Verkhovna Rada

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine met in Washington with the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada to discuss further defense, financial and humanitarian assistance from Canada, as well as a possible visit to Ukraine and the Canadian Parliament's patronage of the restoration of destroyed civilian infrastructure.

The Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights noted that Ukraine has a separate list of Ukrainian military personnel who were captured before the full-scale invasion.

The government has developed and partially launched four support programs to encourage energy sustainability for citizens and businesses, including interest-free loans for the installation of solar/wind installations. There are also preferential loans for gas generation systems, loans for condominiums for the installation of solar stations and heat pumps with a 70% reimbursement.

Five Ukrainian citizens were returned from places of detention in Belarus thanks to communication between the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights and the Belarusian side.

Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories who were forced to take Russian passports to survive will not be held responsible for this, assures Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Khilyuk, abducted by Russia in 2022, is reportedly alive in Russian captivity but is being tortured.

There are numerous cases of mobilization of persons under the age of 25 in Ukraine, which is a violation of the law. This was stated by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.

Ukraine does not expect a large-scale exchange of prisoners in the near future because of the significant difference in the number of citizens held: there are many more Ukrainians in Russia than Russians in Ukraine.

More than 400 women remain in Russian captivity as prisoners of war, and Ukraine is working to organize an exchange for their return with the help of the UAE.

Ukrainian MPs have called for providing Ukraine with the necessary weapons, lifting restrictions on their use, and recognizing Russia's actions as a terrorist act, as Russia has launched a massive missile attack on Ukrainian cities that killed dozens of people.

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, traveled to the United States to participate in the NATO Parliamentary Speakers' Summit and hold meetings aimed at ensuring comprehensive assistance to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, including Ukraine's membership in NATO and long-term military support.

During the Russian attack on the capital, a maternity hospital in Kyiv was damaged, resulting in human casualties.

A Russian missile attack severely damaged Okhmatdyt, Ukraine's largest children's hospital, where 7,000 complex surgeries are performed annually. surgeries every year. The number of victims is increasing. Dmytro Lubinets calls on international organisations to respond to Russian crimes.

Ukraine has already harvested 3. 7 million tons of new crops, including wheat, barley, peas, rapeseed and soybeans, from 1,154.3 thousand hectares in 21 regions.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal visited the lines of fortifications in Donetsk region, for which the government has allocated UAH 2. 4 billion out of UAH 37.3 billion for fortification construction this year.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed the Law "On Preschool Education", which aims to improve the working conditions of teachers, expand the rights of parents, introduce new forms and types of kindergartens, and regulate various aspects of preschool education.

The Ukrainian government has approved a bill to withdraw from the Agreement on Transit through the Territories of the Commonwealth of Independent States in connection with Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine.

The renaming of Brovary to Brovari should not take place without consultation with the local community, as such decisions require taking into account the opinion of residents, according to the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

Two other draft laws submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine propose to allow companies to "reserve" up to 50% of their employees subject to military service by paying a fee of UAH 20,400 per person to the state budget.

Putin demanded the "irreversible" "demilitarization" of Ukraine as a precondition for any ceasefire agreement.

A Verkhovna Rada committee has approved for the second reading a draft law to increase excise taxes on fuel, including liquefied natural gas, with the law expected to come into force on September 1, 2024.

The National Bank of Ukraine is discussing the possibility of introducing restrictions on card-to-card transfers and setting a limit of UAH 100,000 for such transactions, but is committed to finding a solution that takes into account the concerns of volunteers and the public.

More than 11 million men aged 25 to 59 are potentially subject to mobilization in Ukraine. About 565,000 have already been booked.

The Ukrainian MP said that all those who cooperate with the Russian occupants, including those who do business with them, are enemies of Ukraine and the authorities should take appropriate measures against them.

The Service for Children and Families assures that during monitoring visits, representatives of the Ombudsman's office were provided with information about all children who were or continue to be evacuated without exception.

The National Bank of Ukraine reports a steady downward trend in lending rates: since June last year, lending rates have fallen by 4%, indicating a gradual recovery in lending activity across various sectors, including corporates, small and medium-sized businesses, and retail lending.

Despite the war, Ukraine managed to reverse the downward trend in household time deposits: in 2023, they grew by 37%, and the share of such deposits increased from 30% to 35%.

Andriy Kostin, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, may face dismissal for refusing to appear in the Verkhovna Rada in the case of alleged corruption of his former deputy, Dmytro Verbytskyi. At least, MP Honcharenko believes that such behavior is sufficient grounds for resignation.

The war in Ukraine has increased the level of poverty and set the country back 16 years in addressing this issue, said Halyna Tretyakova, chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Social Policy and Veterans' Rights.

Mykola Zinchenko, a member of the Brovary City Council, said that the proposed renaming of Brovary to Brovary is not decommunization, but populism by some politicians to satisfy their dubious ambitions.