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John McCain and Lindsey Graham have been urging Ukrainian soldiers to break the Minsk cease-fire agreement.

US Senator John McCain speaks on February 17, 2017, at the opening of the 53rd Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. (Reuters / Michael Dalder)

Arizona Senator John McCain has been garnering headlines for his tough talk about Donald J. Trump, and much else, at the annual Munich Security Conference, which took place over the weekend. McCainwho appears on the cover of the current issue of New York magazine alongside the question: How Many Chances Do You Get to Be an American Hero?has, after eight years in the wilderness, reemerged once again as a darling of the American media, its go-to source for straight talk.

In Munich, McCain took aim at President Donald Trumps so-called America First foreign policy, expressing alarm that many of our peoples, including in my own country, are giving up on the West, that they see it as a bad deal that we may be better off without. McCain continued, noting that he, unlike Trump, refuses to accept that our values are morally equivalent to those of our adversaries. I am, proclaimed McCain, a proud, unapologetic believer in the West, and I believe we must always, always stand up for it. For if we do not, who will?

Michael R. Gordon of The New York Times praised McCains speech, calling it a star turn.

Meanwhile in Munich, Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, and Secretary of Homeland Security James Kelly all pledged eternal fidelity to NATO, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov observed (correctly) that the alliance has remained a Cold War institution. The Wests blinkered insistence on the relevance, to say nothing of the appeal, of the alliance, particularly among the population of prospective members like Ukraine, has been studiously ignored by transatlantic security confabs like the Munich Conference for some years now. And yet Western politicians, and that peculiar species known in Washington as defense intellectuals, might do well to consider the results of a recent Gallup poll that found that 35 percent of Ukrainians view NATO as a threat, as against 29 percent who see it as a source of protection and 26 percent who see it as neither.

Yet one bit of positive news to emerge from Munich was what seemed to be a renewed commitment to implement the 2015 Minsk cease-fire agreement on the part of Russia and Ukraine. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the parties to the agreement would meet perhaps in three weeks, to see if we can advance on the ceasefire, withdrawal of heavy weapons and exchange of prisoners.

A push for peace is all the more urgent given the uptick in fighting in eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, caused by what many have described as a creeping offensive by Kiev to take and hold rebel-held territory along the cease-fire line.

Tellingly, Kievs recent offensive came almost immediately following a trip to to the wars front lines by none other than Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham. In the presence of Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, Graham told a brigade of Ukrainian soldiers: Your fight is our fight. 2017 will be the year of offense. For his part, McCain told the troops, I believe you will win. I am convinced you will win and we will do everything we can to provide you with what you need to win.

One could be forgiven for wondering if there is any precedent for such an incitement to violence by two sitting US senators?

Meanwhile, the US Army has established what it euphemistically calls a Joint Multinational Training Group in Yavoriv, Ukraine, for the express purpose of providing defensive and security training for up to five battalions of Ministry of Defense forces per year until 2020. The presence of American troops in Ukraine arguably represents the most serious obstacle to a peaceful settlement of the conflict, and yet the establishment of an American army base on the territory of a non-NATO country on Russias border has received no media coverage and zero congressional scrutiny.

This week, the conflict in Ukraine enters its fourth year. UNICEF reports that a million children in eastern Ukraine are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, while the casualty count on both sides continues to climb. French Foreign Minister Ayrault was moved to observe over the weekend that the Russians and Ukrainians have no other option, but to respect Minsk. They have no alternatives. But he cautioned,We need a lot of patience because we can see a lack of will on either side.

More:
McCain Talks Tough as the War in Ukraine Continues Without End ... - The Nation.

The Kiev authorities should be held responsible for the bloodshed that has gripped eastern Ukraine, as they failed to reach out to the people in the Donbass region, opting for full-fledged war instead, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich said.

The smoldering military conflict in eastern Ukraine has been propelled back into the headlines, with a new spike in violence in early February.

The escalation highlighted the fragile nature of the ceasefire and the need for the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, the key condition on the way to a peaceful settlement, which was reconfirmed in the recent Normandy format meeting.

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In an interview with Russian and Ukrainian media on Tuesday, former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich, now living in southern Russia, argued that the military suppression of unrest in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions was an inherently flawed and ill-conceived decision by Kiev.

The bloodshed in eastern Ukraine might have been averted if the authorities in Kiev made an attempt to find common ground with people in Donetsk and Lugansk, Yanukovich said, adding that the decision to launch their so-called anti-terrorist operation against the rebels amounted to a declaration of war against the people.

Of course, everyone who took part in this decision must be held responsible. This is a crime against their own people, the former Ukrainian leader said.

The current authorities did not make a single attempt to talk to the people, who were against the coup, he argued, adding that Kiev should have found a way towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict at that stage.

Any blockade of the Donbass region is not in the interests of Ukraine if they do not need Donbass, they should say it openly, but if they do, then start negotiations with these people, why torment them? he said.

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Instead, the Ukrainian government divided the country into winners and losers, further alienating the eastern regions, Yanukovich pointed out, arguing that the authorities stop at nothing, including terror.

The government actuality believes in its impunity it has lost the fear of the people, he said, listing killing journalists, shutting down various information agencies, silencing dissidents among the various draconian methods the government has resorted to in order to assert itself.

In 2016, the UN human rights watchdog, the OHCHR, released a report accusing both sides of the conflict in Ukraine of multiple human rights violations, including torture, intimidation, illegal detention, and executions. The report also shed light on a government-run torture program and clandestine detention centers.

READ MORE:Those behind recent violence in Ukraine don't want US-Russian relations to improve - Churkin to RT

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Kiev's military op in E. Ukraine 'crime against own people' ex-Ukrainian President Yanukovich - RT

Fighting persists despite the two-year anniversary of the Minsk 2 cease-fire agreement.

By Benas Gerdziunas

2/21/17, 4:15 AM CET

Updated 2/21/17, 1:07 PM CET

The gut-churning bass of artillery rockets dispels the myth that a cease-fire is holding in eastern Ukraine, two years after the Minsk 2 agreement between Russian-backed separatists and pro-government forces was signed.

At least 30 civilians died when the fighting escalated again in January, following what the government in Kiev described as an unsuccessful offensive by pro-Moscow rebels on the city of Avdiivka. Ina sluggish 20th-century war of attrition, where undersupplied trenches are hit by sporadic artillery fire, graffiti on a Ukrainian soldiers helmet paraphrases the title of Erich Maria Remarques classic on the First World War: Nothing new on the western eastern front.

Civilians trapped in the fighting initially fled to safer ground in 2014. However, when their money ran out many of those families saw no option other than to return to their homes on the front line.

A Ukrainian marine, nicknamed Nightingale, walks amid heavy snowfall in Pavlopil in the Donetsk region. The OSCE has tried to maintain the Minsk 2 cease-fire deal, mostly in vain, as artillery shelling ensues daily and both sides use weapons and munitions banned by the agreement | Photos by Benas Gerdziunas

Most people went to the seaside or Kiev at the beginning, says Oksana Sidorenko, who lives in Marinka less than 100 meters from the trenches with her boyfriend and two sons. But there is no work, and local people in Kiev or Kharkiv take advantage they raise the rent costs overnight, forcing people to move back.

In Marinka, a Ukrainian-controlled Donetsk satellite town, the front line has not shifted since the war began. Daily shelling sprays shrapnel and separatist snipers continue to fire on civilians. The majority of houses here have suffered direct hits and the gas supply has been cut for three years.

With up to 5,000 people still estimated to be living in the town, a school continues to operate practically on the front line, according to its director, Liudmila Panchenko. I honestly cant remember how many times we already had to run to the basement, says Artiom, Oksana Sidorenkos son.

A lone civilian walks on a road near Marinka in the Donetsk region, which has seen near-constant heavy fighting in the last three years. With key infrastructure and transport links destroyed, civilians are often trapped between the front lines.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission patrols the roughly 500 kilometers of front line and buffer zones mostly in vain theyre often met with suspicion and outright hostility on both sides.

Visits from the OSCE are often followed by direct hits on even newly-entrenched positions, according to residents, ingraining cynicism toward lasting peace prospects and international cooperation.

During the recently-concluded Munich Security Conference, Russian, Ukrainian and European representatives reaffirmed their commitment to the Minsk agreement and signed a truce that was due to start on Monday, February 20. Nevertheless, the war continues and people on both sides of the barricades have grown weary.

A Ukrainian marine sits inside a makeshift dining hall near Mariupol in the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian military has experienced significant levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, which goes largely untreated. After almost three years of trench fighting and artillery bombardments, many turn to the bottle, or worse.

Soldiers on both sides occupy vacant buildings. Looting was an issue at the beginning of the conflict, as volunteer units on both sides seized properties and everything found inside.

Nikola Chorishko, a marine, was taken prisoner in the early stages of the war, when the Ukrainian military suffered a crushing defeat in the encirclement of Illovaisk in August 2014. The tragedy, as its referred to by Ukrainians, left thousands of casualties. Freed in a prisoner swap, Chorishkoreturned immediately to the fighting.

Artiom, 14, watches a film inside his front line home in Marinka in the Donetsk region. Just 10 minutes earlier, a fragment of a shell fell in the backyard. The house is dotted with bullet holes from a sniper position directly opposite. The separatist positions are less than 300 meters away and the Ukrainian military are 50 meters away.

Marines say goodbye to comrades who will spend the night in one of the forward positions along the front line near Mariupol in the Donetsk region. We dont say goodbye before the night, says Nikola Chorishko. Each morning after the night counts.

Oksana Sidorenko, Artioms mother, sprints across a sniper corridor in Marinka in the Donetsk region. Reminiscent of scenes from the siege of Sarajevo, residents must sprint across a street, as Russian-backed separatists continue to fire from positions directly in front. So far, two civilians have been hit, two soldiers killed and many more have experienced near-misses, according to locals.

A school in Marinka, a few kilometers from the front line. With artillery shelling nearly every day, the children have to hide in the basement, or below sandbag-lined windows.

A primary school student sits in a half-empty classroom. At the outbreak of the war, attendance dropped to less than 50 percent, but as families move back, numbers are returning to pre-war levels.

Yura Nogin repairs war-damaged buildings in Marinka, where he now lives with Oksana Sidorenko, whom he met while serving with an artillery detachment in the town.

An apartment block destroyed by artillery fire in Marinka. A U.N.-funded program tears down badly-damaged apartment blocks to be rebuilt, while those with only moderate damage are refitted by local construction crews.

The front line town Avdiivka has been the epicenter of a recent escalation in fighting. At least eight civilians died here in January alone, as the humanitarian crisis worsened with heating and electricity cut off. Temperatures dropped to -8 degrees at night in unheated buildings. This hole was left by artillery fire in 2014, and a home of a local man who didnt want to be named was completely destroyed in February.

A painted gate reads People live here, near Avdiivka. Houses still occupied by civilians mark their front gates a pattern visible all along the front line.

Excerpt from:
Ukraine: not quiet on the Eastern front - POLITICO.eu

Ukraine has called for reform of the United Nations Security Council's structure to prevent Russia from using its veto power on the council to obstruct actions involving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"We need urgently to reform the Security Council in order to remove the veto power abuses," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, who chaired a meeting of the council on unresolved conflicts in Europe on February 21.

A provision of the council's charter requires that "a party to a dispute shall abstain from voting" when the council acts, but it has been "blatantly ignored," he said.

Russia used its power, for example, to block an initiative to set up an international tribunal to prosecute those responsible for downing Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 in 2015 over the war zone in eastern Ukraine, killing hundreds of people.

The council should be able to address "bloody conflicts" regardless of whether one of the parties involved is a permanent council member with veto power, Klimkin said.

"It is imperative that clear proceedings are introduced for the proper implementation" of the council's abstention requirement, he said.

Russia, which maintains that it has no troops in Ukraine despite evidence to the contrary, has previously rejected as unacceptable any curbs on its veto power.

Read this article:
Kyiv Urges Reforms To Stop Russia From Vetoing UN Action On Ukraine Conflict - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Dmytro Firtash arrives at court in Vienna on Tuesday. His arrest is separate from the extradition ruling. Photograph: Heinz-Peter Bader/Reuters

Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash has been detained in Vienna on a European arrest warrant, a spokeswoman for the citys prosecutors has said on Tuesday, minutes after an Austrian court granted an extradition request from the US.

The spokeswoman said Firtashs detention was technically separate from the extradition ruling as it was based on a Spanish request for his arrest for which she could give no details.

She said it was too early to tell how the implementation of the European arrest warrant would impact on the decision to extradite Firtash to the US over bribery allegations which he denies.

The extradition approval on Tuesday overturned an earlier ruling that had said the US request was politically motivated.

Firtash is a former supporter of Ukraines ousted president, Viktor Yanukovich, and made a fortune selling Russian gas to the Kiev government.

[The appeal against the previous ruling] has been granted, the judge told a courtroom packed with journalists and Firtashs family. This does not mean that somebody is being prejudged as guilty, but rather that it will be decided in another country whether they are guilty or innocent.

The judge said that since the previous Austrian court ruling, the US had offered further documents, based on witness statements, to strengthen its case against Firtash.

A US grand jury indicted Firtash in 2013, along with a member of Indias parliament and four others, on suspicion of bribing Indian government officials to gain access to minerals used to make titanium-based products.

Speaking before Tuesdays verdict, Firtashs lawyer, Dieter Bhmdorfer, reiterated the accusation that the US was driven by politics in the case.

We must not allow Austria to become a stooge for the political world power the USA, Bhmdorfer told the court, adding that Firtash was a victim of a US strategy to minimise Russian influence in Ukraine.

Washington welcomed the ousting of the pro-Russian Yanukovich amid mass street protests in February 2014 and has backed his pro-western successor, Petro Poroshenko. Yanukovich now lives in exile in Russia.

The Austrian judge dismissed Bhmdorfers charge and said Firtash would get a fair trial in the US.

Firtash, whose business concerns in gas trading and chemicals thrived under Yanukovich, has not returned to Ukraine since his initial detention in Vienna in March 2014.

His star has waned under the current administration partly due to his exile, but Firtash retains influence thanks to his part-ownership of Inter, a top Ukrainian television channel, and his gas distribution and fertiliser businesses.

He is Ukraines 16th richest man, with an estimated wealth of $251m (202m) as of 2016, according to Forbes Ukraine.

Read more from the original source:
Austria grants US request to extradite Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash - The Guardian