Things are still not hunky-dory in Ukraine despite ceasefire

#UkraineCeasefire #Russia #Gazprom #Donetsk #Luhansk Reports indicate that three Ukraine soldiers have been killed and seven others wounded in isolated pockets of violence in the east of the country in spite of a ceasefire with pro-Russian rebels being in place as per agreement arrived in Belarus a fortnight back. Russia has also threatened about cutting off gas supply. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 27 February 2015.
Of course, both the sides namely the Ukrainian troops and the pro-Russian separatists were seen withdrawing heavy weapons from the front line. Heavy equipment like rocket launchers were removed from the rebel stronghold of Donetsk whilst Ukrainian forces withdrew several anti-tank guns from the front line near the town of Artemivsk.
The withdrawal process is being monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and, in the opinion of its officials, Ukraine appears to be at the crossroad between war and peace.
It may be recalled that fighting began in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions in April, soon after Russia had annexed Crimea and, till now, it has claimed some 5,800 lives apart from forcing more than 1.2 million people to flee their homes.
Russia is employing arm twisting tactics over gas supply to Ukraine - Kiev has already made a £10m prepayment for gas this week. However, Russia's state-run supplier Gazprom has informed that it would only pay for another day at the current rate. If that actually happens, Ukraine could be cut off and would have to find an alternative.
Cutting off gas supply by Russia to Ukraine s not new – it has done that three times in the past decade. Nearly one third of the European Union's natural gas is sourced from Russia, and 15% of it flows through Ukraine.

Another interesting blog - Citizen Journalist

Another interesting blog - Ramblings

Violence in Ukraine has left 2119 dead (including 20 children) since April 2014

The figures of casualties in east Ukraine and released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as on 15 August 2014 and reported in bbc.com are frightening. At least 2,119 have died since mid-April, including at least 20 children, 5,043 people have been wounded in east Ukraine as of 13 August, on an average there are 60 casualties per day. So far, 55,800 people have been internally displaced and 188,000 have fled to Russia. Out of them, 22,000 have fled Donetsk and Luhansk in a five-day period last week. Ukrainian military officials have revealed that at least 17 civilians were killed when a convoy of refugees came under mortar and rocket fire south-east of Luhansk. It may be noted that the trouble erupted in east Ukraine when Russia annexed Crimea and pro-Russian activists took over important cities in east Ukraine like Donetsk, Luhsansk etcetera. Heavy fighting has been reported from the rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine, with street clashes in the center of the key city of Luhansk. There have also been shelling near the rebel headquarters in Donetsk. An aide to Ukraine's interior ministry, Anton Gerashenko, has informed that 14 Russian TV channels had been banned from cable networks in Ukraine because these channels, like Russia Today and Life News had been broadcasting propaganda of war and violence. It is understood that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be meeting Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko next week in view of the increase in the number of civilian casualties. The pro-Russian separatists in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk had declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people's republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March.