- The Central Election Commission has registered 30 candidates for president of Ukraine so far – a record number in the country’s history. The deadline for applying ended on Feb. 3. But the list of names on the ballot may get even longer as the commission still has got over 30 applications to review by Feb. 8.
- A group of Ukrainian lawmakers registered a draft bill that would unilaterally ban Russian observers from monitoring the presidential and parliamentary elections this year. Earlier in January, OSCE said it would send elections monitors to Ukraine from all member states, including Russia.
- The youngest of 24 Ukrainian sailors held in Russia, Andriy Eider, tested positive for Hepatitis B and C. The lawyers suspect he could have contracted the virus in a Moscow detention center before he was transferred to Lefortovo prison. Eider’s blood sample was drawn for a repeat test on Feb. 4, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
- The Prosecutor General’s Office will investigate all former Defense Ministers and Chiefs of Joint Staff to identify those who “destroyed the military capacity of Ukraine” in 1991-2014 by selling out military equipment. Three ex-ministers of fugitive ex-President Viktor Yanukovych times have already been given notices of suspicion of state treason. A presidential candidate Anatoly Grytsenko, who served as Defense Minister in 2005-2007, is under prosecutors’ scrutiny too.
- Tech firm Ciklum sold minority stakes to two Ukrainian investment companies — Dragon Capital and AVentures Capital.
- The International Finance Corporation is preparing to buy into Ukrainian state-owned bank Ukrgasbank as the Ministry of Finance has put up the bank for privatization.
- President Petro Poroshenko signed a law extending the moratorium on farmland sales until 2020. The parliament passed the law on Dec. 20, which means the ban had not been in effect for over a month.
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