Asslamo Allaikum,

Please update this thread about all the relevant details about the Ukraine crisis...

24APRIL2014 (14:00 BST):  Russia orders new extensive military drills along the Ukranian Border

NATO has estimated that Russia has massed at least 40,000 troops near its border with Ukraine. Moscow has not denied that it has moved troops to the region, but said that its internal troop movements are its own prerogative.

Shaykh (Mufti) A.K. Hoseen (HA) [minutes 53 minutes onwards]

Crimea has a 13%-14% Muslims and they are also Hanafees and they didn’t vote in this referendum because they know that both options are bad for them.

A few days ago Jewish Reports was reporting some pamphlets against Jewish and the Jews are taking the safety of their people seriously but we (Muslims) are not united so we must make dua for our Brothers and Sisters.

Ukrainian Muslims: Between the devil and the deep blue sea!

30APRIL2014:  Ukraine unrest: Kiev 'helpless' to quell parts of east

Ukraine's acting President Olexander Turchynov has admitted his forces are "helpless" to quell unrest driven by pro-Russian activists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Mr Turchynov said the goal was now to prevent the unrest spreading.

Activists have seized scores of government buildings and taken hostages including international monitors.

Mr Turchynov also said Ukraine was on "full combat alert", amid fears Russian troops could invade.

30APRIL2014:  Russia experiencing recession now, says IMF

Russia is "experiencing recession now" because of damage caused by the Ukraine crisis, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said.

The fund, which cut its growth forecast for Russia, said $100bn (£59bn) would leave the country this year.

Antonio Spilimbergo, the IMF's mission chief in Moscow, said international sanctions were damaging the economy and threatening investment.

Russia's economy contracted in the first three months of this year.

But Mr Spilimbergo said he expected that to continue.

"If you understand by recession two quarters of negative economic growth, then Russia is experiencing recession now," he added.

"The difficult situation and especially the uncertainty surrounding the geopolitical situation... and escalation of sanctions are weighing very negatively on the investment climate."

The IMF cut its 2014 growth forecast for Russia to 0.2% from 1.3% and said it expected the country's economy to grow by only 1% next year.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's has already cut Russia's rating to one notch above "junk" status.

And last week Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate from 7% to 7.5% in an effort to defend the value of the rouble, which has lost more than 8% against the dollar so far this year.

07MAY2014: Hennady Kernes, who was shot while jogging last week and was flown to Israel to receive medical attention has regained consciousness.

29MAY2014: Ukraine army helicopter shot down near Sloviansk

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have shot down a military helicopter near Sloviansk, killing 14 people, the country's outgoing president says.

Olexander Turchynov said the rebels used a Russian-made anti-aircraft system, and a senior general was among the dead.

The town of Sloviansk has seen fierce fighting between separatists and government forces in recent weeks.

President-elect Petro Poroshenko has vowed to tackle "bandits" in the east.

The BBC's Mark Lowen in the region says Thursday's incident was a major blow to the Ukrainian army as it pursues its offensive against the separatists.

The helicopter was hit during heavy fighting between Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, reportedly after it had dropped off troops at a military base.

President Turchynov said the 14 dead included Gen Serhiy Kulchytskiy, head of combat and special training for Ukraine's National Guard.

Gen Serhiy Kulchytskiy

• Born on 17 December 1963 in East Germany where his father served with a Soviet military contingent
• Began military career as a marine platoon commander at the Soviet Northern Fleet in Murmansk Region
• Moved to western Ukraine in 1992 and became deputy commander of a National Guard battalion in Ternopil
• Awarded the rank of major-general by President Viktor Yanukovych in August 2013

It is one of the worst losses of life for government forces in the conflict so far. Last week at least 14 soldiers died in a rebel attack on an army checkpoint near Donetsk, some 130km (80 miles) from Sloviansk.

Earlier this month the separatists shot down two army helicopters, also near Sloviansk, killing a pilot and another serviceman.

Missing monitors

Mr Poroshenko, a confectionery magnate, won 54.7% of the vote in last Sunday's presidential election, according to final results announced on Thursday,

After the poll, he called the separatists "terrorists" intent on maintaining a "bandit state". He vowed to tackle them "in hours", not months.

The helicopter had just taken off after transporting soldiers to a Ukrainian base

The conflict has intensified in recent days. The rebels say they lost up to 100 fighters when they tried to seize Donetsk airport on Monday.

Sloviansk has long been the centre of heavy fighting. Pro-Russia militiamen seized four international monitors there on Monday.

The four - a Dane, an Estonian, a Turk and a Swiss national - are members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, told Russia's Interfax news agency they were safe and well and could be released soon.

The OSCE has said it does not know the monitors' whereabouts, but Mr Ponomaryov told another Russian news agency they were being held in the village of Makeyevka.

Pro-Russian separatists in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence after referendums on 11 May, which were not recognised by Kiev or its Western allies.

The separatists took their cue from a disputed referendum in Crimea, which led to Russia's annexation of the southern peninsula.

Ukraine's deadliest clashes

24 April: Ukraine military kills five rebels in assault on Sloviansk

2 May: More than 40 people killed in burning building after street fighting in Odessa

9 May: 20 pro-Russian activists and Ukrainian security officer killed in Mariupol

13 May: Seven Ukrainian soldiers killed in ambush between Sloviansk and Kramatorsk

22 May: Rebel attack on checkpoint in Volnovakha leaves at least 14 soldiers dead

27 May: At least 40 rebels killed in "anti-terrorist operation" against separatists holding Donetsk airport

29 May: Ukrainian military helicopter shot down near Sloviansk, killing 14

16JUNE014: Gazprom puts Ukraine on gas prepayment plan after ‘chronic’ failure to pay debt

After failing to pay its gas bill, Ukraine now has to pay in advance for any natural gas from Russia, Gazprom said on Monday. Both companies have filed lawsuits against each other at the Stockholm Arbitration Court

“This decision was taken due to systematic failure of Naftogaz Ukraine to pay. The debt of the company for Russian gas stands at $4.458 billion, including $1.451 billion for November and December 2013, and $3.007 billion for April-May 2014,” Gazprom said in a statement posted on their website.

“They’ve paid zero. Correspondingly we deliver zero,” Sergey Kupriyanov, a Gazprom spokesperson said in a press conference following the announcement.

Reuters reports that gas supplies to Ukraine were restricted off as soon as the deadline at 10:00am in Moscow passed.

Both companies have announced they are opening lawsuits with the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce Arbitration.

Naftogaz, Ukraine’s oil and gas utility, is seeking a $6 billion sum for 'unfair' gas prices and asking the court to review prices that were agreed on in 2010 under then Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Gazprom announced wants to recover the $4.5 billion worth of debt and also seek compensation for Ukraine's failure to import the agreed upon amount of natural gas under their "take or pay" contract with Gazprom over the past two years. The penalty in accordance with the contract could be around $18 billion.

Gunther Oettinger, who has been the main broker between the three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the EU, has urged Russia to ‘reconsider’ its decision to place Ukraine on a prepayment gas plan.

"Further invitations for trilateral talks in June are foreseen," EU energy minister Gunther Oettinger said at a news conference in Vienna.

Oettinger has been the main broker of the three-way talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the EU, all of which have ended in deadlock.

Yury Prodan, Ukraine's energy minister, has stressed that taking the case to Stockholm is the only way to settle the matter.

Kiev was also late in payments in the winters of 2006 and 2009. Both periods lasted about three weeks, during which Kiev attempted to siphon off supplies for themselves, which left millions of European homes without heat.

“Volumes of gas for European customers will be fully met in compliance with their contracts. Naftogaz must ensure transportation to the delivery points," Kupriyanov said.

Further actions will be taken after Gazprom head meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin today, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told reporters at the World Petroleum Congress, being held in Moscow June 15-19.

Russia’s energy minister Aleksander Novak and Gazprom head Aleksey Miller will hold a press conference later this afternoon.

Ukraine has accumulated a multi-billion dollar debt for natural gas supplied by Russia and is unwilling to pay. It calls the 10-year gas contract that former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko signed with Russia back in 2009 unacceptable and demands that Russia lower the price.

The sudden halt shot up natural gas prices in Europe, a trend many analysts will repeat itself this time around.

Moscow was willing to offer a discount and even recalculate the debt Ukraine has accumulated since April to account for it, but Kiev rejected the offer, saying it was not good enough. Gazprom considers Ukraine’s position a form of blackmail.

After negotiations on Sunday, Gazprom announced that their final pricing offer was $385 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas, which Ukraine still rejected.

Price disputes between the two neighbors intensified after a government coup followed by violence in Ukraine, when the price of gas exports from Moscow to Kiev shot up from $268.50 to $485.00.

Europe imports a third of its natural gas from Russia, and nearly half of that is delivered via Ukraine. In 2012, over 84 billion cubic meters of gas traveled from Russia to Europe through Ukraine.

Under the current contract, Ukraine is required to import 40 billion cubic meters of gas. Ukraine’s energy minister said on Friday that Ukraine has more than 15 billion cubic meters of Russian gas in storage.

18JUNE2004: Ukraine's Poroshenko 'to order unilateral ceasefire'

Ukraine's president has proposed a unilateral ceasefire by his troops to allow pro-Russian separatists to lay down their weapons.

Petro Poroshenko said the peace plan would be implemented "shortly", Interfax-Ukraine news agency reports.

His announcement comes after he held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

They discussed a solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels are battling government forces.

More than 30 gunmen were killed and wounded in fighting near the town of Schastya in the Luhansk region on Tuesday, a spokesman for the government's "anti-terrorism operation" said.

UN human rights investigators say the security situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions has deteriorated significantly over the past month.

Flames could be seen erupting from the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod Pipeline on Tuesday

Government forces have been fighting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine since April

A report reveals a rising number of abductions and killings, with civilians increasingly caught in the cross-fire and thousands forced to flee the violence.

Meanwhile Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has said an explosion at a major pipeline in central Ukraine was caused by a bomb.

He said explosives had been placed under a concrete support at the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod Pipeline.

No-one was reported injured by the blast. European and Russian companies said gas exports were not affected by Tuesday's pipeline explosion.

'New warfare'

Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the National University of Defence in Kiev, Mr Poroshenko said a "brief" truce would be introduced to allow "Russian mercenaries" to leave Ukraine.

A presidential spokesman told the BBC the ceasefire could be announced in "hours or days" but gave no further details.

The Kremlin confirmed that Mr Poroshenko and Mr Putin "touched upon" the issue of a possible ceasefire during their talks on Tuesday.

Correspondents say Mr Poroshenko has made similar comments in the past but it is not clear when the ceasefire will be implemented.

"The peace plan begins with my order for a unilateral ceasefire," Interfax-Ukraine quoted the president as saying on Wednesday.

"Immediately after that, we must receive support for the presidential peace plan from all sides involved. This should happen very shortly."

He said Russia was waging "a new type of warfare" with the use of professional subversive groups and volunteers.

Russia says it has launched a criminal investigation into Ukraine's interior minister and a local governor over the killings of civilians and journalists.

Mr Avakov and Igor Kolomoisky, governor of Dnipropetrovsk, are accused of organising military operations, including rocket strikes, in cities such as Donetsk, Sloviansk and Mariupol that left more than 100 dead, Russian state media said.

Russian President Putin 'scraps Ukraine military move'

Russia's president has asked parliament to revoke the right of military intervention in Ukraine, where rebels have been fighting government troops.

Vladimir Putin's move was aimed at "normalising the situation" in the conflict-torn eastern regions of Ukraine, his press-secretary said.

The upper house of parliament authorised Mr Putin to use force in Ukraine on 1 March.

Moscow has since then annexed Ukraine's southern Crimea peninsula.

July 18 2014:

President Obama leaves no doubt that Rebels backed by Russians are behind the Malaysian MH17!