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During the Great War, Germany grabbed Ukraine
and Lenin took it back
During the Great Pariotic War, Germany grabbed Ukraine
and Stalin took it back
During the Winter Olympiad, Germany grabbed Ukraine
and Putin let it slip away

Ukraine Crisis - Russian Military Intervention

Russia began a slow-motion occupation of Ukraine in April 2014. In the face of insurrections by pro-Russian protesters that spread like wildfire through eastern Ukraine, local security forces either melted away or, in some places, swapped sides and joined the protesters. "We did not expect that the whole system of central and regional power would fall to pieces so quickly," Acting President Oleksander Turchinov said. Federalization supporters in Donetsk, Druzkivka, Gorlovka/Horlivka , Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, Luhans'k, Makiyivka, Melitopol, Slaviansk and Zaporizhzhya seized local adminstration buildings, and refused to recognize the legitimacy of the current Ukrainian government.

Ukraine Crisis - 14 April 2014

The Kyiv-set deadline under which separatists occupying government building in eastern Ukraine were to disarm or face an assault by Ukrainian security forces, expired with no action by the government. The botched attempt to storm Slaviansk on 13 April 2014 was an indication of the central authorities' lack of support, as was the disobedience of the Alpha special forces unit that was ordered to storm occupied buildings in Donetsk. Reports on the ground supported the notion that the operation was not going well.

Interim Ukrainian President Turchynov proposed launching a joint operation with UN peacekeepers in the country's eastern regions, in telephone talks with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. "Ukraine does not object to launching a counter-terrorism operation jointly with UN peacekeepers in the eastern regions," Turchynov told Ban, according to the Ukrainian parliament's press service.

Batkivshchyna faction leader Serhiy Sobolev demanded the replacement of Interior Ministry, SBU leaders and chairmen of district administrations in districts, where separatists had seized buildings. He said this at a meeting of the Conciliation Council of deputy groups and factions. “There is demand - over 48 hours to replace all heads of the Interior Ministry, SBU, appointed new heads of district administrations, because to see on the TV screens how the police surrender to the aggressor with their hands up - this is the largest demoralization for ordinary Interior Ministry workers and population,” Sobolev said. He noted that it is necessary to distinguish between the Interior Ministry ordinary workers and leaders, who “entered into a conspiracy with terrorist groups of the Russian Federation and actually surrender a division after division.”

Head of the Center for Military Political Studies and coordinator of the Information Resistance Group Dmytro Tymchuk wrote: "Previously, we, the Information Resistance Group, said that 30% - this is a part of policemen loyal to the authorities in Donetsk region (respectively, 70% are either saboteurs or acting on the side of the extremists). Currently, we concluded that our estimates of law enforcers loyal to the authorities have been overstated," he wrote. According to Tymchuk, Russians bribe local law enforcers, promising high wages.

Interim Ukrainian President and Verkhovna Rada Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov replaced the chief of SBU anti-terrorist center. Turchynov appointed Vasyl Krutov as chief of the Anti-Terrorist Center at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and SBU first deputy chief. Vasyl Krutov is called "legend of Alpha Special Forces ". He is Lieutenant General of the Security Service of Ukraine, a Doctor of Law, and a Professor. He took part in the releasing of Ukrainian sailors, members of the crew of the "Faina" vessel that was captured by Somali pirates. On 12 April 2014 Valeriy Ivanov was dismissed from his post chief of the Security Service in Donetsk region.

Turchynov decided to completely renovate the police in the eastern areas of the state. He stated this during the conciliation board group and parliamentary factions. "The police, which was formed in these regions even in times of Viktor Yanukovych, has demonstrated its inability to protect citizens ... So we had a meeting with the security forces ... and receives active support our initiative to update the police by the Patriots in these areas (Lugansk , Donetsk, Kharkiv), "- said Alexander Turchinov. He added that the rotation will take place not at the expense of re-shuffle of law enforcement of the other areas, but by patriots who live in these regions - Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions.

Pro-Russia separatists who said they were part of a new “Donetsk People's Republic” in eastern Ukraine appealed for Russian President Vladimir Putin to help defend them against Ukrainian government forces. Senior US diplomat Thomas Shannon, who holds the title of counsellor said: “From our point of view what we are seeing in a series of cities mimics what we saw in Crimea both in terms of the tactics and in terms of the people involved.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed Western accusations that Moscow is destabilizing Ukraine.

Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov did not rule out a national referendum on territorial integrity along with the presidential elections in Ukraine. He said this at a meeting with heads of parliamentary factions and committees on in Kyiv. "At the moment it is often said about the referendum. We are not opposed to conduct the referendum. Moreover, I am sure if there is a decision of the parliament to hold such a referendum simultaneously with the presidential elections, the vast majority of Ukrainians will vote for an indivisible, independent, unitary Ukraine," Turchynov said.

Some units of Russian Army, stationed in border regions of Ukraine, were put on full alert. The head of the Center for Military- Political Studies Dmitro Tymchuk added that over the past days a "mass migration" of groups of athletically built youth from Russia to Chisinau was registered. Putin tourists go towards Transnistria from Moldovan capital, said Dmitro Tymchuk.

Ukraine Crisis - 13 April 2014

"The blood of Ukrainian heroes was spilled for our land, for a unified, sovereign and indivisible Ukraine. The blood was spilled in war that is being waged against Ukraine by the Russian Federation. The aggressor has not stopped and continues to organize disorders in eastern Ukraine. This is not a war between Ukrainians. This is an artificially created situation of confrontation aimed at weakening and destroying Ukraine itself. However, ultimately, this is weakening our enemy. The entire civilized world condemns Russia today. We have done everything to avoid casualties. However, we are prepared to repel all attempts at invasion, destabilization and armed terrorist activities" said Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov, addressing the nation in a live televised address.

Ukraine launched a "large-scale anti-terrorist operation" against pro-Russian militias in eastern Ukraine on 13 April 2014. In a televised speech, Ukraine’s acting president Oleksandr Turchynov vowed Kyiv will not let Russia take over eastern Ukraine after its annexation of the Crimean peninsula last month. He said he will grant amnesty to any pro-Russian separatists who lay down their weapons by 9 a.m. (0600 GMT/UTC) on April 14. "Blood has been shed in a war which the Russian Federation unleashed against Ukraine. The aggressor has not stopped but continues to incite unrest in Ukraine’s east. It's not a war between Ukrainians; it's an artificially created confrontation, whose goal is to see Ukraine weakened and destroyed as a country. But in the end it will weaken our enemies. Russia today has drawn condemnation from the entire civilized world,'' said Turchynov.

Special forces loyal to government and armed men from the radical Right Sector movement launched an operation to suppress pro-Russian protesters in the east Ukrainian town of Slaviansk. At least three people, including a pro-federalization supporter, were killed in clashes in the town, some 150 kilometers from the border with Russia, while two other activists were injured. Government forces moved in on pro-Russian protest camps in two more towns in Ukraine’s eastern region, Ilovaisk and Khartsyzsk. Pro-Russian protesters seized government buildings in the towns of Krasny Liman, Kramatorsk, Mariupol and Yenakiyevo.

The day started with reports of "dead, wounded on both sides" in an "antiterrorist" operation in the eastern city of Slovyansk. By early evening there were reports of skirmishes between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine groups in Kharkiv, a tense standoff in Zaporizhya, and the occupation by pro-Russian activists of local government buildings in Makiyivka and Mariupol. Pro-Russian activists were also reportedly moving on the Security Service building in Odesa.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Kyiv's decision to use the armed forces against protesters was "outrageous," and demanded that the authorities "immediately stop waging war again their own people.... It is now the West's responsibility to prevent civil war in Ukraine," it said in a statement. “We demand the Maidan henchmen, who overthrew the legitimate president, to immediately stop the war against their own people, to fulfill all the obligations under the Agreement of 21 February,” the Foreign Ministry said. “The western sponsors of the Maidan government, especially those who witnessed the Agreement [of 21 February] and are backed by the US, have to curb their out of control wards, they have to make them break away from the neo-Nazis and other extremists…”

Russian officials insist they have no territorial designs on eastern Ukraine. But the Obama administration sees the hidden hand of Moscow behind the escalating conflict. US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power spoke on this issue on ABC’s This Week. “It has all the telltale signs of what we saw in Crimea. It is professional, it is coordinated. There is nothing grassroots-seeming about it,” said Power.

Even before the current escalation of tensions in eastern Ukraine, some U.S. lawmakers urged the United States and Europe to take a stranger stand against Russian territorial expansion. Among them was Republican Senator Dan Coats: "As I speak, anxieties are building that [Russian President] Vladimir Putin's first big bite out of Ukraine (Crimea) has not satisfied him, and he hungers for more… The lack of an effective, forceful response by the United States and by our allies, particularly our European allies, has given President Putin reason to expect that further aggression will not be punished,” said Coats.

Ukraine Crisis - 11 April 2014

"SHAPE stands firm in its assessment that Russian forces in the vicinity of the border with Ukraine number in the range of 35,000 to 40,000 troops and are equipped with infantry fighting vehicles, tanks, combat aircraft, logistics, and artillery. These forces are destabilizing to the region," NATO said 11 April 2014.

In general, according to Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Main Command Center Major General Oleksandr Rozmaznin , the number of military forces of the Russian army on the border with Ukraine has decreased significantly due to the fact that many compounds moved 40-50 kilometers deep into Russia. However, he notes, it does not indicate a desire to avoid the escalation of the conflict by the Russian side. "It's not such a long distance for the military to quickly move back to the borders," he said.

Ukraine's acting prime minister offered concessions to regional leaders and pro-Russian protesters, after Kyiv's deadline passed for separatists to vacate state buildings they had seized. Just after a deadline set by Kiev for protesters in eastern Ukraine to vacate seized buildings expired, Parliament-appointed PM Arseny Yatsenyuk pledged to push through a law allowing regional referenda in the country.

The U-turn came after Ukraine’s elite Alpha unit reportedly refused to obey an order to besiege protester-held buildings. At a session of law enforcement officials in Donetsk, one of the Alpha commanders said that he and his men are a force intended for rescuing hostages and fighting terrorism and will only act in accordance with the law, local media reported.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said 11 April 2014 he was against a forcible scenario and demands that those who seized administrative buildings vacate them and lay down their arms. "I will express my own position. I am against any forcible scenarios and therefore call on people to surrender their weapons and leave the illegally seized premises. Everything should be done to ensure that persons who have taken over the premises and are there with weapons leave the premises without a law enforcement operation. And now they have such opportunities," Yatseniuk said.

Ukraine Crisis - 10 April 2014

On 10 April 2014 armed pro-Russia separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk rejected Kyiv's offer of amnesty for those who seized government buildings this week and called on others to defy the pro-European government in Kyiv. Masked men, who are described by Russian media as mostly "civil volunteers, but also police and army defectors", said they “defend their motherland from the fascist army that’s going to kill them.” They also demand “a referendum to be independent from Kiev” and are in favor of “being with Russia.”

NATO released satellite imagery showing details of the some of the 40,000 troops it says Russia has massed along its border with Ukraine. The images include pictures of long lines of tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and aircraft. NATO has spotted Russian forces at more than 100 different sites close to Ukraine’s border, said an alliance official. An official in the Russian military general staff said that the images released by NATO were taken in August 2013. “These shots, which were distributed by NATO, show Russian Armed Forces units of the Southern Military District, which in the summer of last year were taking part in various drills, including near the Ukrainian border,” the General Staff official told RIA Novosti.

Ukraine Crisis - 09 April 2014

"Pre-planned and coordinated provocation against our country has started. It was organized by the intelligence services in the Russian Federation," said Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov. Ukraine’s acting Interior Minister threatened 09 April 2014 to resolve “in 48 hours” the situation in eastern regions where administrations of at least two cities were controlled by protesters demanding a nationwide referendum on the state structure. "There are two solutions: a political one through negotiations or through force,” the minister said. “For those who want dialogue, we propose talks and a political solution. For the minority who want conflict they will get a forceful answer from the Ukrainian authorities,” he said as quoted by Reuters, adding that in his opinion a “solution to the crisis could be found within 48 hours.”

Victoria Nuland, the top US diplomat for Europe, testified 09 April 2014 that events in Ukraine are "a wake-up call" and said "everything we have stood for over 40 years as a community of free nations" is at risk if "aggressive actions" are allowed to go unchecked and unpunished. She said the "evidence is overwhelming" that recent pro-Russia uprisings in eastern Ukrainian cities were a "very carefully orchestrated, well-planned, well-targeted" effort to take over buildings in several different cities in the same 24-hour period.

Moscow now had tens of thousands of troops massed along its border with eastern Ukraine. And although it insists it has no intention of invading, Moscow says it reserves the right to defend ethnic Russians in the country. Russia's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said Moscow is not carrying out any "unusual or unplanned activity on its territory near the border with Ukraine that would be of military significance."

Former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Admiral Ihor Kabanenko did not rule out the Russian invasion from the northern border of Ukraine, aimed at capturing the capital. "A blow is also possible from the north, where the most prepared military units of the Kremlin are focused near our borders. The objective is to block (capture) the government system in the capital," Kabanenko admits. At the same time, he is convinced that Ukraine is able to defend itself. "The ability of the enemy should not be exaggerated, it has many weak points," the Admiral said.

Ukraine Crisis - 08 April 2014

US Secretary of State John Kerry said April 08, 2014 that Russia was fueling separatist unrest in Eastern Ukraine that could be a "contrived crisis" to justify military intervention and that Moscow faces tougher banking, mining, and energy sanctions if it did not stop undermining Ukraine. "These efforts are as ham-handed as they are transparent, frankly," he said. "And quite simply what we see from Russia is an illegal and illegitimate effort to destabilize a sovereign state and create a contrived crisis with paid operatives across an international boundary."