Crisis in Ukraine: Daily Briefing
2 October 2015, 6 PM Kyiv time
- Russian Invasion of Ukraine
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (RNBO) reported that yesterday there was no combat along thefront in eastern Ukraine. Russian-terrorist forces did not carry out any attacks on Ukrainian positions. In the last 24 hours one Ukrainian soldier was wounded in a tripwire explosion near Stanytsia Luhanska.
- Leaders of Ukraine, Germany, France, Russia meet in Paris
Ukraine’s President P. Poroshenko, German Chancellor A. Merkel, French President F. Hollande and Russian President V. Putin are meeting today in Paris. The results of the meeting are unknown as of this writing. Before the meeting Poroshenko and Hollande held a bilateral meeting. Poroshenko’s press service reported, “The parties discussed the situation in occupied Donbas and Crimea, and coordinated positions on the eve of the meeting in the Normandy format. The Presidents noted the necessity of UN Security Council reform. The parties discussed the issue of a visa-free regime for Ukrainians and agreed to hold a Ukrainian-French Investment Forum in November 2015.”
- Savchenko attorneys expect Savchenko’s release to be discussed at “Normandy” talks
Feygin and M. Polozov, defense attorneys for Ukrainian pilot and MP Nadiya Savchenko, who has been illegally imprisoned in Russia for over a year, expect guarantees from Russian President Putin that Savchenko will be released at today’s “Normandy format” talks, Radio Svoboda reported. “At the Normandy Format meeting, the question of Nadiya Savchenko’s release must be concretely put to Putin,” Polozov stated. “Savchenko’s defense expects from the ‘Normandy’ talks not only guarantees from Putin on her release, but also concrete timelines,” Feygin stated. The next hearing in Savchenko’s illegal trial in Russia is scheduled for 6 October. Savchenko was serving in eastern Ukraine, when abducted by Kremlin-backed terrorists in June 2014 and taken to Russia, where she has been illegally detained and imprisoned since that time. Russia has ignored repeated calls from the international community for her immediate release.
- Deadly Russian weapons system found in occupied eastern Ukraine
OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) observers reported that they have observed a prohibited TOS-1 “Buratino” weapons system in occupied eastern Ukraine, Reuters reported. “The Buratino is equipped with thermobaric warheads which spread a flammable liquid around a target and then ignite it. It can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage. Only Russia produces the system and it was not exported to Ukraine before the conflict broke out, according to IHS Jane’s Group and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which track arms exports,” Reuters reported. “We don’t have them and we have never had it in service,” Vladislav Seleznyov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military, told Reuters. “The Russian army has it. It was used against us in the area of the Donetsk airport.”
- Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance to hold investor presentations on debt operation
Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance will hold three presentations, which will be webcast, for investors on 2, 5 and 6 October in Kyiv, London and New York respectively. The Ministry of Finance stated that “The purpose of these investor presentations is to present the main features of the debt operation Ukraine has submitted to the vote of its sovereign and sovereign-guaranteed bondholders. These presentations will also include information on the ongoing voting process and the actual implementation of the debt operation. Meetings and webcasts will also include a question and answer session.” Information on registration for the presentations is available at http://minfin.gov.ua/control/en/publish/article?art_id=427142&cat_id=264727
