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It has been more than two years since residents of Donbas have first started leaving their homes, fleeing the war. The lucky ones were welcomed by their relatives or friends, while someone at the time had their savings handy. Still, for most of these people, this was a road to frightening emptiness.

Today’s address of President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko to the Verkhovna Rada was not fundamentally different from the previous two. But there was no place in it for a few topics, on which the Head of State chose to remain silent.

Ukraine is not a member of G20. But in 2016, the Ukrainian issue is repeatedly being raised on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.

In an interview with UNIAN, a Russian satirist and legendary journalist Viktor Shenderovich explains how the Russian society and the Russian media has changed over the past 16 years. He has come up with a rather disappointing forecast for Ukraine: Putin will continue to torment our country, in order to embellish the internal problems in Russia against this background.

The Ukrainian national currency, hryvnia, has turned 20; 498 people, of whom 347 are civilians, are   missing in Donbas; 2.5 million doses of anti-TB vaccine have been received by Ukraine.

Ihor Rainin has taken over the presidential administration, while his predecessor Borys Lozhkin remains in Poroshenko’s orbit. Yuriy Lutsenko has declared the official version of Ilovaysk tragedy and announced the upcoming moves to deprive more MPs of parliamentary immunity. The fire at the headquarters of Inter TV channel will almost inevitably result in political consequences.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko vetoed the law “On amnesty in 2016”. This as an expected decision – even at the early stages, there were rumors at Bankova Street that the Ukrainian leader will go for such step: the bill was drafted very poorly.

The price of not obtaining Ukrainian citizenship for many foreigners in the Anti-Terrorist Operation is freedom. Despite government promises, foreign citizens fighting on the Ukrainian side are for the third year trying unsuccessfully to obtain the long-promised passports with a Ukrainian trident.

Provocative statements by the Russian leadership saw no adequate response from the Ukrainian legislators. The topic of e-declarations of senior officials is more about PR today than pragmatism. Competition between law enforcement agencies has risen to a new level.

Seven people were detained by Russian security forces on charges of “plotting sabotage” in the occupied Crimea, Ukraine ranked 45th in medal standings as half of the Rio Olympics has passed, the Ukrainian Cabinet has allocated UAH 450 million for hosting Eurovision 2017.

The Ukrainian Government has announced it is drafting a package of incentives for the revival of the national economy and hinted at the rigidity of the draft state budget for 2017; consumer prices fell again; while Europe showed interest in the Ukrainian gas transportation system – these are the main economic news of the past week.

Russia once again uses August to strengthen its position in the international arena. The meeting of Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in St. Petersburg resulted mostly in promises rather than concrete actions. The U.S. presidential campaign saw another scandal unfolding.

The visit of the Ukrainian authorities to Malaysia and Indonesia resulted in reaching agreements on trade liberalization and the establishment of business contacts – the important steps aimed to diversify markets under the conditions of hybrid war with Russia.

Former minister of economy of the Russian Federation has told in an interview with UNIAN, how much the economy of the Russian Federation is affected by sanctions and Russia’s retaliatory countermeasures, about Donbas as a "suitcase without a handle" and the feasibility of abolishing the so-called “Crimean Federal District”.

The Ukrainian banking system has survived a deep crisis and needs investment to grow. It is actually best to buy when the market is at the bottom. But the experts doubt that in the current realities, the investors are willing to take a chance and buy Ukrainian banks.

The changes proposed by the Government should by the end of the year bring the country on the path of sustainable economic development. In an exclusive interview with UNIAN, First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv, has told, what exactly we are to expect.

Managing Director of the Individual Deposits Guarantee Fund Kostyantyn Vorushylin has told UNIAN about the last high-profile bankruptcies and difficulties in relations with law enforcement agencies, despite which first owners and top managers of bankrupt banks will soon be announced suspicion in criminal cases.

Nadia Savchenko has announced another hunger strike with a certain political pretext. The entourage of “LPR”’s Igor Plotnitskiy accused the Ukrainian security forces of the assassination attempt against their leader. The Ukrainian media sphere is witnessing the events reminding that the hybrid aggression against Ukraine continues.

A 4.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded in the east of Ukraine; 90% of restriction of access of the OSCE monitors in Donbas was on the part of pro-Russian militants; 9,000 IT-specialists have left Ukraine over the past two years.

Hitting rivals with media blows, covering up raider attacks, banally resorting to extortion – these are common methods of capturing markets and the companies’ revenues in Ukraine. The economic crisis and the war in the east became the additional incentives for speculators and information killers. And the shadow of Ukraine’s northern neighbor is becoming increasingly clear behind them.