Ukraine crisis live: UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Ukraine crisis

[steve2470]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10666893/Ukraine-crisis-live-UN-Security-Council-to-hold-emergency-meeting-on-Ukraine-crisis.html

21.53 Samantha Power, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, speaking at NU Security Council meeting: "Grave concern", "crisis escalating", "we are expressing this concern in the service of the territorial integrity of Ukraine".

[steve2470]

1. update, same link

22.49 The United States is proposing an urgent mediation mission to help resolve the crisis. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said the US wants mediators who will be "seen as independent, credible."

She has suggested U.N. official Robert Serry could be part of the mission. Serry was the Netherlands' first ambassador to Ukraine. She also added that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe had experts who would be seen as credible.

British U.N. Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant later said that such a mediation mission would not require the blessing of the U.N. Security Council. Russia has a council veto and could block action there. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he opposed "imposed mediation."

[steve2470]

2. update

22.56 Ukraine's defence ministry said it had information that unknown "radical forces" were planning to try to disarm its military units in Crimea early on Saturday morning and warned against such action.

"In the case of such unknown actions, the Ukrainian armed forces will act in accordance with the laws of Ukraine and the regulations of the Ukrainian armed forces," the ministry said in a statement on its website.

[steve2470]

3. LA Times article

KIEV, Ukraine – Authorities closed airspace over Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and at least five Russian transport planes landed at a military air strip near the regional capital late Friday, as the country’s acting president accused Moscow of trying to seize territory.

A duty officer at the Simferopol airport said that all commercial takeoffs and landings had been canceled from the Crimean regional capital’s airport for at least 24 hours. In Kiev, Oxana Ozhigova, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian capital’s Borispol airport, confirmed that flights to and from Simferopol had been suspended.

Ukrainian news media reported disruptions “by unknown persons” of telephone and Internet communications, and said that the Krym regional television station had been surrounded by gunmen.


http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-ukraine-russia-crimea20140228,0,7105645.story#ixzz2uf9oJe00

[geek tragedy]

4. Silly Ukrainians thinking they're independent of Mother Russia nt

[Brother Buzz]

7. Perhaps we should deputize 'W' and send him over there to explain it to them

[steve2470]

5. update from telegraph link

23.35 The United States has seen indications of Russian troop movements from and into Ukraine's Crimea region on Friday but their numbers are unclear, as are the intentions of those movements, U.S. officials told the Reuters news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.

[steve2470]

6. CNN

(CNN) -- In an acknowledgment the United States could face a prolonged security crisis with Russia over Ukraine, military commanders and intelligence agencies are scrambling to determine what's needed to get a better picture of what Moscow may be up to.

The list covers additional intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets. No military action is being planned at this point.

The goal is "to be inside the Russian decision making cycle," essentially to have as close to real time information as possible about Russian intentions and actions, one senior U.S. official said.

Gen. Philip Breedlove, head of the U.S. European Command, has a big role in leading the effort.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/politics/ukraine-u-s-intelligence/

[steve2470]

8. from telegraph again

Twelve members of Senate Foreign Relations - D's and R's - say they'll back loan guarantees and aid for Ukraine, call for sanctions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Oh boy...

no comment from me (here) but oh boy.

[steve2470]

10. from telegraph

23.55 More coming out through diplomatic sources in the US. A senior administration official reportedly told the AP news agency that it would be hard to see how President Obama and European leaders would attend the G-8 summit in Sochi, which is scheduled for June. The official says the administration is also evaluating whether to proceed with discussions with Russia on deepening trade and commerce ties.

The official was not authorised to discuss the situation by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

[steve2470]

11. UKRAINE GETS LOOK AT FUGITIVE LEADER'S DOCUMENTS (caps in original title)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_UKRAINE_DOCUMENT_TROVE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-28-17-57-30

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Ukrainians are getting an unfiltered look at the opulent lifestyle and alleged machinations of fugitive President Viktor Yanukovych and his top officials from thousands of documents being posted online by journalists who say it's more important to record their country's history - and document possible crimes - than hold them back for their own scoops.

Visitors to the YanukovychLeaks.org website can browse what appear to be the expense payments for running the sprawling compound just outside Kiev that reportedly was Yanukovych's home. The website had 1,581 documents online by Friday afternoon after attracting more than 300,000 visitors a day for several days this week.

"The recovered documents are being published on this website to make them available to journalists and citizens around the world," the site said. "The investigations based on these documents will also be published here and in Ukrainian media."

The documents include a payment of over $115,000 for a shooting range with a moving wild boar and $2.3 million for a tea room. Many other payments seem routine, such as money for roads and gardening, and $150 for tennis balls. There were payments to six cooks and three waiters.