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The Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis told in an interview with UNIAN what the unblocking of the Ukrainian-Polish border depends on, how soon Russian grain will be targeted by the EU sanctions, and about priority directions in increasing European pressure on Russia.

Ukraine Ombudpserson's representative for human rights in the security and defense system and procedural rights, Viacheslav Petliovany, sat down with UNIAN to tell about the conditions in which imprisoned Ukrainians are held around the world, what detainees complain about in Russia, Europe, and the U.S., and why prisons in occupied Donbas and Crimea are worse than those in Bangladesh, Vietnam or Thailand.

On the eve of the 35th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, UNIAN correspondents visited Chornobyl, talked with those who were there, at the fourth power unit, in the first hours after the explosion, as well as with displaced locals. Chornobyl victims recall what the spring of 1986 was like, tell how the radiation level has been decreasing over the years, adding they are upset about the growing indifference.

The head of the Center for Civil Liberties Oleksandra Matviychuk has told UNIAN about the ongoing persecution of lawyers in Crimea, the general strategy of the occupying power regarding the Ukrainian peninsula, and what should be done to protect victims of Russian war crimes.

Olesya Stasiuk, chief of the National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide, has sat down with UNIAN to tell about inclusive and digital projects, true history and Russian fake stories about the Holodomor, as well as why and how should children be told the truth about this crime.

Ternopil entrepreneur Taras Kovalchuk, who turned his hospitality businesses into a religious organization on the eve of the weekend quarantine, which allowed him not to close down on Saturday and Sunday, told UNIAN about the nuances of such reprofiling.

In Ukraine, the number of new daily COVID-19 cases is on a steady rise. The Ministry of Health says once the daily figure reaches 20,000, the country's hospitals will be overloaded. Doctors will have to choose patients who must be treated first, while the others will have to rely on their own endurance and wait for rescue.

Public interest in the case of Vasyl Stus hasn't abated, so UNIAN spoke with historian Liubov Krupnyk about whether there were lawyers in Soviet times who really defended their clients, or whether everyone, without exception, danced to the KGB's tune.

Alexandra Voroshilova, coordinator of the Severodonetsk office of the Vostok-SOS Charity, told UNIAN how residents of Luhansk region ended up in a ring of fire, whether the authorities made conclusions after previous fires, and why some people cannot receive compensation for their destroyed property.

More than 200,000 Ukrainian seafarers roam the seas worldwide, generating up to a quarter of all forex earnings of Ukraine's labor migrants – every year sailors bring to Ukraine some UAH 80 billion, which is UAH 20 billion more than Kyiv's annual municipal budget. While part of this money fills the treasury, in the form of taxes and fees, the other one feeds handlers of shady corruption schemes.

Despite the fact that Ukrainian legislation clearly defines in which cases citizens are allowed to protect themselves from assailants in any way, even employing weapons or other objects, and not bear any responsibility for this, these rules actually don't work. And the proof of this claim goes beyond the high-profile case of Serhiy Sternenko.

Neptune is a top-secret Ukrainian project that any NATO country could be proud of. It's a cruise anti-ship missile able to deter the Russian fleet in the Black or Azov Seas. Flying at the fighter jet speed at ultra-low altitudes, just a few meters above the sea surface, it's invisible to enemy radars.

Six years ago, not all Ukrainian military men left the annexed Crimea. Some of the servicemen, either in pursuit of high salaries and pensions, or because of support for the Kremlin’s imperial ideas, chose to side with the enemy. UNIAN found out what happened to those who then changed the oath.

The government has published an estimate of Ukraine's population. It was not a standard census, but rather an "electronic" one. The count says the population stands at 37 million. It's 15 million down from the previous figure. What do these numbers mean and will the Cabinet of Ministers change economic plans due to population decline?

Although International Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked in January, a project dedicated to this day generated global debate about the ethics of talking about genocide on the Instagram entertainment platform sparked back in May last year. UNIAN met with the producers of Eva.stories and found out how the resonating project was created.

The recent release on iOS of a card game called Gwent was overshadowed by rumors about a scandal with a Ukrainian professional gamer ProNEO3001, who this summer was suspended from tournaments for 12 months. UNIAN spoke with the gamer and found out about his allegations against the manager responsible for eSports, the future lawsuit against the developers, and lie detector tests.

Former prisoner of war Captain Lieutenant Serhiy Popov in an interview with UNIAN told how he made dumbbells in the cell using water bottles, shampoo, and magazines; how with the help of sign language he looked at pictures of his family; memories of prison chow, and the "bath-count" of days in the Russian dungeons.

The youngest of Ukrainian prisoners of war, Andriy Eyder, 20, who returned home on Saturday, told UNIAN about the November naval battle where he was wounded, the level of prison health care in Russia, and how he had to help a Ukrainian interpreter in court.

The former political prisoner, 21, told of the book he had been reading in the days before the swap, chant "Glory to Ukraine!" in prison corridors, and his refusal to write an appeal for pardon.

Ukraine's twenty-eighth birthday demonstrated that Independence Day is equal to Freedom Day. Since, regardless of whether the company is with the president or with front-line comrades, Ukrainians sincerely congratulated their country.