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Andriy Shevchenko’s team saw a minimum result while playing quite ambiguously, as the coach admits. UNIAN analyzes the team’s play at the current stage, predicting a thorny path in the near future.

Farmland sales moratorium looks like a tactical ploy in the political struggle in Ukraine. Members of the coalition argued a bit too harshly around the ideological issues. Sociologists are turning a blind eye to most of the younger political projects.

The arrest in Moscow of a Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko sparked another round of discussion on the need to introduce a visa travel regime with Russia. Victoria Nuland is set for a diplomatic feat. Johannes Hahn is optimistic about Georgia and Ukraine getting a visa-free regime with the EU.

Nine members of the UN Security Council voted against the Russian resolution on Syria; 53 people died in Ukraine from the use of surrogate alcohol; $700,000 of debt of the occupied Luhansk for water and electricity will be compensated for by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The International Monetary Fund issued its recommendations to Ukraine on how to preserve growth of the country’s economy. Despite the advice, the Parliament extended for one year a moratorium on farmland sales. It also passed a bill enhancing the fight against raiding. These are the main economic news of the past week.

The International Monetary Fund has published an updated list of recommendations to Ukraine in the framework of a four-year reform program. The list of requirements is very tough. A new fourth loan tranche worth $1.3 billion is at stake. However, Kyiv is at risk of having the disbursement delayed, because one of the key requirements - the launch of the land market - has "failed" to be fulfilled.

Since the hasty escape from Ukraine of its disgraced ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, nearly 850 criminal cases involving charges of high treason have been launched by the country’s law enforcers. The Prosecutor General’s Office wants to add to this impressive and nasty list a relevant criminal case against the fugitive Yanukovych.

Chairman of the Agrarian Party of Ukraine Vitaly Skotsyk in an interview with UNIAN has told what the farmers actually demand in their strikes, what strategic error the ministers make the government make by changing tax rules for agribusinesses, and how many billions the budgets of various levels will lose if the dysfunctional policy is implemented.

On October 4, the Ukrainian Parliament finally adopted several important environmental bills. Unfortunately, there was no "amber" draft law among them, which has for over several years been so much craved for in Rivne, Zhytomyr, and Volyn regions known for their rich amber deposits.

After the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine, China has become the country’s increasingly important trading partner. Against the backdrop of its slowing economy, China is implementing an ambitious infrastructure project titled "Silk Road", designed to connect Europe and Asia economically. Ukraine could become a strategic part of this initiative.

The situation in Donbas remains an important factor affecting Ukraine’s internal policy. The judicial reform was launched against the backdrop of an ugly vote in the Rada for the dismissal of "anti-Maidan judges". The prosecutor general tried himself in a role of an anti-monopoly watchdog.

Increasing the funding for the army is a must thing for Ukraine. Will take part of the burden off the volunteers’ shoulders? Probably. Will volunteering become irrelevant? That’s unlikely.

Russia will chair the UN Security Council for one month; the Verkhovna Rada passed at its extraordinary meeting 21 resolutions on dismissal of judges; some 100 individuals are involved in the downing of MH17, according to the Joint Investigation Team.

Serious orders were given to the head of Ukraine’s Fiscal Service, the national energy and utility regulator raised electricity tariffs for the industry, and the hearings began in Stockholm arbitration into the lawsuits of Ukraine’s Naftogaz and the Russian Gazprom - these are the main economic news of the past week.

The international investigation has proved that the Boeing 777 flight MH17 in the summer of 2014 was downed from a Russian air defense system Buk, which was brought into Ukraine on the eve of the tragedy and transported back to Russia shortly after the terrible crime was committed. The president of Israel showed the lack of deep knowledge of Ukrainian history. First televised debates of the U.S. presidential candidates saw no mentions of Ukraine.

The director of the EBRD office in Ukraine in an exclusive interview with UNIAN told what reforms are expected from the Ukrainian Government and what will be a key success factor in the country’s investment policy.

For the next regular parliamentary elections to be held under the new rules, these rules must be adopted today. But politicians at the moment have no vision of an adequate electoral system for Ukraine. Neither do they want to change the composition of the Central Election Commission, turning this simple procedural issue into an endless soap opera.

The Ukrainian government is introducing an experiment from October 1, canceling state regulation of food prices. This immediately sparked speculations over a possible increase in prices for bread and other socially significant products. In turn, the Cabinet explains that this step will reduce the pressure on business while not affecting the prices.

Ukrainian businesses are looking forward to the moment when the government adopts the new tax rules for 2017. The Finance Ministry pledged not to look down on anyone in particular. Tax rates will remain untouched, so this mini-reform will boil down to enhancing the administration of taxes. At the same time, the powers of the fiscal authorities will be cut back, while small businesses will even be granted “tax holidays”.

The murder of two patrol officers in the city of Dnipro has stirred up the Ukrainian public. Leader of pro-separatist Oplot movement Yevgeny Zhilin was shot dead outside Moscow. The Verkhovna Rada has deemed the State Duma of the Russian Federation illegitimate. Darker clouds amass over the so-called "Savchenko law".