Future of Ukraine's top English-language paper
Adnan Kivan, owner of the Kyiv Post English-language newspaper, has said that the editorial office has been temporarily suspended due to a media reset, which will last for about a month, Detector Media has reported.
According to Kivan, the Kyiv Post team will be reinforced with the best journalists from Ukraine, the USA, Canada and Europe.
However, journalist Katya Gorchinskaya has said on Facebook that Kyiv Post has effectively ceased to exist after 26 years and that its employees were fired on 8 November.
"The newsroom’s attempt to save the editorial independence of the Kyiv Post elicited opposition from our owner. We consider the cessation of publication and the dismissal of the paper’s staff to be an act of vengeance by Adnan Kivan," she said, calling for domestic and international support for the editorial team.
New media holding
The Ukrainian news TV channels Pryamyy and 5 Kanal have merged to form the Free Media (Vilni Media) holding.
On 7 November, the law on oligarchs came into force. The TV channels see it as a means to deal with undesirable media and opposition forces.
"By passing this law, Zelenskyy's team wants to turn on the manual mode of control and gain leverage over independent media. Being aware of the danger posed by this law for further funding and activities of independent media and opposition democratic forces, we established a new media holding company, Free Media, last Friday", the statement reads.
The press service of the European Solidarity party added that Petro Poroshenko handed his shares over to the editorial boards of the channels, so the holding's shareholders include media people, journalists, public figures, and opposition MPs who were journalists. An additional 10% of the holding is allocated to the participation of the media labour collective, so the labour collective has become the largest shareholder.
Poland
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has had a telephone conversation with Polish President Andrzej Duda.
"The sides exchanged views on the difficult situation on the Polish-Belarusian border. The Ukrainian head of state informed [Duda] about the security situation on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and the measures that are being taken and will be taken for its proper protection," Zelenskyy's press office said.
Particular attention was paid to coordination of the parties' positions on countering Russia's North Stream 2 gas pipeline project.
Georgia
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has expressed disappointment over the transfer of its citizen, former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili to the Gldani medical facility No 18 and that Ukraine has not been notified accordingly.
"We call on the Georgian side to immediately transfer Mikheil Saakashvili to a civilian medical facility, which would have all the necessary capacities to provide proper medical care and emergency assistance," the statement reads.
Coal
Ukraine's thermal power plants have less than 0.5m tonnes of coal in stock, the Energy Ministry has said.
Donbas
On the evening of 7 November, pro-Russian militants in Donbas shelled the village of Bolotene in Luhansk Region with 120 mm mortars for the second time in a day, the Joint Forces Operation HQ has said.
It is noted that the shelling with 120 mm mortars destroyed a residential house, a shed in a private yard and damaged a power transmission line.
Ukrainian delegation to Donbas talks
Following the appointment of Oleksiy Reznikov as defence minister, a representative to the subgroup for political issues, MP Andriy Kostin, will act as the first deputy head of the Ukrainian delegation to the trilateral contact group on Donbas. Iryna Vereshchuk, who was appointed minister for the reintegration of Ukraine's temporarily occupied territories last week, will also join the group, presidential spokesman Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Serhiy Nykyforov, has said.
SBU reform
The G7 ambassadors to Ukraine have issued a statement in which they called on all political parties in the Ukrainian parliament "to seize this historic opportunity" and adopt the draft law on the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) without delay. "This would be a significant milestone for Ukraine on its path towards the EU and NATO," they said.
Crime
Activist Mykola Vyhovskyy has filed a report with the SBU about a tracking and listening device found in his car.
On 12 October, Vyhovskyy heard a metallic knocking sound and found an alien object near the rear left wheel. After taking the object apart, he found a GPS tracker. On 25 October, after checking the entire car at the service station, a tapping tool was found in the car stereo.
Ex-defence minister's case
The High Anticorruption Court has arrested former Defence Minister Dmytro Salamatin in absentia. The case concerns the period of his work at Ukrspetseksport and Ukroboronprom.
The National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine suspects Salamatin of causing 23.87m dollars of damage to the state budget in 2010-2012.
Party reshuffle
Oleksandr Korniyenko, who was appointed first deputy speaker in October, has decided to step down as head of the pro-presidential Servant of the People party.
He is likely to be replaced by MP Olena Shulyak.
Coronavirus
Unvaccinated public servants and teachers will be suspended from work and thus will not be paid as of 8 November, Health Ministe Viktor Lyashko has recalled.