Coronavirus
The Cabinet of Ministers has extended the nationwide quarantine and emergency arrangements until 30 June, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said. It was first introduced in March 2020.
The Ukrainian government plans to vaccinate most adults against the coronavirus until the end of the year in order to develop herd immunity in accordance with the National Covid-19 Vaccination Plan published on 21 April. It is planned to se over 21.913m vaccines: 8.94m doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca, 10m doses of Novavax, over 1.91m doses of Sinovac biotech and 1.07m doses of Pfizer/BionTech.
Chernivtsi Region will leave the red coronavirus zone as of 22 April.
On the morning of 21 April, Ukraine reported 12,162 new Covid-19 cases and 429 fatalities. By now Ukraine has vaccinated 477,833 people.
Security
The counterintelligence of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained a member of a tank battalion of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic when he tried to secretly visit his relatives in the government-controlled territory. He is cooperating with investigation, "providing important information about the specifics of Russian armed aggression and Russian military support for DPR militants", the SBU said.
In Kharkiv Region, the SBU has stopped buses carrying over 60 hired heavies who planned to destabilise the situation and create "a picture for the Russian media". They were exposed during a large-scale anti-terrorist exercise held in the region, SBU spokesman for Kharkiv Region Vladyslav Abdula has said. Coming from the directions of Poltava, Dnipro and Donetsk, they were allegedly hired by a pro-Russian force to stage protests in Kharkiv and provoke civil unrest during the Kharkiv city council session.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed the law which allows the state to call up reservists without announcing mobilisation. This is expected to allow to promptly man up military units and improve their combat capacity in case of escalating military aggression. The law introduces a new type of military service: conscription service for reservists during a special period.
Human rights
A Russia-controlled in Dzhankoy, Crimea has sentenced Ukrainian serviceman Yevhen Dobrynskyy to 3.5 years in penal colony, Ukrainian ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova has said. Dobrynskyy was detained by the Russian FSB and charged with illegal border crossing and contraband of narcotics.
Court
Judges of the Kyiv district administrative court have written to the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to complain about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's initiative to disband the court. They say that his bill to this effect is unsubstantiated and runs against the procedure.