National news
- The United Nations says almost 4 million Ukrainians in war affected areas need humanitarian assistance. More than 3.8 million people in eastern Ukraine require aid,but the UN’s efforts remain underfunded. Only 37 percent of the requested amount has been met.
- Ukraine must overcome sexism. Iryna Gerashchenko, first deputy speaker of the Ukrainian parliament told a Ukrainian Women’s Congress in Kyiv on Dec. 7 that it is vital not only to increase the number of women in politics, but also toovercome the stereotypes and sexismin the law-enforcement bodies and the army.
Russia’s war on Ukraine
- There has been a fresh outbreak of fighting on the Donbas front. In the latest attacks by Russia-led forces on Ukrainian armypositions, one Ukrainian soldier was reported wounded in action, and one attacker reported killed and another two wounded.
- Consuls visit captured Ukrainian sailors in Moscow. Ukrainian representatives have finally been givenaccess to three Ukrainian sailorswounded during the seizure of their vessels by Russian forces near the Kerch Strait area on Nov. 25. They are being held in the Matrosskaya Tishina detention facility in Moscow.
Business
- China’s BOCE has been allowed to acquire over 25 percent of Ukraine’s PFTS Stock Exchange. On Dec. 7, Ukraine’s main competition regulators, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine, announced that they had approved a request from China’s Bohai Commodity Exchange Co., or BOCE, to purchase a large stake in the Ukrainian exchange. The PFTS Stock Exchange, one of Ukraine’s most important exchanges.
- Startup GitLab attracts a further $20 million investment. GitLab, a software developer startup originally founded by Ukrainian Dmitriy Zaporozhets in 2011, has raised $20 million from U.S. investment banking firm Goldman Sachs Goldman bringing funding to total of $145 million. GitLab is used by such heavyweights as IBM, Sony, Alibaba, SpaceX; and the world’s leading science organizations, NASA and CERN.
- Ukrainian startup Attendify creates ‘must have’ app for conferences. One of Ukraine’s most promising startups has developed a customizable mobile‘must have’ app for conferencescalled Attendify with which it is tapping into the $30-billion-a-year events industry. Attendify eases networking, navigating, and schedule planning for guests.
Sport
- Ukrainian wins firstBiathlon World Cup gold in Slovenia. Yuliia Dzhima, the 4×6 km relay 2014 Olympic champion, has won a 15km individual women’s race in the first stage of the Biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka, Slovenia.
