Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 17.02.2019    The Russian Federation attacked the Ukrainian Navy on 25 November 2018. Because of this act of war the European Union and Ukraine will be sanctioning the Russian officials responsible. “There is no doubt that in the coming days, at the beginning of next week, sanctions in Brussels in coordination with Ukraine will be definitely adopted,” said Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.   Three Ukrainian naval vessels – two armoured gunboats and a tug – were making a peaceful and announced transit from Odesa, Ukraine to Mariupol, Ukraine when they were attacked by Russian forces. The attack by the Russians was purposeful and unprovoked. The Russians rammed the Ukrainian tug, shot at the boats for the sea and air, pursued them into international waters of the Black Sea, boarded them and took the crews hostage.   Since the Russian Federation committed its open act of war on November 25 it has held 24 Ukrainian Navy sailors captive and has subjected them to kangaroo court proceedings in Moscow. The Russians refuse to treat them properly as prisoners of war, afford them the protections of the Third Geneva Convention, or allow delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross to see them.   The Russians still hold the three Ukrainian naval boats they pirated on the high seas. They refuse to release the vessels. The Russian Federation has also imposed a de facto maritime blockade on Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov by restricting passage of ships at the Kerch Strait.   The Russian Federation has been at waging war against Ukraine for five years. The Russian attack on the Ukrainian Navy late last year was done without the thin disguise of “little green men” or “pro-Russian separatists” that has previously been adopted by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.   Although modest in scope, the European Union will be

Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 16.02.2019    The essential character of the Russian Federation is that it is a crime syndicate in the form of a state. It is a mistake to ascribe geopolitical considerations as the only reason the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine. Robbery was the motive, overwhelmingly. Unable to produce and create in their own right, the Russians wage war on neighbour Ukrainians to steal what they have instead.   The Russian invader-occupiers of Ukraine stole the assets of PrivatBank and Oschadbank in Crimea. They did this in 2014, when the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine began.   On Friday, February 15, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague announced a partial arbitration decision in favour of PrivatBank against the Russian Federation. The court first recognized that it has jurisdiction over PrivatBank’s claims against the Russian Federation. It will leave the question of compensation for the next stage of arbitration. PrivatBank is seeking more than $1 billion for the money the Russian Federation stole.   “The court acknowledged that Russia had violated its obligations under a bilateral agreement on the promotion and mutual protection of investments, illegally expropriating the assets of PrivatBank in Crimea, and that PrivatBank has the right to reimbursement for such expropriation in full,” said PrivatBank in a statement.   Late last year, the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in favour of Oschadbank in its claim against the Russian Federation. The court ordered the Russians to pay Oschadbank $1.3 billion.   Assets of Russian banks in Ukraine have been seized to make up part of the compensation – which the Russians refuse to pay.   The Russian Federation is a country where there is no rule of law and where there is no abiding by contracts. It is not a place for legitimate business. The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine and bank

Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 15.02.2019    On the 1,821st day of the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine, invasion-occupation troops shelled civilians twice. The villages of Katerynivka in Luhansk region and Novoluhanske in Donetsk region were deliberately targeted and bombarded by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. These war crimes are likely to go unpunished by a world that is determined to appease Russian aggression and ignored the international war that rages in the heart of Europe.   A repair crew working for Luhansk power distribution outlet “Popasna REM” was reconstructing a power line at a transformer substation near the village of Katerynivka. Around noon on February 14 they were shelled. The bombardment came from Russian positions near the occupied village of Molodizhne. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation fired 120 millimetre calibre and 82 millimetre calibre mortars – weapons that are prohibited from being anywhere near the ‘contact line’ by the terms of the Minsk Agreements.   Electricity had been knocked out to Katerynivka by Russian shelling the previous evening, February 13. Despite an escort by an OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine team – and despite a ‘security guarantee’ by the Russian terrorist organization, the so-called “Luhansk People’s Republic” – the Popasna REM workers were prevented from turning the lights back on in the village because the Russians shelled the power substation again.   Attacking public works such as the Donetsk Water Filtration plant near Avdiivka is part of the war policy of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.   In a statement, Ukrainian military officers who monitor violations of the Minsk Agreement condemned the attack: “The Ukrainian side of the JCCC [Joint Centre for Control and Coordination] condemns the actions of the armed formations of the Russian

Michael MacKay, Radio Lemberg, 14.02.2019    The Russian Federation is at war with Ukraine. This unprovoked war is an invasion by barbarian Muscovy against civilized Europe. In occupation, the Russians are vandalizing the cultural heritage of Ukraine and of Europe. The damage Putin’s War is doing to the heart and soul of Europe may be irreparable.   In Kerch, Crimea, Ukraine (Russian-occupied) lie the ruins of the ancient Greek colony of Panticapaeum. A visible part of the ruins are the Prytaneion, a seat of government where city officials met for banquets and ceremonies. The columns in this structure have collapsed. The fallen parts of the collapsed columns were removed by occupation regime officials. Those officials blamed fluctuating temperatures and weather conditions, but their carelessness and neglect brought on the damage to Ukraine’s cultural heritage.   The Khan’s Palace in Bakhchisaray, Crimea, Ukraine (Russian-occupied) has deteriorated beyond recovery. This is the opinion of Rustem Skibin, a Crimean Tatar ceramic artist. Mr. Skibin said of the Bakhchisaray Palace: “Its material artifacts were dismantled, rebuilt, re-filed, the roof was replaced with other materials. I have no idea where the materials for restoring the 300-year-old beam can be found today.” Sadly, “a point of no return has already been passed with regard to the Bakhchisary Palace,” said Mr. Skibin.   The Palace in Bakhchisaray had not yet made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List by the time the Russian Federation infaded and occupied Crimea, Ukraine in 2014. Now the Muscovites are carrying out archaeological excavation for the sake of extraction only. “We do not know the fate of what they find,” said Mr. Skibin. “It is unknown what they take away, leave, document. The international organizations are not present there.”   One piece of good news is that the artifacts from an