["The Russian president's proposals envisage: a the halt to the militia's advances in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions; withdrawal of Kiev troops to a distance that makes shelling impossible; objective international control over the ceasefire; a ban on the use of combat aircrafts against civilians; unconditional prisoner exchange; organization of humanitarian corridors, and provision of direct access for repair crews to destroyed infrastructure.
"The heads of the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk said that they are ready to implement the ceasefire at 11:00GMT on Friday, on condition that Kiev subscribes to the plan for a political settlement to the conflict." "Although authorities in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, have refused to negotiate with the separatists, whom they have branded as terrorist stooges of the Kremlin, the meeting in Minsk brings together representatives of the government and the separatists, Russia's ambassador to Ukraine and veteran diplomats of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The OSCE is the only international security forum to which both Russia and Ukraine belong."] I/III. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/04/ukraine-nato-ceasefire-leaders-welcome-putin-poroshenko Nato leaders cautiously welcome Ukraine ceasefire agreement Both Ukrainian military and pro-Russia rebels have agreed to a ceasefire under terms proposed by Vladimir Putin Ewen MacAskill <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/ewenmacaskill> in Newport and Shaun Walker <http://www.theguardian.com/profile/shaun-walker> in Mariupol The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian>, Thursday 4 September 2014 21.09 BST David Cameron (left) with Ukrainian prime minister Petro Poroshenko (right). Photograph: Pool/Getty Images Nato <http://www.theguardian.com/world/nato> leaders cautiously welcomed an apparent breakthrough in the five-month Ukrainian conflict after the country's president, Petro Poroshenko <http://www.theguardian.com/world/petro-poroshenko>, and one of the leading pro-Russia <http://www.theguardian.com/world/russia> separatist leaders agreed to order a ceasefire on Friday. But Poroshenko, who expressed cautious optimism about the truce, caught Nato officials off-guard with the disclosure that, while Nato was not arming Ukraine <http://www.theguardian.com/world/ukraine>, at least one country, which he did not name, was providing Kiev with high-precision weapons. The ceasefire, part of a seven-point peace plan proposed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin <http://www.theguardian.com/world/vladimir-putin>, on Wednesday, would freeze forces in their positions at around midday on Friday. Meanwhile, events on the ground remained volatile on Thursday, with a column of rebel armour spotted in the direction of Mariupol and reports of Ukrainian forces shelling the outskirts of Donetsk. In spite of the proposed truce, the US and the UK remain sceptical about Putin's intentions and urged more diplomatic and economic pressure, including the threat of increased sanctions. As part of that, the EU is expected to go ahead on Friday with new sanctions against Russia. Poroshenko made the ceasefire announcement at the Nato summit in Newport where he met David Cameron with US president Barack Obama, German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president François Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi. At a press conference with the Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Poroshenko said he hoped the ceasefire would happen, but he remained suspicious because Putin had proposed it. Rasmussen said he had seen similar moves before by Russia that had been smokescreens, but he would welcome a serious political settlement. Poroshenko said that provided a peace meeting in Minsk planned for Friday between Russia, Ukraine and the European security organisation the OSCE goes ahead as planned, he would call a halt to Ukrainian military attempts to regain territory held by the separatists. "I will call on the general staff to set up a bilateral ceasefire," he said. Alexander Zakharchenko, the separatist leader, said he would order a ceasefire an hour later. The rebels are proposing the creation of "security zones" that would be policed by representatives of the OSCE and the establishment of a corridor for refugees. Reaching a lasting peace agreement will be difficult. Ukrainian authorities are unlikely to accept any settlement that involves recognising rebel control over parts of Ukrainian territory, but are aware that Kiev's forces have suffered such losses in the past fortnight that they cannot go on fighting. The White House expressed support for Poroshenko's "efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflict", and pinned the blame for the conflict on Putin, condemning Russia's "flagrant violation of Ukraine's sovereignty". Nato has ruled out intervening in Ukraine with troops or equipment and pressure from the West has come mainly through sanctions. Poroshenko caught Nato officials off-guard with the disclosure. He did not name the country involved but only a relatively small number of countries, such as the US, Poland or even Britain, have both the necessary equipment and the sympathy for the Ukrainian cause. Such weapons are desperately needed by Ukraine because it is confronting an estimated 100 tanks and it does not have the kind of anti-tank weapons that can be fired at distance. The number of Russian troops were said by Ukraine to be in the thousands rather than just 1,000, suggesting an escalation rather than de-escalation. Such an assessment by Poroshenko casts serious doubts over the prospect of a deal in Minsk. Nato, at the end of the two-day summit, is to issue a strongly-worded document condemning Russian actions in the Ukraine, declaring Moscow to be in breach of international agreements. There have been disagreements over the wording with the US, Britain and Poland seeking tough language and Germany seeking to water it down. European Union ambassadors meeting in Brussels agreed that restrictions imposed on Russian state-owned banks will be extended to state-owned defence and energy firms. The US and Britain pushed for the sanctions to go ahead in spite of the ceasefire but other countries were more hesitant. The sanctions come after France, under pressure for going ahead with the export of Mistral helicopter carriers to Russia, finally caved in and said it will delay the contract because of events in Ukraine. Hollande said delivery of the first ship, which had been scheduled for October, is dependent on the ceasefire holding and a political settlement being reached. Some European foreign ministers sounded more upbeat about the ceasefire than the White House. A German spokesman said that the contacts between Kiev and Moscow appeared more solid now than at any time over the last five months. II/III. http://rt.com/news/185008-poroshenko-ukraine-ceasefire-talks/ Kiev & self-defense forces ready for Friday ceasefire if Minsk talks successful Published time: September 04, 2014 12:47 Edited time: September 04, 2014 16:51 A column of Ukrainian tanks travels in Donetsk region on September 3, 2014.(AFP Photo / Anatolii Stepanov) The Ukrainian president and the heads of the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk have said they are ready to order a ceasefire if peace talks in Minsk, Belarus on Friday are successful. *"At 14:00 local time (11:00GMT Friday), provided the [Minsk] meeting takes place, I will call on the General Staff to set up a bilateral ceasefire and we hope that the implementation of the peace plan will begin tomorrow,"* Petro Poroshenko said on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Wales on Thursday. On Wednesday, Poroshenko expressed *"great hope"* that the peace process in Ukraine will commence in Minsk on September 5, when representatives of Kiev, Moscow and OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) are scheduled to meet. #*Ukraine* <https://twitter.com/hashtag/Ukraine?src=hash> war death toll: 837 soldiers, 3000+ wounded - Security Council http://on.rt.com/avnrbk <http://t.co/4EAnNL9D5O> 6:50 PM - 4 Sep 2014 <https://twitter.com/RT_com/status/507518595979440128> The self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk are *"ready to order a ceasefire tomorrow on September 5, 2014 at 15:00 local time (12:00GMT) if agreement is reached and the Ukrainian representatives sign up to the plan for a political settlement of the conflict,"* the leaders of the two republics said in a joint statement. The People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk *"will also present their proposals on the ceasefire, which would describe in detail the guarantees of implementation of the truce by the sides involved in the conflict, to the contact group in Minsk on Friday,"* the statement added. The announcements pave the way for implementing the 7-step peace plan, which was proposed to the conflicting sides by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. READ MORE: Putin lays out 7-step plan to stop hostilities in E. Ukraine <http://rt.com/news/184791-putin-ukraine-kiev-militia/> The Russian president's proposals envisage: a the halt to the militia's advances in the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions; withdrawal of Kiev troops to a distance that makes shelling impossible; objective international control over the ceasefire; a ban on the use of combat aircrafts against civilians; unconditional prisoner exchange; organization of humanitarian corridors, and provision of direct access for repair crews to destroyed infrastructure. The heads of the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk said that they are ready to implement the ceasefire at 11:00GMT on Friday, on condition that Kiev subscribes to the plan for a political settlement to the conflict. Ukraine has been engulfed in violent internal conflict since April, when Kiev's military began its crackdown on the southeastern regions of the country. According to United Nations' estimates released on Tuesday, over 2,249 people have been killed so far and more than 6,033 wounded in the fighting in eastern Ukraine. The number of internally displaced Ukrainians has reached 190,000, with another 207,000 finding refuge in Russia, the UN said. III. http://www.pressherald.com/2014/09/04/ukraine-rebels-say-they-are-ready-for-cease-fire/ Posted Yesterday at 10:55 AM Updated September 4 Artillery and missile fire dim hopes for cease-fire in Ukraine 'It is a totally new game," says a deputy military commander, despite cease-fire negotiations planned Friday. The Associated Press MARIUPOL, Ukraine -- Hopes for a rumored truce were shattered Thursday in this strategic eastern port as Russian troops attacked Ukrainian positions near the city with heavy artillery and missile fire, a Ukrainian militia leader said. "It is a totally new game," said Oleg Odnorozhenko, deputy commander of the volunteer Azov Battalion, adding that the city's fighters are now certain they are being attacked by regular Russian army troops, not just mercenaries and homegrown separatists. The barrage on the outskirts of Mariupol coincided with declarations by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and leaders of the separatist militants in the country's east that a cease-fire was in the offing at negotiations Friday in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. But both sides made it clear that a halt in the conflict was contingent on the other side in effect capitulating. That's a condition the resurgent separatists are under no pressure to meet, and retreat would be politically devastating for Poroshenko after the loss of more than 2,600 lives in the fighting since April. Although authorities in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, have refused to negotiate with the separatists, whom they have branded as terrorist stooges of the Kremlin, the meeting in Minsk brings together representatives of the government and the separatists, Russia's ambassador to Ukraine and veteran diplomats of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The OSCE is the only international security forum to which both Russia and Ukraine belong. "Tomorrow in Minsk a document will be signed providing for the gradual introduction of the Ukrainian peace plan," Poroshenko told reporters on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Wales, where leaders of the Western military alliance expressed solidarity with his fight to keep Ukraine intact. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned Russia against continuing to support the separatists. "We are still witnessing, unfortunately, Russian involvement in destabilizing the situation in eastern Ukraine," he said. "So we continue to call on Russia to pull back its troops from Ukrainian borders, stop the flow of weapons and fighters into Ukraine, stop the support for armed militants in Ukraine and engage in a constructive political process." Expectations of a truce being brokered in Minsk were raised a day earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposed seven-point peace plan, starting with the withdrawal of Ukrainian government troops from the two eastern regions seized by the separatists in April. Poroshenko's own formula for ending the conflict, which he unveiled during his June 7 inauguration speech, requires that the separatists lay down their arms and relinquish seized territory in exchange for negotiations on more autonomy for their regions within Ukraine. Putin has denied that Russian troops or armor are engaged in the conflict, an assertion undermined by satellite images released by NATO last week showing columns of Russian tanks and guns crossing the border. Some of that hardware is now threatening Mariupol in what Kiev authorities suspect is a mission to take control of the entire Sea of Azov coastline, connecting mainland Russia with the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine in February and annexed in March. Odnorozhenko, the Azov Battalion deputy commander, said the Russian columns that pushed across the border about 40 miles to the east last week began striking at Mariupol's perimeter on Thursday. "At first they tried our defenses with a tank raid, and when our firing positions revealed themselves they threw all their artillery at us," the militia commander said, describing the opposing forces as "very thorough and very professional." The Russian troops and hardware were "poised to encircle the town and force us to leave it to them," Odnorozhenko said. "Their goal is clear: By capturing Mariupol they open the gate for a land route to supply Crimea." The sounds of battle on the bombarded outskirts failed to dissuade several thousand Mariupol residents from taking part in a rally in the city center against the foreign intrusion. Demonstrators draped in the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag hoisted anti-Putin and antiwar posters. Some read, "Ukraine is a unified country!" and "Mariupol is a Ukrainian city." "I can't believe a Russian army can come here to conquer us," said Vera Chuyko, a 34-year-old nurse taking part in the rally. "It is like a bad dream. It doesn't make sense. Why destroy our country and kill our people? What for? It is insane!" -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. 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