Calls grow for dismissal of Avakov
A 26-year-old woman was brought to a police station in the central Ukrainian town of Kaharlyk, where officers told her she would be questioned as a witness to an alleged theft. But according to the State Bureau of Investigation, two policemen covered her face with a gas mask and handcuffed her, fired a gun over her head and then raped her several times on the night of May 23. A week later and just 90 kilometers north, in a residential suburb of Kyiv, some 100 gunmen from two rival criminal gangs engaged in a shoot-out in broad daylight. The melee, a video of which went viral, left several people wounded and spawned comparisons to the anarchic, hyper-violent video game “Grand Theft Auto” on social media. The incidents highlight what critics of Ukraine’s formidable internal affairs minister, Arsen Avakov, say is his failure to reform the police and bring law and order to the country. They also add to a growing list of high-profile cases in recent years in which Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have been accused of involvement, negligence or botching the investigation on Minister Avakov’s watch. Now those critics say it’s time for Minister Avakov to go. Those expressing their desire for his ouster include members of civil society, especially human rights groups and anti-corruption activists, and lawmakers, some of them from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s ruling party, Servant of the People. They argue that Mr. Avakov has abused his power for too long and failed to reform a law enforcement system that prioritizes politics over protecting the public. “Let’s face it, he’s been the internal affairs minister for the past six years and six years is a long term, an amount of time that allows a person to make changes,” Inna Sovsun, a lawmaker from the Holos party who is pushing for Mr. Avakov’s removal, told RFE/RL. “If there was a chance he was going to do something, he would have done it already.” (Christopher Miller of RFE/RL)
Avakov: corruption at root of mass shooting
Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov has said that a mass shooting incident in the town of Brovary near the capital is linked to corruption among Kyiv city and regional authorities. Mr. Avakov wrote on Twitter that 10 people were arrested and more are expected to be apprehended for their involvement in the shooting incident on May 29. “The shootout in Brovary this morning is an echo of corruption with regard to the definition of quotas for transportation services and the involvement of gangs in the war for passenger routes… Executive authorities of Kyiv and the region… something is rotting,” Mr. Avakov tweeted. Earlier in the day, Mr. Avakov’s deputy, Anton Herashchenko, wrote on Facebook that three people were wounded in the shootout, which he called “a criminal settling of scores” between businesses providing transportation services with the involvement of local officials. “The [transportation] routes must be distributed legally and in a fair way, not under the table or for bribes,” Mr. Herashchenko wrote, adding that “a significant number of firearms was confiscated” from people involved in the shootout. Media reports quoted police in Brovary as saying that some 100 people, many from other regions of the country, were involved in the incident and that a probe into “hooliganism” had been launched. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
Ukraine, Hungary seek to overcome impasse
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his Hungarian counterpart, Peter Szijjarto, have discussed Kyiv-Budapest bilateral ties at a time Hungary is blocking NATO initiatives because of a restrictive language law in Ukraine. The May 29 trip to Budapest is Mr. Kuleba’s first non-virtual visit as foreign affairs minister since the introduction of restrictive measures to slow down the coronavirus pandemic. He assumed the post of foreign affairs minister in early March. The two ministers discussed investment and trade cooperation, joint efforts to implement infrastructure projects in Ukraine’s western region of Zakarpattia, where there is a sizeable Hungarian minority, and ways to further coordinate against the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. At a press conference after the talks, Mr. Kuleba said that “the time has come to open a new chapter in bilateral relations, find mutually beneficial solutions, double our efforts for the benefit of our people, countries and the continent in general.” Foreign Affairs Minister Szijjarto said that his country is also looking forward to developing closer ties with Ukraine, expressing hope that the issue of Ukraine’s laws on education and languages will be resolved, paving the way for better understanding. Hungary has been blocking NATO initiatives aimed at building closer ties with Ukraine since September 2017 in response to a new language law that overturned legislation allowing minorities in Ukraine to introduce their languages in regions where they represent more than 10 percent of the population. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) criticized the new law, saying it “does not appear to strike an appropriate balance between the official language and the languages of national minorities.” Mr. Szijjarto said, “We do not want to keep blocking [NATO initiatives], our goal is to reach agreements. We want to close all discussions related to [Ukraine’s] law on education and language, and we want to reach a solution that will be acceptable for Hungarians [in Ukraine’s western Zakarpattia region].” Mr. Kuleba also passed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s invitation to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to visit Ukraine. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, with reporting by Ukrinform, Hungary Today and Ukrayinska Pravda)
Ukrainian and German diplomats confer
Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba has discussed the ongoing conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv’s relationship with NATO and the issue of Russia-annexed Crimea with German officials during a one-day visit to Berlin. At a joint press conference after the talks on June 2, Mr. Kuleba and his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, said they had agreed to accelerate the implementation of agreements reached in Paris in December 2019 during talks held in the so-called Normandy format, a diplomatic process involving Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France to end fighting in eastern Ukraine. Foreign Affairs Minister Maas also said that Germany will continue to support Ukraine in the European Union as well as Kyiv’s ties with NATO. Germany’s top diplomat stressed the importance of ending fighting in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, known as the Donbas, some parts of which have been controlled by Moscow-supported separatists since April 2014. More than 13,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the conflict, including some 50 Ukrainian soldiers killed this year. Mr. Maas also pushed for more crossing points along the demarcation line in the Donbas, pointing out that the current five such points along the 400-kilometer line of contact are not enough. He also said it was important to continue demining operations in the conflict zone and stated that “all sides need compromises.” Mr. Kuleba said that Kyiv wants peace in the Donbas, but such peace should not lead to “crossing the red lines,” which “are national security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” Mr. Kuleba also addressed the importance of providing access to the International Committee of the Red Cross for Ukrainians illegally held in Russia-annexed Crimea. He separately mentioned dozens of Crimean Tatars held in Crimea and in Russia, saying Moscow is carrying out an “intentional policy” of persecution against the Muslim Turkic-speaking people of Crimea, the majority of whom opposed the peninsula’s annexation by Russia in 2014. (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service)
EU releases 500 M euro loan to Ukraine
The European Commission (EC) has approved the disbursement of the second and final 500 million euro ($555 million U.S.) tranche of its macro-financial assistance to Ukraine. The EC, the executive arm of the European Union, said on May 29 that the money will be paid out in the coming fortnight after Brussels noted its satisfaction with Ukrainian reforms in several sectors, including banking, energy and health care. The first tranche, also worth 500 million euros, was released in December 2018. With the latest installment, the EU has provided Kyiv with 3.8 billion euros of macro-financial assistance loans since 2014, when Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and started backing militants in a war in the eastern part of the country that has killed more than 13,000 people. This summer, the bloc is also expecting to disburse a separate loan worth 1.2 billion euros to Ukraine to help the country with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier on May 29, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that he expects the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to approve a $5 billion loan package for the country next week. (RFE/RL)
Ukraine reports 25,411 COVID-19 cases
As of June 4, Ukraine had 25,411 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases. A total of 588 new cases were confirmed over the past day, according to the data of the Coronavirus Epidemic Monitoring System; the previous day 483 coronavirus cases were confirmed. Twelve new deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, it was reported on June 4. Ukraine also reported 10,440 recoveries. The highest number of coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours was recorded in Kyiv city (77) and Lviv region (85). (Ukrinform)
Some regions not ready for eased restrictions
As of June 4, eight regions of Ukraine and Kyiv city do not meet all the necessary criteria for easing quarantine measures introduced to prevent the coronavirus spread. According to data provided by the Ukrainian Health Ministry, the Volyn, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zhytomyr, Luhansk, Lviv, Rivne and Chernivtsi regions and the city of Kyiv are not yet ready to ease lockdown restrictions. The ministry explained that these regions have a high incidence rate (the total number of new COVID-19 cases in the past seven days per 100,000 population), high occupancy of beds in hospitals and low coverage of the population by coronavirus testing. As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers on May 20 had decided to move to a so-called adaptive lockdown model from May 22 to June 22. (Ukrinform)
Kuleba: No special status for Donbas
Ukraine is ready for reasonable compromises on the settlement of the conflict in the Donbas but will not agree to any special status according to the Russian scenario, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on June 4 on his Facebook page, while commenting on the results of his visit to Berlin for talks with German Foreign Affairs Minister Heiko Maas. “We will not enter into a direct dialogue with occupation administrations. We will not accept the Kremlin-invented federalization. We will not make concessions in the border issue, the withdrawal of Russian troops, and the disbandment of occupation administrations,” Mr. Kuleba said. He said Ukraine continues to demonstrate its readiness to make reasonable compromises on the specifics of local self-government after the return of temporarily occupied territories to Ukraine. “But we will never agree to any special status according to the Russian scenario, with the right to veto nationwide decisions and other requirements that undermine our sovereignty,” he said. (Ukrinform)
New vice PM for Eurointegration
The Verkhovna Rada on June 4 appointed Olha Stefanishyna as Ukraine’s vice prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration, with 255 lawmakers voting for the relevant resolution. Ms. Stefanishyna is a specialist in European Union law and international trade law. She has worked in executive government bodies for more than 10 years. From 2010 to 2015, she led the process at Ukraine’s Justice Ministry of bringing national legislation into line with EU law. From 2016 to 2019, she headed the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers. She currently works as a counsel at the Ilyashev & Partners law firm. Ms. Stefanishyna replaces Vadym Prystaiko, whom the Verkhovna Rada dismissed from that position by a vote of 296 for the measure. On June 3, the Cabinet of Ministers had registered in the Verkhovna Rada draft resolutions on the dismissal of Mr. Prystaiko and the appointment of Ms. Stefanishyna. Earlier, the deputy head of the Servant of the People faction, Yevhenia Kravchuk, said that her political force was aware of plans to appoint Mr. Prystaiko as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. Mr. Prystaiko previously served as Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada and as deputy minister of Foreign affairs, and he headed Ukraine’s Mission to NATO. In May 2019, he was appointed as the deputy head of the Presidential Office, and in August 2019, as the minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine. On March 4 of this year, he was appointed as vice prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine. (Ukrinform)
Culture/information policy minister appointed
The Verkhovna Rada on June 4 appointing Oleksandr Tkachenko as Ukraine’s minister for culture and information policy. A total of 263 MPs voted for the resolution. Mr. Tkachenko is a well-known media manager, producer and journalist, as well as a winner of multiple awards in the field of top media management. He has held the post of director general of the 1+1 Media group of channels since August 2008. In the 2019 parliamentary elections, he was elected a national deputy from the Servant of the People party. He quit his business and resigned as head of the media holding. Mr. Tkachenko headed the Committee on Humanitarian and Information Policy in the Verkhovna Rada. (Ukrinform)