14/01/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The Ukrainian "Cyborgs" at the Donetsk airport destroyed invading Chechen mercenaries

14/01/2015 Daily Highlights by "Digests and Analytics - Ukraine" News Agency

Topics of the day

A new wave of army mobilization is to start on January, 20, after Verkhovna Rada passed Presidential mobilization Decree into law.  The Ukrainian "Cyborgs" at the Donetsk airport destroyed invading Chechen mercenaries. Russia threatens to pump gas to Europe, bypassing Ukraine.

Key Events In Ukraine

• President Poroshenko signed a decree to conduct three new waves of partial army mobilization in 2015 and sent it to the Parliament for immediate approval.
• The Verkhovna Rada approved the creation of the new Ministry of Information Policy.  The Minister Stets, who is already a member of the Cabinet of Ministers and is included in the Cabinet beforehand will head the new Ministry.
• The Verkhovna Rada registered a vote of no confidence in the activities of Attorney General Yarema due to unsatisfactory results by the Prosecutor's Office.
• The official hryvnia exchange rate is almost unchanged: 15.77 UAH/USD, 18.58 UAH/EUR (-0,03 UAH), 2.43 UAH / 10 RUR (-0.08 UAH).

Kyiv Life

• Kyiv authorities plan to map the heat loss in the city with the aid of aerial photography conductied from the helicopters flying over the city in winter during the nighttime when the ambient temperatures drop below zero.

War in Ukraine

• Russian troops, mercenaries, insurgents from DNR and LNR continue attacks on Ukrainian positions along the front line in Donbass. During the Donetsk airport defence Russian mercenaries from Chechnya have suffered big losses, with two mercenaries captured by Ukrainina forces.
  Russia is preparing to send another 3 thousand trained mercenaries as reinforcements into Ukraine. Russian troops carried out reconnaissance and regrouping at different locations in the combat zone.
• The number of victims died in the aftermath of shelling a passenger bus at Volnovakha has risen to 13 people. The January 14  is a day of mourning in the Donetsk region. The Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission Hug proposes to establish a commission to investigate the tragedy in Volnovakha that would include participants from Ukraine, Russia and the DNR.
• The Speaker of the OSCE monitoring mission Botsyurkiv said that some participating countries withdrew their observers from Donbass due to deteriorating situation.

Ukraine and the World

• Russia threatens to stop gas deliveries to the EU via Ukraine, and use gas pipelines through Turkey and the "Nord Stream" as alternative routes, however the European Commission insists on continuing gas transit through the territory of Ukraine. Alternative routes lack underground gas storage facilities, without which stable pumping of the gas is not possible.
• After talks with German Chancellor Merkel the NATO General Secretary Stoltenberg reiterated the readiness by the Alliance to consider an accession application from Ukraine.
• The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Mogerini said that Europe is not going to change its position of non-recognition on question of annexation of Crimea by Russia. The Chairman of the Commission of the European foreign policy Brock believes that the EU should not discuss the possibilities of lifting sanctions against Russia until Minsk agreements are fully implemented.
• The US President and the UK Prime Minister agreed to coordinate efforts to pressure Russia and to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.

Trends

• President Poroshenko still hopes to increase his powers by rewriting the Constitution of Ukraine. A new comission to introduce new changes into Constitution including a decentralization of the power is expected to be created soon.  According to economics experts, the planned changes would lead to a redistribution of financial flows, leaving regions with the tough task of collecting the least important and the most difficult to collect taxes.
• According to lawyers, the army mobilization announced by President without imposition of martial law in the country is abuse of power, and the approval of such laws by Verkhovna Rada is unconstitutional.
• Statements by the OSCE, officially inviting representatives of terrorist Donetsk "republic" and Russian army officers, illegally present on the territory of Ukraine, to take part in the work of тче comission investigating Volnovakha tragedy, provide an additional evidence to suspect that the mission might have a pro-Russian agenda.
• Ten months after the start of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbass Prime Minister Yatsenyuk instructed the Ministry of Justice and the Security Service of Ukraine to finally recognize the DNR and LNR as terrorist organizations.