Ukraine Day 845: LIVE UPDATES BELOW.
Yesterday’s live coverage of the Ukraine conflict can be found here.
- READ OUR SPECIAL REPORT:
An Invasion By Any Other Name: The Kremlin’s Dirty War in Ukraine
Yevgeny Kiselyov, a Russian newscaster who moved to Ukraine to have greater press freedom reported in a blog post on Ekho Moskvy that the Federal Security Service (FSB) has opened a criminal case against him on charges of “public calls for terrorism,” Unian.net reports.
Kiselyov has worked for some years at Ukraine’s Inter TV, first as a host and then as a news producer. He believes the charges could be related to his support of Ukrainian soldier Nadiya Savchenko and a statement he once made on air that Ukraine should act more harshly, just as the Russian government had throughout the saga of Savchenko’s imprisonment.
“Now the retaliatory fire has come,” commented Kisilyov about the punishment for his remarks.
The FSB and police searched the Moscow apartment of his 88-year-old aunt, where he is registered but no longer lives.
Following a requirement under Russian law, they brought with them “witnesses,” but these individuals did not present ID and one was dressed as a Cossack. Nothing was found or confiscated, he added.
Kiselyov’s wife was threatened by Russian authorities with being brought in forcibly for interrogation, although she was already questioned and invoked Art. 51 of the Russian Constitution, under which a citizen is not required to give testimony against himself or close relatives.
In his blog post, Kiselyov said (translated by The Interpreter):
“No matter what threats are made against me, no matter what mud they try to sling at me, no matter how they try to intimidate me — whether in Moscow or Kiev or anywhere else, I do not intend to retreat from my convictions.
I believe that Putin is ‘armed and very dangerous.’
All of his policies, foreign and domestic, are subordinated to one goal — to hang on to power at any price, and to lead Russia to disaster. This must be prevented.”
According to Ukrinform, Kiselyov has issued an open letter to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko requesting political asylum in Ukraine, where he has resided for a number of years.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
Yesterday, June 10, the participants of the Trilateral Contact Group agreed both to investigate past ceasefire violations and begin yet another one, OSCE reported.
The participants have agreed that a full and objective investigation of these violations is needed which will be discussed at the next meeting of the TCG in Minsk on 15 June 2016, with the participation of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine and the Joint Centre for Control and Co-ordination.
The participants further agreed to immediately take all necessary measures for a complete ceasefire, in order to facilitate the investigation.
But the ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] reported on its Facebook page that as of 18:00, the Russian-backed militants were not abiding by the cease fire and had shelled the Ukrainian Army’s positions 18 times. Starting at midnight and going until 5:00 am, militants fired 13 times and on the Mariupol line, near Krasnogorovka, 4 times, thrice near Novotroitskoye and twice near Beryozovoye.
On the Donetsk line, Russian-backed forces fired on Avdeyevka from firearms, large-caliber machine guns, grenade launchers, anti-aircraft systems and a BMP and then also artillery, including 120-mm artillery banned under the Minsk agreement, near Novgorodskoye.
Troitskoye and Zaitsev were also hit by machine guns and various types of grenade-launchers. There were also shots from firearms on the Lugansk line near Novozvanovka and Novoaleksandrovka.
An 11-year-old boy was struck in the leg today from gunfire in the town of Avdeyevka, Novosti Donbass reported. Medics reported the civilian injury at 14:20 today, June 11.
The boy was riding his bicycle near his home on Lomonosov Street when gunfire broke out from the forest coming from the direction of the Russian-backed separatist-occupied territory. A bullet hit his leg. Police are investigating the incident.
This is the second incident in a week involving a civilian near Avdeyevka. On June 3 on Kalinina Street, near a checkpoint run by Russian-backed separatists’ militants, a man was struck by a bullet in the leg.
Shelling appeared to die down later in the evening.
Translation: The Ukrainian Armed Forces shelled Yasinovatskaya checking with heavy artillery in the evening.
There was no independent confirmation.
In other news:
o About 200 people gathered Saturday night at the Ukrainian Embassy on Leontyev Lane in Moscow and shouted anti-Ukrainian slogans and threw eggs and flares at the embassy building, Unian reported.
The action lasted about 20 minutes. Police did not intervene.
The attack was reported to be a retaliation for an incident in Odessa where 100 activists picketed the Russian consulate yesterday, June 10. They brought with them horse manure to fling at the consulate building but police prevented them from doing so. They also threw eggs at the building and also put up two mock hangman’s nooses.
— Catherine A. Fitzpatrick