12/26/2015 Ukraine: Daily Highlights - Pope wished Ukraine the peace in the new year

Pope wished Ukraine the peace in the new year

12.26.2015 Daily Highlights by the Digests & Analytics Ukraine Agency

Topics from Media and Social Networks

• Pope wished Ukraine the peace in the new year.
• 18-year-old opposition activist who supports Ukraine committed suicide in Russia.

Key Events in Ukraine

• President Poroshenko signed laws on the abolition of import duties, on the privatization of state and municipal print media and on the optimization of administrative services provided by local authorities.
• Court on the preventive measure to the Ukrop party leader Korban rescheduled for Sunday. He was taken to the hearing less than a day after the surgery and was evacuated to the hospital due to deteriorating health.

Ukraine at War

• Militants do not stop firing on the positions of Ukrainian army and Ukrainian settlements. Three soldiers were injured yesterday according to official reports. Woman was killed during mortar attack on Zaitseve.
• The observers of the OSCE mission were not able to inspect Kominternovo occupied by militants.
• “Authorities” of Luhansk "republic" have announced the installation of "border posts" at checkpoints across the line of contact, equipped with electronic data on individuals "threatening the security of the republic", on December 30.
• Russia has appointed the former speaker of the State Duma Gryzlov as representative in the Contact Group at the talks in Minsk. According to one of the Ukrainian negotiators Gerashchenko Ukraine's position will not change with this appointment.

Ukraine and the World

• Pope Francis in the Christmas message wished peace to Ukraine and to alleviate the suffering of the people.
• The main exporters of arms in the world in 2015 were the United States and Russia. Ukraine occupies the ninth place and the company "Ukroboronprom" is 92nd among the world's arms manufacturers.
• Negotiations on the settlement of the Syrian conflict under the auspices of the United Nations will begin January 25, 2016 in Geneva.
• Turkish President Erdogan said he would not participate in a coalition against the terrorist Islamic state, because he does not consider Assad as the legitimate president of Syria. US will not share intelligence information with Russia until Putin supports the Assad regime.
• As a result of the Russian aviation bombing of school in Syria nine people including five children were killed.