Excerpts from the most important news on Ukraine
The Wasted Weeks Of Ukraine’s Coronavirus Response
10.04.2020
When the coronavirus began bearing down on Ukraine in early March, Arsen Zhumadilov was in a key position to take action — and he thought he was ready, rferl.org reports.As director of the country’s new national medical-procurement company, it’s his job to ensure that Ukraine’s hospitals are well-stocked with tests, ventilators, and protective gear to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.But he says he has been unable to do that job, stymied mainly by a now-dismissed health minister who seemed more ...75% of residents of Donetsk region now consider russia to be a party to the conflict
10.04.2020
The number of Ukrainian citizens in government-controlled areas in Donbas who consider russia to be a party to the conflict has grown in just over a year, so Ukraine should not agree to decisions that will downplay russia’s role as a party to the conflict, according to a poll entitled “Public Sentiment in Donbas 2020” conducted by the Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation.The results of the poll were presented at an online press conference broadcasted by Ukrinform on Thursday, April ...U.S. Declared russian Imperial Movement a Terrorist Group
09.04.2020
The State Department has designated the russian Imperial Movement (RIM) as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, the first time in history the Department has designated a white supremacist terrorist group.The administration placed individual sanctions on its leaders — Stanislav Anatolyevich Vorobyev, Denis Valliullovich Gariev and Nikolay Nikolayevich Trushchalov, “for providing training for acts of terrorism that threaten the national security and foreign policy of the United States and being leaders of such a group.”Designations seek to deny these terrorists the resources they need to provide training to commit attacks. Among other ...PrivatBank’s claim will go to trial in England
09.04.2020
The UK Supreme Court rejected the appeal of a former owner of PrivatBank, Igor Kolomoisky, he will face trial at London’s High Court.“The Bank is confident that it will ultimately succeed in recovering the sum of more than $3 billion claimed in the proceedings,” said PrivatBank’s new management. In legal actions in Cyprus, Israel, UK, and the US, PrivatBank seeks a total of $10 billion from Kolomoisky and his business partners.According to Concorde Capital’s analyst Alexander Paraschiy, the bank has ...Espionage Incident Highlights russian Naval Shortcomings
09.04.2020
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) agents arrested on espionage charges a Ukrainian from Mykolayiv who had been seeking intelligence on advanced Ukrainian naval technology to sell to russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). It is not surprising that the SBU would uncover a spy for russia in Mykolayiv, which for decades housed the most advanced shipyards in the Soviet Union, writes John C. K. Daly for The Jamestown Foundation.The SBU’s announcement tersely stated only that the suspect was attempting to ...Oligarch’s faction wants to derail the ‘anti-Kolomoisky’ bill
07.04.2020
In an attempt to derail the ‘anti-Kolomoisky’ banking bill, members of the oligarch’s Rada faction have submitted over 13,000 amendments to the bill that won initial Rada approval one week ago, ubn.news reported.Concorde Capital’s Alexander Paraschiy writes: “If the anti-Kolomoisky bill reaches a vote at the same rate, parliament could need more than 20 sessions for its approval.”In this way, Ukraine is not likely to implement the IMF’s To Do list by mid-MayExperts expect 5.9% drop in Ukraine’s real GDP in 2020
06.04.2020
Real GDP may drop by 5.9% this year, Ukraine’s Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting has said in a survey.“We expect substantial damage to the economy from domestic restrictions and lower external demand. A gradual recovery is expected in the second half of 2020, but economic activity will remain lower than the pre-crisis level,” the document reads.Experts say consumer inflation is projected to rise only to 7.5% in December, as weak demand will limit the impact of higher inflation ...Number of vacancies in labor market decreased by 34%
06.04.2020
The number of vacancies in the Ukrainian labor market has decreased by 34% over the past two week of quarantine. The National Bank of Ukraine reported this in its weekly economic review.According to the report, during the second week of quarantine, the number of new vacancies continued to decline, although at a slower pace than during the first week.“Over two weeks, they decreased by 34%, reflecting the deteriorated expectations of entrepreneurs for future income,” says the report.At the same ...Five Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies are ready to produce medicines for COVID-19
06.04.2020
Five Ukrainian pharmaceutical companies are ready to produce medicines that have been proved to be effective in combating the symptoms of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Head of the parliamentary committee for health of the nation and medical insurance Mykhailo Radutsky has said, open4business.com.ua reports.“Now all legal grounds are being made for Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturers to start producing medicines that are used in other countries, but there is great shortage and high cost of such medicines. Today, this is a problem not ...PrivatBank brings new $5.5 billion suit against its former owners
04.04.2020
PrivatBank has recently issued a new claim in the Cypriot courts seeking damages of US$5.5 billion in respect of schemes bearing all the hallmarks of fraud and money laundering which the Bank alleges were perpetrated by its former owners, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov, one of its former senior executives, Timur Novikov, and two Cypriot companies, PrimeCap (Cyprus) Limited and Duxton Holdings Limited.The new claim was served in Cyprus on 3 April 2020, after the Cypriot court granted a document ...russia seeks to seriously damage the solidarity among EU members during COVID-19 pandemic
03.04.2020
As the rest of the world struggles to cope with COVID-19, russia is churningout propaganda that blames the West for creating the virus, writes Dr. Sergey Sukhankin.In an article published Wednesday by The University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, Sukhankin, said russia was propagating disinformation and conspiracy theories via social media accounts, fake news outlets, state-controlled media, pseudo-scientists and russians living in the West.“putin’s larger goal in spreading propaganda and conspiracy theories is to subvert the West,” Sukhankin ...russia is trying to whitewash its reputation using coronavirus pandemic
03.04.2020
A russian state-owned fund that says it footed half the bill of a coronavirus aid shipment delivered to the U.S. on Wednesday has been on a U.S. Treasury restricted lending list since 2015, the WSJ reports.The russian Direct Investment Fund , a $10 billion sovereign-wealth fund started by russian President Vladimir putin in 2011, said Thursday it paid for half the cost of a shipment of medical supplies promised by moscow in a call with President Trump on Monday.“The sectoral ...
