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Petro Poroshenko paid a visit to Israel, where he tried to make the most of the Knesset’s podium for political statements. Minsk process is by default extended throughout 2016. Russia responded to the extension of European sanctions and a new batch of the U.S. economic restrictions by suspending the free trade area with Ukraine.

By the end of 2015, after two weeks of negotiations at the Climate Change Conference in Paris a so-called Paris Agreement was signed between the 196 parties, which gives a start to a new era in the global fight against climate change on Planet Earth.

The sharp jumps of the dollar, unprecedented drought and African swine fever – this is not a complete list of problems faced by Ukrainian farmers in the past year. Opening a series of articles on the year’s results and forecasts for 2016, UNIAN examined, whether the situation would improve the next year and what it will depend on.

A rough spat between Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Odesa Governor, ex-President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, took place in front of the country’s top officials and to the great delight of the Russian TV channels. The government was forced to admit that its tax innovations are unacceptable for the lawmakers. The activities of the Communist Party were completely prohibited in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government and the Rada have not yet found a compromise on the budget and tax reform; the IMF responded with the threat to stop lending to Ukraine; the return of "Yanukovych’s debt” is postponed; and the occupied Crimea remains without Ukrainian goods - these are the key economic news of the past week.

Ukraine has fulfilled ten of the 16 EU recommendations regarding the fight against corruption, 128 journalists were killed in 2015 in 31 countries, the U.S. may provide $658.185 million in financial assistance to Ukraine in 2016.

On December 18, the European Commission passed the sixth report on Ukraine's implementation of the requirements of a Visa Liberalization Action Plan (VLAP). UNIAN gathered expert opinions on what this decision means and what Ukraine needs to do for its citizens to travel across the Schengen states without visas.

The European Commission has announced its readiness to grant Ukraine a visa-free regime. Vladimir Putin has admitted presence of the Russian military in Donbas, which he had been denying for over a year. Andrzej Duda has brought to Kyiv a load of pleasant surprises.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s eleventh annual large scale press conference was perhaps the most boring of all the previous ones. Meanwhile, Crimea and Donbas, who until recently have vehemently shouted out “Putin, come!” were left out of Putin’s Thursday agenda.

In the coming days Europe will decide the fate of anti-Russian sanctions. UNIAN gathered expert opinions on what the Europeans may actually decide given Russia’s non-fulfillment of obligations under the Minsk agreement, and what will happen with sanctions against Russia in the long term.

Ukraine’s new Permanent Representative to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko has told in an exclusive interview with UNIAN of what he planned to talk with his Russian counterpart Vitaly Churkin; he also spoke about whether it is possible to deprive Russia of its veto in the UN Security Council, and how the format of the Minsk talks may change.

U.S. Vice President encouraged the Ukrainian authorities to build a successful country. MP Oleh Barna decided not limit himself with collecting signatures for the dismissal of PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk, deciding to drag him out of the parliament’s podium during speech. The winners of the local elections held party conferences.

Fugitive ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych ranks third in the list of the top corrupt officials, 13% of Ukrainians were engaged in volunteer activities during 2015, $116.762 billion was siphoned out of Ukraine over a ten-year period.

UNIAN sat down with one of Russia’s opposition leaders, former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, to learn how the opposition sees the prospects for resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Cabinet reported on its results over the past year and agreed on the draft budget for 2016, as well as the principles of tax reform; the State Statistics Service said the inflation has returned; U.S. Vice President Joe Biden visited Kyiv, announcing allocation of $190 million for Ukraine and giving the Ukrainian authorities some good advice.

The U.S. Vice President has given several master classes to the Ukrainian politicians. Viktor Yanukovych has forgotten how to say anything beyond the Kremlin’s instructions. The officials in Kyiv look forward to Ukraine getting a visa-free regime with the EU.

On December 13, France will hold the second round of regional elections, which are considered a dress rehearsal before the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2017. UNIAN gathered expert opinions on what the change of the French political elites would mean for Ukraine.

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden was the second high-ranking American official to ever speak from the rostrum of the Ukrainian parliament. But, unlike the speech of U.S. President George W. Bush (in 1991), there was more understanding of the Ukrainian reality in his address.

PM Yatsenyuk requested the European Commission to block the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project as “anti-European and anti-Ukrainian.” Both the U.S. and EU support Ukraine’s position, as well as several EU member states. The EC claim that Moscow’s idea will be strictly checked for compliance with European legislation.

The visit of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to Ukraine has cut open some issues that had been discussed on the sidelines of the Ukrainian politics for several weeks. First of all, it’s about the possible dismissal of the Cabinet and the effectiveness of reforms undertaken by today’s government.