Articles :

Ukraine’s president has enacted the new Security Strategy of Ukraine, which was recently adopted at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council. The Kremlin continues its Cold War rhetoric without the slightest hint of any ideology. And the West keeps maneuvering around the issue of resolving the Donbas conflict.

Although the Russia-launched hybrid war has been going on in Ukraine for a year, only now has the Ukrainian parliament got around to cancelling Ukraine’s international agreements in the field of military cooperation with the Russian Federation.

A year ago today, Petro Poroshenko was elected as Ukraine’s president. The parliamentary coalition is becoming more like a worn out car disguised as a new one and sold to an inexperienced buyer by sophisticated hucksters. And Oleh Kuzminykh has returned home from captivity.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel forced Russian TV to censor her during a joint press conference with Vladimir Putin. John Kerry visited Sochi and Antalya, causing a public stir in Ukraine. And Ukrainian diplomats emit skepticism instead unwise optimism ahead of the Eastern Partnership summit.

Despite some cooling down of military actions in eastern Ukraine, fears of future renewed large-scale fighting have been circulating all over the country’s information space. UNIAN tried to figure out how realistic these fears are.

The first ten days of May Ukraine routinely result in anxiety in Ukraine. The “Right Sector” decided to remind us of itself and of its unique status, but the response wasn’t good. Meanwhile, Dmytro Firtash was broadcasting his not-so-fresh secrets from Vienna.

Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko and his French colleague Francois Hollande held talks in Paris; the United States may increase its participation in the settlement of the Donbas conflict; and statements from Russian officials are becoming more and more absurd.

Over the past year, Russia has not only violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity, having annexed Crimea and further escalated the conflict in the Donbas, but also challenged the global geopolitical balance - so much so that now it has to prepare for a new economic reality.

Ahead of two important events for Ukraine – the Ukraine-EU Summit and the Eastern Partnership Summit - Director of the Government Office for European Integration of the Cabinet Secretariat Natalia Hnydyuk told UNIAN about the progress in bringing Ukraine’s legislation into line with European standards.

The murders of Oleh Kalashnikov and Oles Buzyna could have been seen as someone eliminating witnesses, if it were not for the overly blatant PR from the Kremlin’s master on their deaths. UNIAN tried to see how clearly “Russian fingerprints” could be seen in these crimes.

The chairman of the Informal Group of Friends of European Ukraine in the EP, Vice-president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Petras Auštrevičius, told UNIAN about the ban on communist symbols in Lithuania.

Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski confirmed his reputation as one of the most consistent friends of Ukraine in the European Union. The rapid de-communization of the country’s historical past looks like an attempt to catch up with Central European states.

Kharkiv Regional Administration head Ihor Rainin told UNIAN about separatism in Kharkiv, how much pay the perpetrators of terrorist acts were given, the complexities of the refugee issue, and the influence of Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes and former governor Mykhailo Dobkin. 

After a year of military operations in eastern Ukraine, the Kremlin has failed to prove that it is actually a civil war that has engulfed the Donbas. However, there should be one civil battle – to end the division among Ukrainians, whether they live in Kyiv, Lviv, or Donetsk.

On the last day of March, the remnants of the Party of Regions, or the Opposition Bloc in Ukraine’s parliament, formed a shadow cabinet. But this collection of political has-beens doesn't look any different from previous shadow governments. UNIAN visited the event marking their retreat into the shadows.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation never ceases to amaze the general public. Rather than restoring order in Russia, the IC regularly “amazes” us with new criminal cases regarding Ukraine.

The confrontation between the president and the team of Ihor Kolomoisky has come to naught and did not have irreversible negative consequences for the state. The government’s popularity will push it toward unpopular moves and increased populism.

Two criminal groups involved in the bombings in Odesa have been neutralized  by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Ukrainian soldiers who ran over a girl in Kostyantynivka, killing her, face up to 10 years in jail, and 35,300 troops will return home during demobilization.

After a short break, Nadia Savchenko has resumed her hunger strike. According to the captured Ukrainian female pilot, she will refuse to consume any food until she returns to Ukraine or until her “final day.”  UNIAN asked various experts what else can be done to release the Kremlin’s prisoner.

March 12 is the deadline for candidates who want to take part in the Constitutional Commission to hand in their applications to the Presidential Administration. The Commission is expected to start its work by the end of this month. But will the Commission be able to draft a quality document, or will it repeat its predecessors’ fates?