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Andriy Portnov, a lawyer for the Yanukovych entourage who is widely believed to be influencing the Zelenskiy administration, published all the personal data of the news crew’s drivers about a year ago, said on August 17 Natalie Sedletska, the chief editor of the Skhemy investigative news program. A criminal case was opened against him but has not been investigated, she said on her Facebook page. Then on August 14, Portnov wrote on his Facebook page,” The marginal Radio Liberty – I am continuing the complex of educational measures,” she noted. At the same time, the torched car “was well known among a wide circle of the subjects of our materials,” she wrote. Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov initiated an August 17 meeting with RFE/RL Kyiv Bureau Chief Editor Inna Kuznetsova to promise her “an objective and open to society investigation” of the car arson. They also discussed the criminal case for the bugging of Tkach’s home. Police investigating the scene said they hadn’t found any bugging device. As his response to the arson, President Zelenskiy promised to defend the rights of all the government’s critics in a Facebook post. “I am convinced that freedom of speech is the foundation of any democratic country. Journalistic activity never can be the basis for persecution,” he said, also noting that he had a car that was set on fire in December 2014. Zelenskiy also noted that his comedy troupe had also been the target of bugging and monitoring by law enforcement, as well as interference and prohibitions on their concerts. “I went through all of that. I know what that is and I will never allow any government criticism to lead to persecution or intimidation during my presidency,” he said. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced on August 17 the arrest of a former police officer who allegedly organized the January arson of a car belonging to Halyna Tereshchuk, a Lviv journalist with RFE/RL. He was named a suspect in the criminal cases of participating in a crime and intentional destruction of the property of a journalist. In that arson case, a 19-year-old university student was issued a notice of suspicion and placed under 24-hour house arrest.
US government agencies may have slow walked approval of steel company sale in 2017, helping to sink 20% of the $1 billion that Ihor Kolomoisky and his partner Hennadiy Boholyubov had invested in the US​, according to a report by RFE/RL. “Ukrainian Tycoons Lost Their Expansive U.S. Steel Business To Bankruptcy. What Role Did Washington Play?” headlines the 2,100-word piece by Washington-based reporter Todd Prince. Coming nine months after the nationalization of PrivatBank in December 2016, the failed sale may have been part of increased US government scrutiny of Kolomoisky. On Tuesday, FBI agents raided the US offices of the two Ukrainians.
Ukraine's cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus set the latest daily record of 1,453 on August 6​, Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said in his daily press briefing. That’s compared to 1,318 cases on August 5 and 1,271 cases on August 4. Thirty-three people died, 280 were hospitalized, while 531 were reported to have recovered on August 6. The majority of new cases were registered in Kyiv (186), the Odesa region (156) and the Lviv region (152). The most active illnesses are in the Lviv region (7,456), city of Kyiv (5,873) and the Ivano-Frankivsk region (3,288).
Leonid Kravchuk, the first president of Ukraine, announced on July 30 that he has agreed to accept the President’s Office offer to lead the Ukrainian delegation at the Trilateral Contact Group in Minsk ​to resolve the warfare in Donbas. President Zelensky signed a decree appointing Kravchuk the same day. The 86-year-old Kravchuk is replacing his successor
12​ UKRAINE Country Report​ September 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com