Employees of the special subdivision of the Security Service of Ukraine “Alfa” detained ex Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko near his house in Kyiv. Criminal case is instituted against Lutsenko because of abuse of power. The Prosecutor General's Office instituted a criminal case against ex Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko on the basis of offence stipulated by part 3 of article 364 of the Cri
minal Code of Ukraine. The press service of the Prosecutor General's Office disclosed this to UNIAN. Pechersk district court of Kyiv changed a preventive punishment to ex Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko from a written undertaking not to leave the country to taking him into custody so most probably Lutsenko will celebrate New Year in prison
have been closed for quarantine until December 19 inclusively and the winter holidays will be reduced by four days, as the flu and acute respiratory viral infection rate exceeds the epidemic threshold. The press service of Poltava city executive committee told reporters that the number of those who have fallen ill exceeded the epidemic threshold by two times: the illness rate among pupils is 437.7 per 10,000 citizens, while the epidemic threshold is 213.5. "This, in turn, led to a change in the terms of the winter holidays in comprehensive educational institutions of the city: from December 27, 2010 to January 9, 2011 (14 calendar days) to the period from December 31, 2010 to January 9, 2011 (10 calendar days). December 27-30 will be working educational days," reads a report by the press service.http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/55469/
There are two million Ukrainians who, according to trade union data, live on the official minimum wage of Hr 907 ($115) a month or Hr 30 ($3.70) a day. The minimum wage is the basic financial unit the government uses to set other financial targets, such as pensions, student stipends, social subsidies and other payments guaranteed by the laws of Ukraine. Five volunteers agreed to live for a month off minimum wage, one made it. They can’t chat with their friends over a cup of coffee. They can’t afford meat. They can’t buy new shoes before the old ones fall apart. What they can do is eat a lot of cheap noodles and bread. They sleep in order not to feel hungry. That means they sleep a lot. They don’t live. They survive. 
November 16, 2010 (UNIAN). Foreign Minister of Poland Radoslaw Sikorski and Foreign Minister of Sweden Carl Bildt are about to visit Ukraine on November 17, on Wednesday.
November 12, 2010 (Interfax-Ukraine). Kyiv-based Antonov State Enterprise is planning to create a new multipurpose transport aircraft based on An-158 for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which will replace the obsolete An-12, the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has reported. The plans to re-equip the army with new aircraft were announced at a meeting between Ukrainian Air Force Commander Serhiy Onyschenko and Antonov General Designer Dmytro Kiva.The parties discussed the ways to resolve problems on maintaining the airworthiness of An-24, An-26 and An-30 planes, as well as proposals on the army's future need for new aircraft, including An-26 light military transport aircraft.The two sides also discussed cooperation in the organization of flight tests and the mass production of the new An-70 short takeoff and landing transport aircraft.As reported, Antonov is planning to create the new An-178 transport aircraft with a cargo capacity of up to 15 tonnes to transport military and commercial cargo. 
November 7, 2010 KYIV. (UKRINFORM). Military reconstruction clubs from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Czech Republic and Poland held the 7th Festival of Military History named "For Kyiv! Year 1943" dedicated to the 67th anniversary of liberation of Kyiv from fascist invaders, in Pyrohovo, a village near Kyiv. Besides watching a military reconstruction of the 1943 battle, the festival visitors could also get familiar with battle machinery of the Great Patriotic War times, taste field cuisine and attend a concert of military songs. 
November 3, 2010. Poltava city council.
October 28, 2010 (Interfax-Ukraine). Ukraine is preparing to deliver its first eleven BTR-4 armored vehicles to Iraq in November under a large-scale contract on arms supply worth over $550 million struck in 2009. This was reported by the Ukrainian deputy industrial policy minister in charge of defense industry, Kostiantyn Kucher. "January 6 is the Day of the Iraqi Army, one of the country's most important events and one of the largest holidays. Therefore in January our eleven BTR-4 vehicles will participate in the parade," he told reporters in Kharkiv on Thursday. In 2009, the subsidiary of state-owned Ukrspetsexport – state-run Progress specialized foreign trade firm – signed a contract with Iraq worth more than $550 million, which is supposed to be one of an upcoming series of contracts in the sphere of military and technical cooperation between Ukraine and Iraq. The contract foresees the delivery more than 400 armored vehicles, in particular the BTR-4, about 10 An-32 aircraft, and aircraft repair services over three to three-and-a-half years.Among the major contractors are Kharkiv-based Morozov Engineering Design Bureau, Kharkiv-based state-run Malyshev plant, and Antonov State Enterprise. According to Antonov State Enterprise, the first three An-32 aircraft will be delivered to Iraq by the end of this year, and another three in 2011-2012. 
Thus, according to the poll, 91 percent of Ukrainians believe corruption is strongly widespread or rather widespread in Ukraine. When asked about their personal experiences, respondents most commonly cited two cases: public hospitals demanding unofficial payments for better treatment, and the traffic police extorting money instead of fining offenders. Forty-six percent of respondents paid bribes in hospitals more than once, 12 percent indicated that they had to pay just once. The traffic police received bribes more than once from 22 percent of respondents, while only four percent paid once. However, the study showed that Ukrainians were less pessimistic about the direction of the country’s development. Thus, 44 percent (compared to 74 percent in 2009, and 76 percent in 2008) of respondents believed that Ukraine was heading towards instability and chaos, while 21 percent (seven percent in 2009) believed that Ukraine was heading towards stability and prosperity. However, most respondents (83 percent) were dissatisfied with the economic situation this year, with 60 percent also being dissatisfied with the political situation (92 percent in 2009). 75 percent of respondents expressed concern about inflation (58 percent in 2009). Serious concerns were also expressed regarding other economic issues. These included unemployment (56 percent), poverty (51 percent), corruption (37 percent) and general economic issues (36 percent). This year’s political problems concerned 11 percent of respondents. The study was conducted September 8 through 20, with 1,519 respondents throughout Ukraine.
October 14, 2010 (Associated Press). Prosecutors said oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky's own testimony has proven his guilt, as closing arguments got under way Thursday in his 20-month-old fraud trial. Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year sentence for tax evasion and is on trial in a second case on charges of fraud and embezzling $25 billion in crude oil. If found guilty, he faces up to 15 more years in prison after his initial term expires in a year.He denies all charges in the politically driven legal onslaught. 
pale and dressed in a worn-out black suede jacket and black slacks, made notes while listening to the prosecutors' arguments. Khodorkovsky's lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant told reporters during the recess that prosecutors have no real evidence, which is why "they produce flows of words, senseless and inconherent."Putin's successor, President Dmitry Medvedev, has pledged to reform Russia's judicial system, which suffers from endemic corruption and is subject to political influence. Khodorkovsky's ability to receive a fair trial has been seen as a test of Medvedev's commitment to reform and willingness to break with Putin's policies.Putin has not softened toward Khodorkovsky. 
KYIV, October 12, 2010 (UKRINFORM). 38 people have been killed in a collision between a train and a local bus in the town of Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk region (central Ukraine), Tuesday morning. Another 12 are in grave condition, railway authorities reported.
October 1, 2010 (UKRINFORM). Roll-Royce, the British automaker and the world's second-largest maker of aircraft engines, is interested in cooperation with Ukraine's state-owned aircraft concern Antonov, Paul Kaye, Rolls-Royce director for Central and Eastern Europe, has said at the AviaSvit-XXI International Aviation & Space Show in Kyiv region. In his words, Ukraine is one of the leading countries in civil cargo aircraft design. According to Kaye, one of the advantages of Rolls-Royce's aircraft engines is a well-developed maintenance network. "We provide technical support to 600 airlines," the British firm representative said. In this connection, he recalled that the Ukrainian DniproAvia airlines operate Embraer-145 aircrafts equipped with Rolls-Royce engines. During the Ukrainian-British Business Forum, held as part of the airshow, Kaye also stressed the interest in developing cooperation with the Ukrainian scientific-research and design institutes.
September 11, 2010 (UKRINFORM). The National Space Agency predicts that in 2011-2015, 30 launches of Ukrainian rocket Zenit-3SL will be held from the starting complex Sea Launch, Adviser to NSA Director Eduard Kuznetsov said. According to Kuznetsov, these days, negotiations will complete on the future project Sea Launch. Carrier rocket Zenit-3SL, developed in the design office Pidvdenny and made by Pivdenny Machine Building Plant named after Makarov (both in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine's south) is the basis of the Sea Launch project.
This impressive medieval military show have taken place on August 28, 2010 in the village of Kopachiv located 35 km. away from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. About 500 miliraty reconstructors from Ukraine, Poland, Russia, Belarus, and France arrived to this hospitable village to show what life was like in 9th-11th centuries to the numerous spectators. Many forgotten holds of hand-to-hand combat of that time were shown to the appreciative audience. In the frame at the festival a big medieval culinary contest was organized. A few medieval music group presented their performance to the public. I sincere wish SMB members were here!