11/03/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The militants resumed shellings in the conflict zone in the Donbass

Checkpoint in Trehizbenka

11.03.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• The militants resumed shellings in the conflict zone in the Donbass.
• Security forces re-arrested the leader of the "Ukrop" party Korban.
• In Lviv, there was a huge fight between Swedish and Ukrainian football fans.
  

Key Events in Ukraine

• The deputies of the Verkhovna Rada adopted a law on guarantees of the rights and freedoms of the internally displaced persons. They are not required to register the place of residence during own registration.
• The law on the status of war veterans was amended, under which the guarantees of social protection for volunteer fighters and activists were extended.
• The penalties for corruption impact on sports results were strengthened.
• President Poroshenko signed the law on guarantees for foreigners who serve in the Armed Forces and other military units under contract.
• According to the elections results five parties will form the Kiev city council . Presidential party lost the majority in the council.
• The SBU repeatedly arrested leader of the "Ukrop" party Korban, after Chernigov court released him after the expiration of the detention period. One more criminal proceeding was opened against Korban .
• Former deputy head of the State Border Service was sentenced to 10 years in prison for bribery.
• Heads of  Investigation departments were elected in the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
• Head of the NBU Gontareva said that she sees no reason for the significant exchange rate fluctuations. According to her, the existing regulatory instruments and bank reserves allow to ease the tensions on the currency market, if necessary. The National Bank left the official hryvnia exchange rate unchanged: 23,02 ₴/$, 25,27 ₴/€ (-0,12 UAH), 3,61 ₴/10 ₽.

Ukraine at War

• In the conflict zone in the Donbass, after a relative inactivity the militants resumed the shellings along all the fighting line. In Trehizbenka three soldiers were wounded . The shellings of the neighborhoods of Donetsk continued . Schastya in the Luhansk region also came under fire .
• A trilateral meeting of the contact group in Minsk  was held in a video conference mode. The Ukrainian party presented its variant of the concept of the law on local elections. Parties urged to speed up the process of withdrawal of light artillery. Violations of the ceasefire must be investigated by the OSCE mission and the joint center for control and coordination, and stopped. At a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna an issue of increasing the number of observers and equipping them with the appropriate equipment will be raised. They should have access to all the occupied territories, including the state border.
• Head of the Luhansk Regional Military-Civilian State Administration Tuck forbade to sell alcohol to the military.
• Leader of the Crimean Tatars Chubarov called to disconnect power supply to the Crimea because of the persecution of the Tatars on the peninsula.

Ukraine and the World

• During the telephone conversation of President Poroshenko with European Commission President Juncker a visit to Ukraine of the European Commissioners for Trade and migration with a view to implementing the visa-free regime and free trade zone with the EU was agreed.
• Commissioner for Human Rights Muižnieks in his report on the humanitarian situation in the east of Ukraine said that all the military units should be included into the regular armed forces or disarmed and disbanded. He insists on a speedy solution of problems of the displaced persons and reforming of judiciary and law enforcement agencies.
• In Turkey, after the announcement of the election results, began the arrests of politicians and journalists, supporting opposition emigre Gulen, whom President Erdogan accused of an attempted coup. The observers noted that the elections  in the country were not democratic because of the pressure on the media and the opposition.
• US State Department official Ziff, at a hearing in the Senate, said that Russia spends on propaganda $ 1.4 billion. It covers an audience of 600 million people and is conducted in 30 languages.
• The US continues to support Georgia's integration into NATO. After the summit in Wales in 2014, the country was offered a package of measures to join the Alliance that Georgia is successfully fulfilling.

The Trends

• Observers, experts and social networks users are discussing the artificiality of the "assassination attempt" on the General Prosecutor Shokin and point to inconsistencies in the official version. In their opinion, this "attempt" was staged by the security forces in order to divert the attention of public and West from the use of the selective justice and the beginning of the persecution of opponents of current President Poroshenko.