Essential bills
MPs have passed the so-called anti-Kolomoyskyy bill (on certain aspects of the banking system functioning), which prevents former owners of bankrupt banks from cancelling or suspending their liquidation through courts, reclaiming their assets or resuming their work. The adoption of the bill was the last condition upon which the IMF was ready to open a new credit programme.
Parliament has agreed an extension of the ban on Russian social networks and online services (Odnoklassniki, VK) and suggested that the National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) pass relevant sanctions. The NSDC approved the extension and sent the resolution to the president for approval.
Parliament has failed to pass a statement on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, which blamed the waging of the war on the two totalitarian regimes, because the pro-presidential Servant of the People faction did not offer enough votes.
Coronavirus
There have been 16,425 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Ukraine, including 439 deaths and 3,716 recoveries by the morning of 13 May.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the second stage of easing the quarantine is scheduled to begin on 22 May. However, he added, "it is too early to relax". The second stage will mostly concern the operation of gyms, hotels, school testing centres and others.
Restaurants, museums, stores and hairdressers are opening in Kyiv after the quarantine. The government allowed people to meet in groups of up to eight people.
Kyiv mayor Vitaliy Klitschko has asked the government to allow the capital to re-open the subway as of 25 May as the city has found itself on the brink of transport collapse as of 11 May after the lockdown was eased but public transport remained off work.
National Guard Commander Lt-Gen Mykola Balan has recovered from coronavirus.
Economy
The NSDC has warned about fresh water deficit in Ukraine. Precipitation has been scarce over the past five years, therefore water resources should be saved and used in a smart manner.
Owners of long-distance bus services have staged a protest in central Kyiv, demanding the government permission to get back to work.
The construction of a new passenger terminal of Zaporizhzhya airport has been completed.
The EBRD expects Ukraine's GDP to shrink by 4.5% by the end of year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ex-chief prosecutor
Exclusive: Criminal cases against ex-President Petro Poroshenko have no future, former Prosecutor-General Ruslan Ryaboshapka has said in an interview with LB.ua.
Ryaboshapka blamed his successor Iryna Venediktova for facilitating his dismissal, and predicted that she would not keep the post long.
He plans to establish a think-tank, Institute of Democracy and Rule of Law.
Reshuffle
The Cabinet of Ministers has dismissed State Reserve Service head Yaroslav Pohorelyy five months after his appointment.
The Cabinet of Ministers had appointed Andriy Malyovanyy head of the State Ecological Inspectorate instead of Yehor Firsov, according to MO Oleksiy Honcharenko. In February, the inspectorate fined Rinat Akhmetov's Mariupol Metallurgical Mill 10m hryvnyas for pollution.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Serhiy Lysak head of the the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) directorate in Zhytomyr Region, Oleh Holovash in Kyiv and Kyiv Region and Viktor Dorovskyy in Odesa Region.
Crime
The State Investigation Bureau is investigating the sale of personal data on Telegram. In particular, it is checking whether the data was leaked by employees of the Main Service Centre of the Interior Ministry and the State Migration Service. The scandal around the UA Baza Telegram bot, which offered information from confidential databases for sale, broke out on 12 May. According to some users, the bot offered information which included passwords from state registers, the Nova Poshta courier service, passwords from VKontakte and LinkedIn.
Almost 8,000 hacking attacks were carried out against government websites in Ukraine, most of them on the website of the presidential office, on 6-12 May, according to the State Special Communications and Information Protection Service.
The Kyiv court of appeal has decided that former Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara, who is suspected of murdering entrepreneur Serhiy Starytskyy, should stay in custody.