Coronavirus
Ukraine has launched a coronavirus vaccination campaign. The first to be inoculated with the CoviShield (AstraZeneca) vaccine was Cherkasy regional hospital intensivist Yevhen Horenko.
Ukraine and the Indian vaccine producer Bharat Biotech have reached an agreement that both sides are ready to take part in clinical trials of a coronavirus medicine in the form of nasal spray, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov has said.
Six out of 17 hospitals in Transcarpathian Region are packed to capacity due to an outbreak of the coronavirus infection, the regional healthcare department, Anatoliy Pshenychnyy, has said. He said that over 200 patients were admitted to hospital daily over the past two days and 15 people died yesterday.
On the morning of 24 February, Ukraine reported 5,850 new coronavirus cases, including 601 in Vinnytsya Region, 600 in Ivano-Frankivsk Region, 547 in Kyiv, 524 in Chernivtsi Region and 389 in Transcarpathian Region.
Donbas
Russia-backed militants have violated the ceasefire four times since midnight, the Joint Forces Operation HQ said in its evening update. They fired with small arms, handheld anti-tank and underbarrel grenade launchers near Avdiivka, automatic mounted grenade launchers near Maryinka and small arms near Pivdenne.
Near Chermalyk a Ukrainian serviceman who was on duty at the observation post detained a Russian militant who attempted to penetrate Ukrainian positions. The serviceman got lightly stabbed and had to use his service weapons.
A civilian resident of Khutir Vilnyy in Luhansk Region got killed after separatists remotely dropped a landmine which exploded in his backyard, the Joint Forces Operation HQ has said.
Sternenko's case
Some forces are trying to use the case of activist Serhiy Sternenko as a trigger to destabilize Ukrainian society, whereas in fact it is "just a marker of utter mistrust in the judiciary", MPs of the propresidential Servant of the People party said in a statement published on Facebook by MP Tetyana Tsyba. The MPs called for judicial reform and for Sternenko's transfer from Odesa to a remand centre in Kyiv to ensure his safety.
Security
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has served a notice of suspicion to a military-political commentator and frequent contributor to Russian propaganda TV, Yuriy Dudkin. He is suspected of high treason and violation of equality of citizens by their race, ethnicity or faith. An investigation has found out that he has set up a network consisting of several web resources (social media, YouTube accounts) and bloggers financed by Russia. He used these resources to share content ordered by his coordinators from Russia's Channel One and the News Front agency.
The National Cyber Security Coordination Centre of Ukraine has registered attempts to distribute documents infected with malware within the executive e-system. It was a supply chain attack like the one used in 2017 when hackers infected a popular accounting software with the NotPetya virus. Russian hackers are likely behind the recent attack, according to cyber experts.
Israel
Ukraine's ambassador Yevhen Korniychuk has presented his credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.
Oil pipeline
Exclusive: Law enforcers have ensured a transfer of a section of the Samara-Western Direction oil pipeline, which was arrested as part of sanctions against MP Viktor Medvedchuk and his affiliates, to state ownership, sources have told LB.ua. The operation was carried out in several regions at once. A part of the pipeline has already been transferred to Ukrtransnafta.
Space agency
Volodymyr Taftay has been appointed head of the State Space Agency. In 2019-2020, he headed the department for coordination of space activities at the security and defence economy department at the Economics Ministry. Since September 2020, he has been a vice-president of the state-owned company Antonov.