Ukraine and the world
- Nato-Ukraine solidarity. Meeting in Brussels on Dec.13, President Petro Poroshenko and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg again called on Russia to release Ukrainian sailors captured in the Kerch Strait, and to ensure safe navigation in the Sea of Azov.
- EC providing more humanitarian assistance.The European Council will allocate $4.5 million for humanitarian aid for war-affected areas of the Donbas. President Petro Poroshenko announced in Brussels on Nov. 13.
- Poroshenko, Merkel met in Brussels on Dec. 13 Brussels. The two leaders discussed the situation in the Azov Sea, sailors’ release.
National News
- SBU on security concerns during Ukrainian Orthodox Unification Council on Dec. 15. The deputy head of the SBU has called for calm and restraint as well as vigilance in connection with his historic event in Kyiv, warning of possible Russia-inspired provocations.
- Internally displaced increasingly reluctant to return. 38 percent of IDPs in Ukraine are not ready to return to their homes after the end of hostilities in the Donbas, Ukrinform reports.
March 31 presidential election
- Responding to Russian interference threat. An international rapid-response team will monitor and expose any attempts by Russia to interfere in the upcoming Ukrainian presidential elections in 2019.
Russia’s War on Ukraine
- Ukrainian naval officers tell Russians they are POWs. Two Ukrainian navy captains seized by Russian forces near the Kerch Strait have refused to testify because they consider themselves prisoners of war, Reuters report.
Business
- Progress with IMF. Ukraine’s central bank kept its key rate unchanged at 18 percent and said on Dec.13 that the good progress achieved in talks for more loans from the International Monetary Fund had improved the inflation outlook. It is now expecting the first loan tranche under a new IMF stand-by program by Christmas, worth between $1.4-1.9 billion, Reuters reports.
Kyiv Post Exclusives
- Bank looted before declared bankrupt.Deposit Guarantee Fund alleges managers ‘siphoned off $180 million’ from Kostyantyn Zhevago’s Finance and Credit bank before it went bankrupt. The bank’s management looted the funds by granting shady credits to shell companies, the agency said.
- Ukraine in top 20 by traffic on Pornhub, the world’s largest pornography site. Between 2017 and 2018, Ukraine jumped 11 spots in the ranking to enter the top 20 and take 16th place, Pornhub reported in its sixth annual Year in Review report. Ukraine also showed the highest “phone growth” of all 20.
Kyiv Post Tiger Conference 2018
- See the video,read the stories of this year’s winners of the Kyiv Post’s Top 30 Under 30 Awards. And learn why four refused their prize.
- Teenage Ukrainians tell their stories in a new book,“Voices of Ukraine,” a joint project of Porsche Ukraine and the Kyiv Post.
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