Ukraine: Daily Briefing – June 28, 2018, 5 PM Kyiv time

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported at 12:30 PM Kyiv time that in the last 24 hours, three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and three Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in action. Russian-terrorist forces shelled residential areas of Zalizne with mortars, injuring two civilians. In the last 24 hours, Russian-terrorist forces opened fire on Ukrainian positions 32 times in total, including at least 6 times with heavy weapons – mortars and artillery. Returning fire, Ukrainian forces killed 10 and wounded 7 enemy combatants in the last 24 hours.

President of Ukraine speaks on Constitution Day.  Photo – Presidential Administration of Ukraine

Ukraine’s Presidential Administration reported, “President Petro Poroshenko will submit constitutional amendments to the Parliament for the purpose of consolidating the strategic objectives of the Ukrainian state in the Basic Law – the acquisition of Ukraine’s membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance.

           ‘Another changes to the Constitution on which I emphasize. In the near future, I will submit to the Verkhovna Rada draft amendments to the Constitution that will consolidate our two strategic goals closely linked to each other,’ the President said during the solemn events on the occasion of the Constitution Day of Ukraine.

           The Head of State said that preparing that initiative, he had been guided by three very important considerations. ‘First, the European and Euro-Atlantic integration clearly corresponds to the national interests of Ukraine. Second, the orientation towards the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance is supported by an absolute majority of citizens, as evidenced by the dynamics of public opinion. But, thirdly, there is an obvious threat of revision of the European and Euro-Atlantic strategy under the influence of various external and internal circumstances. And it comes not only from the forces that have earned the reputation of the fifth column,’ Petro Poroshenko noted.”

The US White House stated, “President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will meet on July 16, 2018, in Helsinki, Finland.  The two leaders will discuss relations between the United States and Russia and a range of national security issues.”

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe reported, “Deeply concerned by reports that as many as 70 or more Ukrainian citizens widely considered to be political prisoners are still detained in Crimea or the Russian Federation on politically motivated or fabricated charges, the Assembly today called for their release ‘without further delay.’

           The adopted resolution, based on the report prepared by Emanuelis Zingeris (Lithuania, EPP/CD), underlines that until their release, the Russian Federation should ensure full respect of their rights, including by respecting the prohibition on torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and ensuring the right of access to requisite medical assistance in order that health and well-being are adequately secured.

           Citing the cases of Oleh Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh and Pavlo Hryb in particular, ‘who meet the Assembly’s definition of political prisoners,’ the parliamentarians said it was alarmed by reports concerning their conditions of detention. […]

          The adopted text calls to allow the monitoring of these detainees’ state of health and conditions of detention by ‘independent international monitors,’ including the CPT and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and to allow Ukrainian officials, including the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, to visit them.

          The parliamentarians called on the Russian Federation to abandon the policy of imposition of Russian citizenship on Ukrainian citizens living in Crimea who do not wish to acquire it and to lift the ban on the Mejlis, which is contrary to international standards of freedom of association. The persecution of the Crimean Tatar People and the persons who represent them, including lawyers and human rights defenders, should also stop.”

US Special Representative Volker. Photo – US State Dept

On June 26, at the OSCE Annual Security Review Conference, US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker stated, “In the case of Ukraine, what we see here is not an ethnic conflict, it’s not an indigenous conflict that grew up internally, it’s not a civil war, it’s not a conflict between Russians and Ukrainians ethnically. It is a State to State conflict. It is a conflict in which Russia has put its forces onto the territory of Ukraine. It has claimed to annex Crimea. […]

           And it has done something similar in eastern Ukraine, but not recognizing the ‘People’s Republics’ of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent States, merely propping them up and using them as entities to prolong the conflict. Given the costs to the local population – and I would stress that this is an entirely ethnic, Russian-speaking population that is affected – it is a terrible burden for those people to bear. […] There has been no progress on the effective implementation of the Minsk agreements in the last four years. […]