Belarus
Exclusive: A member of the Belarusian opposition coordination council, Maria Kolesnikova, has said in an interview with the LB.ua that "de facto Crimea is Russian territory while de jure it is Ukrainian territory". In her opinion, there is no reason to believe that some "Ukrainian nationalists" are fuelling up protests in Belarus, as President Alyaksandr Lukashenka claims.
Ukraine is ready to take tough steps in case of "unfriendly acts by Belarus" and if "risks increase", Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said in an interview with the Krayina magazine. "Belarusian society does not accept the election results. It does not consider them fair or honest. It is the main indicator for us."
The Ukrainian parliamentary committee on foreign policy has approved one of four draft resolutions, "the most moderate one", about the Belarusian presidential election, its head Yelyzaveta Yasko said. She regretted that her colleagues proved unwilling to issue a statement on the non-recognition of the election results.
Forest fires
The Kharkiv environmental safety commission has declared a regional-level emergency situation due to the massive forest fires raging in the region. The fire which broke out on 2 September has destroyed 22 residential buildings, prompted the evacuation of 33 persons and one person was hospitalized with smoke poisoning.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov arrived in Kharkiv Region to coordinate the firefighting efforts. He flew over the areas devastated by the fire to assess its consequences.
Joint Forces serviceman Artem Bondarenko died while taming the fire in Luhansk Region. He was considered but was found under the debris in a dugout. His colleagues said that he was evacuating army property as fire was quickly approaching their positions.
Coronavirus
By the morning of 2 September, Ukraine has registered 2,430 new Covid-19 infections and 859 recoveries. The total count has now reached 128,228 cases, including 2,710 lethal ones.
The government allowed the town of Uman in Cherkasy Region to tighten the quarantine on 15-21 September because of Rosh Hashanah which usually attracts scores of Hassidic Jews from across the world to the area. Checkpoints manned by police, the National Guard, medics and emergency workers will be equipped on the approaches to Uman.
Media
The National TV and Radio Broadcasting has cancelled the broadcasting license of Pryamyy FM, saying that it has not been broadcasting in two out of six locations for which it was licensed, namely in Marhanets and Lubny.
Local elections
MP Serhiy Shakhov of the Trust parliamentary group said that he would run for Kyiv mayor. He noted that he would run on behalf of his Our Land (Nash Kray) party.
IT
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has instructed the government to improve the procedure under which foreign IT experts can be granted permission to move to Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers has three months to develop a bill to this effect.
Crime
One of the top tax police officers in Ternopil Region was caught red-handed when he was accepting a bribe of 1m hryvnyas in exchange for softening punishment for tax evasion.
Three people got injured as a result of a shoot-out involving 15 local residents and seven guests from Kyiv, including Russian nationals, in the town of Ukrayinka in Obukhiv District of Kyiv Region. Police, which arrived at passers-by's tip-off, said that the café staff removed every piece of evidence, including empty cartridges.