Local elections
The Central Electoral Commission has announced that the local election campaign will begin on 5 September. The local elections are scheduled for 25 October.
Constitutional Court
The presidential office has "taken into account" the Constitutional Court's ruling that President Petro Poroshenko's decree to appoint Artem Sytnyk as director of the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine was unconstitutional. "We expect the acting head to effectively implement anticorruption policy until a new head is selected in a fair and transparent competition," the presidential office said.
The Constitutional Court has removed a cap on public servants' salaries which earlier could not exceed 47,000 hryvnyas, according to MP Danylo Hetmantsev.
Crime
Servant of the People MP Geo Leros has said that his car was set on fire by unidentified individuals. In March, Leros published a video allegedly shown Denys Yermak, brother of the presidential chief of staff, who discussed employment of some individuals to government posts.
Russia
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to step up pressure on Russia over the abduction and disappearance of Ukrainians in occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas.
Crimea
The Russian occupying authorities have limited the supply of drinking water in Crimea's Simferopol and Bakhchysaray districts due to its shortage. Tanks for water are being installed near residential high-rises and private single-family houses in Simferopol.
USA
According to the readout of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which took place on 26 August, the former "raised U.S. concerns regarding malign PRC investment in Ukraine, including Beijing’s efforts to acquire the Motor Sich engine manufacturer".
Donbas
On 29 August, Ukraine paid tribute to servicemen who died defending the country in the war against Russia in Donbas. The president, prime minister, speaker and other high-ranking officials took part in solemn events in central Kyiv.
On 28 August, mothers and wives of servicemen killed in Donbas held a rally outside the Russian embassy in Kyiv and the Ukrainian presidential office under the slogan "Time does not heal". They brought photos of their lost loved ones and sunflowers. They also demanded that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy look into the stalled investigation into the "Ilovaysk and Debaltseve cauldrons" in Donbas in 2014.
Human rights
The lawyers of Andriy (Riffmaster) Antonenko suspected of involvement in the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet have described a recently released mocumentary about the case as an attempt to put pressure on court. They said that information presented as facts in the film shown on One Plus One were not part of the case files. It also contained lies, they added.
Two police officers were injured and 16 protesters were detained during the clashes which broke out during an LGBT march in Odesa. Activists of the Tradition and Order group which stands for traditional "family values" verbally abused LGBT supporters, pelted them with eggs and sprayed gas, causing a fight. Police had to intervene and cordon off the "traditionalists".
Police had to evacuate Roma families in Andriyivka, Kharkiv Region after 500 local residents demanded that the Romas leave and picked up a fight. No-one was hurt.
Coronavirus
By the morning of 29 August, Ukraine has registered 2,069 new coronavirus cases. Thirty-five people have died, bringing the total death count to 2,527. There are 59,813 active cases in Ukraine.
According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, the government is not considering a repeat lockdown in the case of the second wave of coronavirus.
Uman city mayor Oleksandr Tsebriy has called on the central authorities to allow the city to equip entrance checkpoints and subject Hassidic Jews who will be arriving for Rosh Hashanah to Covid-19 tests.
Hungary will close its borders to foreigners as of 1 September to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Curious find
Historian Oleksand Alfyorov has said that 32 silver coins used in the time of Kyivan Rus Princes Volodymyr the Saint and Svyatopolk were found in Zhytomyr Region. He noted that the coins which date back to the 10th-11th centuries were a treasure of a national scale, which has not been found for 100 years.
Obituary
Viktor Tykhonov, 72, a former deputy prime minister in Mykola Azarov's government, a former ambassador to Belarus and an ex-head of the Luhansk regional council, died in Crimea because of pneumonia.