Security
The National Security and Defence Council (NSDC) has put pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk and his wife Oksana Marchenko on the sanctions list for financing terrorism, NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov has said at a briefing. The sanctions were slapped on eight individuals and 19 companies, including five aircraft which were used for Kyiv-Moscow flights and their servicing companies.
Apart from the Medvedchuk couple, the list includes Russian nationals Konstantin Vatskovskiy, Vitaliy Donchenko, Sergey Lisogor, Aleksandr Maslyuk and Mikhail Popov, and Ukrainian national Natalya Lavrenyuk.
The sanctions apply to any and all property controlled by Medvedchuk.
The decision to introduce the sanctions is based, in particular, on case files of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), according to its chief Ivan Bakanov. He added that today the SBU was"documenting the entire illegal mechanism of coal supply from the temporarily occupied territory to Russia and Ukraine", which confirms the financing of the terrorist self-proclaimed Luhansk people's republic.
Donbas
Russia-backed militants have committed three ceasefire violations since midnight, the Joint Forces Operation has said. They fired with the banned 120-mm mortars near Zaytseve, grenade launchers and small arms near Pivdenne, and grenade launchers near Luhanske. The Joint Forces returned fire. No casualties were reported.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said that Ukraine is not planning to pull out of the Minsk accords on Donbas but wants some of its provisions modified because they cannot be implemented.
Crimea
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has called on the international community to mount more sanctions on Russia over the recent wave of repression against Crimean Tatars in the occupied peninsula. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba compared the Russian authorities' policy to that of Joseph Stalin.
Coronavirus
On the morning of 19 February, Ukraine reported 6,531 new Covid-19 cases after 26,095 tests.
The number of Covid-19 patients admitted to hospital (over 42,000) was 30% lower in January compared to December, according to the National Healthcare Service.
Party politics
Exclusive: Parliament speaker Dmytro Razumkov has a potential to become an independent political player, Servant of the People party head Oleksandr Korniyenko has said in an interview with LB.ua. He denied there was a "conflict" between the presidential office and the speaker, saying that it was "exaggerated" and there was a "discussion on other matters".
Crime
An unidentified individual has attacked a serviceman of the Ukrainian State Border Service in the Consulate General of Ukraine in Russia's St Petersburg, having stabbed him twice. The attacker, who turned out to be a Russian national, assaulted the serviceman immediately upon entering the room and was detained. The wounds are not lethal.