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on Facebook that it “considers it inadmissible to declare statements that could harm the national security of the state, in particular in the financial and economic sphere, and adversely affect the situation in the country. We urge any expatriates to refrain from making any such ambiguous comments and to take care of Ukraine’s national interests and not to sow panic among the population and shake the economic stability of the state.”
Ukrinform lists Russian military strength on Ukraine’s eastern border: 87,000 troops, 1,100 tanks and 2,600 armored personnel carriers. In Russia-controlled Crimea and Donbas, there another 70,000 Russian soldiers, 500 tanks, and 1,100 armored personnel carriers.
Breaking a decade-old ban, the Rada passed a bill to legalize gambling in July. Voted 248-95, on the second reading, the bill is expected to overcome final hurdles and go to Zelenskiy for his signature by Friday. Advocates say it will draw gambling out of the shadows, generating $150mn in revenue for the government annually.
Olena Zelenska, wife of President Zelenskiy, was released from a Kyiv hospital June 6 two weeks after she was interned with double pneumonia brought on by coronavirus infection. On Sunday, Kyiv Mayor Klitchko announced that 78 new cases have been identified in the city. About 20% of positive cases result in hospitalizations in Kyiv. Nationwide, there have been 48,500 known cases and 1,249 deaths since the first cases were recorded in Ukraine, in March.
Drunk driving now is a criminal offense in Ukraine. Starting yesterday, maximum fines for first time offenders tripled, to $1,275. Repeat offenders face a fine of $1,900 and loss of license for three years.
Kyiv’s new tow trucks are towing illegally parked cars at the rate of 100 a day. From April through June, 9,065 cars were towed from central Kyiv, ringing up $185,000 in parking fines. For drivers who are slow learners, the traffic police are marking illegal spots: “A place for lovers of fines.” Today, July 1, Ukraine introduces a tougher punishment for drivers for driving while intoxicated. In particular, for offending drivers, the amount of fines increases significantly.
Speeding fines would increase 6-fold, to $130, under a bill that the government plans to submit to the Rada in September, Anton Gerashchenko, Deputy Internal Affairs Minister, told reporters yesterday. Last week, Ukraine’s new speed cameras clocked 223 cases of cars moving faster than 170 kph (106 mph). The champion was a Mercedes Benz recorded traveling at 210 kph (130 mph) on the Kyiv-Kharkiv highway. The top repeat offender was the driver of a Mitsubishi Lancer. He was clocked 22 times in one week traveling at 170 kph in a 110 kph zone.
French shipbuilder Ocea has signed a €136.5mn contract with Ukraine’s Border Guard Service to provide 20 fast patrol boats by 2023. Fifteen of the 32-meter boats will be built at Ocea’s Atlantic shipyard, about 100 km south of Saint-Nazaire. The other five will be built at Nibulon’s shipyard in Mykolaiv. The aluminum boats have a range of 1,200 nautical miles, roughly the equivalent of Ukraine’s coast line, from Izmail, on the Danube, to Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov.
20 UKRAINE Country Report August 2020 www.intellinews.com
