Official results of the Parliamentary elections were announced. UN security council meeting on Ukrainian issues ended with no resolution.
● Ukraine
Official results of the early parliamentary elections were published in “Holos of Ukraine”.
● All minsters of the acting government and governors from “VO Svoboda” party resigned.
● President Poroshenko had a meeting with leaders of law enforcement agencies, focused on investigation of crimes against Maidan activists. Delegation from the international Criminal Court in Hague arrived to Ukraine in order to investigate killings on Maidan.
● Ukraine received another consecutive part of macro-financial aid from the EU equal to 260 mln. EUR. 600 mln. EUR have been already received previously.
● 1 bln. UAH of extra financing is planned to be spent for arms purchases for Ukrainian Army.Internal Affairs Minister Avakov announced equipпинг of National Guard with newly developed of weapons.
● Official exchange rate of Ukrainian hryvnya slightly stabilized: 15.75 UAH/USD (-2cop), 19.57 UAH/EUR (-12cop), 3.42 UAH/10 RUB (-2cop). NBU increased refinancing interest rate from 12.5% to 14%. Mechanism of foreign currency auctions will be improved.
Kyiv
● Kyiv City Mayor Klitchko announced the increase of municipal transport tarrifs.
War in Ukraine
● Within the combat zone, escalation of the conflict have been evidenced in Luhansk region, in Stanitsa Luhanska, Schastye, accross Luhansk-Severodonetsk highway. In Donetsk region, militants shelled Dzerzhynsk, Avdyivka, Donetsk airport and checkpoint near Mariupol. At least two Ukrainian military were killed.
● As stressed by the SSU representative Lubkivsky, Russia performs mining of Azov sea waters in order to block Mariupol from the sea. Donetsk governor Kihtenko said that a tank group of terrorist army is concentrating in the south in Dokuchaivsk. Militants are transferring artillery to Yasinuvata.
● OSCE observers record a sharp increase in the transfer of military uniformed personnel from Russian territory to Ukraine. The flow of autos with wounded and dead in the opposite direction has also increased. OSCE leadership claimed that mission in Donbass was blocked by militants, especially when it came to access to the State border with Russia.
● Defense Minister Poltorak foresees escalation of the situation within the combat zone as Russian troops and its marionettes are growing in numbers in Donbass.
● As declared by the leader of the terrorist Luhansk “republic” Plotnitsky, a “referendum” on unification of the territory with Russia is being planned.
● Russia doesn’t want to issue diplomas to graduates from higher educational institutions located on the territory of DPR and LPR.
International
● UN Security Council meeting convened at the initiative of the United States to discuss the situation in Ukraine, ended without a resolution. Russia refused all accusations on troops invasion to Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian representative urged Russia, US and EU to come back to negotiations in Geneva format without representatives of “terrorist” republics DPR and LPR. US believes that the World community can’t afford the creation of another frozen conflict in Europe, but should react on the challenges from the Russian side.
● US State Department spokesman Psaki accused Russia and its satellites in constant gross violations of Minsk agreements and in sending troops and equipment to the territory of eastern Ukraine. US and EU are discussing the deepening and widening of sanctions against Russia. US representative to the UN Power stated that the condition of their removal will be the full implementation of previous agreements and the withdrawal of troops from the territory of Ukraine, which has the right to defend its territory.
● NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg once again urged Russia to withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory.
● Russia intends to withdraw from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), where its voting rights were withdrawn in April 2014 after the annexation of the Crimea.
● President Poroshenko withdrew Ukrainian representative from the CIS Executive Committee.
EU sees progress in the implementation of the program of visa-free regime, but the final decision on cancellation is unlikely to be adopted because of the lack of significant progress in the fight against crime and corruption.
● Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia is creating a complete self-contained group of troops in the occupied Crimea.
● Prices for Brent oil, being an indicator in energy sector calculations, went down below 80 USD per barrel on international markets.
Trends
● For newly elected deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, there is very little time for the opening of the first session and the appointment of the government due to catastrophic situation in the economy.
● International institutions are unable to resolve armed conflicts because of a conceptually new hybrid warfare, which Russia is conducting.
Digests & Analytics Ukraine for Information Resistance