Last week, a dual power between official authorities and radical nationalists established in Ukraine.
Having failed to stop the blockade of Donbass, the Kiev authorities decided to «head» it, trying to snatch the initiative from the nationalists.
Nationalists, feeling their strength, officially united with the goal to deal a final blow to the current authorities.
Again brought to the brink of the economic survival, Donbass announced a total breakdown of ties with Ukraine and a complete reorientation to the economic cooperation with Russia.
All that time, the shelling of the territory of the Republics did not cease for a single day.
On March 14, the Ukrainian side again opens fire on the Donetsk filtering plant, once again de-energizing it. For a day, as a result of the shelling by the Kiev side, 13 apartment buildings were damaged in the Republic and 5 civilians wounded.
Meanwhile, in Kiev, the police are using smoke bombs against the «activists» who seized the reception room of Poroshenko’s administration building, which results in some elderly «activists» needing medical help.
At the same time, the police release all the participants of the blockade of Donbass, detained the day before.
The organizers of the blockade call on their supporters to assemble in Kharkov and form large convoys there to break through to the blockade.
Later, one of these convoys breaks through the police checkpoint. The head of the convoy, the MP of the Verkhovnaya Rada, Parasyuk, rams the police cordon in his car, wounding several policemen. The police do not resist.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Poltorak addresses Ukrainian reserve officers with an appeal to return to the army as volunteers.
On March 15, in the north of the DPR, the Ukrainian side opens fire on a repair crew, as a result of which a peaceful worker of the crew is killed. The shelling takes place during the meeting of the Contact Group on Security in Minsk.
The DPR army loses one soldier as a result of a direct hit of a 152mm artillery shell, launched from the Ukrainian side, into a trench.
The DPR intelligence reports that 20 pairs of Polish snipers have arrived at the contact line.
On the front line in the LPR, in the area of the locality of Zolotoye, where in February took place the separation of the sides of the conflict, the Ukrainian military begin, after the departure of the OSCE observer group, the mining of the terrain.
In the entire ATO area, the rapid reaction forces of the Ukrainian police are fully alert, presumably to neutralize the participants in the blockade of Donbass.
Meanwhile, in Kiev, the camouflaged «ATO veterans», brought to the session room of the Verkhovnaya Rada by one of the MPs, seize the tribune, demanding the official announcement of a complete blockade of Donbass, as a result of which the morning session of the Ukrainian parliament has to be closed urgently. Later, one of the MPs calls the radicals' actions a ‘dress rehearsal for a military coup’.
Radicals also start riots in the center of the capital, the movement in which is partially blocked because of their marching columns.
One of these columns tries to break into the office of the oligarch Akhmetov, in whose enterprises in the LDPR the external management was introduced last week. The cordon of the police prevents an attack on the office, after which the radicals smash a nearby branch of the Alfa Bank.
In Dnepropetrovsk, the radicals block the entrance to the Sberbank branch with concrete blocks and splash the entrance with red paint. In Kiev, a tent camp of the «observers» is set up near the Sberbank branch walled up last week.
The President of Ukraine, Poroshenko, who the day before announced the inadmissibility of populist pressure on the economy of the country, appeals to the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) with a proposal to completely block the communication with the LDPR.
At an urgent meeting, the NSDC legalizes the blockade of Donbass, the Secretary of the NSDC, Turchinov announces the closure of all roads leading to the Republic within an hour.
In addition, in his statement on the blockade of Donbass, Poroshenko claims that he is initiating the adoption of a law on the restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity.
The oligarch Akhmetov officially recognizes the loss of control over his assets on the territory of the LDPR and demands that Kyie protect his rights.
At the negotiations in Minsk, the Ukrainian delegation demands the repeal of the decree of the Russian president on the recognition of the LDPR documents.
Meanwhile, the Heads of the DPR and LPR, Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky, arrive in the Crimea with an official visit to take part in events dedicated to the third anniversary of the Crimean referendum and the reunification of the Crimea with Russia.
The Russian government appeals to the management of industrial enterprises with a recommendation to begin concluding contracts with metallurgical enterprises of the LDPR, in particular, on the supply of iron ore to the processing plants of the Republics.
On March 16, the Ukrainian army shells 17 localities of the DPR, which resulted in six houses damaged in them.
The Ukrainian military also open fire on civil vehicles in the area of the checkpoint «Oktyabrsky» and journalists,including from Italy, in the locality of Spartak, in the suburbs of Donetsk.
In the LPR, the Republic intelligence detects mercenaries from the Baltic states, Poland and Canada, who train Ukrainian soldiers in explosion, subversive and sabotage activities, as well as in tactics of fighting in urban conditions.
Meanwhile, in Kiev, the Ukrainian Nazis from the «Svoboda», the «Right Sector» (banned in Russia and the LDPR) and the «National Corps» (the former «Azov») sign a document of their uniting, called the «National Manifesto» which states the goals of establishing the Nationalist power in Ukraine and a complete breakdown of ties with Russia.
The camouflaged «ATO veterans» break into the session of the City Council of the capital and force deputies to adopt a resolution on supporting the blockade of Donbass and severing economic ties with Russia.
The MP of the Verkhovnaya Rada Parasyuk, who rammed the police cordon in Donbass the previous day, attacks policemen giving him a summons to the police, and tears up the document.
Due to the blockade of Donbass, the production of one of Ukraine's largest ore mining and processing plants halves its production.
Ukrainian economists say that the coal of Donbass already goes to Russia and from there, it comes to Ukraine at double price.
The Western media are sharply critical of the legalization of the blockade of Donbass and pogroms of subsidiaries of Russian banks in Ukraine. The Nazi Party «Svoboda» demands that the West stop interfering in the internal affairs of Ukraine.
The President of Ukraine Poroshenko, by his decree, approves the imposition of sanctions on subsidiaries of Russian banks that began servicing clients with passports of the DPR and LPR, preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine in favor of the persons connected with them.
At the same time, sanctions are not imposed on the Western UniCredit and Raiffeisen Banks, the latter having also announced the readiness to service the citizens of the DPR and LPR.
Meanwhile, in the Crimea, the Heads of the DPR and tLPR, Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky, announce that they will take part in the meeting of the Russia-Donbass Integration Committee. Igor Plotnitsky adds that the official blockade of Donbass proves that Kiev claims for the deserted territories of the Donbass, which was openly stated by the first president of Ukraine Kravchuk a little earlier.
On March 17, in the suburbs of Donetsk, as a result of shelling from the Ukrainian side, about 400 houses are de-energized.
During the repair of the Donetsk filtering plant, the Ukrainian military again open fire on a repair crew, as well as on the observation post of the Russian side of the Joint Center for Coordination and Control (JCCC).
In the LPR, there is prevented an attack against the military commissar of the People's Militia.
At the same time, the Republics of Donbass declare the opening, within the program of assistance to compatriots, of the Centers for Social Assistance and Administrative Services for residents of Kiev-controlled territories, at the checkpoints on the contact line.
On the contrary, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approves amendments to the law «On the restoration of the rights of persons deported on ethnic grounds»" according to which compensation payments to the settlers from Donbass for the abandoned property are postponed until the return of the Crimea and Donbass under the control of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in the Crimea takes place a constituent meeting of the «Russia - Donbass» Integration Committee, in which participate the heads of the DPR, the LPR, the Crimea and MPs of the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The participants of the meeting declare that ‘Ukraine has left Donbass no choice’.
The European Union officially declares the non-recognition of documents of the DPR and LPR.
On March 18, in the DPR, 18 localities come under the shelling by the Ukrainian army, which results in 6 residential buildings damaged and 3 civilians wounded.
On the Lugansk front, the LPR intelligence reports the arrival of 6 «Uragan" MLRS in the Kiev-controlled territory.
In Kiev-controlled Avdeevka, located north of Donetsk, the Ukrainian military again shell a residential house with a tank, like it happened in another recent provocation recorded by a local resident. The statement about the alleged shelling by the DPR is made by the head of the Donetsk region police, who also directs the actions of Ukrainian journalists who «happen» to find themselves on the scene.
Meanwhile, in western Ukraine, in the center of Ternopol, nationalists wall up another branch of the Sberbank.
In the Rovno region, diggers of amber block the international route Kiev-Warsaw, demanding the legalization of their business. The barbaric extraction of amber has already led to the destruction of several sections of the railway in western Ukraine.
At the same time, despite total propaganda and terror against any dissent, another opinion poll in Ukraine shows that 15-20% of the population openly advocate for an alliance with Russia and recognize the referendum in the Crimea.
The German Chancellor Merkel, after a meeting with the US President Trump, suddenly declares that the crisis in Donbass should be overcome in parallel with the improvement of relations with Russia.
Meanwhile, the DPR declares the opening of the representation office of the Republic, the third in Europe, in Athens on March 21.
On March 19, in the DPR, as a result of the shelling, four residential houses are damaged and two localities de-energized. In addition, a woman born in 1950 receives, in her own garden, a bullet wound from the Ukrainian side.
The LPR intelligence reports about the arrival at the Ukrainian positions of another group of 18 mercenaries openly wearing NATO uniforms and armed with sniper rifles Barrett-M107A1.
Meanwhile, a delegation of European and, for the first time since the reunion of the Crimea and the Russian Federation, Ukrainian politicians is to arrive in the Crimea for a 3-day visit.
The Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Turchynov declares the introduction of sanctions against European politicians and the opening of criminal cases against the Ukrainian politicians. The Ukrainian and Baltic politicians refuse the visit to the Crimea at the last moment.
At the same time, the IMF Board postpones the discussion of the allocation of the next tranche to Ukraine for an indefinite period.
On the same day, the National Commission implementing the state regulation in the energy and utilities sector in Ukraine, announces an increase, from April 1st, of the wholesale market price for electricity by 1% instead of its previously approved reduction of 5.8%.
Indulging the nationalists in the matter of the blockade of Donbass and the expulsion of Russian banks from the country, Poroshenko is rapidly losing support to his Western patrons. On the other hand, the Ukrainian radicals already declare the rejection of the European integration policy and the intention to build a nationalist state in Ukraine. It looks like the unstable dual power in the country, having hardly formed, will not last long.
- Ukraine-Controlled Localities Bombed by Kiev - Ukrainian Local Councils Seized by Nationalists - Memory of Killed Children of Donbass Shot by Ukrainian Military
- Mariupol Rescue Fund Creation in DPR - A Call to Ukrainians to Sever Ties with Russia - Nazis' Threat of «Night of Long Knives» for Opposition
- Nazis’ Provocation in Avdeevka - Ban on Russian Social Networks in Ukraine - Ukrainian Laws on Elimination of Moscow Patriarchate Church