Situationen i Ukraina just nu, del 4

North Korea’s success in testing an intercontinental ballistic missile that appears able to reach the United States was made possible by black-market purchases of powerful rocket engines probably from a Ukrainian factory with historical ties to Russia’s missile program, according to an expert analysis being published Monday and classified assessments by American intelligence agencies.

But since Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych, was removed from power in 2014, the state-owned factory, known as Yuzhmash, has fallen on hard times. The Russians canceled upgrades of their nuclear fleet. The factory is underused, awash in unpaid bills and low morale. Experts believe it is the most likely source of the engines that in July powered the two ICBM tests, which were the first to suggest that North Korea has the range, if not necessarily the accuracy or warhead technology, to threaten American cities.

“It’s likely that these engines came from Ukraine — probably illicitly,” Mr. Elleman said in an interview. “The big question is how many they have and whether the Ukrainians are helping them now. I’m very worried.”

Yuzhmash – the Ukrainian factory directly mentioned in the western report (as "KB Yuzhnoye") published a statement on its official website.
"The assumption of the authors of the publication and the 'expert' cited by them regarding the possible connection of Ukraine with the progress of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] in the development of missile technologies are not relevanting[sic] to reality," it said, adding that it "expresses sincere regret" over the New York Times "provocative" article "based on an incompetent 'expert' opinion."
https://www.rt.com/news/399602-north...m_campaign=RSS

Following the article, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov denied the allegations, saying the information "was probably instigated by Russian security services."
https://sputniknews.com/world/201708...-supply-korea/

But a $42.8 million ($33m) contract for Mi-24 attack helicopters - between forces loyal to the South Sudanese president and Ukraine - might complicate that task.
It has also cast a long shadow over Kiev's commitment to a 2014 EU arms embargo on South Sudan, and poses tricky questions for an EU that is edging Ukraine away from Russia as part of a wider plan of Western integration.
Kiev had already been supplying the South Sudanese government forces with weapons prior to the outbreak of fighting in 2013, purchased from the proceeds of oil revenues.

But a UN Security Council investigation revealed that Ukraine had sold the helicopters to Juba long after the schisms between Kiir and Machar had descended into bloody chaos.
Motor Sich, a Ukrainian company, provided the technical support and had teams on the ground servicing the choppers up until at least early 2016.
"They have been seen to be used against civilian targets, they have been reportedly been used too against an ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) hospital," the lead investigator behind the UN panel told EUobserver last week on Thursday (18 May).
https://euobserver.com/beyond-brussels/137987

On Feb. 6, 2015, reports surfaced claiming that the weapons Kiev was getting from its Western partners were being resold to Syria. Ukraine’s deputy defense minister, Petro Mehed, and the Syrian Brigadier General Talal Makhlouf (a crony of Bashar al-Assad as well as his closest relative on his mother’s side) were behind that deal. One juicy tidbit - the money obtained from selling arms to Syria ended up in personal accounts belonging to Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
http://orientalreview.org/2015/02/11...tually-end-up/

Not only does Sudan continue to import heavily from China and Russia, the report says, but it has also invested and expanded in its own domestic military production over the past decade. Sudan relies on imported military technology from several foreign countries, most notably China, to expand its own arms production via the state-owned .

Ukraine's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 2.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2017, driven mainly by the successful implementation of economic reforms, the country's Economic Development and Trade Ministry said Monday.

"The key background for the growth was the economic reforms, as well as the improved business expectations and the increase in consumer activity on the back of higher wages," the ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine’s losses from transport blockade of Donbass has amounted to about 1.5% of GDP, Yuri Grymchak, a deputy minister for the affairs of non-controlled territories, said in an interview with Ukraine’s Fifth TV Channel.

Based on my observations, this "event" was carefully planned and executed by the government, with a completely prepared cover story. The “Maidan” side was far to well prepared, equipped, rehearsed, and outfitted to come to any other conclusion. There were a number of reports submitted on what actually happened, but those that contradicted the official government line were effectively suppressed along with any manner of accurate analysis of its consequences (which certainly continues to this day).

As events unfolded, all of the UA TV stations carried well-prepared scenarioized reporting – all stations, the same, the same story, clearly, fully worked out beforehand – the uniformity and nature of reporting consistent – and not in the least resembling what was going on or subsequently happened.

As you might know, OSCE is by no means the "objective" observer it purports to be, but is highly biased in favor of the current UA regime.

The UA side did such a poor and obviously disinterested job in moving toward an exchange, a number of UA servicemen said, “the hell with them”, and stayed with Gaidei and LNR as fighters.