Society

Anna Neplyakh, winner of the ‘Miss Ukraine Universe 2021’ beauty pageant, is no longer keeping her private life under wraps. The model spoke about her relationship with Kyiv-based businessman Oleksandr Gudkov and revealed the surprises they treat each other to.

Puerto Rican singer Ricky Martin, who had previously expressed his support for Ukraine and had hoped to come here for a concert, unexpectedly addressed the audience in Russian during a performance in Kazakhstan. The Russians in their propaganda media are delighted with the artist’s gesture.

Singer Anna Trincher unexpectedly revealed that ever since her school days she had dreamt of marrying Vladimir Dantes, and it seems this crush has not faded to this day.

In the Polish city of Legnica, an unidentified woman attacked two 13-year-old girls from Ukraine on the evening of 18 July: the police are already investigating the incident.

Participants in the ‘National Cashback’ scheme will receive two payments in August — for purchases made in May and June. The money will be credited to their cards in separate instalments.

As of 1 July, there were 9.98 million pensioners in Ukraine — their number has fallen by 190,500 since the start of the year. The average pension is 7,273 UAH.

The Polish retail chain Pepco plans to open its first shops in Ukraine in autumn 2026. The shops will be located in Kyiv, Chernivtsi, Mukachevo and Ternopil.

A man has been arrested in Georgia for striking a Russian-speaking foreign woman during a wedding. The victim claims that the attack was motivated by her speaking Russian, whilst the man’s defence alleges that the female tourists provoked the incident. Following the arrest, mass protests took place in Tbilisi in support of the detainee.

Two so-called rehabilitation centres have been uncovered in Kharkiv, where people were being held against their will and forced to work.

The European Commission has fined the e-commerce platform AliExpress €550 million for failing to adequately assess and mitigate the risks associated with the sale of illegal, dangerous and counterfeit goods. The company must submit a plan to remedy the infringements by 20 October 2026.

Cybercriminals have started exploiting two recently patched WordPress vulnerabilities; when combined, these vulnerabilities allow an attacker to remotely take control of a website without a password or any plugins installed. Administrators are advised to check their system version immediately and install the security updates.

‘Kyivvodokanal’ has proposed increasing the overall tariff for centralised water supply and sewerage services for the public from 30.38 to 88.90 hryvnia per cubic metre. The new prices have not yet been approved, so the current tariff remains unchanged for the time being.