Author’s articles
On 19 March, the High Anti-Corruption Court found a Member of the Ukrainian Parliament and another defendant guilty of offences under Part 2 of Article 28 and Part 2 of Article 369-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Both were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, as well as a three-year ban on holding public office.
The SBU and the National Police have announced the arrest of a further six individuals whom investigators believe to be Russian agents involved in arson attacks across several regions of Ukraine. According to law enforcement officials, the suspects were active in Kyiv, Kropyvnytskyi and Zaporizhzhia, and their targets included a district council building, a branch of a state-owned bank, as well as official vehicles belonging to the Defence Forces, the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the State Emergency Service.
EU experts have arrived in Ukraine to assess the condition of the Druzhba oil pipeline following its shutdown in January due to damage caused by a Russian strike. Naftogaz has stated that the technical team will assist in assessing the restoration of the infrastructure and the return of oil transit to European safety standards.
A new digital tool, the “Investigator’s Dashboard”, has been introduced into the system for tracing persons missing under special circumstances. The Ministry of the Interior states that the new functionality is intended to simplify the recording of unidentified persons, speed up the initial screening of matches and make the identification process more structured.
In the French town of Arcy-sur-Oise, the second round of the local elections has attracted attention far beyond the country’s borders due to the surnames of the two candidates. Incumbent mayor Charles Hitler and his rival Antoine Reno-Zelensky reached the final stage of voting, after which the local campaign quickly went viral on social media and in the press.
A parliamentary committee is currently examining a draft bill entitled “On the Management of the Housing Stock”, which could change not only the rules governing the management of buildings but also the procedure for recovering debts for utility services. One of the most significant changes is the proposal that claims relating to utility debts should be filed not at the debtor’s place of registration, but at the location of the flat or building where the debt arose.
The relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada has recommended that parliament include Bill No. 15035 on the agenda and adopt it in principle; the bill aims to strengthen the protection of employment, self-employment and small businesses. The bill proposes to restrict government decisions that could lead to the closure of small retail outlets, the winding up of markets and job losses.
Swarmer Inc., an American company that develops AI-based software for coordinating drone swarms and is active in Ukraine, saw its share price rise by around 1,000% within two days of going public. Against the backdrop of this surge, its market capitalisation approached $680 million, although the company’s revenue for the past year amounted to just $309,920.
Unidentified drones have been spotted in the US flying over Fort Leslie J. McNeair, a military base in Washington, D.C., where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hagset are based. Against the backdrop of US and Israeli strikes on Iran, this incident has heightened concerns regarding the safety of US officials within the country.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a draft law submitted by the Ministry of Defence, which provides for the removal of the authority to maintain personal military records of citizens from the recruitment centres of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The government explains that the initiative is driven by the need to clarify responsibilities for record-keeping and eliminate duplication of functions.
Bill No. 15084 has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, proposing that the adjudication of military criminal offences and crimes against peace, human security and the international legal order be entrusted exclusively to judges with the relevant specialisation. The initiative has emerged against the backdrop of a heavy workload on the judicial system due to the large number of war-related cases.
Ukraine and the Republic of Korea have begun preparing a feasibility study for the construction of a high-speed railway between Kyiv and the national border. The project is being funded through a grant from the South Korean government and has a budget of $8 million.
