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For two days in a row, Polish capital Warsaw was seeing protests against the moves of parliament majority, 27 Ukrainian troops defected to the militants after time spent in captivity, $214 million is needed in 2017 to provide humanitarian aid to the people living in eastern Ukraine.

Last week’s kaleidoscope of news from Brussels has gotten millions of Ukrainians confused. The Aleppo tragedy further highlighted the impotence of the West against the assertive Russia, whatever Barack Obama says about his warnings to Vladimir Putin. Gazprom has launched a verbal cannonade ahead of a new gas war, in which both the EU and Ukraine may be on the same side of the barricades.

Ratification of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement sees prospects of being completed soon, the National Bank of Ukraine prolonged forex restrictions and outlined its plans for 2017, while Ukrzaliznytsia became the latest victim of cyberattacks – these are the main economic news of this week.

The Ukrainians have spent this whole year expecting the long-awaited final move by the European Union officials and finally be granted a visa-free travel across the Schengen Zone. Now the year is coming to an end, but the introduction of a visa-free regime for Ukraine keeps being delayed, while the Ukrainian citizens' frustration with the European promises seems to have reached its critical point.

After the U.S. citizens voted for their new president, discussions have been very active about the candidates for the various posts in Donald J.Trump administration. UNIAN figured out what the nomination for the post of U.S. Secretary of State of an ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson promises for Ukraine.

Before the New Year holidays, when many Ukrainians will go on vacation to the country’s tourist-friendly - and not so much - regions, our winter resorts should take a look at the results of hospitality of their summer counterparts, not to repeat the same mistakes.

Ukrainian lawmaker Vadym Novinskiy is in the focus of Ukrainian law enforcers. Rada Speaker Andriy Parubiy hopes for the timely adoption of the Ukrainian budget 2017, which will allow the deputies to enjoy a stress-free holiday period. Nadia Savchenko continues to “impress” the public.

After nine days without food and water, one of the two children left unattended by own mother died in a Kyiv apartment; 13 regions of Ukraine held their first local elections of territorial communities; 3.8 million people in Ukraine are in need of humanitarian aid as a result of the Donbas conflict.

Deputy Head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Nadir Minbashiyev in an interview with UNIAN said what the humanitarian missions are engaged along the demarcation line and in the occupied territories of Ukraine, elaborating on coordination with the local authorities, and explained  why the demarcation line is turning into an actual border.

The European Union agreed on the conditions of a visa waiver suspension mechanism and thus  brought closer the possibility for Ukraine and Georgia to achieve the long-awaited visa free regime across the Schengen zone. Several European Prime Ministers held their master classes of big politics - of course, each in their own way. The annual OSCE Ministerial saw no sensational outcome.

The State Property Fund failed another attempt to sell the Odesa Portside Chemical Plant, the Verkhovna Rada slowly and unwillingly began to pass bills required for the state budget 2017, Stockholm arbitration has completed its hearings into the gas dispute between Naftogaz and Gazprom, while the National Bank maintained the key rate - these are the main economic news of this week.

Two votes over the minimum threshold in the Verkhovna Rada have allowed the deputies strip Opposition Bloc’s MP Vadym Novinsky of his parliamentary immunity. But it would be much better if legislators did not delay with restricting immunity for all deputies.

UNIAN sat down with a famous Russian businessman Dmitry Potapenko, one of the few entrepreneurs in Russia who publicly criticizes the Kremlin’s economic policy. He became an Internet star, openly talking about the Russian government’s pressure on private business, objecting to Putin and proving harm of the food embargo, arguing about the "inept foreign policy decisions" and lower living standards in Russia. Potapenko has drawn our attention to the fact that the methods of public administration are still similar in modern Russia and Ukraine.

The third attempt of the Ukrainian authorities over the last seven years to sell the Odesa Portside Chemical Plant (OPP) saw no result, yet again. Potential investors have ignored the auction scheduled by the State Property Fund (SPF) for December 14. The blame for another "D" in a test is shared by the SPF and the Cabinet, as both failed to properly prepare the chemical giant for its sale.

A 28-year-old paratrooper sniper Valeriy Chibineev was granted a Star of Hero of Ukraine in August 2016. On the eve of the Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, UNIAN talked with the young commander of the 79th Air Assault Brigade.

15 years ago, December 5, the first ever all-Ukrainian census (and so far the only one) was carried out. Later on, ignoring the UN recommendations on the need to carry out further recounts every ten years, our country continues to delay the procedure.

After some R&R in Russia, Viktor Yanukovych rushed into Ukraine's information space with a well-calculated effect. Fugitive MP Oleksandr Onyshchenko is trying to play a role Kuchma-era Major Melnychenko. Ukraine has overcome Russian threats, having successfully carried out its military drills. Friendly fire police casualties in a peaceful Kyiv region are quickly gaining political overtones. Yevgeny Magda

Two-day Ukrainian missile drills near the occupied Crimea made the Kremlin throw fits; 100 years of safety in a "radioactive burial ground" will be provided by a new 36,000-tonne confinement, which now covers the fourth unit of Chornobyl nuclear power plant; 8.5 million pensioners saw an increase in their pension.

Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile exercises became an important factor in international relations. The meeting of Normandy Four foreign ministers in Minsk was a predictable formality. Warsaw received Petro Poroshenko with high interest.

The National Bank of Ukraine announced a plan of gradual forex liberalization, the State Property Fund sold a Ukrainian bank to a Chinese investor, while the Cabinet launched an attack on the "space-high" bills for central heating and decided how on how the country’s healthcare system would be funded – these are the main economic news of this week.