Crisis in Ukraine: Daily Briefing
20 January 2016, 6 PM Kyiv time
- Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (RNBO) reported that yesterday towards Donetsk, Russian-terrorist forces fired on Ukrainian positions at Zaytseve and Novhorodske. Near the Donetsk airport, Russian-terrorist forces shelled Ukrainian positions with mortars. Towards Mariupol, Russian-terrorist forces fired on Ukrainian positions at Maryinka with small arms and grenade launchers. At Dzerzhynske, Russian-terrorist forces shelled Ukrainian positions with mortars. There was no combat on the Luhansk sector of the front. In the last 24 hours no Ukrainian soldiers were killed and one was wounded in action.
- Ukraine’s Government adds over 70 items to list of banned imports from Russia
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers approved a government order adding over 70 items to the list of banned imports from Russia. Ukraine’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food O. Pavlenko stated that the newly banned items refer mostly to food products – meat, fish and fish products and confectionaries. Pavlenko stated, “The position of the Government is that in response to Russian aggression, including in trade, Ukraine will continue to defend its interests, using all available diplomatic and legal instruments.”
- Ukraine’s President to participate in World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Ukraine’s President P. Poroshenko arrived in Switzerland to participate in the World Economic Forum. Poroshenko will hold a series of bilateral meetings, including with the PM of Turkey A. Davutoglu, Prime Minister of the Netherlands M. Rutte, IMF Managing Director C. Lagarde, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development S. Chakrabarti, and will meet with the Ukrainian Diaspora in Switzerland.
- George Soros: Ukraine has done something almost unbelievable in the past two years
In an interview published in the New York Review of Books, George Soros, Chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC and the Open Society Foundations, stated, “Ukraine has done something almost unbelievable in surviving for two years while facing so many enemies. But it needs a lot more support from outside because it’s exhausted. By putting Ukraine on a short financial leash, Europe is repeating the mistake it has made in Greece. […] The Rada has recently passed a budget for 2016 that meets the conditions imposed by the IMF. Now is the time to hold out the prospect of the additional financial assistance that the new Ukraine needs to carry out radical reforms. That would enable the country not only to survive but to flourish and become an attractive investment destination. Turning the new Ukraine back into the old Ukraine would be a fatal mistake because the new Ukraine is one of the most valuable assets that Europe has, both for resisting Russian aggression and for recapturing the spirit of solidarity that characterized the European Union in its early days.”
- Former commander of Russian-terrorist forces admits to summary executions
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported that Igor Girkin (Strelkov), the former commander of Russian-terrorist forces in Slovyansk in 2014, admitted in a radio interview to Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda to ordering summary executions. “According to Girkin, separatist ‘authorities’ installed a military court and introduced 1941 military laws implemented by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. ‘Under this legislation we tried people and executed the convicted,’ Girkin said,” RFE/RL reported. Girkin has previously admitted that he was a colonel in the Russian Federal Security Service.
