07/09/2014 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - A shaky truce has taken hold in Donbas, which is regularly interrupted by terrorists

07.09.2014 Daily Highlights by “Digests & Analytics Ukraine” News Agency

A shaky truce has taken hold in Donbas, which is regularly interrupted by terrorists shelling Ukrainian army positions and sleeping neighborhoods in cities. The exchange of prisoners is ongoing. Russia brings additional military hardware and troops to Donbas.

Ukraine

• Prime Minister Yatsenyuk can not exclude introduction of martial law in case the ceasefire falls apart. He also named conditions for a real truce in Donbas: restoring complete control of the Ukrainian border after a complete withdrawal of Russian troops and militants from Ukrainian territory.
• “Civil Position” (“Grazhdanska Pozitsiya”) party leader Hrytsenko declared a joint party list with “Democratic Alliance” for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

War In Ukraine

• OSCE observers have noted a violation of ceasefire in Donets’k, where terrorists have shelled the international airport, which is controlled by Ukrainian army. However, there is no talk about ceasefire abandonment.
• Fifteen Ukrainian troops, which were captured near Ilovays’k by Russian militants, have been released. Also in Meelove of Luhanks’k region, two Ukrainian troops have been returned from Russian territory. 32 more Ukrainian troops have broken out of the encirclement near Ilovays’k.

International

• At a joint press-conference of Australian and Malaysian prime ministers, an opinion of Malaysian investigators has been released, which claims that flight MH-17 has been downed by a “ground-to-air” missile from the territory controlled by pro-Russian militants.
• Official representatives of the United States, Norway, Poland, Italy and France have denied a claim by presidential assistant and leader of “Poroshenko Block” party Yuriy Lutsenko about supplies of high-technology military equipment to Ukraine.
• European Parliament President Van Rompuy said the new sanctions against Russia that start on September 9, may be canceled in the event of a major de-escalation of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
• The EU has allocated its additional financial assistance to farmers to deal with the consequences of the Russian embargo.

Trends

• After closing of the ferry service across the Strait of Kerch, Crimea will, in fact, get disconnected from all sources of supply, so the chances of a truce in the Donbas are close to zero, and Russia is likely to try to break a land corridor to Perekopsky isthmus via the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov.