Week in numbers

58% of Russians strongly opposes the return of territories seized from Ukraine, 177 countries voted for the election of Ukraine as non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for 2016-2017, Ukraine’s brand new cyber cops are expected to earn between UAH 6,000 and UAH 30,000.

Ukrainians celebrated the first ever Defender Day on October 14th.

One unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was  shot down by the Turkish Air Force near Syria border after intrusion into Turkish airspace, according to the foreign media, with further reports that the drone was actually Russian-made.

Five Ukrainian regions - Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odesa, Ternopil and Lviv - suffered from bad weather conditions, according to the State Emergency Service. The rain and strong gusts of wind left 224 settlements without electricity

Five years was a term of an entry ban previously imposed by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) against Vira Savchenko, the sister of illegally detained Nadia Savchenko. The restriction was lifted shortly after the information became public, according to Savchenko’s lawyers.

A 73-year-old Ukrainian citizen Yuriy Soloshenko was sentenced to six-year imprisonment in a penal colony for trying to purchase equipment for repair of the Ukrainian air defense systems, according to the FSB.

RWE’s technical director, Stanislav Kazda, projects a ten-fold increase in the accident rate of gas distribution pipelines across Ukraine in five years, Ukrainian media reported. According to him, 3,500 - 4000 kilometers of gas distribution pipelines require annual replacement.

15 rail cars modernized for the "Kyoto money" will be put to service in Kyiv subway by the end of 2015. Ten of these cars have already been put into operation. Next year it is planned to upgrade another 130 rail cars.

39 Ukrainian troops wounded in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) undergo treatment abroad, according to the Defense Ministry. 121 servicemen are being treated in the Ukrainian healthcare facilities.

REUTERS

58% of Russians strongly oppose the return of territories seized from Ukraine, according to a poll by the Russian Levada Center.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) declared 62 Ukrainian banks insolvent since early 2014, according to the NBU press service.

75% of the creditors agreed to write off Ukraine’s $3 billion public debt, according to the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, Russia has held out of the restructuring deal. Further talks are scheduled for October 29.

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has won yet another presidential election with 83.49% of the votes, the Belarusian media reported with referring to the Central Election Commission of Belarus. 6% of voters supported no certain candidates.

A 90-kilometer fence will be constructed along Latvia’s border with Russia, Minister of Internal Affairs of Latvia reported, according to the foreign media. The project of frontier reinforcement suggests video surveillance cameras along fenceless border sectors.

The Iranian Parliament ratified the so-called “Nuclear Agreement” between Iran and the six world powers, with 161 votes, foreign media reported.

REUTERS

177 UN member states have voted in favor of the Ukraine’s election as non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the years 2016-2017. The total number of votes cast was 192, with one ballot declared invalid.

278 judges from Crimea are subject to disciplinary proceedings for treason, as they continued their work in the name of the Russian Federation despite judge’s oath, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine. Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine stipulates punishment of up to 15 years of prison for committing such acts.

482 international observers to the local elections in Ukraine have already been registered by the Central Election Commission, according to the CEC.

700 officials have been officially lustrated in Ukraine since the relevant law entered into force a year ago. They will not be able to return to the public service for the next ten years, said the officials from the parliamentary committee on preventing and combating corruption.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have received 1,600 units of new weapons and equipment since early 2015, according to the Defense Ministry. According to the state defense order for 2015, the Ministry of Defense has already concluded 90 contracts and agreements with other state-owned enterprises this year, worth over UAH 4.5 billion.

REUTERS

7,000 nationals of Russia and CIS countries may be fighting for ISIL, said Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Russian media reported. In turn, the representative of the US Central Command in the Middle East reported that the number of militants of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq may amount to 30,000 people.

Personnel of Ukraine’s brand new cyber police are expected to earn up to UAH 30,000. The Ministry of Interior have set up a competition for positions in a new police force. According to Interior  Minister Arsen Avakov, the minimum salary of the employees of a 400-strong Department of Cyber Police will be at UAH 6,000.

93,000 Ukrainian servicemen have taken direct part in hostilities in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Almost 108,000 have taken or are taking part in the ATO. At the same, only 75,712 troops have received the status of combatants, according to the Defense Ministry.

$15 million in additional humanitarian aid from the United States was allocated for the victims of the conflict in Donbas, according to the US Embassy in Ukraine. Thus, the total amount of humanitarian aid provided by the US to the east of Ukraine since the beginning of the crisis totals nearly $84 million.

1.22 billion people across the world get by  on less than $1.25 a day, while about 2.4 billion people get $2 a day, said the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, according to the UN News Center. According to him, one in five people in developing countries live below the poverty line.

Ukrainians paid UAH 6.39 billion in war tax in January-September, 2015, according to theState Fiscal Service. This is 14.4% more than the planned figure.

Ukraine seeks to receive $15 billion in financial support from international partners instead of the current $7.5 billion, said Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko. According to her, Ukraine has reasons and grounds for a considerable increase in financial support.

Margarita Andreyeva

UNIAN in Google News