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Montenegro was officially invited early December to launch negotiations on joining NATO. UNIAN gathered expert opinions on the possible impact this could have on the European security architecture, and on how these processes may affect the Euro-Atlantic aspirations of Ukraine.

The government does not expect any mercy from the deputies but relies on political expediency. Odesa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili was selective in his fight against corruption. Joe Biden, unlike Dmytro Firtash, has come to Kyiv.

The Cabinet has presented the main parameters of the state budget for 2016 and the draft tax reform. At the moment, both documents are herded into "Procrustean bed" of Parliament and Presidential Administration, and it is difficult to predict how their discussion will end. Meanwhile, Turkey is stepping up its cooperation with Ukraine in the background of the Kremlin's belligerent stance.

Poroshenko paid an eventful visit to Lithuania. Climate Summit in Paris confirmed the intransigence of Putin and Erdogan. The Russian president acted as an electric god for Crimea, not too convincingly though. NATO has invited Montenegro into its ranks and expressed solidarity with Ukraine.

No electric vehicles are sold in Ukraine officially at the moment. Some several hundred electric vehicles out there on the Ukrainian highways have either been imported by enthusiasts, or purchased from the so-called "gray" importers.  Only one thing can revive the market -- complete lifting of duties on this type of vehicles.

On November 25, U.S. President Barack Obama signed the Congress-approved U.S. defense budget for 2016 authorizing allocation of funds to provide military assistance to Ukraine.

Verkhovna Rada marked the first anniversary of its eighth convocation. Termination of energy supply to the annexed Crimea will force the Ukrainian authorities to clearly articulate the strategy of building relationships with the residents of the peninsula. Law enforcement agencies announced quite unexpected reshuffles among top officials.

A Russian Su-24 bomber was shot down by the Turkish Air Force on the border with Syria; 34 of 422 MPs have not missed a single meeting of Rada’s committees in a year of their work in parliament, the state budget received UAH 136.9 million in 2015 from privatization.

Ukraine, with the hands of civil society activists, cut off electricity supplies from mainland Ukraine to the Russian-occupied Crimea; announced a temporary suspension of purchases of the Russian gas; and shut the its airspace for transit aircraft of its northern neighbor; while the hryvnia seems to have found a delicate balance after some turbulence – these are the main economic news of the past week.

Former Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to Ukraine, the expert on frozen conflicts, Ion Stavila, has told in an interview with UNIAN about the differences between the conflicts in Transnistria, Crimea and Donbas; how the mood of Transnistrians has changed, and why the broad autonomy is better than federalization.

Turkish fighter jets shot down Vladimir Putin’s vanity, and Ukraine tried to take advantage from this fact. The annexed Crimean peninsula was deprived of electricity supplies from mainland Ukraine. The U.S. allocated $300 million for Ukraine in the world's largest defense budget.

President Putin has created a mess none of his predecessors have ever seen before (including Soviet leaders and Russian presidents) -- NATO army officially attacked and destroyed the Russian warplane for the first time in history. UNIAN figures out what implications this unique incident may have.

The six-month calm in the currency market is shaken. NBU intervenes slightly but regularly now on the interbank market to support the hryvnia, insisting that there is no reason to panic. Experts hint that the situation is caused by the delayed adoption of the 2016 State Budget and the uncertainty whether the country gets another tranche from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). UNIAN gathered expert opinions on what the hryvnia exchange rate will be by the New Year.

Anniversaries of the Euromaidan and the Revolution were held without pathos and sense of deep satisfaction with the changes in the country. Ukraine stopped supplying electricity to the annexed Crimea under dramatic circumstances. The runoff mayoral elections in Ukraine’s major cities proved problematic for some of the winners.

The Ukrainians mark the second anniversary of the Revolution of Dignity and the Euromaidan, 28 EU Member States have ratified the Association Agreement with Ukraine, 270 people are suspected of crimes against the Maidan protesters.

The terrorist attacks in Paris drew a global response, and they may forever change the power structure in international relations. Russia almost simultaneously offered Ukraine the installment plan for the “Yanukovych’s loan” and vowed to introduce embargo against the Ukrainian exports. EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn believes that the European Commission will estimate the success of Ukraine and Georgia in meeting conditions for visa liberalization.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, voiced a statement, rather unpleasant to the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies: the ICC sees no crimes against humanity committed during the Euromaidan in 2014. The reason is the low quality of evidence provided by the Ukrainian investigators over an almost two-year period since the bloody atrocity.

Mayoral elections across Ukraine brought plenty of surprises. The MPs finally managed to adopt EU-required “visa liberalization package,” some of them noticeably struggling to reach psychological compromise with their perception of “anti-discrimination” draft law. Ukrainian Prime Minister sees a dark cloud on his political horizon.

Two hostages were released from militant captivity in eastern Ukraine, 77% of Russians consider unlikely any protests in Russia against declining living standards and for the protection of their rights, at least 153 people were killed in a series of terrorist attacks in Paris.

The Verkhovna Rada extended the "land" moratorium, but failed to convince the Cabinet to reduce the tariffs for the population; a hot discussion over tax reform and Budget-2016; as well as Ukraine’s distinguished visitors – these are the main economic news of the past week.