An-132D: First aircraft without Russian components

March 31, 2017 The new multipurpose aircraft of Ukrainian production was designed through cooperation with world’s leading aviation concerns. Components for the new aircraft were supplied from Canada, USA, Great Britain and Germany, according to State ConcernUkroboronprom. An-132D was designed by Antonov State Company, which is part of Ukroboronprom, and was made without any components from Russian Federation.

The plane of such scale was designed in a record term — 1.5 years, which is considered almost impossible in the modern aviation. The production program of the aircraft was launched in 2015, the plane flew for the first time on March 31. Primarily, the program to create An-132D was made specifically for the organizations from Saudi Arabia and was the first stage of production of next generation An-132.

Airplane speed can reach 500 km per hour, maximum flight height — 9 thousand meters, carrying capacity — up to 9.2 tons. It is planned to produce the whole line of different planes on the basis of An-132. It is noteworthy that the new An-132D is the first aircraft which was created in the framework of new strategy to reform Defense sector of Ukraine.

Polish consulate in Ukraine attacked with grenade launcher

March 29, 2017 (UNIAN) Unidentified assailants attacked the Polish consulate in Lutsk, in western Ukraine on Wednesday, Radio Poland reported. “It was probably a grenade launcher,” Polish Consul Krzysztof Sawicki told local media. “The projectile hit the top floor, leaving a hole of about 70 centimeters.” No one was injured in the attack. The Polish foreign ministry summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to Poland, Andrii Deshchytsia, in response.

“We expect and demand that the security of our institutions be improved across Ukraine,” a spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry said in a statement. He called on Ukrainian authorities to “explain the circumstances of the incident,” and to “identify and arrest the perpetrators.” Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko condemned the attack on Twitter, saying he had “urgently” ordered authorities to “take all reasonable measures to investigate this incident and the perpetrators.”

Antonov airlines increases transportation of goods by 23% in 2016

March 29, 2017  (Interfax-Ukraine) Antonov Airlines (Kyiv), part of state enterprise Antonov, one of the leading global operators of heavy An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft with a cargo carrying capacity of 150 tonnes, in 2016 increased cargo transportation by 22.8% compared to 2015, to 21,463 tonnes, the Antonov press service has told Interfax-Ukraine. According to the press service, the number of flights carried out by the company in 2016 increased by 25.1%, to 448 flights, the time of flights in 2016 amounted to more than 4,600 hours.

The Antonov Airlines fleet now has seven An-124-100 Ruslan planes with a cargo capacity of 150 tonnes, an An-225 Mriya super transport aircraft with a capacity of 250 tonnes, a multi-purpose An-74T (10 tonnes) aircraft, An-22 Antei (60 tonnes), and An-26 (5.5 tonnes) aircraft. Since 2006, Antonov Airlines has been implementing a contract on strategic transportation within the NATO SALIS (Strategic Airlift Interim Solution) program in the interests of 18 alliance countries and the EU. In December 2014 the contract with Russia’s airline Volga-Dnepr was extended until the end of 2016. In autumn 2016 the Antonov Airlines management announced the plan to continue cooperation with NATO on the SALIS program after the completion of a joint contract with the Russian company. Within the framework of the new format of partnership, Leipzig remains the basic site of Ukrainian Ruslan aircraft.

Ukraine's leader calls killing of Putin critic a Russian terror act

March 23, 2017 (CNN) A former Russian lawmaker and Kremlin critic who fled to Ukraine last year was shot dead Thursday in Kiev -- a killing that Ukraine's President called a "Russian state terrorist act." Denis Voronenkov, who'd been a Communist member of Russia's lower legislative house before he left, was fatally shot outside a hotel in broad daylight, officials said. Voronenkov becomes the latest in a string of Russian critics of President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government who were killed or injured in mysterious circumstances. The suspect in his death died in the hospital after a shootout with Voronenkov's bodyguard.

A Ukrainian police officer seizes a gun at the scene where Voronenkov was shot dead on Thursday.

Denis Voronenkov, a former Communist legislator in Russia's lower legislative house, was shot dead in Kiev on Thursday, Ukrainian authorities say. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called Thursday's killing a "Russian state terrorist act" on Twitter, and described Voronenkov as "one of the key witnesses of the Russian aggression against Ukraine" -- referring to Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and a subsequent war with pro-Russian rebels. Poroshenko's accusation drew a sharp rebuke from Moscow. Any claims that Russia is connected to the killing are "absurd," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian state-run TASS news agency. Voronenkov had denounced Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and said he was cooperating with Ukrainian prosecutors' treason case against former President Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian politician who fled Ukraine after deadly 2014 protests.

Read more at http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/23/europe/ukraine-former-russian-lawmaker-denis-voronenkov-killed/

Ukraine munitions blasts prompt mass evacuations

March 24, 2017 (BBC Europe) Some 20,000 people are being evacuated after a series of explosions at a massive arms depot in eastern Ukraine described by officials as sabotage. The base in Balakliya, near Kharkiv, is around 100km (60 miles) from fighting against Russian-backed separatists. The dump is used to store thousands of tonnes of ammunition including missiles and artillery weapons. Rescue teams are overseeing a huge evacuation effort for people living in the city and nearby villages. The total area of the dump spans more than 350 hectares, the military says. Everyone within a 10km (6 miles) radius of the dump is being evacuated, the Interfax news agency quoted an aide to President Petro Poroshenko as saying. Munitions from the depot are used to supply military units in the conflict zone in nearby Luhansk and Donetsk, reports say.

A huge cloud of smoke could be seen billowing above the ammunition depot of the Ukrainian armed forces on Thursday

Read the full article and see the video at http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39363416

Ukraine says saboteurs blow up arms warehouse in east

March 23, 2017 (Reuters) The Ukrainian military said unknown saboteurs blew up a warehouse storing tank ammunition at a military base in the east of the country early on Thursday, but nobody was hurt. The base, which contained about 138,000 tonnes of ammunition, is located in the city of Balakleya about 100 km (60 miles) from the frontline of Ukraine's war against Russian-backed separatists. 

Rescue teams were evacuating nearby villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, the military said. "According to preliminary data ... as a result of sabotage, last night at 2.46 AM (0046 GMT), fire and explosions caused the detonation of ammunition at several sites storing rockets and artillery weapons," Ukraine's chief military prosecutor Anatoly Matios wrote on Facebook. 

Military spokesman Oleksander Motuzyanyk said security around other bases was being beefed up. Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman was due to fly to the area later on Thursday. Saboteurs previously tried to destroy the same base using drones in 2015, another military spokesman, Yuzef Venskovich, told the 112 TV channel. More than 10,000 people have been killed in the conflict between Ukraine and the separatist rebels since 2014.

Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-blast-idUSKBN16U0N8?il=0

Remains of World War II pilot returned after seven decades

March 16, 2017 (Tampa Bay Times) Seven decades after he was shot down during World War II, Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. John Donald Mumford came home Thursday night. A flag-draped coffin holding his remains was carried out of the cargo hold of Southwest Airlines Flight 4599 from Chicago shortly after 8 p.m. Standing on the tarmac on the chilly March night at Tampa International Airport, Mumford's family watched the dignified transfer ceremony.

Ronald Woolums, an Air Force veteran, saluted. His brother, Lynn Woolums, held his right hand over his heart. Mumford was their uncle. "I just realized we have a family war hero," said Lynn Woolums of St. Petersburg. "He paid the ultimate price for our freedom." "This is very impressive," Ronald Woolums, also of St. Petersburg said of the ceremony. "He is finally home." Mumford was born in upstate New York and eventually moved with his family to 3490 Queensboro Lane in St. Petersburg. The Woolums brothers know very little else about their uncle, who, according to military records, grew to be nearly 6 feet tall and 150 pounds, with brown hair and blue eyes. So they were both amazed and grateful to read the details compiled by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in an 80-page, plastic-bound report about the incident and the search for his remains.

Mumford enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and went on to fly a P-51 Mustang fighter. On the morning of June 6, 1944, as the allies were launching the invasion of Normandy, Mumford, 22, was making what turned out to be his final flight. It was to escort B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers in an attack on a German airfield. The mission was successful, destroying buildings, ramps and aircraft. But afterward, he was pounced on by German fighters and shot down over what is now Ukraine.

For years, because of fighting during World War II, followed by the tensions of the Cold War, there wasn't much that could be done. But in 2007, the DPAA's predecessor organization got some new information about Mumford from the Ukrainian government. Over the years, teams visited the crash site, interviewing witnesses and examining the location where Mumford crashed.

Based on the witness statements and aircraft wreckage, the team recommended that the Defense Department excavate the site to search for Mumford's remains. From July 16 through Aug. 5, 2016, a combined team from the DPAA and the Ukraine Armed Forces went looking. Investigators used standard archaeological techniques and eventually found a partial, broken skeleton that included parts of the cranium, ribs, vertebrae and leg and arm bones. The remains were sent back to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, where they were eventually identified as Mumford's. It was those remains that were returned to Tampa on Thursday. A funeral service for Mumford will be held at 10:45 a.m. March 23 at Anderson-McQueen Funeral Home, 7820 38th Ave. N in St. Petersburg. Interment of his cremains will follow at the Bay Pines National Cemetery.