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A woman carries a baby as she passes destroyed houses following what locals say was overnight shelling by Ukrainian forces in the eastern town of Slovyansk on June 9.
A woman carries a baby as she passes destroyed houses following what locals say was overnight shelling by Ukrainian forces in the eastern town of Slovyansk on June 9.
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Live Blog: Crisis In Ukraine (Archive)

Summary for June 9

-- Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says that Moscow and Kyiv have reached a "mutual understanding" on key parts of a plan proposed by President Petro Poroshenko for ending violence in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.

-- Reports say up to 20 armed gunmen were trying to seize property from a factory (Topaz) that makes communications and electronic-warfare equipment in the Donetsk region.

-- A deputy foreign minister says Russia will consider any expansion of NATO forces near its borders a "demonstration of hostile intentions" and "take the necessary political and military-technological measures to support our security."

-- A two-man crew for Russian Zvezda TV arrived in Moscow after being released from detention in Ukraine.

-- Serbian officials say their own work on the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline will have to be suspended after Bulgaria stopped construction of its portion based on EU and U.S. concerns.

-- Ukrainian security forces are reportedly still battling pro-Russian separatists in the east near Slovyansk and Donetsk.

*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv
16:36 27.5.2014
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18:03 27.5.2014
Just in case you missed it, novelist Alexei Bayer wrote an interesting op-ed piece in "The Moscow Times" at the weekend on the Russia-China gas deal and how it glosses over many of the fundamental economic problems Moscow still faces:
Russia used to have a top-notch scientific establishment and industrial base. In the 1990s, it could have joined the global innovation establishment by opening its economy to foreign investment and fostering its own entrepreneurial culture while assigning a supplementary role to its natural resources, i.e., using petrodollars for investment into education, science and infrastructure. But that would have required establishing the rule of law, increasing openness and transparency and getting rid of layers of bureaucracy of all kinds — all of which is anathema to Putin's political system. So Russia became an oil kleptocracy of the worst kind — a dumb oil and gas producer with a huge chip on its shoulder and anger at the rest of the world for not paying it sufficient respect.

By selling its natural gas to China at bargain-basement prices Russia is not mortgaging its future. It is mortgaging the future of Putin's Russia...

Read the entire article here
18:05 27.5.2014

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