05/03/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Armed forces unblocked the base of the "Right Sector" volunteers

Armed forces unblocked the base of the "Right Sector" volunteers

05/03/2015 Daily Highlights  by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from the Media and Social Networks

• Armed forces unblocked the base of the "Right Sector" volunteers.
• Ukrainian rescuers still cannot reach Nepal.
• Donetsk suffered from the strongest shelling since January 2015.
• Outstanding ballerina Maya Plisetskaya died.

Key Events of Ukraine

• Press Service of the "Right Sector" reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces unblocked the volunteer corps training base. The Ministry of Defence announced about the completion of negotiations with the "Right Sector" concerning their joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Deputy Minister Mehedi said that the conflict with the volunteer battalions should be considered a result of the political struggle.
• Residents of Mariupol gathered for a rally to protest against the demilitarization of Shyrokine, as if the settlement is captured by militants, Mariupol will end up under the fire of the militants artillery.

Ukraine at War

• The situation in the Donbass  deteriorated sharply again. More than 50 attacks by militants were recorded during the day, Ukrainian army lost one soldier, six more soldiers were injured.
• For the first time since January militants put Donetsk under the massive shelling using heavy artillery and mortars. There are civilian casualties and residential and infrastructure objects are seriously damaged. Moscow declared that the shelling of the city was carried out from the territory controlled by the Ukrainian army, but actuality photos suggest otherwise. Heavy artillery and armored vehicles move around the city during the daytime. Aerial reconnaissance recorded a large number of tanks in industrial areas.
• "Azov" regiment moved out of Shyrokine some of its units, instead the units of the "Donbass" battalion entered the settlement. Militants continued shelling and attacking of Ukrainian positions after the departure of the OSCE observers.

Ukraine and the World

• Russian President Putin signed an intergovernmental agreement on the supply of natural gas to China through the "Power of Siberia" pipeline.  It is planned to put it into operation in 2018. The estimated capacity of the pipeline is 38 billion m3.
• President of Poland Komorowski stated that the West is not going to cooperate with Russia on its terms. The Russian Federation will be able to become a partner of the West once again, when its troops leave the Crimea and the Donbass and it stops the aggression against the neighbors.
• OSCE Chairman Dacic condemned the numerous violations of the ceasefire in the Donbass recently and called to provide the safety for the monitoring mission observers.
• According to the German press for the first time after the end of the "Cold War" a direct telephone line between the command of NATO and Russia was restored.

The Trends

• The situation in the conflict zone in the Donbass is deteriorating. The militants and the Russian troops completed the regrouping and the repairing of the machines after the winter campaign and also received Russian armored vehicles, artillery, air defense weapons, fuel and manpower reinforcements. Local observers report on readiness of the Russian troops to attack at least three parts of the front line.