News from Ukraine

Mr President, Mr Prime Minister, Mr Chairman, Honourable Members of the Rada: I come from the world’s oldest Parliament to address the world’s bravest. And it is an honour to do so. Every Parliamentarian serving in a democratically elected chamber treasures the ideal of freedom. Your courage is defending it. Even as the enemy came within 20 kilometres of this Chamber, with many of you personally targeted, you refused to be daunted. You continued to sit and do your duty - as you have throughout this war. Because this is where you express the sovereignty and independence, for which your people are...

Russians prepare false flag "assault" on ZNPP – Defence Intelligence The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine has reported that in the near future, the Russians are planning to organise another provocation at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) with the use of heavy weapons. Source: press service of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Quote: "The occupiers are likely to organise another armed provocation on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the near future. To this end, the FSB's ‘military counterintelligence department’ is spreading information among the occupation contingent about the alleged preparation of an assault on the ZNPP by the Ukrainian defence forces." Details: The Russian secret service has claimed that ...

he Belarusian Red Cross has confirmed that it is taking part in "exporting" Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to Belarus. Source: Belarusian publication Zerkalo with reference to the statement of Dmitry Shevtsov, the chairman of the Belarusian Red Cross, during a trip to Donbas, which was broadcast on the Belarus 1 TV channel Quote from Shevtsov: "I was outraged to the core by the fact that people, I think, because their minds are corrupted, or they think doing so makes sense, accused Belarus of kidnapping children who come to us for rehabilitation. And to be honest, the fact is that the Belarusian Red Cross has taken an active part in this – and is taking, and will continue to do so." Details: Shevtsov said this to...

In the conditions of Martial Law Hryhorii Halahan Chernihiv Regional Art Museum continues to work, scientific researches prepare online exhibitions and projects, which we create for our visitors, in order to support them in this heavy period of time.

On the war actions Hryhorii Halahan Chernihiv Regional Art Museum answered by online art project “Inter arma”, within which are represented works of Ukrainian and foreign artists – Viktor Onyshchenko, Olena Sachenko, Nata Levitasova, Kateryna Vasechko, G. Luidgi Rossi. On the pictures are depicted ruined buildings of Chernihiv, which are dear to the heart of each of us, tragedies of Bucha and Mariupol, and together with these painful feelings to war and belief in the victory.

Kateryna Vasechko graduated from the Arts School and...

On the ninth day of the Russian invasion, the occupiers' main efforts focused on encircling Kyiv and weakening resistance in the settlements they blocked. "The main efforts of the occupiers were focused on the encirclement of Kyiv and the weakening of resistance in the settlements they blocked,» said General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. «The occupiers also continued to launch missile and bomb strikes on settlements. Artillery and rocket-propelled grenades were used to destroy critical infrastructure and housing. " In the Lutsk direction, there are no significant changes in the situation of Ukrainian troops. In the northern direction, Chernihiv carries out heroic defence. Units of the operational group of troops hold positions on the occupied frontiers. In the area of the settlement of Mykhailo-Kotsyubynske, Chernihiv region, a column of up...

The territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is occupied by Russian troops, they control the administrative buildings and the passage to the plant. "The ZNPP administrative building and the checkpoint at the station are under the control of the occupiers,» said Energoatom NPP. "The station staff continues to work on power units, ensuring stable operation of nuclear facilities. The radiation background is normal. Unfortunately, there are dead and wounded among the Ukrainian defenders of the station." "On March 4, 2022, the Zaporizhzhia NPP site was shelled by the military forces of the Russian Federation,» said the State Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine. «As a result of which a fire broke out on the territory of ZNPP. The fire was extinguished by the SES of Ukraine." «The site of the Zaporizhzhia NPP has been seized by the military forces of the Russian Federation,» they said. "Personnel work at their workplaces, operational personnel monitor the condition of power units and ensure their operation in accordance with the...

Discussions of the reform, however, often overlook potential negative consequences, such as a greater degree of concentration of power in the hands of self-serving local elites. There are strong indications that some degree of ‘local elite capture’ has indeed occurred in a number of places. This article is based on the publication “Decentralization and the Risk of Local Elite Capture in Ukraine“ from the book “Regional Diversity, Decentralization and Separatism in Ukraine”, which was edited by Maryna Rabinovych and Oksana Shelest and published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2020. The publication draws on 149 interviews held in 2017 and 2018 with representatives of the newly formed amalgamated territorial communities in the Kharkiv and Odesa regions. The...

2020 was challenging, to say the least. But despite everything, there was also some good news from infrastructural projects, part of which should, step-by-step, create the basis for future growth in Ukraine. Airports Modern airports are not just enablers for traveling but have a direct impact on economic growth. Different international research shows that the existence of modern airports increases the gross domestic product of the region by up to 3%. The state of Ukrainian airports is sad if we don’t take into account the new terminals built to host the Euro 2012 football championships. Even the 1 million inhabitants in the eastern provincial capital of Dnipro don’t have a modern airport. For the first time in eight years, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, and the government have dedicated funding for the upgrade of six airports – Dnipro, Odesa, Kherson, Vinnytsia, Rivne and...

Ukraine faces extremely difficult times ahead — and it isn’t ready. As COVID-19 cases spike around the globe, daily new cases are breaking previous records in Ukraine, too. Ukrainians have a “hard winter” to come, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov has warned. Back on November 13, Stepanov said that the health ministry’s principal goal over the winter period will be to “get through this pandemic with minimal losses.” Losses here refers to “human life,” and worse economic fallout and more lockdown measures may be on the horizon, he added. Since then, that prognosis has gone from likely to inevitable. Both Stepanov and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal have now said the country will impose a lockdown, probably for three weeks, in January. On December 6, Shmyhal announced that the Cabinet had polled city mayors and...

The appointment of a person associated with notorious pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk as Deputy Prosecutor General and reports that is to be in charge of Maidan cases seem another slap in the face to the families of slain Maidan victims, one of many over the last year. The assurances given by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prosecutor General that the trial of five ex-Berkut officers, accused of gunning down peaceful Maidan protesters, would continue despite the suspects having been released in exchange for Donbas hostages, have proven as empty as feared. It became clear in December 2019 that the five men suspected of mass murder of 48 Maidan activists were to be handed over to the Russian-controlled Donbas militants in the prisoner exchange of 29 December. Although Zelensky defended the...