Ukraine

GORLOVKA, April 16. /TASS/: After Thursday’s exchange of persons taken prisoner during the conflict in the east of Ukraine the Donetsk People’s Republic will continue to search for some 100 detainees remaining in Ukraine, the Donetsk People's Republic's ombudswoman, Darya Morozova, has told the media.

"At the moment the Donetsk People's Republic is looking for some 100 persons in Ukraine. This is a competence of the humanitarian subgroup. At the next meeting we will be able to present accurate lists," she said.

KIEV, April 13. /TASS/: Despite use of aviation, which has dropped almost 400 tonnes of water on wildfire hotbeds in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the Ukrainian firemen cannot cope with the fire for 10 days already, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine reported Monday.

KIEV (Reuters) - The head of a 1,000-year-old Orthodox monastery that became a hotspot for coronavirus infections in Kiev said he had underestimated the gravity of the pandemic and that measures had now been introduced to curb the spread of the disease.

Metropolitan Pavel heads the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, the headquarters of the Russian-backed wing of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, often referred to as the Moscow Patriarchate. Its gold-domed towers and labyrinthine caves housing mummified bodies of monks are among the capital’s cultural treasures.

KIEV, April 8. /TASS/: Firefighters have extinguished a recent fire at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exclusion zone, but the blaze is still smoldering, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said on Wednesday.

"As of 07:00 on April 8, there is no open flame on the territory of Kotovsky forest in the exclusion zone and the resettlement between the Polesskoye village, the Tarasy village and the Vladimirovka village, but smoldering fires are still being spotted in some areas," the service said.

KIEV, March 30. /TASS/: Ukrainian tourists who were brought home from Bali have staged a protest at Kiev’s international airport, refusing to leave planes and demanding permission to undergo mandatory quarantine at home instead of a designated hotel. According to the Obozrevatel news outlet, some tourists agreed to be placed under quarantine in Kazatsky hotel in downtown Kiev but about 100 people refused, citing poor accommodation conditions.

According to those who agreed to stay at the hotel, there is no central heating and rusty water runs from taps.

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced nationwide shutdowns on Monday to contain the coronavirus spread, called for government restrictions on food exports and for aid talks with overseas donors to support the economy.

In a special video address, he urged restaurants, shopping malls, cafes and gyms to close from March 17, a shutdown of domestic flights and rail and bus services between cities, and a state of emergency to be declared in two regions.

KIEV, March 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has resigned and the finance minister, foreign minister and the prosecutor general could also exit in a sweeping reshuffle this week.

Zelenskiy has put forward Deputy Prime Minister Denys Shmygal to replace Honcharuk, lawmaker Galyna Yanchenko from President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s party told reporters after a party meeting ahead of a special parliamentary session convened by the president on Wednesday.

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine said on Sunday it had held talks with the Kremlin on swapping all remaining prisoners from the conflict in east Ukraine, and the next exchange might take place later this month.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy agreed in December to send prisoners home, and scores were handed over just before the end of the year.

27 February 2020; AFP: Ukrainian authorities began the task of destroying 37,000 bottles of illicit adulterated vodka on Wednesday, a national "record" in a country where consumption of illegal alcohol regularly poisons and even kills.

Minister of Justice Denys Malyuska launched the operation in the city of Vynnyky in the central Lviv region where the bottles, holding 14 tonnes of alcohol, have been stored since their seizure in 2014.

DONETSK, February 17. /TASS/: Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s new initiative on joint patrols of the border with Russia are an attempt to waste time talking instead of enacting the Minsk Agreements, Head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said in a statement on Monday.