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Rex Tillerson became the first high-ranking official from Donald Trump administration to visit Ukraine. Kurt Volker shaped his idea of Ukraine through a series of meetings in Kyiv. Jens Stoltenberg stressed that NATO's doors remain open to Ukraine. The Ukraine-EU summit was held without a final declaration. Russia showed its unscrupulousness to long-time partners from Siemens.

The Council of the European Union has approved the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. Ukrainian legislators passed a number of bills before leaving for summer vacation, supporting the Cabinet's proposal to increase revenues and expenditures of the state budget. The Boryspil Airport has at first said goodbye to, but then resumed negotiations with Ryanair. The hryvnia continued to strengthen. These are the main economic news of the outgoing week.

Freshly appointed U.S. Special Envoy on Ukraine settlement Kurt Volker wasted no time and took on a visit to Ukraine as part of the delegation led by State Secretary Rex Tillerson, to familiarize himself with the situation on the ground. Obviously the challenges he will be facing differ from those which his predecessor Victoria Nuland had to deal with.

The Verkhovna Rada Regulations Committee demonstrated that the cover-up in the Ukrainian parliament has no factional or political coloring. The prime minister and leading members of the government persuaded Ukraine’s partners in London that the reforms were continuing. Viktor Yanukovych recalled his defense team from his treason trial. Former drug enforcement chief Ilya Kiva declared himself a new leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine.

Foreign Minister of Ukraine's strategic partner state continued the anti-Ukrainian line of his fellow party members. Warsaw felt it was becoming Washington’s leading partner in Europe and will try to play this card. The Ukrainian government in London reported on the reforms carried out and spoke on future transformation. Stratcom Dialogue was held in Riga. The G20 summit is “speaking” with a Ukrainian accent. Ahead of Rex Tillerson’s visit to Kyiv he appointed a special envoy on Ukraine.

The authorities announced the postponement of key reforms and, subsequently, of the next IMF bailout tranche, at least until autumn 2017; the National Bank of Ukraine worsened its outlook for the country’s economic growth and inflows of credit funds; while international partners called on the president, government and parliament boost reform - these are the main economic news of the past week.

Ahead of the Ukraine visit of the North Atlantic Council, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an exclusive interview with UNIAN spoke about the reason for an eight-year pause since the NAC’s latest visit, about his vision of Ukraine’s prospects of joining the Alliance, and why NATO, despite having halted practical cooperation with Russia, retains political channels open.

On the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg July 7, a meeting of the presidents of the United States and Russia has been announced. While the Kremlin is struggling to present the talks as a landmark event, Trump has already sent quite an unpleasant signal to Putin in his appeal to cease Russia’s “destabilizing activities in Ukraine and elsewhere."

The Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Vsevolod Chentsov, in his interview with UNIAN has told what the grounds were for making a decision to pass the right to prosecute those guilty of the MH17 crash to the Dutch court, when will this court start its hearings and whether anything is able to force Russia to cooperate in the criminal investigation.

Besides the fact that Ukraine has joined the Paris Climate Agreement and the latest twists and turns regarding Lviv’s waste landfills row, environmental issues in Ukraine have long been back-shelved. Well, they shouldn’t be.

Ukraine was taught a showing lesson of hybrid aggression. The president spoke of early elections, while prime minister positioned himself as the major center of influence in the government, and the Rada speaker said he was convinced of the parliament's potential, although recognizing the lack of political will to change the electoral law. The Prosecutor General did not stop on six requests to the Rada on lifting parliamentary immunity off MPs, hinting at a probe pending against former and today’s ministers.

Ukrainian and French presidents have found common language. PACE President Pedro Agramunt turned into a political outcast. Stepan Poltorak visited Brussels and will fly to Washington soon. Minsk and Chisinau are giving Kyiv new reasons for boosting political efforts. Donald Trump said the United States would sell coal to Ukraine.

Kyiv authorities went for a counterattack in the issue of the status of military operations in Donbas, offering to replace the obsolete, and not always effective, Anti-Terrorist Operation format. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi went all-in with the government and president. Sociological studies not only help determine the political priorities of Ukrainian citizens but also to understand the shifts in public moods. Equality March in Kyiv was held amid the overall atmosphere of scandal.

LGBT community has held the fourth "March of Equality" in Kyiv, and each time, participants faced individual provocations. This year, almost no skirmishes were reported. At the same time, Kyiv "March" is still far from reaching the scale of European Pride events.

The introduction of a visa-free regime between the European Union and Ukraine is accompanied by changes in the tone of statements by the representative of the European Commission in Kyiv. The future meeting between Donald Trump and Petro Poroshenko presents a good chance for Ukraine. Volodymyr Groysman studied the experience of reintegration in Croatia. Putin was noticeably irritated by Petro Poroshenko citing Mikhail Lermontov’s poem saying “good-bye” to the “unwashed Russia.”

Vice President and Managing Director at the world’s nuclear power giant Westinghouse Aziz Dag in his interview with UNIAN spoke about the prospects of the increase in nuclear fuel supplies to Ukraine and the company’s plans for the period when the current contract with Ukraine expires, also commenting on the global trend for the “green” energy development and the role of nuclear energy in the near future.  

The Ukrainian government approved the budget resolution for the next three years, engaged in improving road safety, and once again extended the emergency measures in the energy sector, while KyivEnergo warned of the lack of sufficient funds to prepare for the heating season - these are the main economic news of the outgoing week.

The number of Ukrainian prisoners of the Kremlin has steadily been growing both in the territory of the Russian Federation and in the Russia-occupied areas of Ukraine. And while the negotiators in Minsk continue their efforts to coordinate the number of people the parties are willing to exchange, pro-Russian militants from “DPR” and “LPR” are filling throwing more hostages into their dungeons.

Real estate tax, aimed to replenish local coffers by tens of millions of hryvnias, is by far failing to achieve its objective. Before July 1, Ukrainians will receive from their local fiscal offices this new tax notice. UNIAN clarified why the tax is not working and what should those do who have not received such a notice.

The introduction of a visa-free travel across the EU for the Ukrainians has become a reality that could have a serious impact on Ukrainian society. The parliament’s decision to confirm the country’s strategic objective to become a NATO member state was a much easier move than launching healthcare reform. Arsen Avakov has come to a spotlight playing a role of the state’s guardian angel and the enemy of firarms possession by civilians.