- New “leader” in Donetsk. Russia’s proxies in the city of Donetsk on Sept. 7 appointed a new acting leader, Denis Pushilin, and scheduled illegal elections for Nov. 11 to replace the murdered leader Oleksandr Zakharchenko. Holding elections in the Russian-occupied part of the Donbas would be in violation of the Minsk peace accords and Ukrainian and international legislation.
- Brussels comments on Ukraine’s possible constitution changes. The European Union officials commented on Sept. 7 on President Petro Poroshenko’s bill that proposes to define Ukraine’s foreign policy course as European and Euroatlantic in the Constitution.
- 41 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in Donbas this summer. And despite the latest “Back-to-School” ceasefire supposedly being in effect since Aug. 29, Ukrainian government reports that Russia’s military forces and their proxies in the Donbas keep attacking the Ukrainian army positions.
- Mariupol breathes the dirtiest air in Ukraine thanks to oligarch-owned steel plants. Two old steel plants belonging to the richest Ukrainian Rinat Akhmetov poison the air in the southern Ukrainian city. The activists demand to modernize the plants and cut emissions. But it might not be easy to achieve in the city where Akhmetov controls more than just factories.
- Ukraine partly closes border with Crimea. Due to toxic emissions from a Ukrainian titanium plant in Armyansk, a city in the northern part of Russia-occupied Crimea, Ukraine has temporarily closed Kalanchak and Chaplynka checkpoints on the border with Crimea, leaving only the Chongar checkpoint open.
- The Swiss Ambassador to Ukraine Guillaume Scheurer sees progress in bilateral ties of the two countries: Read our exclusive interview.
- The mystery of Hennady Kernes’ luck. The long-time mayor of Kharkiv had been on trial — for three years — on charges of kidnapping, torturing and threatening to murder EuroMaidan Revolution activists. But the court suddenly closed the case without any kind of verdict or conclusion.
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