August 28, 2014

The Ukrainian government accused Russia today of launching a “full-scale invasion” by sending troops, tanks, and artillery pieces into southeastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists who have been battling the government. A Russian official told one news agency that the claims bear “no relation to reality.” However, in an interview with the BBC, the leader of the main separatist group in southeastern Ukraine said that up to 4,000 Russians, including active-duty soldiers on leave, had been fighting against Ukrainian government forces there.

According to multiple news services, a combined force of Russian and separatist forces had seized the coastal town of Novoazovsk, opening a new southern front, in an attempt to relieve pressure on the separatist-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk farther north. In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military, supported by its Western allies, has made progress in its efforts to oust pro-Russian forces from those cities and surrounding areas. Novoazovsk, a port city on the Azov Sea, lies on the southeastern tip of Ukraine along the border with Russia. The city sits along a road linking Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized in March.

Also today, NATO Brigadier General Niko Tak told the BBC that there had been a “significant escalation in the level and sophistication of Russia’s military interference in Ukraine” over the past two weeks.” Tak said NATO had detected “large quantities of advanced weapons, including air defence systems, artillery, tanks, and armoured personnel carriers being transferred to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.”

Novoazovsk lies on the sea of Azov, east of Mariupol, at the southeastern tip of Ukraine (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

Leaders in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and other European countries expressed outrage at the reports and demanded an explanation from Russia. The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for later today.

July 29, 2014

The European Union today adopted new economic sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine. The latest sanctions are designed to target Russia’s all-important oil sector as well as limit Russian access to Western defense equipment and sensitive technologies. EU banks are also likely to restrict Russian access to European capital, that is, bar Russia’s biggest state-owned banks from selling stock or long-term debt on European markets.

This latest round of EU sanctions was made in response to the downing of flight Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine on July 17, which resulted in the deaths of all 298 passengers and crew members. The United States and its European allies have declared that Russian-backed separatist rebels almost certainly shot the plane down with a Russian surface-to-air missile. Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to deny charges that Russia is supplying heavy weapons to the separatist rebels.

Heavy fighting between the Ukrainian army and separatist rebels near the city of Donetsk has prevented an international team from investigating the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

Intense fighting between the rebels and the Ukrainian military in eastern Ukraine has kept an international team of investigators from gaining access to the crash site. United States Secretary of State John Kerry said this morning that there has been “no shred of evidence” that Putin is willing to help end the deadly conflict between the Ukraine separatists and the Ukrainian government and warned that further U.S. sanctions are being contemplated in Washington, D.C.

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)
• Ukraine 2013 (a Back in Time article)

July 24, 2014

Fighting between separatist rebels and the Ukrainian military continues in eastern Ukraine. Yesterday, Ukrainian officials in Kiev, the capital, confirmed that two more military jets were shot down over eastern Ukraine. (Two other Ukrainian military aircraft were downed on July 15 and 16.) Ukraine’s Security Council asserted that the missiles that brought down the latest fighter jets were fired from Russia: “Two of our jets were hit at an altitude of 5,200 meters [17,000 feet]. According to preliminary information, the missiles were launched from the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Yesterday, two planes carrying bodies from Malaysia Airlines Flight 17–shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17–landed in the Netherlands where a day of mourning for the 298 victims had been declared. The planes were met by the Dutch royal family, Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and hundreds of members of the victims’ families. Flight 17 was allegedly shot down by Ukrainian separatists using a Russian missile system. More than 190 of the victims were Dutch.

On July 22, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama released satellite images and intelligence reports that CIA analysts say show that Russia had trained and equipped the Ukrainian rebels responsible for the downing of Flight 17. The satellite images reveal a sprawling Russian military installation near the Russian city of Rostov as the main conduit of Russian support to separatists in Ukraine. According to the analysts, the base is both a training hub and a weapons depot from which tanks, rocket launchers, and other arms have continued to flow into Ukraine even after the downing of Flight 17. Before-and-after slides show a substantial buildup on the base after Russian President Vladimir Putin had pledged to pull back from Ukraine.

May 2, 2014

A number of pro-Russia rebels were killed and injured this morning in a Ukrainian military offensive in the separatist stronghold of Slovyansk. Speaking to media representatives in Kiev, interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov confirmed that government forces were tightening a cordon around Slovyansk, with the object of retaking control of the city.

Earlier in the day two Ukrainian army helicopters were shot down, killing a pilot and a serviceman. The self-appointed mayor of Slovyansk, Vyachislav Ponomaryov, claimed that his forces had brought down the helicopters. Ponomaryov stated that the helicopters had fired missiles into the city. His assertions remain unconfirmed.

Ukrainian military forces today launched an offensive against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

In Moscow, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly denounced the offensive, declaring that Ukraine has effectively destroyed “all hope” for a plan, negotiated last month in Geneva, Switzerland, to defuse growing tensions. While Putin called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, a Kremlin spokesperson repeated Putin’s recent warning that he reserves the right to intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine to protect the interests of its ethnic-Russian residents.  Speaking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday by telephone, Putin demanded that the Ukrainian government withdraw all troops from eastern Ukraine. Russia has 40,000 troops massed along the Ukrainian border.

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book article:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)

April 17, 2014

Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking live on television, declared that he has “a right” to send troops into Ukraine but hopes he will “not have to exercise that right.” He warned Ukrainian government officials of “the abyss they’re heading into” and urged a diplomatic resolution of the current Ukrainian crisis.

Putin’s remarks were made after a clash between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists in Mariupol in eastern Ukraine left 3 of the separatists dead and 13 others wounded. At least 63 militants were taken captive. Putin dismissed as “rubbish” allegations that Russian special forces were operating in eastern Ukraine, but he did, for the first time, admit that Russian forces had been active in Crimea prior to the peninsula’s annexation by Russia last month. Ominously, he also reminded viewers that in czarist times eastern Ukraine was referred to as “New Russia.”

In a separate confrontation in eastern Ukraine, an entire army contingent of 21 armored vehicles either surrendered or pulled back when faced by a large group of well-armed separatists. In what correspondents described as a glaring humiliation for the government in Kiev, the surrendering Ukrainian soldiers handed over not only their weapons but also their military vehicles without a shot being fired. Separatists drove the vehicles into the town of Slovyansk and parked them as trophies, under a Russian flag, in a central square.

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book article:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)

April 16, 2014

NATO announced today that it is reinforcing its defenses in the Baltic States and central Europe. In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated that in the face of the current crisis in Ukraine, NATO is putting “more planes in the air, mores ships on the water, more readiness on the land.” The announcement came as Ukraine forces are moving into eastern Ukraine to retake control of the region and as Russia has massed 40,000 troops along its border with Ukraine.

Secretary Rasmussen called on Russia to make clear it did not “support the violent actions of well-armed militias or pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.” In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin responded by telephoning  United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Putin demanded “clear condemnation from the United Nations and the international community of the anti-constitutional actions” taken by the interim Ukrainian government by launching a military campaign against pro-Russian separatists in the east.”

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book article:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)

April 14, 2014

Pro-Russian militants today stormed another police station in another town in eastern Ukraine, Horlivka. After hurling rocks through the windows, gunmen took control of the station and raised a Russian flag. In Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, interim President Oleksander Turchynov stated that his government is preparing an “anti-terrorist operation” against militants occupying government buildings in the east. Yesterday, he issued an ultimatum to the activists–either disarm and leave government buildings within 24 hours or troops would be sent in to dislodge them. Responding to the ultimatum, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the Ukrainian government must refrain from any violence against the protesters, otherwise it risks “sparking a civil war.” Ukrainian troops have yet to march into eastern Ukraine, and President Turchynov has called on the United Nations (UN) to send a peace-keeping force into Ukraine. (International affairs experts note that such a move is unlikely. The UN cannot undertake such a mission without the consent of the Security Council, and, as a permanent member of the council, Russia has veto power.)

More and more police stations and government buildings in eastern Ukraine are now under the militant’s control. Russian flags are flying in the cities of Donetsk, Luhansk, Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, and Druzhkivka. Correspondents in the region report that many of the protesters carry Russian guns and look suspiciously like the Russian forces that took Crimea last month. They note that the fact that protesters were able yesterday to set up a roadblock on a main highway into a major city–Donetsk–is an indication of the scale of the central government’s loss of control in the region.

Pro-Russian separatists now control of a number of cities and towns across eastern Ukraine. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

For additional information on the Ukrainian revolution, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book article:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)

April 8, 2014

Authorities in Ukraine announced today that Ukrainian forces have wrenched control of a regional administration building in the eastern city of Kharkiv from pro-Russian separatists. They stated that government buildings in Luhansk and Donetsk will be freed shortly as well. The separatists took over the buildings in the three cities yesterday. In Donetsk, they proclaimed the city’s independence as well as their intention to hold a referendum on secession. The separatists asked Russia to be ready to deploy “peacekeeping troops” in the city. (Russia currently has thousands of Russian troops massed along its border with eastern Ukraine.)

Pro-Russian separatists seized government buildings in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk on April 7, igniting another crisis for the interim government in Kiev. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

Experts on the crisis in Ukraine describe the current situation as a scenario similar to the one that played out in March when Russia annexed the peninsula of Crimea following a referendum of questionable legitimacy. In the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk characterized the events in the east as scripted in Russia: “An anti-Ukrainian plan is being put into operation … under which foreign troops will cross the border and seize the territory of the country,” Yatsenyuk told his Cabinet. “We will not allow this.”

Although the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated it has no intention of invading Ukraine, it claims to have the right to defend ethnic Russians there and warns Ukraine to stop any military preparations. In a statement issued by the Russian foreign ministry, Putin’s government noted that such preparations risk triggering a civil war.

Last week, Russia raised the price of the natural gas it supplies to Ukraine to $485 per 1,000 cubic meters, the second hike in two days. Ukraine owes Russia billions of dollars for natural gas. The deadline for Ukraine to settle the outstanding balance, in full, came and went yesterday. The interim government in Ukraine is under no illusion, knowing that Russia could do what it did in 2009: cut off Ukraine’s supply of gasoline and natural gas—a move that would cripple the country.

For additional information on the Ukrainian revolution, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book article:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)

March 18, 2014

President Vladimir Putin and Crimean leaders, meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, signed a treaty this morning in which the Russian Federation annexed the strategically important Black Sea peninsula. In a televised speech before both houses of the Russian parliament, President Putin stated, “In the hearts and minds of people, Crimea has always been and remains an inseparable part of Russia.” Putin then declared that he had corrected a “historical injustice.” (Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev transferred Crimea to the Soviet Republic of Ukraine in 1954.) Putin went on to speak of the humiliations Russia has suffered with one superpower–the United States–dominating the world. He specifically pointed to the NATO air war in Kosovo in 1999 and the toppling of Libyan leader Mu’ammar al-Qadhafi in 2011. Putin described NATO bombing in Libya as carried out under the false pretense of humanitarian intervention.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Crimean leaders meeting in the Kremlin signed a treaty this morning that made Crimea part of the Russian Federation. (Superstock)

In the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, the foreign ministry responded to the annexation with the following statement: “We do not recognize and never will recognize the so-called independence or the so-called agreement on Crimea joining the Russian Federation.” France, Germany, and the United States also condemned the Russia-Crimea treaty. In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron stated, “It is completely unacceptable for Russia to use force to change borders on the basis of a sham referendum held at the barrel of a Russian gun.”

Pro-Russian forces took over Crimea late last month after Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, was ousted. International affairs experts note that the pretense was to protect Crimea’s Russian-speaking majority, that is, “humanitarian intervention.” The crisis in Ukraine began in November 2013 when Yanukovych abandoned a European Union trade agreement in favor of closer ties to Russia, triggering massive protests in the capital and other cities.

For additional information on the Ukrainian revolution, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)
• Kosovo 2008 (a Back in Time article)
• Kosovo 2009 (a Back in Time article)
• Libya 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Ukraine 1994 (a Back in Time article)

March 17, 2014

The Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, meeting in Simferopol, the Crimean capital, declared the region independent from Ukraine and formally requested that it be annexed by the Russian Federation. The declaration follows yesterday’s referendum in which Crimean officials claim 97 percent of participants voted for sucession.

In response to the Crimean declaration, the United States and the European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Russia. They include visa bans and the freezing of assets of Russian officials and Crimean separatist leaders whom they believe are responsible for wresting Crimea from Ukrainian control. The EU, Ukraine, and the United States refuse to recognize the validity of the referendum, claiming it is a breach of international law.

Crimea, a part of Ukraine since 1954, is a peninsula that juts into the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. The larger map shows the major cities of Crimea. The smaller map at bottom right shows the location of Crimea in relation to the rest of Europe and Asia. (World Book maps)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has embraced the result of the referendum but has not formally declared his intent to annex the strategic territory. In a tense telephone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama, Putin cited  the independence of Kosovo–which Russia has never formally recognized–as precedent for Crimea’s secession.

Speaking at a press conference at the White House, President Obama stated that the United States is “ready to impose further sanctions” depending on whether Russia escalates or de-escalates the situation in Ukraine. The president warned that if the government of President Putin continues to intervene in Ukraine, it will “achieve nothing except to further isolate Russia and diminish its place in the world.” In Kiev, the Ukrainian parliament voted to partially mobilize 40,000 reservists. Russia is believed to have some 20,000 troops in Crimea. The Crimean city of Sevastopol is also the home port of Russia’s important Black Sea fleet.

For additional information on the Ukrainian revolution, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book articles:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)
• Kosovo (2008) (a Back in Time article)
• Kosovo (2009) (a Back in Time article)
• Ukraine (1994) (a Back in Time article)