National news
- Solomyansky District court of Kyiv on Dec. 3 released the former head of the State Fiscal Service Myroslav Prodanwithout bail, on the recognizance of nine lawmakers while charges of alleged embezzlement against him are investigated.
- Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko announced on Nov. 4 that the authorities have identified the organizer of the murder of civic activist Kateryna Gandziukand said the person is linked to a corruption scheme in Kherson.
- The Ukrainian border guard service has denied admittance to over 600 Russian citizenssince the declaration of martial law, and the number of Russians wishing to visit Ukraine has fallen 66 percent over that period, Ukrainian State Border Service head Petro Tsyhykal said on Dec. 4.
- As of Dec. 3, ships had resumed navigation through the Kerch Straittowards the Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov, Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure said on Dec. 4.
Russia’s war on Ukraine
- A month before the Nov. 25 attack by Russia on the Ukrainian navy in the Kerch Strait and Black Sea, the European Parliament passed a resolution on sending a special envoy on Crimea and the Donbas to Ukraine. But the resolution was only advisory, and no envoy has so far been appointed. Meanwhile, the EU’s response to Russia’s brazen aggression is tardy, and weak, Kyiv Post Brussels correspondent Iryna Somer reports.
- Kyiv is asking Canada is being asked to renew its military training mission to Ukraine— a proposal that’s taking on a whole new level of urgency as border tension ramps up with Russia. Ukraine’s request will be subjected to a standard policy review this winter.
- One Ukrainian soldier was killedand another one injured on Dec. 3 as a result of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, according to the official website of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. The latest deaths came after a highly unusual day of calm on Dec. 2, with Kyiv reporting no violation of the cease-fire by Russian-led forces.
- President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine said on Dec. 4 that Ukraine is to submit a lawsuit to the International Court of Justice against the Russian Federationin connection with its act of aggression against Ukraine in the Sea of Azov.
Business
- A London court ruled on Dec. 4 that it had no jurisdiction in a case pitting Ukraine’s largest lender PrivatBank against its two former main shareholders. The judge concluded that the bank had dragged three London-based companies into the heart of its claim solely to have the case tried in London and that it should be tried somewhere else.
- Russia has no plans to stop transiting gas via Ukraineafter the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is commissioned, but everything depends on Kyiv, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Dec. 4. Ukraine’s gas transit contract with the Kremlin runs out next year.
- The European Union has launched a tap of its outstanding April 2033 euro bonds to provide 500 million euros of aid to Ukraineand 15 million euros of aid to Georgia, an EU official told Reuters on Dec. 4.
