Automobile manufacturer “AutoKraz” located in Poltava region has launched a production of new armoured vehicles for the need of Ukrainian army

New armored vehicles “Spartan” and “Kuga” are equipped with up-to-date protection systems. An armored vehicle “Kuga” is designed for military operation in town, and another model – “Spartan” has been designed as an armored all-terrain vehicle equipped with a powerful small arms. The President of “AutoKraz” company Roman Chernyak said that all armored cars will be delivered very soon to the warfare area. Since next month such deliveries will become regular. Before to be sent to the East of Ukraine a new vehicles were shown to the public. 

You may visit a web site of the “AutoKraz” company at http://www.autokraz.com.ua/index.php/en/

Ukraine conflict: Heavy fighting for Donetsk airport

3 October 2014 (BBC News Europe) Heavy firing could be heard near the airport - strategically important for both sides in the conflict. A government spokesman said the rebels had broken into one of the terminals but were later pushed back. The rebels say they have seized the airport. A truce agreed in eastern Ukraine on 5 September looks increasingly fragile.

On Friday US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to "express his concern about intensifying violence in eastern Ukraine". "Russia must use its influence with the separatists and end these attacks immediately", state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

"The situation in the area of Donetsk airport remains difficult," Ukrainian military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov told Ukraine's Kanal 5 TV.

"The militants, using smoke bombs as a cover, broke into the ground floor of the old terminal," he said.

Ukrainian soldiers had pushed the rebels from half the building, Mr Seleznyov added.But leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic claimed that their fighters had seized the whole airport. Eyewitnesses earlier told local media that a number of rebels had been killed during the clashes. A correspondent for Associated Press news agency reported seeing three rebel tanks firing at the main terminal, with sniper shots ringing out. 

Fighting for the airport - a vantage point for the Ukrainian army to fire on positions in rebel-held Donetsk - has intensified in recent days. Ukraine says two servicemen have been killed and another nine wounded since Thursday. Mr Seleznyov also accused Russia of sending drones over the airport to help the rebels' reconnaissance efforts and direct fire. Russia has denied sending arms to the rebels or soldiers to eastern Ukraine, though it says "volunteers" have crossed into Ukraine. Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) condemned indiscriminate shelling in east Ukraine after a Red Cross employee was killed. Swiss citizen Laurent DuPasquier, 38, died when a shell landed near ICRC offices in Donetsk on Thursday.

Read more and see video at

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-29481979

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Russia, Ukraine and Europe have been into Vladimir Putin's black hole of fear

 Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Photograph: Alexey Druginyn/RIA Novosti/EPA

18 September 2014 ( Mikhail Shishkin theguardian) The formula for saving any dictatorship is universal: create an enemy, start a war. We are back in Soviet times of total lies. I remember that as a child I read about black holes in a popular science magazine about space and it scared me. The idea of our world being sucked into these breaks in the universe kept bothering me until I realised that it all was so far away that it would not reach us. But then a black hole tore our world very close to us. It started sucking in houses, roads, cars, planes, people and whole countries. Russia and Ukrainehave already fallen into this black hole. And it is now sucking in Europe in front of our eyes. This hole in the universe is the soul of one very lonely ageing man. The black hole is his fear. TV images of the demise of Saddam Hussein, Hosni Mubarak and Muammar Gaddafi were messages that fate sent him from exotic countries. Protest rallies that gathered hundreds of thousands of people in Moscow ruined his inauguration and signalled approaching danger. The disgraceful flight of Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych earlier this year set off alarm bells: if Ukrainians could oust their gang, it could serve as an example for the brotherly nation. The instinct of self-preservation kicked in immediately. The formula for saving any dictatorship is universal: create an enemy, start a war. The state of war is the regime's elixir of life. A nation in patriotic ecstasy becomes one with its "national leader", while any dissenters can be declared "national traitors". 

The whole article is available at

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/russia-ukraine-europe-putin-black-hole

 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Says Kyiv Receiving Weapons

September 14, 2014 (Based on reporting by Reuters, UNIAN and Interfax) Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey says that unnamed NATO member countries are delivering weapons to Kyiv to fight pro-Russian separatists. Heletey said at a news conference in Kyiv on September 14 that he discussed weapons needs with NATO defense ministers at the alliance's summit in Wales on September 4-5. NATO officials have said the organization will not send "lethal assistance" to Ukraine, although member states may do so. Heletey said the weapons are needed to "stop" Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ukraine and Western countries accuse Russia of sending troops and equipment to the insurgents in eastern Ukraine but Russia denies the charges. Heletey would not say who is providing Ukraine with weapons. A nine-day cease-fire has been in effect in eastern Ukraine, where more than 2,600 people were killed in five months of fighting.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey

 Read more at

http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-dfense-minister-kyiv-receiving-weapons/26583415.html

 

Ukraine crisis: Rebels free hundreds of soldiers

9 September 2014 (BBC News Europe) Rebels in eastern Ukraine have freed 648 soldiers under the terms of the ceasefire with the government, the Ukrainian military has said. Work was under way to free a further 500 soldiers, it added, clarifying a statement by President Petro Poroshenko on Monday that 1,200 had been freed. The rebels say that 311 of their men remain in government captivity. Officials insist a ceasefire agreed last week appears to be holding, despite several reports of clashes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the truce was being observed "in general".

Petro Poroshenko visited the embattled city of Mariupol on Monday

Meanwhile, Ukrainian defence ministry spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions remained tense. He accused the rebels of violating agreements and shelling government forces' positions, while insisting that Ukrainian troops had only fired in response. Mr Lysenko said that the ceasefire had activated the process for releasing prisoners, with 648 Ukrainians freed so far by the rebels, and work under way "to free about 500 more prisoners". A rebel leader, Andrei Purgin, told Interfax news agency that a further 36 people would be exchanged on Tuesday. Under the truce reached on Friday, all captives held by both sides are due to be released. Five Ukrainian soldiers have reportedly been killed since the ceasefire deal last Friday. Meanwhile, EU member states have agreed to impose a new package of sanctions against Moscow, to come into force in the coming days. EU ambassadors are set to meet on Wednesday to discuss when the measures should be put in place. The timing is expected to depend on their assessment of whether the ceasefire is holding in eastern Ukraine. Diplomats say the new package will target Russian oil companies Rosneft and Transneft and the petroleum unit of state gas monopoly Gazprom. Their access to financial markets will be restricted - a serious matter for Rosneft, which last month asked the Russian government for a $42bn (£25.2bn) loan. Russia has warned that it could block international flights through its airspace if the EU goes ahead with new measures. On Monday, Mr Poroshenko visited the port city of Mariupol, which has been under attack from pro-Russian rebels. Russian gas exports will not be affected if new sanctions are put in place, diplomats say Before the truce came into place, pro-Russian separatists made big gains in eastern Ukraine and seized territory a few miles outside Mariupol. The ceasefire deal, aimed at ending five months of fighting, was reached in Minsk, Belarus, in talks brokered by the OSCE. Mr Poroshenko appealed on Monday for the OSCE to send representatives to areas where the ceasefire has been broken. Fighting in eastern Ukraine has left some 2,600 people dead since April. 

Rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko (in background) attended a ceremony in Donetsk on Monday

France suspends delivery of first Mistral helicopter carrier to Russia

September 3 (Reuters) The French government can not go ahead with the planned delivery of a first of two Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, the president’s office said in a statement on Wednesday, citing Moscow’s recent actions in eastern Ukraine. “The president of the Republic has concluded that despite the prospect of ceasefire, which has yet to be confirmed and put in place, the conditions under which France could authorize the delivery of the first helicopter carrier are not in place,” President François Hollande’s office said.

http://www.france24.com/en/20140903-france-suspends-plans-deliver-first-mistral-helicopter-carrier-russia/

 

NATO plans to dispatch 10,000 troops to eastern Ukraine

Sunday Aug 31, 2014 (Press TV) NATO is reportedly planning to send an expeditionary force composed of 10,000 troops from seven different member states to Ukraine amid rising tensions with Russia over the conflict in Eastern European country. The creation of the force will be led by Britain and involve contributions from Denmark, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Norway, and the Netherlands, media outlets reported on Saturday.

Canada is also interested in joining the plan, but it is not known what its final decision will be.

Although no formal announcement has been made yet, British Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to declare the force formation at the upcoming NATO summit in Wales on September 4. This comes as a response to Russia’s alleged involvement in the ongoing Ukrainian crisis. NATO has accused Russia of deploying more than 1,000 troops to Ukraine to bolster pro-Moscow forces in the eastern part of the country. Russia, however, insists that it does not have troops operating inside Ukraine and has dismissed NATO’s claims.

The West and Russia have been at loggerheads over the political situation in Ukraine since pro-Western forces toppled Ukraine’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych, in February 2014. Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Moscow forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence the pro-Russians in mid April. The unrest in eastern Ukraine has so far claimed the lives of more than 2,200 people. Nearly 300,000 people have been also forced to flee their homes.

Read more at

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/30/377115/nato-to-form-a-force-of-10k-against-russia/