Ukraine: Daily Briefing – July 17, 2018, 5 PM Kyiv time

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported at 12:30 PM Kyiv time that in the last 24 hours, one Ukrainian soldier was killed and one Ukrainian soldier was wounded in action. In the last 24 hours, Russian-terrorist forces opened fire on Ukrainian positions on the Luhansk and Donetsk sectors of the front 19 times in total.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported, “Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says Russia ‘must be held accountable’ for downing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in 2014 over the war zone in eastern Ukraine.

            Poroshenko wrote on Facebook on July 17, the fourth anniversary of the tragedy, that Ukraine ‘has been providing investigators with all necessary assistance.’ MH17 was shot down over the conflict zone in Ukraine’s Donetsk region on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board.

            ‘A joint investigative group consisting of representatives of Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Netherlands, and Ukraine has established that the aircraft was shot down by a Buk missile complex that belonged to Russia’s armed forces and brought from the Russian Federation. Therefore, Russia must be held accountable for that terrorist act,’ Poroshenko wrote.

           Earlier in May, the Dutch-led Joint Investigative Team said in a statement that the international criminal investigation had concluded that the Buk missile that shot down the plane came from Russia’s 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade. […]

          In late June, European Union leaders called on Moscow to ‘accept its responsibility and fully cooperate with all efforts to establish truth, justice, and accountability’ in response to the incident, and extended the bloc’s economic sanctions penalizing Russia for its aggression in Ukraine.”

Reuters reported on July 16, “Leading U.S. lawmakers, including numerous Republicans, criticized President Donald Trump on Monday for failing to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election as the two heads of nuclear powers stood side-by-side at a joint news conference.

           Trump, speaking in Helsinki after his first summit with Putin, said he saw no reason to believe his own country’s intelligence agencies over the Kremlin leader’s assurances that Russia did not interfere in the U.S. election.

           A wave of condemnation immediately followed, with lawmakers calling Republican Trump ‘weak’ and ‘cowardly,’ while Senator John McCain said the summit was ‘a tragic mistake.’ The war hero and former Republican presidential nominee, a frequent critic of the president, said Trump ‘failed to defend all that makes us who we are – a republic of free people dedicated to the cause of liberty at home and abroad.’ […]

          After the Helsinki summit, at least two senators – Republican Pat Toomey and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer – raised the possibility of imposing new punishment on Russia. Toomey said in a statement that unless Putin helps the United States prosecute Russians accused in the hacking, ‘the United States should impose tough new sanctions on Russia.’ It was unclear if Senate or House of Representatives leaders would back such a move or how new sanctions might be crafted.

          Relations between Washington and Moscow have been at their lowest point in the post-Cold War era. Trump touted the summit as a chance to improve ties. Even before the allegations of Russian meddling, tensions were high over Moscow’s concerns about NATO expansion, Russian annexation of the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and Russia’s military backing of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in its seven-year civil war.

          Trump’s eagerness to improve U.S. relations with Russia had been met with skepticism in Congress, where lawmakers nearly unanimously approved tough sanctions targeting Moscow in 2017. […]

          House Speaker Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, said Russia undoubtedly interfered in the 2016 election. ‘The president must appreciate that Russia is not our ally. There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals,’ said Ryan in a statement.

         Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, told reporters: ‘I’ve said a number of times and I’ll say it again. The Russians are not our friends and I entirely believe the assessment of our intelligence community.’

         Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, a Republican, said Trump’s comments next to Putin made the United States look like a ‘pushover.’ […]

         Senator Susan Collins said Trump’s ‘position is untenable,’ while Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, also a Republican, outlined Russian aggression on several fronts and said the United States ‘will not tolerate hostile Russian activities against us or our allies.'”

Naftogaz Ukrainy reported, “Naftogaz group has released its annual report for 2017 along with consolidated financial statements independently audited by Deloitte. […] Naftogaz has remained the biggest contributor to Ukraine’s state budget for the second consecutive year. In 2017, Naftogaz group paid UAH 110 billion (USD 3.9 bn) to the state budget, accounting for about 15% of revenues of the Ukrainian state, compared to UAH 74 billion and nearly 10% of revenues respectively in 2016.

           The historical victory in the Stockholm arbitration process was a key factor underpinning Naftogaz’s profitability. The success in the arbitration against Gazprom was a major factor behind the group’s profit in 2017 – Naftogaz posted the highest net profit in its 20-year history: UAH 39.4 billion (USD 1.4 bn) compared to UAH 17.8 billion in 2016. If not for a positive outcome in the transit case, the group would have suffered a net loss of UAH 7.4 billion.

         ‘Years of hard work finally resulted in the historical Stockholm Arbitration victories in December 2017 and February 2018. We managed to eliminate the risk of an unprecedented debt burden from the country’s shoulders and were awarded almost USD 4.7 billion in compensation,’ commented CEO Andriy Kobolyev.

          In line with the results of the two arbitration proceedings, Gazprom must now pay Naftogaz USD 2.56 billion adjusted to a USD 2.1 billion set-off for gas delivered in 2014. […] Last year’s record profits were also possible thanks to an increase in gas production, better conditions for transit growth, efficient debt enforcement, and the newly-introduced procurement system: Thanks to more investments, UGV posted record gas production of 15.3 bcm – the highest in 24 years of operation. Shebelynka refinery was modernized and switched to production of Euro-5 fuels. As an active participant in the ProZorro procurement system, the group saved UAH 6.9 billion in 2017, with a total of UAH 119.2 billion spent through the system.”