult to pay.
Mikhail Sukhov, a deputy chairman at Russia's central bank, said on Monday Crimean residents' debts to Ukrainian banks would eventually have to be paid off.
"To pay or not to pay the loans is the responsibility of each person. But sooner or later they have to pay," Sukhov was quoted as saying by the Crimean news agency Novosti Krima during a visit to Crimea.
"As soon as working relations improve between Ukraine and Russia, a bank will be found to become an intermediary between borrower and lender and will undertake debt collection."
From Interfax, concerning the bus in Donetsk apparently hit by an artillery shell:
Two people were killed and another eight were injured when an artillery shell hit a passenger bus in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine on Tuesday morning, the head of the city's Kyivsky
district administration, Ivan Prikhodko, said on his Facebook page.
"Marshal Zhukov Avenue came under fire at 8:00 a.m. School No. 21, as well as several private houses and shops were damaged. Unfortunately, fatalities could not have been avoided. Two people were killed and another eight were injured on Bus No. 6," he said.
From AFP:
Three civilians were killed by shelling in the rebel-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours, separatist officials said on Tuesday.
One shell hit a minibus early on Tuesday, killing two passengers including a man of around 25 and a woman in her forties, and injuring eight others, a hospital source told AFP.
The incident happened close to Donetsk airport, the scene of heavy fighting between Ukrainian and rebel forces for several months.
Four areas of the city were hit by shells overnight, the Donetsk town hall said, without giving details of the third death.
More than 4,300 people have been killed since fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine in April.
Here is today's situation map of eastern Ukraine by the National Security and Defense Council (click map to enlarge):
RFE/RL Video: Displaced Ukrainians Seek Safety On Both Sides Of Russian Border
Some have traveled by train to southern Russia; others have found refuge in quieter parts of Ukraine. Some families have fled together, while others have been separated from their loved ones. But all those displaced by the conflict in eastern Ukraine have one thing in common: They are seeking security and a chance to return to an ordinary life. (Produced by Mumin Shakirov of RFE/RL's Russian Service)
From AFP:
Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine called Tuesday on the United Nations to convene an emergency Security Council session that could authorise sending international peacekeepers into the war zone.
The leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said in a statement it was seeking "the intervention of a peacekeeping force that includes Russian representatives to control the implementation of existing agreements and help resolve the humanitarian and social situation."
Just in from dpa:
France on Tuesday said it had suspended "until further
notice" the delivery of a warship to Russia, citing the conflict in
Ukraine.
The presidency said in a statement that the conflict on Europe's border "does not allow" the delivery of the Vladivostok.
RFE/RL Video: The Village On The Ukrainian Front Line
The Ukrainian village of Krymske lies on the front line. Government forces are dug in around the village, but civilians face frequent artillery fire from Russian-backed separatists. Many feel they have no choice but to stay -- and take their chances with the shells falling around them.
