Breaking News, 16th of May, 2018

1) The Crimea

Today, an automobile traffic has been officially opened along the Crimean bridge from both sides of the Kerch Strait. Yesterday Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony of the grand opening of the bridge, during which he drove a «KamAZ» truck across the bridge, while being followed by a column of construction vehicles. The opening of the bridge took place six months before the deadline foreseen by the state contract.

2) Turkey

The Turkish Foreign Ministry proposed to the Consul General of Israel, presented in Istanbul, to leave the country due to Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, RIA NEWS reports with a reference to Anadolu agency. On 14th of May, an American embassy has been opened in Jerusalem, following an event back in December 2017, when the president of the United States Donald Trump announced Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This caused a wave of protests in the Gaza Strip, as a result of which massive clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers took place. 59 people were killed, over a thousand were injured. Earlier, the Turkish authorities offered the Israeli ambassador in Ankara to leave the country. Israel decided to send the Turkish consul out of Jerusalem as well.

3) Ukraine

The press secretary of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, Larisa Sargan, announced that the prosecutor’s office intends to insist on the detention of the editor-in-chief of »RIA News Ukraine» Kirill Vyshinsky, that was detained yesterday. According to her, Kirill Vyshinsky «is being charged with state treason,» and at the moment «the issue of choosing a preventive measure is being decided», and «the prosecutor’s office will insist on his detention». In turn, the press secretary of the so-called prosecutor’s office of the Crimea, Tatyana Tikhinchik, announced that the court of city of Kherson can decide on Vyshinsky’s punishment on Thursday, TASS reports.

4) The USA

The US Permanent Representative to the UN, Nikki Haley, left the UN Security Council before the start of the speech of Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour. As ABC television channel reports — during the UN Security Council meeting, Nikki Haley denied that the clashes in the Gaza Strip began because of the transfer of the US Embassy to the city of Jerusalem. «It does not undermine the prospects of peace in any way!» Nikki Hailey insisted before she blamed the violence in the Gaza Strip on the Hamas movement and left the courtroom as a gesture of protest.

5) DPR

In the DPR, over the past day, Ukrainian troops violated the ceasefire 24 times, firing 301 shell along the front-line territories of the Republic. The shelling was concentrated in the direction of the town Gorlovka, as well as the northern part of Donetsk, the town of Dokuchaevsk and the southern villages of the Republic. Earlier, mortar fire from the units of Ukrainian army hit a school in the frontline town Gorlovka, resulting in the damage on building.

6) LPR

Ukrainian troops, over the past day, fired at LPR positions six times. The areas of settlements of Kalinovo, Lozovoye and Veselogorovka were under attack. Mortars of various caliber, weaponry of infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers and small arms were used in the shelling. During this morning, mortar shelling hit the village of Malaya Vergunka, located near the city of Lugansk.