https://www.unian.info/politics/2124354-nato-rapid-trident-2017-war-games-kick-off-in-ukraine.html
The first phase of the NATO Rapid Trident 2017 military exercise has begun on the basis of the aerodrome of the tactical aviation brigade named after Petro Franko in Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
09:00, 09 September 2017
"Overseas partners from an aviation base of the United States of America have arrived in Ukraine to teach Ukrainian pilots how to interact with other kinds of troops in different conditions in the framework of Ukrainian-U.S. command and staff exercise Rapid Trident 2017," it said.
"The exercise itself will help to increase the level of combat skills of the Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a whole," it added. Up to 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers and military personnel of the partner countries – Bulgaria, Canada, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Britain and the United States – are taking part in the Rapid Trident 2017 drills.
The event is being hosted by the Yavoriv International Peacekeeping Center and is due to end on September 23. As UNIAN reported earlier, pro-Russian president of Moldova Igor Dodon attempted to bar the Moldovan government from sending that country's troops to the Rapid Trident 2017 drills. Meanwhile, Russia will conduct the Zapad 2017 exercise jointly with Belarus on September 14-20, 2017.
Officially, up to 13,000 troops will be involved.
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https://www.unian.info/war/2124451-...ias-amid-35-militant-attacks-in-last-day.html
Russia's hybrid military forces attacked Ukrainian army positions in Donbas 35 times in the past 24 hours, with five Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA), according to the press service of the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) Headquarters.
In the evening, the militants opened fire twice on the Ukrainian positions near the village of Pisky, which is in the Donetsk sector. For nearly two hours of shelling, the enemy launched over 20 mines of various calibers. The Russian-backed mercenaries also used grenade launchers, heavy machine guns and infantry fighting vehicles.
In addition, the Ukrainian fortified positions in the Avdiyivka industrial zone and at Butivka coal mine came under grenade launcher fire several times at the end of the day. At about 18:00 Kyiv time, one Ukrainian soldier was wounded as a result of the militant shelling from infantry fighting vehicles and anti-aircraft guns near the village of Semyhiria.
In the Mariupol sector, the occupiers fired 82mm mortars near the town of Maryinka. They also opened fire from grenade launchers near the village of Starohnativka. Small arms and heavy machine guns of the enemy were used against the Ukrainian fortified positions near the villages of Lebedynske and Talakivka.
And at about 22:00 Kyiv time, another Ukrainian soldier was wounded as a result of a grenade launcher shelling of the Ukrainian positions near the village of Vodiane. In the Luhansk sector, the Russian occupation forces used grenade launchers twice near the village of Krymske and once near the village of Stanytsia Luhanska.
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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/447157.html
The investigation's preliminary findings indicate that a Toyota Camry with Georgian license plates was blown up in central Kyiv on Friday evening by means of a planted explosive device, which killed Georgian citizen Timur Makhauri and severely injured his wife; the third passenger, a child, was not harmed, Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesperson Artem Shevchenko said.
"There were three people in the car, namely a man, who died, a woman who sustained serious injuries, with medical specialists struggling to save her life, and a child, who survived the incident and whose life is not in danger," Shevchenko said at a news briefing on Friday evening.
A criminal case has been opened into the incident on charges of "premeditated murder committed using a publicly dangerous method," he said.
"Preliminary findings indicate that an explosive device planted in the car went off. The victim is a citizen of another state, he is a citizen of Georgia, and his identity has been determined," Shevchenko said. "This is an individual known quite well in the criminal world, and his name is Timur Makhauri. He is a citizen of Georgia, and he had firm connections with various Chechen circles," he said.
Shevchenko said the woman who was in the car was preliminarily identified as Makhauri's wife. He acknowledged, though, that certain inquiries taking some time have to be conducted to certainly establish the relations between the man killed in the blast, the injured woman and the child.
Shevchenko said the attack was targeted precisely against Makhauri.
Timur Makhauri, a member of a Ukrainian volunteer battalion who fought in eastern Ukraine, was killed in a car explosion near the Bessarabsky Market in central Kyiv on Friday, several people who knew Makhauri said in an interview shown earlier by the 112 Ukraine television channel from the scene of the incident.
In commenting further on this information, Shevchenko said the so-called Sheikh Mansur and Dzhokhar Dudayev battalions, with which Makhauri fought, have never had official status and were paramilitary units.
Makhauri, known also as Ali Dubayev and Ruslan Papaskeri, was detained on Basseina Street in central Kyiv in January 2017. Police then detained two armed men in a Mercedes ML, one of whom was Makhauri. A Glock and a Stechkin pistol loaded with live rounds were seized from the driver. The man also had documents indicating that he was a scout of an international volunteer peacekeeping battalion based in Donbas.
The commander of this battalion, Muslim Cheberloyevsky, confirmed to journalists that the man detained in Kyiv belonged to his battalion.
The Pechersky District Court of Kyiv ruled on February 28, 2017 to authorize a plea agreement with the prosecution, under which Makhauri was given five years of imprisonment suspended for three years, with the obligation to regularly report to probation institutions until the expiration of the probation period.
Media also reported that Makhauri had been arrested in Turkey on murder charges in the fall of 2012. However, following several judicial hearings, a court in Istanbul freed him three years later.
After leaving a Turkish prison, Makhauri moved to Ukraine, where he was subsequently detained for carrying weapons in January 2017.
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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/447160.html
Timur Makhauri, a member of a Ukrainian volunteer battalion who fought in eastern Ukraine, was killed in a car explosion near the Besarabsky Market in central Kyiv on Friday, several people who knew Makhauri said in an interview shown by the 112.Ukraine TV channel from the scene of the incident.
One of these people who introduced himself as a friend of Makhauri's cousin said the man had served in the so-called "Sheikh Mansur Chechen battalion."
Another man who introduced himself as Makhauri's comrade-in-arms, said the latter fought in Donbas "with the Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion."
"This is Timur Makhauri. He used to belong to our Dzhokhar Dudayev battalion. He took part in the first and the second Chechen wars," he said.
Makhauri had previously survived several attempts to kill him, he said.
The man also insisted that the woman and the child who were in the same car were not Makhauri's wife and child.
One of the two men said later that Makhauri, a citizen of Georgia, had not recently been a member of the battalion and was permanently residing in Kyiv.
Interfax-Ukraine could not immediately obtain official confirmation of this information.
The Kyiv police department reported that a man sustained fatal injuries, a woman had her leg torn off, and a child was in satisfactory condition after the car explosion.
"The law enforcement received a report on the explosion of a Toyota Camry on Skoropadsky Street at 6:10 p.m. A team of investigators from the territorial and main police departments, units of patrol police, bomb disposal experts, and members of the expert service were dispatched to the said address. Law enforcement personnel are examining the adjacent territory and speaking with witnesses," it said.
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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/447201.html
The explosion of a Toyota Camry in central Kyiv on Friday evening, which killed Georgian citizen Timur Makhauri and injured two other people, can be classified as 'a terrorist attack' rather than 'a premeditated murder', the Ukrainian National Police Service said.
"After the evaluation of all existing evidence and in case some additional circumstances are determined, a motion will be forwarded to prosecution agencies on re-classifying the criminal proceedings opened originally under Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 115 Part 2 as one covered by Criminal Code Article 256 (terrorist attack)," the National Police Service press service said on Friday.
Law enforcement agencies, including investigators, forensic specialists and bomb disposal experts, are carrying out the necessary primary procedures at the crime scene, it said.
"Police officials are examining the adjacent territory and the damaged vehicle, questioning witnesses, and gathering evidence. The evidence gathered will later be subject to expert evaluation, based on the results of which a final decision will be made on classifying the event," it said.
It was reported earlier that a Toyota Camry with Georgian license plates was blown up in central Kyiv on Friday evening by means of a planted explosive device, which killed Georgian citizen Timur Makhauri and severely injured a woman in the car; the third passenger, a child, was not harmed.
Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesperson Artem Shevchenko said a criminal case had been opened into the incident on charges of "premeditated murder committed using a publicly dangerous method" (Ukrainian Criminal Code Article 115 Part 2).
Several people who knew Makhauri said in an interview shown by the 112 Ukraine television channel at the scene of the incident that he had fought with a volunteer battalion in Donbas.
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http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/447216.html
The energy released in an explosion of a device in a Toyota Camry car downtown Kyiv killing Georgian citizen Timur Makhauri and injuring two more persons equaled from 600 grams to 1 kilogram of TNT equivalent, the Ukrainian interior minister's advisor, Zoryan Shkiriak, has said.
"The investigation continues. According to preliminary information of experts, the energy released in the explosion was from 600 grams to 1 kg of TNT equivalent. All the required operational and investigative actions are underway and circumstances are being clarified, Shkiriak on the 112.Ukraine TV on Saturday.
He said that the place of installation of explosives in the car and its type is being clarified.
The investigators are working out several versions of this crime.
"We are working on all the versions that are possible ... Taking into account the deceased person, he was not an ordinary person, today everything is being done to establish all the circumstances of this crime. I could be, of course, the FSB, that is Russian security service. It may be a contract murder. It may be personal enmity and skirmish between the business and criminals. The operational-investigation groups must be given an opportunity to actively work in order to thoroughly understand this heinous crime," Shkiriak said.
He also did not rule out that one of the factors in the murder of Makhauri could be his participation in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in the Donbas.
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