18 June 2014

Miners march during a rally in support of peace in Donetsk

Poroshenko urged for a cease-fire that “should receive support from all participants in the events in Donbass.” The president’s office announced that Mr. Poroshenko would meet on Thursday with what his office called the 'legitimate' leaders from the east, including mayors and business representatives. However in the East, no one is ready to lay down their arms nor trusts the Ukrainian government. Many of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic say it is a 'trick' Kyiv is trying on the fighters. 

The Russian government has called repeatedly for Ukraine to stop its military crackdown on the separatists but has also insisted that it does not control, or speak for, the separatists. However, many pro-Russian separatist, 'rebel', leaders were in Moscow today. 

Russian journalists have expressed their support for Ukrainian colleagues and stated their solidarity in monitoring the propagandist lies of Kremlin mass media. This is said in a statement signed by 15 Russian journalists: “We are stating our solidarity with journalists of Ukraine and our intent to aid them in monitoring the propagandist lies which follow the reports on the events in Russia and Ukraine,” says the statement. They also intend to organise “an independent monitoring of the violation of journalist rights in Russian regions, as well as the violation of the right to freedom of speech in the Internet and in aiding the journalists, whose rights have been violated, in getting legal support.”

The document was signed by journalists Arkadiy Babchenko, Natella Boltianska, Alexandr Goltz, Vladimir Kara-Murza Sr., Galina Sidorova, Maria Slonim, Lev Rubinstein, Igor Yakovenko, Maksim Matveychikov (Blant), journalist, director of the Fund for Investigative Journalism “19/29” Grigoriy Pasko, journalist, general director the Internet publication “Yezhednevniy Journal” Olga Pashkova.