26/01/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Heavy fighting continues in the area of the Debaltseve foothold

26/01/2015 Daily Highlights by "Digests and Analytics - Ukraine" News Agency

Topics of the day

The Cabinet has announced the introduction of the state of emergency in Donbass. Heavy fighting continues in the area of the Debaltseve foothold. The United Nations lean towards recognition Russia as a state sponsoring terrorism. The Ukrainian pilots Savchenko, starving in Moscow prison, granted international immunity .

Key Events In Ukraine

• The Cabinet of Ministers introduced a bill on the recognition of the DNR and LNR as terrorist organizations to the Verkhovna Rada.
• Prime Minister Yatsenyuk announced the introduction of the state of emergency in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as the state of high alert in the rest of the country. State and regional Emergency Commissions will be formed to ensure the safety and protection of all Ukrainian citizen.
• The Cabinet decided to increase capitalizion of the "Naftogaz" company by 31 billion USD through the emission of additional state-owned shares to be exchanged for 10 year bonds with a rate of at least 14.5%.
• Since Januarry 25th gas imports from Europe to Ukraine increased by up to 30% or 42.7 million m3 per day, exceeding the total volume of gas deliveries from Russia.
• The largest rocket and space company "Pivdenmash" stopped its production lines due to the lack of public orders, and disruption of parts deliveries from the occupied territories. The company fails to pay wages on time and cut its workforce 5-fold.
• National Bank lowered the official number of the hryvnia against the dollar: 15.81 UAH/USD (+0.02 UAH), 17.77 UAH/EUR (-0,57 UAH), 2.49 UAH /10 RUR (+0 08 UAH).

Ukraine at War

• Heavy fighting continues in the area of Debaltseve, where rebels are trying to encircle Ukrainian forces that successfully repelled all the rebel attacks for the last 5 months.  Russian troops attempted to cross the Seversky Donets river in the area of the village Luganskaya, but were repelled as well. The village Luganskaya was heavily shelled by rebel rocket fire. The Donetsk airport remains under partial control of the Ukrainian army. Donetsk, Avdeevka, Schastie and Popasnaya were once again subjected to massive fire attacks by Russian-backed separatists.
• Russian security forces raided the Crimean-Tatar channel ATR and seized a part of the video archive that shows early events leading to annexation of Crimea by Russia on February 26, 2014, as well as other video materials.

Ukraine and the World

• At the emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, The Ambassador of Ukraine said that there are currently at least 12,000 Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine; the amount of military equipment from Russia is also increased. Russia prevents international observers to establish control over the Ukrainian-Russian state border. The head of the US mission to the UN, Samantha Power regards the statement by the leader of DNR republic Zaharchenko as indication of the Russian intention to seize Mariupol and push for the creation of a land corridor to Crimea. The representative of the United Kingdom said that the terrorist attacks in Volnovakha and Mariupol would not be possible without Russian support. The UN Deputy Secretary Feltman said that the results of the probe into Mariupol terrorist attack investigated by the OSCE provide grounds to declare this attack against civillan population as deliberate, which represents a violation of international humanitarian laws.
• Anne Brasseur is re-elected as a PACE President for a 1-year period. At a meeting of the PACE Bureau, the Ukrainian pilot Savchenko, who is illegally detained in Russian prison, was provided with international immunity as a member of Ukrainian delegation. The Russian delegation is trying to negotiate its re-admitance to PACE as a pre-condition of Savchenko release from custody. The decision on re-admission of  Russian Federation to PACE will be made on January 28.
• In the event of a large-scale offensive in Donbass by Russian-backed separatists German Foreign Minister Steinmeier does not preclude new sanctions against Russia, that may be introduced as early as at the next session of the EU in February. The Polish President Komorowski supports additional sanctions against Russia after the bombing of residential neighborhoods in Mariupol by pro-Russian militants.
• The NATO and the United States rejected the assertion by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the participation of US troops in military operations in Donbass as nonsense.
• The ruble against the dollar and the euro fell sharply as  the credit rating agency Standard & Poor downgraded Russia to speculative grade BB + with a negative outlook.
• Russia may be disconnected from global bank payment system SWIFT, if such a decision is taken by the Council of the EU.  This can come into force in Belgium, where the operator of the system is registered.
• The victory in parliamentary elections in Greece by the radical left may result in serious problems in the euro zone because of the potential growth in public debt as a result of populist policies by the new government.
• According to NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg the crisis in Ukraine in its current form has no military solutions, and the regime of sanctions against Russia should be continued.
• Belarus calls for an urgent meeting of the tripartite contact group to resolve the situation in Donbass and is ready to provide necessary logistics.

Trends

• The state of emergency introduced by the Cabinet does not limit the rights and freedoms of the citizens, however, it does not lead to full mobilization and effective fight against the "fifth column" in the government bodies in border areas as well as it does not provide the state authorities and military command  with the necessary powers to prevent any threats to the national security.
• According to the head of the Anti-corruption Centre, the Ukrainian authorities are not truly engaged into fight against corruption, but rather simulate it, which can lead to disastrous consequences for the country and the loss of financial support from Western donors.