Excerpts from the most important news on Ukraine
Slack will suspend accounts in Crimea
23.12.2018
Slack complies with US Department of Commerce sanctions and as such currently prohibits unauthorized use in Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and the region of Crimea.Users who travel to a sanctioned country may not be able to access Slack while they remain in that country. Slack said it will suspend user accounts, but once they return to a non-sanctioned market, full access will be restored.Ukrainian ships will try to pass through the Kerch Strait
21.12.2018
Ukrainian ships will try to pass through the Kerch Strait, taking representatives of OSCE and other international organizations on board, said the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov to the BBC Ukrainian bureau. “If we stop and retreat, russia will actually fulfill its task of seizing the Azov Sea, presenting to the rest of the world the new self-defined sea borders in the Black Sea, de facto legalizing the occupation of the Crimea,” the NSDC secretary said.Ukraine is the front line of putin’s struggle against the free world
21.12.2018
U.S. Senators Ron Johnson, Richard Durbin, and 39 of their colleagues introduced a resolution calling for a prompt multinational freedom of navigation operation in the Black Sea and the cancellation of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in response to russia’s recent aggressive actions in the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov. “The United States and our allies need to rapidly counter russia’s military aggression in the Kerch Strait with strong and resolute action,” Sen. Johnson said. “Assembling a multinational freedom ...Lviv is emerging as an attractive real estate investment opportunity
17.12.2018
In recent years, Lviv has emerged as Ukraine’s number two real estate market. With a stunning architectural ensemble, vibrant tourism industry and close proximity to the European Union, the city is poised to become a popular choice for international real estate investors seeking to add something Ukrainian to their property portfolios, writes Tim Louzonis for Business Ukraine. However, in order to access the potentially attractive gains on offer here, investors will need to tailor their strategy to the specifics of the Lviv ...China’s BOCE intends to acquire large stake in Ukrainian stock exchange
17.12.2018
Ukraine’s Antimonopoly Committee has given the green light to China’s Bohai Commodity Exchange (BOCE) to acquire a stake of over twenty-five percent in the share capital of the country’s PFTS Stock Exchange, reports Business Ukraine. The PFTS is one of the oldest Ukrainian stock markets. Trade volumes in 2017 totaled UAH 64.34 billion with a heavy emphasis on government bonds, which accounted for UAH 58 billion of overall trading on the exchange. The deal comes as Ukraine and China experience a period of ...Ukraine’s International Reserves Were Up Nearly USD 1 Billion in November
16.12.2018
Preliminary data suggest that Ukraine’s international reserves increased 5.8% or USD 974.5 million in November, to the equivalent of USD 17,711.5 million as of 1 December 2018. The international reserves increased as a result of the government raising funds and the NBU purchasing foreign currency in the interbank market. The government received USD 2,000.0 million from the placement of eurobonds and USD 82.9 million from the sale of domestic government bonds. At the same time, public debt payments were lower than the revenues from the sale of ...Ukraine Orthodox priests selected a leader
16.12.2018
A leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church was selected at a special council of orthodox priests in Kyiv. The special council was held in the ancient St Sophia’s Cathedral. Ukrainian clerics of different Orthodox denominations (The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kiev Patriarchate) The Ukrainian Orthodox Church (moscow Patriarchate) and The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church) elected Metropolitan Epifaniy as the leader of the new church. Earlier this year, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople – the first among equals in the world’s Orthodoxy – decided to ...Should Ukraine lease ports in the Sea of Azov to the US?
14.12.2018
By any standard, russia’s attack upon Ukrainian vessels in the Black Sea is an act of war, writes a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council Stephen Blank for The Hill. russian President Vladimir putin ordered the Nov. 25 incident that occurred in the Black Sea (not in the russian-held Kerch Strait, as moscow claims). This operation also climaxed a long series of russian abuses: seizure of Crimea and energy facilities of its coast, claiming that Crimea, the Sea of ...Ukraine poised to export USD 18 billion worth of agricultural products
12.12.2018
The Ukrainian agricultural sector is on track to export produce worth USD 18 billion this calendar year, writes Business Ukraine. If achieved, this total would represent a new record for an industry that is playing an increasingly central role in Ukraine’s economy and dominating the country’s international trade. The agricultural industry currently accounts for approximately 17% of Ukrainian GDP. Many expect it to occupy an even greater share of the national economy in the coming years as broadening international horizons and efficiency innovations ...EU’s commissioner: moscow spread false claims for at least a year before Ukraine’s ship seizures
11.12.2018
The EU’s security commissioner Julian King said russia had paved the way for its decision to fire on and board two artillery ships and a tug boat through the dissemination of fake news, The Guardian reports. The false claims, said to have been spread for “more than a year”, included that Ukraine had infected the sea with cholera and that its secret services had been trying to transport a nuclear bomb to occupied Crimea. According to him, the European commission’s East StratCom ...SBU: russian intelligence is planning provocations in Belgium, Germany, Bulgaria and Spain
11.12.2018
In recent years, moscow has been relentlessly trying to take control of European radical social and political structures, the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) informs. Every year, russia hosts the so-called “conferences of leaders of Europe’s right-wing parties”, “international conservative forums”, meetings of the “global revolutionary alliance”, with the direct organizational and financial assistance of the russian special services, where ideologues of the “Russky Mir” Alexander Dugin, Sergey Glazyev and others equip foreign representatives with the theory of forcible overthrow of ...Kerch Strait bridge causes material losses to Ukraine
10.12.2018
The Kerch Strait bridge was designed to impose a blockade on Ukraine’s Sea of Azov ports, Oleksandr Oliynik, Mariupol port director, tells Nolan Peterson of the Daily Sentinel. Its opening resulted in a 20% reduction in the heights of ships able to enter the Azov and a 31% reduction in cargo weights. Prior to the bridge’s completion, Mariupol’s port received ships with air drafts of up to 41 meters. Now it is limited to no more than 33 meters. Moreover, russia has imposed ...
