08/01/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Head of the Majlis Chubarov was elected a Chairman of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars

Refat Chubarov is a new Chairman of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars

08.01.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine News Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Head of the Majlis Chubarov was elected a Chairman of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars.
• Extremely difficult situation in the energy sector.
• Media reported on the possible creation of a "dirty bomb" by the militants.

Key Events In Ukraine

• Head of the Majlis Chubarov was elected a Chairman of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, after Congress permanent leader Mustafa Dzhemilev refused to stand as candidate. Under the conditions of Russian occupation of the Crimea, the  Congress was held in Turkey.
• During the first six months the budget received more than USD 4.1 billion from the military duty.
• DTEK company, owned by oligarch Akhmetov, announced about the shut-down of the last unit of the Pridnestrovian TPP due to the lack of coal reserves.
• The largest Kremenchug refinery might stop working because of the actions of the "Ukrtransnafta" management. The head of the "Ukrtatnafta" company  said that the shutdown of the plant could cause a sharp rise in fuel prices . He described the reasons for the termination of oil supplies to the company as fetched and politically motivated.

Ukraine at War

• The fighting continues near the Donetsk airport and on the western outskirts of Donetsk, still sharply intensifying at night in the absence of the international observers. Relative inactivity is observed in the surroundings of Mariupol, but in the rest of the fighting zone the militants are using heavy artillery and mortars. The Ukrainian troops keep suppressing the attempts of the subversive groups to penetrate into the rear area. The losses of the Ukrainian army grow: during the day two soldiers were killed  and twelve were injured.

Ukraine and the World

• Foreign Minister Klimkin urged Moscow to conduct the real negotiations on cease-fire in the Donbass and stabilization of the situation in the region. Russia is building up the number of weapons and troops in the occupied territory and on the eastern border of Ukraine. The Minister said that it is impossible to normalize the relations between the two countries in the conditions of the Crimea annexation.

The Trends

• Energy Minister Demchishin believes that the reason for thermal power plants stopping is an attempt to create a stir in the energy sector and to force the state to recognize the inflated tariffs. Despite this, the government is not looking for the alternative sources of thermal coal supplies, and relies on the fuel supplies from the formally state-owned mines and enterprises of oligarch Akhmetov, located in the occupied territories of the Donbass. In recent days, the lack of power generating capacities amounted to  over 2,500 MW due to the planned shutdown for repairs of four NPP units and unplanned shutdown of one more unit. The Minister reported on the supply of more than 900 MW of electricity from Russia.