18/01/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Peace marches in memory of people killed in the war in the Donbass held in Ukraine

18/01/2015 Daily Highlights by "Digests and Analytics - Ukraine" News Agency

Topics of the day 

Peace marches in memory of people killed in the war in the Donbass held in Ukraine. Fighting in the Donetsk airport does not cease. Militants randomly shelled big cities of Donbass, there are casualties among the residents. At the request of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Donetsk airport should be passed to Donetsk “republic”.

Key Events In Ukraine

• Many thousands people in Kiev went to the peace march in memory of peple killed in the war in the Donbass. The rally ended with a prayer at the Independence square, which was attended by the President and the Prime Minister.
  Public organizations held another march on St. Michael's Square, where they demanded that the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada ratify the Rome Statute and recognize DPR and LPR as a terrorist organizations.
• Finance Minister Yaresko hopes that the dollar FX rate will not exceed of 17 UAH during 2015. She said that the loss in the economy due to the annexation of the Crimea and Russia's aggression in the Donbas reached 20%. The budget deficit in 2015 is to be reduced to 4% of GDP. Negotiations with the IMF are not yet completed, the date of the next tranche is unknown.

War in Ukraine

• Donetsk airport remained the center of active hostilities. Ukrainian military were cleaninig the territory of the Russian troops and militants. Dozens wounded delivered to hospitals . Battles were fought along the whole confrontation line, the number of attacks on the position of the Ukrainian army again increased. In Donetsk, militants blew up a strategic bridge to the airport and tried to attack Marinka. A large number of civilians were killed and injured as a result of indiscriminate shelling of Donetsk, Horlivka and other towns. A shelling of Donetsk from MLRS "Smerch" by Russian troops was reported.
• Speaker of the National Security Council Lutsenko said that Ukraine has no plans for an offensive action.
• The Crimean Tatars have turned to the UN Secretary General, Turkey, Russia and Ukraine to protect the rights of the indigenous people of Crimea.

Ukraine and the World

• The Russian Foreign Ministry has accused Kiev in violation of the Minsk accords and said that Ukraine has not fulfilled its obligations under Minsk agreements for the Donetsk airport transfer to DNR militants, and demanded an immediate meeting of the contact group in Minsk with the participation of OSCE representatives and the "republics." Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has offered to return to the November 13, 2014 version of the Minsk Agreement, which provided for implementatino schedule for the Minsk memorandum, and suggested a ceasefire starting from January 19. The signing of the protocol by Russia will allow for a return to the peace process and create conditions for consultation before the four-party meeting in Astana, scheduled for 21 January.
• The head of the OSCE, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia Mr. Dacic condemned the use of force by the warring parties in the Donbass, and called for a ceasefire.

Trends

• The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Ukraine signed secret protocols, according to which Donetsk airport had to pass under the control of the terrorist Donetsk "republic." In this regard, the question arises of a criminal conduct in the actions of Ukrainian senior officials, which coiuld have exceeded their authority and committed treason.
• OSCE still stubbornly refuses to admit that regular Russian army units participate in the hostilities in the Donbass, and, in fact, put aggressors and Ukrainian army defending their territory at the same level .