The Head of State has found a good way to respond to yet another panicking message sprawling in the information space. After the U.S. visit, the prime minister is filled with the spirit of entrepreneurship and looks like the new sweetheart of the businesses. Order in ranks is not a strong feature of Ukraine’s opposition politicians regardless of their experience in this capacity.

Although the Parliament has gone into a non-session mode ahead of July’s pre-vacational spurt, the issue of a possible vote for the law on local elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas is stubbornly making its way through the information space. The main cantors of this song of panic are traditionally vigilant members of the Samopomich faction. Poroshenko did not engage in discussions with his suspicious critics, instead choosing to visit the so-called "Bridge Republic," the stronghold of the Ukrainian forces in the immediate vicinity of the contact line with the pro-Russian militants. Not only did he treat the Ukrainian troops with strawberries and cherries, he also presented honorary awards to outstanding soldiers and signed a decree on demobilization of troops from the fifth draft wave. The move was quite convincing, but until mid-July, or rather, a diligently pushed date of July 14, many citizens will remain in suspense.

Meanwhile, SBU head Vasyl Hrytsak summed up quite thoroughly his first year in office. In particular, he told about a special raid on neutralization of separatists in Odesa. The story turned out to be not just interesting, but also packed with important, "food for thought" information for those keen on analyzing things.

Ukraine continues to fight with Russia by all means available, and it has long been a fact that not only the fortifications and firepower are crucial in this confrontation. For example, political zigzagging of Nadia Savchenko, who had become a symbol of refuting Russia, can be misleading to many and allow the opponents of independent Ukraine to achieve their goals.

Ukrainian PM Volodymyr Groysman after his visit to the United States tried to convey its results to the Ukrainian citizens with the relevant proximity to the Ukrainian realities. Prime minister’s readiness to strongly support the businesses is based not only on his life experiences but also on realizing that only small and medium businesses today are able to ensure economic growth and move the oligarchs away from the important levers. It is rather a rhetorical question whether the deputies can share Groysman’s optimism, since most of them live only for today.

Skillful populists have studied well the features of the national character, and, if necessary, they leap in stunning somersaults from the camp of the government’s implacable critics into the camp of those persecuted by the authorities. The accidental discovery of the immodest cottage house of Oleh Lyashko would cause a politician of his level real headache in most European countries, especially following a statement that he rents this huge mansion for a ridiculous UAH 5,000 [nearly $200] a month. However, many Ukrainians continue to trust an eloquent radical.

However, the newly-emerged opposition forces can’t make old school politicians act more reasonably. At the end of last week, it became clear that the attempt of some BPP deputies, the Odesa governor, a number of progressively-minded officials and a couple of ex-deputies prosecutor general, who disagree with the presidential line, to create a united political project will not work out. This means, the progressive community will once again have to choose the objects of sympathies from among the old faces, while the Ministry of Justice will have to revise the number of positions in the list of the registered political forces. The right-liberal idea in the Ukrainian realities, unfortunately, sounds somewhat utopian to gain control of the mass consciousness. At the same time, becoming the sources of these ideas can even attract the negative attitudes initially channeled elsewhere.

Yevgeny Magda

UNIAN in Google News

Zero PACE deputies voted for giving back the right to the Russian delegation to attend the meetings; 51.9% of UK voters chose Brexit in the referendum; 376 candidates for posts of Ukrainian MPs will take part in mid-term elections to the Verkhovna Rada at seven constituencies.

Zero deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted for giving back the right to the Russian delegation to attend the meetings again.

Three Maidan protesters were killed and another two wounded from weapons of ex-police special force squad (Berkut) troops Oleksandr Zinchenko and Pavlo Abroskin February 20, 2014, according to the results of forensic examination, as announced by prosecutors.

Three Ukrainian tennis players are now among the Top 100 in the updated ATP rankings. Oleksandr Dolgopolov ranks 32nd, Ilya Marchenko is 86th, and Serhiy Stakhovsky is 92nd.

One of Serbia’s richest oligarchs was imprisoned for five years for tax evasion amounting to about EUR 3 million, according to foreign media.

Six of the most popular beaches in Odesa – Otrada, Dolphin, Arcadia, Chaika, Kurortnyi and Zolotyi Bereh – are closed for swimming due to the deterioration of the microbiological indicators of sea water samples, according to the Odesa City Council.

Seven Ukrainian citizens were injured in a traffic accident near Fatezh in Kursk region of the Russian Federation, according to the Department of Consular Service of the MFA of Ukraine.

15 children were killed in Karelia, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Pavel Astakhov said, according to the Russian media. The tragedy occurred during a storm on a lake, when the boat carrying a group of 47 children and four adults from a nearby summer camp capsized.

18 convicts can be transferred from the temporarily occupied Crimea to the territory controlled by Ukraine, said Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Valeria Lutkovska after a meeting with her Russian counterpart Tatyana Moskalkova.

35% of solid waste from Lviv will be transported to an incinerator facility in Kyiv, Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy said, referring to the relevant agreement with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

36 people are wanted by prosecutors in the so-called Euromaidan cases, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine. In addition, 19 people are already being tried, and in 13 cases, pre-trial investigation is almost complete.

REUTERS

51.9% of UK voters in the national referendum favored the Leave the EU campaign, with 48.1% having voted for Remain, foreign media reported. At the same time, a petition to hold another referendum on the UK's membership of the EU has already gained 3 million signatures (with 100,000 signatures needed for the parliament to consider the petition for debate).In the first 12 hours alone, the petition was signed by 555,000 people.

70% of households across Ukraine need thermo-modernization, insulation of external walls, replacement of outdated windows, modernization of heating networks and hot water supply, installation of individual heating, etc., said Vice Prime Minister, head of Ministry of Regional Development, Construction, Housing, and Communal Services of Ukraine Hennadiy Zubko.

85% of quotas for duty-free supply of food to the European Union have already been used by the Ukrainian exporters, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

88 people, including 12 children, have drowned in Ukraine since early June, according to the State Emergency Service.

93 people were killed by lightning strikes in India, foreign media reported. Most of the victims were the farmers and other agricultural workers who were out in the fields during a thunderstorm.

145 new trade restrictions have been introduced by G20 over six months (from mid-October 2015 to mid-May 2016), according to the review by the World Trade Organization. Since 2009, the countries have introduced 1,583 restrictive measures, with only a quarter of them (387) being canceled. These restrictions relate to 6% of G20 imports, or 5% of world imports.

240 deputies of the Swedish parliament voted "for" and 45 "against" the law toughening the asylum procedure for refugees, foreign media reported.

287 deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation endorsed in the second and third readings the "anti-terrorism package" of bills increasing prison terms and fines under a number of articles of the Criminal Code. Non-reporting a crime in Russia can now result imprisonment, Russian media reported.

290 hectares of crops and 190 hectares of orchards have suffered as a result of bad weather in western Ukraine, according to the State Emergency Service.

376 candidates for the post of a member of parliament in seven single-mandate constituencies were registered in the Central Election Commission for mid-term elections to the Verkhovna Rada, according to the CEC.

7,500 hectares of forest caught on fire in the central part of California, according to foreign media. Forest fires have destroyed about a hundred buildings, while nearly 1,500 homes and buildings remain under threat of destruction. The fire has killed two people.

41,000 militants and regular Russian troops are now in the Ukrainian Donbas, according to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

UAH 130,000 of additional funds has been allocated by Ukraine’s Health Ministry from its reserve fund for the purchase of medicines and disinfectants in Izmail. The number of those who were affected in mass poisoning due to the polluted water in sewers exceeded 600 people.

405,400 tonnes of deficient anthracite coal is stored in the warehouses of Ukrainian thermal power plants, according to the state-owned Ukrenergo.

RUB 15 million and religious hatred were named the motives behind the murder of a Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said.

65.3 million people in 2015 were recognized as refugees, persons who apply for asylum, or internally displaced persons, according to the UNHCR, foreign media reported. Thus, about one in 113 people around the world is a refugee.

Net capital outflow from Russia in 2016 will amount to $25 billion, according to the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Russian media reported.

400 of the world’s richest people have lost $127.4 billion because of the UK voters having supported Brexit in the referendum, according to the foreign media.

Margarita Andreyeva

UNIAN in Google News