{"id":95970,"date":"2019-08-28T13:14:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-28T13:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=73085"},"modified":"2019-08-28T16:42:58","modified_gmt":"2019-08-28T13:42:58","slug":"73085-weekly-update-ukraine-25-19-25-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/73085-weekly-update-ukraine-25-19-25-august","title":{"rendered":"Independence Day, foreign policy and more \u2013 Weekly Update on Ukraine #25, 19-25 August"},"content":{"rendered":"

Situation in the combat zone<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On August 19 Russia-backed militants launched an unmanned aerial vehicle carrying a VOG-25 grenade in one of the combat sectors. Russian proxies kept firing upon Ukraine\u2019s Joint Forces from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, sniper rifles and small arms.<\/p>\n

\n

Ukraine turns 28. How Independence Day was marked<\/strong><\/p>\n

On August 24 Ukraine marked the Independence Day. Instead of a military parade the March of Dignity walked in downtown Kyiv.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

March of Dignity. <\/strong>Ukraine\u2019s prominent medics, professors, athletes and diplomats walked to join the March of Dignity starting at the Maidan square and ending in the European square. The central piece became Ukraine\u2019s anthem performed by Daryna Krasnovetska and the National Orchestra of Ukraine, composer Myroslav Skoryk, singers Alina Pash and Tina Karol as well as by opera singers. Among other musical pieces that played during the celebration was the one produced by Yevhen Filatov aka The Maneken, sound producer of ONUKA band.<\/p>\n

The celebration was directed by the music video director Alan Badoev. He said the work he and his team did was \u201ca challenge they accepted.\u201d Viewpoint on the celebration expressed by these prominent Ukrainians is generally controversial.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s fifth President Petro Poroshenko <\/strong>was not present in the box for Presidents during the official ceremony marking the Independence Day in Maidan. So the Presidents missing were just him and Viktor Yanukovych. Hromadske TV got a comment from Poroshenko\u2019s team explaining that the former President did not show up reacting to the parade cancellation.<\/p>\n

During the reception for Presidents outside the Maryinskyi Palace held after the March of Dignity Poroshenko joined<\/a>\u00a0Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

March of Ukraine\u2019s Defenders. <\/strong>Part of combat veterans and activists who disagreed with cancellation of the military parade decided to organize a \u201cpeople\u2019s parade\u201d \u2013 the March of Ukraine\u2019s Defenders.<\/p>\n

The March started at about 11:30 from the park across the Taras Shevchenko University. Widows and mothers of those killed in action in Donbas walked in the head of the column. People chanted \u201cThank you!\u201d, \u201cGlory to the heroes!\u201d and kneeled as the march participants were passing by.<\/p>\n

Organizers say about 15 thousand people took part in the March.<\/p>\n

\n

Foreign policy: will Russia be back into G7?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Russia was expelled from the G8 in 2014 after it illegally annexed Crimea. Since then representatives of the Western countries have been repeatedly stating that Russia\u2019s participation in the G8 is linked to the \u201cCrimean issue\u201d and Russia\u2019s adherence to the Minsk agreements that are to end the conflict in Donbas.<\/p>\n

The US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Canada are G7 members.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s position. <\/strong>At the summit held in Biarritz, France, the US President Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0struggled against his colleagues \u2013 G7 leaders over his desire to get Russia back into the group, reports Guardian quoting diplomatic sources. They say Trump was insisting that the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin should to be invited back five years after Russia was expelled from the G8 after Crimea annexation. According to the sources among the leaders present at the summit, Italy\u2019s outgoing Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was the only one who supported Trump\u2019s idea, Japanese Prime Minister Shinz\u014d Abe took a neutral stance.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s reaction. <\/strong>The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that Russia can be back to the G7 only after it stops its aggression against Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cReturn of the occupied Crimea, end of combat actions in Donbas and liberation of over 100 political prisoners and Ukrainian sailors held by the Kremlin will become a true serious signal to the world that Russia is ready to take its place in the agenda of high-level diplomacy,\u201d Zelenskyi stated.<\/p>\n

Reaction of the Russian Federation. <\/strong>Official representative of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova criticized the statement by Ukraine\u2019s President Zelenskyi on Russia\u2019s possible return to the Group of Seven (G7).<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Mister President of Ukraine, you were palmed off a senseless collection of letters,\u201d she wrote on Facebook. Zakharova said she will be \u201cconsulting\u201d Zelenskyi on diplomacy \u201cin a fraternal manner from time to time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia: will they be swapped soon?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last week President Zelenskyi said that the first results in the exchange<\/a>\u00a0of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia are to be expected in the coming days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are expecting results step by step. First results should be in the coming days. I don\u2019t want tobe projecting,\u201d he said. On the same day the Commissioner on human rights in Russia Tatiana Moskalkova arrived in Kyiv<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The purpose of her visit was not officially named, yet it takes place against a backdrop of media reports on the possible prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia.<\/p>\n

Thus, Russia\u2019s \u201cInterfax\u201d reported that five Ukrainian political prisoners serving their term in the Russian Federation can be passed to Ukraine<\/a>. They are Volodymyr Balukh, Pavlo Hryb, Mykola Karpiuk, Stanislav Klykh and Oleksandr Kolchenko.<\/p>\n

Russian newspaper \u201cKommersant\u201d reported that there is a chance that by the end of summer sailors captured in the Kerch strait will have been passed to Ukraine<\/a>. The Kremlin has confirmed that the Russian President Vladimir Putin made contacts as to the exchange of detained persons with Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Political prisoners swapped for G7 and sanctions? <\/strong>Reassuring news on the possible exchange can mean that negotiations about the price are on. What is Ukraine ready to give away to get its people back? Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal assumed that Russia is trying to link the liberation of Ukrainian sailors to revocation of sanctions and its return to high-level meetings.<\/p>\n

In her interview to \u201cInterfax Ukraine<\/a>\u201d she made an assumption that sailors can be back in Ukraine by December.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion they will have been back by December for sure. Putin will be trying to link these issues to sanctions and its return to the format of high-level meetings and other issues. Sailors\u2019 case will be his coin to exchange,\u201d Zerkal said.<\/p>\n

To remind, Russia is prosecuting Ukrainian sailors as criminal suspects who violated the state border. Ukraine considers them prisoners of war and demands their unconditional release.<\/p>\n

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea considered Ukraine\u2019s appeal and bound Russia<\/a>\u00a0to release all 24 Ukrainian sailors. The Kremlin has ignored the Tribunal\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0order.<\/p>\n

\n

What will the new Parliament be like, when to expect the new government formed?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Newly elected MPs are ready to go. The first sitting of the Verkhovna Rada will take place on August 29. The future MPs started struggling for the top seats<\/a>\u00a0in the Parliament\u2019s and for the committee seats. Sources say Petro Poroshenko and Svyatoslav Vakarchuk applied<\/a>\u00a0for membership in the same committee \u2013 that on foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Committees not controlled by the \u201cServant of People\u201d party. <\/strong>Future opposition factions<\/a>\u00a0are offered to chair the committee on human rights, de-occupation of the temporarily occupied territory, freedom of speech, youth and sports, European integration and the committee on veteran affairs, the leader of the \u201cServant of People\u201d (Sluha narodu) party Dmytro Razumkov said. \u201cIt is hard to say opposition or not to other political forces. I hope that our work in the Parliament will not be directed towards a political position or opposition but towards the development of our state. We offer to chair the committees on human rights, de-occupation of the temporarily occupied territory, freedom of speech, youth and sports, European integration and the committee on veteran affairs,\u201d Razumkov told journalists after the preparation group finished its work on Monday.<\/p>\n

When will the government be formed?<\/strong>The new Prime Minister will be named on August 29, promised the future head of Ukraine\u2019s biggest faction ever Davyd Arakhamia. Four main candidates running to be the next Prime Minister<\/a>\u00a0named earlier are deputy head of the Presidential Office Oleksiy Honcharuk, Head of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Danylyuk, investment banker and former Minister of Economic Development Aivaras Abromavicius and Head of the Board of Directors at Naftogaz Andriy Kobolev. Honcharuk\u2019s chances are the highest.<\/p>\n

Which Ministers of the previous government will serve?\u00a0<\/strong>The future head of faction Arakhamia also\u00a0named three ministers<\/a>\u00a0who can remain in office after the new Cabinet of Ministers is formed, they are Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Healthcare Minister Ulana Suprun and Finance Minister Oksana Markarova. According to the sources of \u201cUkrainska Pravda\u201d (Ukrainian truth) the Ministry of Justice will be headed by Iryna Venediktova<\/a>\u00a0who was elected MP by the party list of the \u201cServant of People\u201d, Avakov will get promoted to the Vice Prime Minister on law enforcement, Markarova will remain the Finance Minister. Prime Minister will be Oleksiy Honcharuk.<\/p>\n

\n\t\n\t\t\"\"\t\t\n\t\t\tView Gallery<\/span>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t9 images\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/a>\n<\/figure>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Situation in the combat zone On August 19 Russia-backed militants launched an unmanned aerial vehicle carrying a VOG-25 grenade in one of the combat sectors. Russian proxies kept firing upon Ukraine\u2019s Joint Forces from grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, sniper rifles and small arms. Ukraine turns 28. How Independence Day was marked On August 24 […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":95971,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[705,748],"tags":[],"section":[743],"form":[801],"yoast_head":"\nIndependence Day, foreign policy and more \u2013 Weekly Update on Ukraine #25, 19-25 August | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Situation in the combat zone On August 19 Russia-backed militants launched an unmanned aerial vehicle carrying a VOG-25 grenade in one of the combat | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/73085-weekly-update-ukraine-25-19-25-august\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" 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