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The confrontation between the president and the team of Ihor Kolomoisky has come to naught and did not have irreversible negative consequences for the state. The government’s popularity will push it toward unpopular moves and increased populism.

The fall of the banks, which started last year, has become the most significant in the history of the banking system of independent Ukraine. First deputy head of the NBU Alexander Pisaruk spoke in an interview with UNIAN about the causes.

Two criminal groups involved in the bombings in Odesa have been neutralized  by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Ukrainian soldiers who ran over a girl in Kostyantynivka, killing her, face up to 10 years in jail, and 35,300 troops will return home during demobilization.

After a short break, Nadia Savchenko has resumed her hunger strike. According to the captured Ukrainian female pilot, she will refuse to consume any food until she returns to Ukraine or until her “final day.”  UNIAN asked various experts what else can be done to release the Kremlin’s prisoner.

March 12 is the deadline for candidates who want to take part in the Constitutional Commission to hand in their applications to the Presidential Administration. The Commission is expected to start its work by the end of this month. But will the Commission be able to draft a quality document, or will it repeat its predecessors’ fates?

A year ago, the Transnistrian authorities appealed to Russia to include the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic (TMR) in the Russian Federation, “following Crimea’s example,” but the request was turned down by the Kremlin. Now the consequences of Russia's annextion of Crimea are rebounding on Tiraspol.

The Verkhovna Rada voted for the arrest and taking into custody of three judges, 18 former Ukrainian officials remain under EU sanctions, while sanctions were lifted on four officials, 34 miners died in the Zasyadko mine in Donetsk in militant-controlled territory, and the gold reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine decreased to $5.625 billion

The withdrawal of heavy weapons by all parties declared in the Minsk Agreement may be turned into a farce by the terrorist forces. However, in the meantime, Ukraine can get defensive weapons, and Russia in its turn may face new sanctions.

China is in no hurry. It is enjoying long-term stable economic growth (with 7% annual GDP growth) despite the ongoing global financial and economic crisis. The world is witnessing Beijing’s sweeping success in energy self-efficiency, and the development of its space technologies and high-tech industry.

The murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov in Russia and the suicide of a former member of the Party of Regions Mikhail Chechetov in Ukraine indicate that the regimes built in the two neighboring countries devour not only their opponents, but also those of their supporters who happen to know too much.

Having launched a new gas scandal directly connected with the supply of Russian gas to the Donbas, Russia’s Gazprom now looks to have outsmarted even itself.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stock on the global political market has fallen substantially. Before, he used to successfully sell Russia's predictability and its readiness to play by existing international rules. Now he hawks other wares.

Yet another ceasefire in the Donbas has proved to be a formality. In order to stop or freeze the conflict, Ukraine has decided to play its last trump card, and is now speaking of inviting in United Nations peacekeepers.

Russia’s near-term prospects of losing the war with the West that the Kremlin unleashed in Ukraine are prompting the closest allies of Russia (Belarus and Kazakhstan) to look for ways not to go down with the sinking giant.

While the Normandy Four leaders were looking for possible ways to stop Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and in fact the whole Europe, the key global player - the United States - presented its new security strategy.

The West has prepared new sanctions against Russia, the aggressor state. But their introduction was postponed at Ukraine’s request. Everyone is waiting for the outcome of the latest attempt to establish peace in the Donbas. And if Putin wrecks the negotiations, a new round of confrontation is inevitable.

Participants of the Munich Security Conference exchanged courtesies, the tone of which indicates the growing tension in international relations. Debaltseve remains under the control of Ukrainian forces.

The Verkhovna Rada declared Russia to be an aggressor state, based on the U.N. definition. Ukrainian parliament’s delegation to the PACE has received an “A” grade, while their Russian counterparts had to slam the door while leaving. The logic of Vladimir Putin’s actions leads to Russia’s isolation. 

Heavily armed separatists continue to storm Ukrainian positions. The Verkhovna Rada finally decided to demonstrate a principled stance. And the collapse of the dialogue in Minsk has a positive side.

UNIAN asked a group of psychiatrists and psychologists to diagnose serial fibber Vladimir Putin. The result - he’s a liar all right, but there’s method to his deceit.