Weekly News Digest

(March 10-16)
This weekly news digest presents conclusions on the situation in eastern Ukraine, covers
Ukraine`s economy and implementation of reforms, and also analyses international and Ukrainian
statements of the week as well as trends of international support to Ukraine.
In the ATO area, the enemy continues to gruesomely violate the Minsk Agreements. The
gunmen attack positions of Ukrainian troops using 122-mm howitzers and 120-mm mortars, which
should have been withdrawn from the engagement line at the beginning of March. They also use
heavy artillery (tanks near the village of Shyrokino). In its turn, the Ukrainian side continues to
adhere to the truce and has already provided the OSCE with the list of weapons, withdrawn from
the engagement line in Donbas (report of the OSCE).
Over the last week, the positions of the ATO forces were attacked 208 times, resulting in 3
Ukrainian soldiers killed and 16 injured. There is a decrease in the number and intensity of attacks,
but the activity of reconnaissance-sabotage groups and aerial reconnaissance is also being recorded
(42 UAV flights during the last week).
24 cars, including 11 petrol tankers and 11 trucks with unknown content, arrived as a part of
"humanitarian convoy" from Russia, which illegally crossed Ukrainian border on March 13 (report
of the OSCE). According to intelligence information, Russian railway carriages with munitions
arrive in Krasnodon every day. More than 43 thousand terrorists, including almost 9 thousand
Russian militaries, fight for so-called DPR and LPR in Donbas (info by ATO headquarters). Along
with this, Russian side actively uses special services to entrench separatism in South-Eastern
Ukraine and lobbies it with the help of Kremlin-oriented high officials.
The rebels continue threatening to derail the implementation of Minsk agreement if
Ukrainian side, within three days, does not compile a list of Donbas regions that are to be granted a
special status. On March 13, the United Nations Secretariat confirmed it has received the
preliminary request from Kyiv for the peace keeping forces to be deployed in the East of Ukraine.
At the same time, there is a strong possibility of hostilities resumption and derailment of the peace
agreement.
Petro Poroshenko said that Minsk agreement is not being fulfilled (despite some signs of deescalation): since the beginning of the comprehensive ceasefire on February 15, the silence mode
has been violated 1100 times. At the same time, he informed that Ukraine is gradually
implementing its strategy of modernization of the Armed Forces in order to respond to military
aggression if the need arises. The President also assured that the EU, the USA and other states will
provide Ukraine with lethal weapons and introduce new sanctions if a new wave of aggression
begins.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is deeply concerned about the fact that Russia
suspended its participation in the Joint Consultative Group on the Treaty on Conventional Armed
forces in Europe. Also, the EU received an official letter from Ukraine in regard to Brussels
reaction to Vladimir Putins statement concerning the annexation of the Crimea that, as he finally
admitted, was planned weeks before the referendum.
Ukraine has asked the EU to send the security and defense mission to Donbas, which might be
the largest one in the history of the European Union. Kostiantyn Yelisieiev stated that the EU
security mission has more advantages in comparison to the OSCE SMM to Ukraine because of the
limited authority of the latter.
The West is concerned by the provocative actions of Russian Federation not only in Ukraine,
but also on the borders with NATO member states. In particular, Jens Stoltenberg expressed his
disappointment with Russian dangerous decision to suspend its participation in the Joint
Consultative Group on the Treaty on Conventional Armed forces in Europe. He also expressed his
concern over the growing number of sudden training exercises of the Russian Armed Forces, and
also increased military presence of Russian Federation near the borders of NATO countries.
James Cameron believes that Russia will not limit its aggression only to Ukraine, but it might attack
Baltic countries too. As he said, if Russia wants to be a part of the 21st century world, it has to
respect the borders of other countries.
Philip Hammond stated that the actions of the President Putin - illegal annexation of the
Crimea and the deployment of Russian forces to destabilize the East of Ukraine - considerably
undermines the security of sovereign nations in Eastern Europe. He believes that Vladimir Putin has
no intention of following widely accepted rules of international community aimed at peacekeeping.
On the contrary, he wants the system of international law to be destroyed. Donald Tusk agreed with
the British politician and said that "To believe in the good will of Putin - is either naive or
hypocritical. Kremlin politics is much simpler than the complex debate in Europe and the USA.
Russian President is a worthy disciple of Karl Schmidt: firstly, he must have enemies, and secondly
- to be stronger than they are, and third - to be with them in conflict and eventually destroy them.
Donald Tusk declared that Russia is trying to divide Europeans from each other and
Europe from the United States. He urged the international community to keep the current sanctions
in place at least till the end of the year. The question of softening sanction will only be on agenda
when Ukraine has control over its borders.
Of course, the most infamous event of the week in Russia was the release of the propaganda
documentary film "Crimea. The way home by Andrei Kondrashov, aired on Russian state
television in Moscow on March 15, 2015. Russian President Vladimir Putin openly admitted the
annexation of Crimea, involvement of Russian troops and special service in blocking Ukrainian
army on the peninsula. In particular, the head of Kremlin said that after the events on the Maidan in

the winter of 2014, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation were prepared for any scenario. He
said that Moscow was even ready to put Russias nuclear weapons on alert. On top of that, Russian
Foreign Ministry said that Moscow has right to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea.
The economy of Ukraine was characterized by the following trends: 1) the deterioration of the
macroeconomic indicators (budget deficit for the year amounted to 5.1% of GDP, inflation in
Ukraine accelerated by 33.2%, retail dropped by 21%); 2) stabilization of hryvnia (up to 21.5 per
dollar on the interbank market) as a result of the National Banks of Ukraine administrative
measures that helped to reduce gasoline prices; 3) decreasing dependence on Russian gas (the share
of imported gas will be no more than 40% along with the increase in the deliveries from Hungary)
as well as a decrease in the transit of Russian gas to Europe; 4) increase of international financial
assistance to Ukraine (IMFs decision to allocate 17.5 billion dollar credit, $1.8 billion from the EU,
$2 billion from the US government and financial assistance from Sweden, Japan and Canada ) and
in debt to $15 billion, along with the possibility of restructuring (by Franklin Templeton Fund).
The following can be singled out regarding the implementation of reforms in Ukraine: 1)
judicial reform (investigation of the crimes committed during the Revolution of Dignity that will
restore trust in the court system, in particular, four former senior officials of the Security Service of
Ukraine (SBU) were prosecuted this week; former deputies were declared suspect and wanted for
voting for January 16, 2014 laws, often referred to as dictatorial laws); 2) anti-corruption reform
(the fight against corruption is complicated because of the unlawful actions of officials, for instance,
the first Deputy Minister of Justice illegally issued a so-called "lustration indulgence; 3)
decentralization and administrative reform ( the process of forming territorial communities has
begun, the necessary bills on the decentralization of power and local government reform are being
reviewed by an authorized expert group); 4) law enforcement agencies reform (traffic police to be
replaced by patrol service new patrol police services work in Kyiv is being planned; agreement
regarding technical assistance needed to establish a new model of police and to reform the Ministry
of Internal Affairs was signed with American partners; the reform of the Ministry of Defense and
the General Staff is almost implemented; the process of hiring local prosecutors to be based on a
system of open competition.)
Financial assistance, provided by the IMF, is a guarantee that reforms will be fully
implemented. Otherwise, the decision on further tranches may be postponed, and Ukraine will not
be able to keep economy afloat and introduce reforms without a substantial economic aid package.
The USA (Humvee armored vehicles, Raven UAV and other non-lethal weapons are to be
supplied; assistance in implementation of police and criminal justice reforms, and in the fight
against corruption; the Westinghouse company is ready to build a plant in Ukraine to produce
nuclear fuel), Sweden (supported the deployment of peacekeeping missions, sent humanitarian aid
to Donbas), Germany, Australia, Poland, UK, Norway, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland

(humanitarian aid), Romania (assistance in the implementation of the reforms) and the EU
(approved an updated Association Agenda that will facilitate the process of in-depth reforming of
Ukraine's economy, 3 civil experts were sent as a part of the EU Advisory Mission for Civilian
Security Sector Reform of Ukraine.) provide immense support to Ukraine.
The materials used for the weekly news digest include the official websites of the President,
the National Security and Defence Council, the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the
Government, Ukrainian Internet newspaper Ukrainska Pravda (Ukrainian Truth), Dmytro
Tymchuks blog Informatsiinyi sprotyv (Informational Resistance), Ukrainian news agency
UNIAN, Ukrainian news program TSN, weekly political magazine Korespondent ( Journalist),
weekly political, economical and the arts magazine Ukrainskyi Tyzhden (Ukrainian week), etc.