Ukrainian authorities say eight military personnel have been captured by Russia-backed fighters in the eastern region of Donetsk.

 

 Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operations (OOS) in the country's east said in a statement that the soldiers were captured on May 22.

 

 "According to preliminary information, early in the morning today, eight military personnel of Ukraine's armed forces from the OOS took a wrong turn while moving aboard a truck near the town of Novotroyitske and found themselves in temporarily occupied territory, where they were captured by fighters of the Russian Federation's armed forces," the OOS statement said.

 

 The Ukrainian military frequently refers to Russia-backed separatist forces who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions as "fighters of the Russian Federation's armed forces."

It also says that many regular Russian soldiers have fought in the conflict there, a claim that Moscow denies despite what Kyiv and NATO say is incontrovertible evidence.

 

 Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said earlier in the day that three soldiers were wounded in five cease-fire violations by Russia-backed forces over the previous 24 hours.

 

 The separatists in turn accused government forces of violating the cease-fire twice since May 21.

 

 Some 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict in eastern Ukraine since April 2014, when Russia encouraged separatism following the downfall of Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

 

 Cease-fire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords -- September 2014 and February 2015 pacts aimed at resolving the conflict -- have contributed to a decrease in fighting but have failed to hold.

 

 A new cease-fire agreement was reached on March 8, but both sides have accused each other of repeated violations since then.

 

 The conflict in the region known as the Donbas is one of the challenges facing President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was inaugurated on May 20. </s> The Joint Forces command is trying to determine their whereabouts.

Eight soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost their way and have been taken captive by the Russia-led forces in the occupied part of Donbas.

Read alsoThree Ukraine soldiers wounded in Donbas amid five enemy attacks on Tuesday

"We inform that, according to preliminary information, eight members of Ukraine's Joint Forces, moving by truck near the village of Novotroyitske, mistakenly deviated from their route this morning and entered the temporarily occupied territory, where they were detained by members of the Russian armed forces," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation wrote on Facebook on May 22.

The Joint Forces command is taking all possible measures to determine the Ukrainian soldiers' whereabouts and return them.

The military prosecutor's office included data in the State Register of Pretrial Investigations. The investigation into the incident is underway. </s> Military officials in Ukraine said that eight soldiers were captured in the eastern region of the country occupied by pro-Russian separatists just one day after Ukraine's newly sworn-in president announced he would submit a peace plan for a referendum.

Pro-Russian separatists and their Russian backers had occupied the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine ever since a pro-Western movement ousted former President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014. An estimated 13,000 people have since died in the fighting.

During his swearing-in ceremony on Monday, newly elected President Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised to bring peace to eastern Ukraine, or lose his job trying. His administration also promised to submit a preliminary peace plan, hashed out with Russia, to the people for a vote. But one day later, Ukrainian soldiers were captured in the occupied territories.

"According to preliminary information, early in the morning today, eight military personnel of Ukraine's armed forces from the OOS took a wrong turn while moving aboard a truck near the town of Novotroyitske and found themselves in temporarily occupied territory, where they were captured by fighters of the Russian Federation's armed forces," Ukraine's Joint Forces Operations said in a statement.

The Minsk peace process, negotiated by Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, has led to numerous cease-fires. But violations of the cease-fire agreements were reported regularly.

It was unclear how Zelenskiy planned to change the situation on the ground. But on Tuesday, the president appointed a new commander of Ukraine's armed forces, marking the first change in leadership since the conflict broke out in 2014. Lieutenant General Ruslan Khomchak was now the new chief of the general staff. He had years of experience fighting the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, including near Donetsk city.

Also on Tuesday, the Kremlin issued a statement warning Zelenskiy against pursuing further sanctions against Russia, saying that it would harm any effort to broker peace in eastern Ukraine. The comments were made shortly after a top Trump administration official visited Ukraine's capital, Kiev, and warned that Washington would soon pass a bill to sanction Moscow if it continued to pursue a controversial pipeline project, the Nord Stream 2, which would bring cheap Russian natural gas to European Union countries, bypassing Ukraine.

Zelenskiy had called on Washington to sanction Moscow more harshly. Energy Secretary Rick Perry later said the new bill would likely target companies helping to build the new pipeline.

"This is the rhetoric that will not help Ukraine to sort out the problem of the southeast," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned, referring to the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Experts said that the new bill in Washington could effectively deliver an economic blow to Moscow, but was unclear whether the Trump administration would actually move forward with it.

"By focusing on the companies that supply the vessels that lay deep-sea pipelines, the bill has potential to be very effective. It targets one of the only aspects of the project that Russia needs foreign technology for," Brenda Shaffer, an energy expert at Georgetown University, told Newsweek.

"However, as with most sanctions' legislation, the devil is in the details. Congress frequently passes all sorts of sanctions, but most are discretionary sanctions, where essentially the executive can decide to apply them or not," Shaffer continued. "Accordingly, if the administration wants to improve relations with Moscow, it most likely will not apply the sanctions." </s> Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a grenade attack in the war-torn east of the country on Tuesday, Kiev said, the highest daily casualty toll over the past two weeks.

The troops died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack near the village of Pavlopil close to the Kiev-controlled port city of Mariupol, said Oleksandr Danylyuk, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the incident an attempt to "undermine" Ukraine's efforts toward peace and called on France, Germany and Russia to "meet as quickly as possible to resume negotiations".

"We will not cease to work toward ending hostilities or leave any attack on our soldiers unanswered," Zelensky wrote on his Facebook page.

Tuesday's casualties were the highest daily toll since a truce went into force on July 21 -- the latest attempt to ease hostilities between Ukraine forces and pro-Russian separatists.

In a separate attack, Moscow-backed separatists fired at the positions of the Ukrainian army near the village of Bogdanivka located south of the Donetsk rebel stronghold, military spokesman Dmytro Gutsulyak said.

Separatists used an infantry fighting vehicle, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns, he said.

Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, who carved out two "people's republics" in eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, have fought since April 2014, after the annexation of Crimea.

Some 13,000 people have been killed in the violence that Kiev blames on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow has denied claims it has funneled troops and arms across the border.

A series of truce agreements, brokered by France and Germany, have helped dampen hostilities but sporadic and sometimes serious clashes continue. </s> KIEV (Reuters) - The number of Ukrainian soldiers killed in an offensive by pro-Russian separatists over the past two days has risen to seven, Ukraine’s military said on Monday, in the deadliest outbreak of fighting in the east of the country since mid-December.

The clashes between Ukraine’s military and the pro-Russian separatists coincide with U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for better relations with Moscow that has alarmed Kiev while the conflict in its eastern region remains unresolved.

The rebels began attacking government positions in the eastern frontline town of Avdiyivka on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. Five soldiers were killed and nine wounded on Sunday and two more were killed on Monday, they said.

“The situation in the Avdiyivka industrial zone is challenging. The enemy continues to fire at our positions with heavy artillery and mortars,” Ukrainian military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told a regular daily briefing.

The separatist website DAN said on Monday shelling by Ukrainian troops had killed one female civilian and wounded three others in the rebel-held town of Makiyivka, south of Avdiyivka. The reports could not be independently verified.

On Sunday the separatists said one of their fighters had been killed during heavy Ukrainian shelling of their positions.

Both sides accuse the other of violating a two-year-old ceasefire deal on a near-daily basis.

Close to 10,000 people have been killed since fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels seeking independence from Kiev first erupted in April 2014.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was due to discuss the state of the conflict on Monday in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who helped broker the Minsk ceasefire deal.

Ukraine and NATO accuse the Kremlin of supporting the rebels with troops and weapons, which it denies. The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russia over the conflict, as well as for its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

Ukraine is anxious that international resolve to hold Russia to account may waver following the election of Trump, who has spoken of possibly lifting sanctions against Moscow.

Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday and the two men agreed to try to rebuild strained ties and to cooperate in Syria. </s> Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a grenade attack in the war-torn east of the country on Tuesday, Kiev said, the highest daily casualty toll over the past two weeks.

The troops died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack near the village of Pavlopil close to the Kiev-controlled port city of Mariupol, said Oleksandr Danylyuk, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.

Tuesday's casualties were the highest daily toll since a truce went into force on July 21 - the latest attempt to ease hostilities between Ukraine forces and pro-Russian separatists.

"This crude violation of the truce agreements will not go unnoticed," Danylyuk said on his Facebook page.

In a separate attack, Moscow-backed separatists after midnight fired at the positions of the Ukrainian army near the village of Bogdanivka located south of the Donetsk rebel stronghold, military spokesman Dmytro Gutsulyak said.

Separatists used an infantry fighting vehicle, grenade launchers, and heavy machine guns, he said.

Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, who carved out two "people's republics" in eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, have fought since April 2014, after the annexation of Crimea.

Some 13,000 people have been killed in the violence that Kiev blames on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moscow has denied the claims it has funnelled troops and arms across the border despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

A series of truce agreements have helped significantly dampen the hostilities although sporadic clashes continue. </s> An Orthodox priest blessed Russian missiles as part of a deployment ceremony for the country's anti-aircraft launchers yesterday, which were seen amassing close to the Ukrainian border yesterday.

Triumf surface-to-air missile systems - part of an anti-aircraft military unit of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Southern Military District - entered combat duty near the Crimean town of Dzhankoy, just 12 miles away from Ukraine on Thursday night.

It is common for Orthodox priests in Russia to bless military equipment before use; in January 2017 a bishop sanctified the S-400 Triumf medium and long-range surface-to-air missile system at the base of the Russian Southern Military District and in 2016 a similar event occured when the Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter aircraft joined the Russian Navy Baltic Fleet for the first time.

Last month, the Soyuz rocket at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was consecrated by a churchman in preparation for its space launch.

Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's president, has this week warned that Russian tanks are lining up along the border and taken the step of banning all Russian men of military age from entering the country.

Poroshenko said he has evidence that Russian tanks are lining up just 11 miles (18km) from the border, close to where Russia stores its ammunition and multi-rocket launch systems, Sky News reports.

Poroshenko made the claim just hours after accusing President Vladimir Putin of wanting to annex his whole country.

'This is the tank base just 18km from our border, this was happening in September, October, and now,' Poroshenko told Sky.

'This is 18km from my border, this is the same warehouse where they have their ammunition, the same where they have multi-rocket launch systems, we should be prepared to protect my country.'

He added: 'If the whole world has no reason to trust Putin, Ukraine definitely doesn't have a reason to go with him.'

President Poroshenko also said the country has barred Russian men between 16 and 60 from travelling to the country.

The move comes as the long-simmering conflict between the two nations escalated in the Black Sea on Sunday when Russian border guards opened fire on and captured three Ukrainian vessels and their 24-member crew.

Poroshenko tweeted today that the restrictions on Russian travellers have been taken in order to prevent the Russians from forming 'private armies' fighting on Ukrainian soil.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Poroshenko's request is 'clearly aimed at provoking further tensions' and driven by the Ukrainian leader's 'electoral and domestic policy motives.'

Russia seized three Ukrainian navy ships and their crews on Sunday near the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, over what it said was their illegal entry into Russian waters - a charge Ukraine strongly refutes.

The Russian coast guard fired on and seized the three Ukrainian vessels that sought to pass from the Black Sea into the Sea of Azov through the Kerch Strait.

Ukraine insisted that its vessels were operating in line with international maritime rules, while Russia said they had failed to get permission to pass.

The G7 foreign ministers' today released a statement on the recent events near Kerch Strait.

'We, the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, express our utmost concern about Russia's actions against Ukraine in the Kerch Strait and surrounding waters, ‎which have dangerously raised tensions,' the statement said.

'There is no justification for Russia's use of military force against Ukrainian ships and naval personnel.

'We urge restraint, due respect for international law, and the prevention of any further escalation. We call on Russia to release the detained crew and vessels and refrain from impeding lawful passage through the Kerch Strait.

'We, the G7, once again reiterate that ‎we do not, and will never, recognize Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, and we reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.‎'

In interviews with Germany's Bild newspaper and the Funke newspaper group on Thursday, Poroshenko rejected Russia's charge that the vessels' entry into the Sea of Azov - a body of water shared by Ukraine and Russia on which the Ukrainian ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk sit - was a provocation.

'Don't believe Putin's lies,' he told Bild, Germany's biggest-selling paper, comparing Russia's protestations of innocence in the affair to Moscow's 2014 denial that it had soldiers in Crimea even as they moved to annex it.

'Putin wants the old Russian empire back,' he said.

'Crimea, Donbass, the whole country. As Russian Tsar, as he sees himself, his empire can't function without Ukraine. He sees us as his colony.'

He added that there needs to be increased pressure on Moscow, including stopping the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is being built under the Baltic Sea and would bypass Ukraine to deliver gas directly to Germany.

Poroshenko said the government will impose unspecified restrictions on Russian citizens in response to the seizure of the three Ukrainian vessels and their crews.

He that the one-month period of martial law introduced this week in Ukraine wouldn't restrict travel, cash withdrawals or currency purchases by Ukrainians but Russians will face some constraints.

The Ukrainian leader tweeted Thursday that 'there will be restrictions regarding Russian citizens, which I believe are quite justified.' He did not elaborate.

The seizure of the navy vessels drove tensions to their highest since 2015, when Moscow-backed rebels rose against the Kiev government in the eastern Donbass region, sparking a war that has killed tens of thousands.

A Russian government-appointed ombudswoman said on Friday the three commanders of the Ukrainian vessels captured near the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula last weekend are being transferred to Moscow.

The Tass news agency on Friday quoted Russian government-appointed ombudswoman Lyudmila Lubina as saying that the vessels' commanders are being transferred to Moscow for interrogation. The other 21 remain in custody in Crimea.

A Crimea court earlier this week ruled to keep the Ukrainian seamen behind bars for two months pending the investigation.

Poroshenko called on Germany, the largest and wealthiest buyer of Moscow's gas exports, to halt the building of an undersea gas pipeline that would allow Russia to supply Germany directly, cutting out Ukraine.

'We need a strong, resolute and clear reaction to Russia's aggressive behaviour,' he told Funke. 'That also means stopping the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.'

Germany regards the pipeline, which is being built by Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom, as a private investment. But Merkel recently acknowledged its 'political dimensions' and said Ukraine must continue to be a conduit for Russian gas sold to western Europe.

German officials said on Wednesday that their position on the pipeline remained unchanged and that talk of tighter sanctions against Moscow, demanded by the United States and many European politicians, was 'premature'.

Poroshenko also called for the stationing of NATO vessels in the Sea of Azov. </s> Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said he had asked Russian leader Vladimir Putin to put pressure on separatist fighters in the east, after four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a grenade attack

Kiev, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - APP - 7th Aug, 2019 ) :Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said he had asked Russian leader Vladimir Putin to put pressure on separatist fighters in the east, after four Ukrainian soldiers were killed in a grenade attack.

"I called him urgently. I told him that this brings us no closer to peace," Zelensky said during a briefing, adding that he had urged Putin to ask the Moscow-backed separatists to "stop killing our people".

The Ukrainian leader said he had a "long conversation" with Putin on Wednesday morning, only their second publicly announced phone call since former comedian Zelensky was elected in April.

Kiev reported Tuesday that four soldiers died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack, the highest daily toll since a truce went into force on July 21.

Zelensky at the time called the incident an attempt to "undermine" Ukraine's efforts toward peace and called on France, Germany and Russia to "meet as quickly as possible to resume negotiations".

Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists, who carved out two "people's republics" in eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, have fought since April 2014, after the annexation of Crimea. </s> An international criminal investigation into the shooting down of flight MH17 is likely to conclude that the plane was downed by a Buk missile fired from separatist-controlled territory in eastern Ukraine, diplomats say.



The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has been gathering evidence for a possible criminal trial and is due to present its interim findings on Wednesday. Dutch police and prosecutors have been working with judicial colleagues from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine.

The report follows an earlier inquiry by the Dutch Safety Board. It concluded a missile fired by a sophisticated Buk surface-to-air system struck the Malaysia Airlines aircraft as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It exploded next to the cockpit. All 298 people on board were killed.

According to diplomatic sources, international investigators will give a precise Google location showing that the Buk was located in separatist-controlled territory, near the village of Snizhne.

The JIT has been working on the scenario that the Buk came from the Kremlin’s 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade based in the Russian city of Kursk. It was smuggled across the Russian-Ukrainian border in July 2014 and spotted leaving rebel-held Donetsk on a low-loader, heading east.



After arriving in Snizhne on the afternoon of 17 July, the Buk was offloaded and driven to a field south of town, investigators believe. It shot down MH17 in error, believing it to be a Ukrainian army transport plane. The Buk was smuggled back across the Russian border early the next day.

The JIT’s findings are based on US satellite data, and multiple sightings of the Buk as it trundled through rebel-held areas. In a Russian-language video investigators urged witnesses who may have seen it to come forward.

“There is a wide presumption in diplomatic circles that this report will point to the involvement of pro-Russian rebels or Russia,” said Robert van de Roer, a Dutch diplomatic expert and commentator. “It will cause high waves.”

According to Van de Roer, investigators have not yet been able to identify “the guy who pushed the button” on the Buk missile. They do know the names of about 20 Russian servicemen from the 53rd brigade in Kursk who could form a “broad circle of suspects,” he said.

The names came from the British-led online investigation team Bellingcat. “I’m told by experts you need at least three or four men to handle a Buk,” Van de Roer added.

Van de Roer said he was pessimistic that Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, would cooperate with the tribunal or hand over possible suspects to the Hague for trial. He also described the Dutch government’s approach as “bureaucratic and legalistic”.

“My fear is that this will end up as a kind of Lockerbie,” he said, adding that in the case of the 1988 Pan Am bombing it was never known if Abdelbaset al-Megrahi – convicted in 2001 – was the only perpetrator.

“The simple question is what will [British foreign secretary] Boris Johnson do? He has talked harsh words in the last few days over Russia in Syria. Will he be just as tough with the Russians over MH17?”

Russia has vehemently denied responsibility. On Monday the its ministry of defence released satellite data which it said proved the missile had not been fired from rebel territory. It suggested Ukraine was responsible.

In 2014, however, the same ministry claimed a mysterious Ukrainian fighter jet had shot down the Boeing 777. The “jet” disappeared from Russia’s latest presentation. MH17’s route had also changed.

Last December Bellingcat passed to Dutch prosecutors a detailed dossier of up to 100 Russian soldiers and officers who may have been involved. Bellingcat drew on open source data. The dossier included photos posted by soldiers on social networks as their military convoy drove towards the Ukrainian border.

The JIT is not expected to reveal the identities of the soldiers in its latest report. They are expected to be included in a future criminal file.

The tribunal has made public intercepted phone calls between separatist leaders. In one, a rebel asks what should be done with the Buk, newly arrived from Russia. In another a rebel says one of the Buk’s crew was left behind near the village of Snizhne and needs to be picked up.

A third conversation was recorded at 8am on 18 July, as the Buk went back to Russia. It began: “Good morning. Yesterday was a mess … I have nothing to say.”
The Ukrainian military reports that eight Ukrainian soldiers have been captured by pro-Russian fighters near the village of Novotroyitske.