07/12/2014 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - The government has permitted the import of electricity from Russia

07/12/2014 Daily Highlights by the "Digests and Analytics - Ukraine" News Agency

Topics of the day

The government has permitted the import of electricity from Russia. Donetsk is exposed to intensive shelling. The gas war between Russia and Europe is gaining steam.

Events In Ukraine

• Тhe new Ukrainian government’s program of actions will be presented at the session of the Verkhovna Rada on December 9th.
• A bill for abolishment of the tax benefits for companies registered in Cyprus has been introduced in the Parliament.
• The government has given temporary permission to the state enterprise "Ukrinterenergo" to import electricity from Russia.
• Fuel and Energy Minister Demchishin said that Ukraine has only half of the required amount of coal and gas reserves for the winter period. He announced the resuming of inspections of regional energy suppliers. Ukraine made prepayment for Russian natural gas and ready to begin the import on this Monday. In the event of an emergency in the energy sector the government is ready to launch additional 5 GWt of power generation capacity reserve running on furnace oil.
• In Vinnytsya, civil society activists continued protests against removal of the regional council chairman and demanded to dismiss the head of the regional state administration. “Viche” (meeting) voted for the election of a new peoples’ governor from the ”Svoboda" Party.
• President Poroshenko said that the government is ready to begin the processes of decentralization, and elected representatives of local communities should be ready to take the responsibility for ensuring the vital functions in the regions.
• Defense Minister Poltorak assumes the possibility of acknowledgment of volunteers involved as participants of military operations.
• In Odessa, simultaneous meetings of pro-Ukrainian activists and pro-Russian "Odessa republic" initiators passed without any incident.
• Patriarch Filaret of Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Kyiv Patriarchate announced that 30 parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate ready to cross-over into Kiev Patriarchate.
• Police opened a criminal investigation after the demolition of yet another monument to Lenin by civil society activists in the city of Novomoskovs’k (Dnipropetrovs’k region).

War in Ukraine

• Тhe massive shelling of residential areas of Donetsk resulted in deaths of at least five civilians. Terrorists set their artillery positions right inside residental zones.
• The “hot spots” of the war zone are still Donetsk International Airport, Avdiyivka, Horlivka and some small cities near Debaltseve, where two Ukrainian soldiers and several civilians have been killed as a result of shelling by terrorists. The intensity of the attacks has increased dramatically after the arrival of yet another Russian "humanitarian" convoy. Ukrainian army retaliatory artillery strikes near Elenovka hit militants’ combat units and inflicted heavy losses in man power and military equipment.
• Temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada will continue to investigate the causes of the defeat of Ukrainian troops near Ilovais’k.
• President Poroshenko met with the Special Representative of the OSCE Mission Mrs. Tagliavini to discuss ways of solving the conflict in the Donets’k Basin in the context of preparing to the next announced meeting of the contact group in Minsk.
• The terrorists of Donetsk “republic” demanded to postpone the meeting until December 12th "to consult with their governing structures”.

Ukraine and world

• Lithuanian President Grybauskaite said that after the launch of the LNG terminal, Baltic republics are no longer feeling the needfor the natural gas from Russia.
• World Bank predicts that the price of oil in the next two years will remain at about $70 per barrel, but do not exclude the fall of its value down to $40 in several circumstances if economic growth in China and Europe slows down. It also forecasts a widespread use of alternative energy sources.
• EU-Turkey negotiations begin. European Commission officials hope to convince Turkish leaders to join Western sanctions against Russia. Partners are also planning to discuss the cooperation in the fight against militants of "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant".
• German Chancellor Merkel has accused Russia of meddling in the internal affairs of Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine, which seek rapprochement with the EU. She said that the NATO countries will support Baltic States in the event of aggression against them.