Week in numbers

Three National Guard soldiers were killed in clashes outside the Verkhovna Rada on August 31, 265 deputies approved in the first reading the Constitutional amendments regarding decentralization, Russia assessed “damage” from accepting refugees from Ukraine at $60 million.

One parliamentary faction - the Radical Party led by Oleh Lyashko - has quit the European Ukraine Coalition, in opposition to the policy of the government, the president, and the parliamentary majority.

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Three National Guard soldiers were killed in clashes with the protesters outside the building of the Verkhovna Rada on August 31. 141 people were injured, including 131 law enforcers, according to the press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Russia plans to send another three so called “humanitarian convoys” to Donbas in September, according to Russia’s Emergency Service.

ukroboronprom.com.ua

Ukraine went down four positions in the world firepower rating after a year of war, the Ukrainian media reported, citing data from GlobalFirepower. Despite the pace of recovery of the old military equipment, the country has not yet succeeded to fully make up for what was lost in Crimea and Donbas. Now, the Ukrainian army occupies the 25th place in the ranking.

Five MPs were expelled from the Samopomich parliamentary faction for having voted against the decision of the party members not to support Constitutional amendments regarding decentralization in the first reading. Among the expelled deputies in Hanna Hopko who topped the party’s electoral list in snap elections in 2014.

REUTERS

Six new NATO headquarters will be opened in the Eastern European member states, according to the foreign media. It is expected that they will be put in full combat readiness by July, 2016. Each of these new headquarters – in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Estonia – will host 40 military personnel, half of which will represent the local army.

Nine schools on both sides of the contact line in Donetsk region were not ready for the new school year, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission reported.

17 people were killed in armed clashes in the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, foreign media reported. According to local law enforcement officers, the Deputy Defense Minister Major General Abduhalim Nazarzoda organized the attack on the police department in Vakhdat and the Interior Ministry building in the country’s capital. After the attackers seized a large amount of weapons, they fled the scene.

sledcom.ru

Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said it seeks to prosecute 30 Ukrainian citizens, including for "the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare and genocide." 54 related criminal cases are being investigated.

32 smoldering peat fires covering a total area of ​​112 hectares were recorded in Ukraine, according to the State Emergency Service. 378 firefighters and 110 units of equipment are involved  in extinguishing fires.

92 political parties delegate their representatives to the election commissions inlocal elections, according to the Central Election Commission.

Ukraine is on the 129th place in the list of 189 countries in terms of freedom of the media, according to Ukrainian news sources.

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265 deputies approved in the first reading the Constitutional amendments regarding decentralization of power.

Russian court sentenced to 300 hours of compulsory work and deprivation of the right to engage in teaching activities for a period of 2 years a former school teacher who had written a poem in support of Ukraine, according to one of the regional prosecutor's offices of the Russian Federation.

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700 international observers - 100 long-term and 600 short-term - will observe the conduct of the local elections in Ukraine on October 25, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

2,903 Ukrainians have been released from militant captivity in eastern Ukraine as of August 31, as reported by representative of the President on the settlement of the conflict in the Donbas Irina Gerashchenko. In addition, 157 Ukrainian citizens remain in captivity, according to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), while 814 people are considered missing in action. In addition, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Red Cross Society of Ukraine are working to clarify the fate of more than 380 people.

The first petition to the President that gained 25,000 signatures in just first six days concerns legalization of firearm possession. The Presidential Administration has to consider the petition within ten days.

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69,950 soldiers who took part in the Anti-Terrorist Operation received the status of combatants, according to the Defense Ministry.

REUTERS

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees requests the EU member states to host 200,000 migrants arriving from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, the foreign media have reported. Greece, Hungary and Italy were requested to set up the centers for the reception and registration of refugees. Next week, the European Commission will redistribute about 120,000 illegal migrants across the EU member states.

414,000 first graders went to the school on September  1, 2015, according to the Ministry of Education and Science. This is 38,000 more than last year.

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700,000 tons of coal was exported in August from the ATO zone to the government-controlled territory of Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure. At the moment, Ukrzaliznytsia, Ukraine’s railway monopoly, experiences no problems with the railroad cars or the locomotives for such transportation.

UAH 1.75 million was blocked on several bank accounts used by the leader of Oplot terrorist organization Yevgeny Zhilin, according to the SBU. According to authorities, Zhilin re-registered the accounts on his relatives and used them to finance an illegal armed group.

Russian authorities assessed “damage” from settlement of refugees from Ukraine at $60 million, according to the Investigation Committee of the Russian Federation.

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Ukraine’s international reserves increased to $12.6 billion, according to the National Bank (NBU). According to preliminary data, forex reserves increased by 21.6% in August. The NBU notes that the volume of international reserves Ukraine has returned to the level of last October.

Ukraine’s State Treasury reported UAH 45.853 billion on the balance of its single account as of September 1, 2015. Since 2003, this is the highest reported balance as of the beginning of September.

Margarita Andreyeva

UNIAN in Google News