It is not so pleasant to write about failures, losses, treason as about achievements (see previous publication), but the reality is cruel, so do not hide your head in the sand like ostriches. When there are war and corruption, everything cannot be all right by definition. Moreover, if troubles are perceived without pessimism, then there is a hope to get rid of them as soon as possible. So, the top five troubles of 2018.
1) Minus the Sea of Azov
What could be worse than war? For the fifth year, almost every day in the east of the country, our defenders are dying. The Minsk agreements do not work, foreign peacekeepers did not appear in Donbas, and the Kremlin predatorily glances at other Ukrainian territories, pulling up troops and military equipment to our borders. Since spring, the Russians began to single-handedly manage on the Sea of Azov, which, according to the 2003 agreement, is considered an inland water body of two countries ‒ Ukraine and the Russian Federation. They stopped Ukrainian and foreign vessels on the way to the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol and from there, to check, what caused damage to companies and states.
The Ukrainian authorities and the world reacted sluggishly to the impudence of the Kremlin. And on November 25th, the Russians went further ‒ rammed and fired at the Black Sea, near the Kerch Strait, Ukrainian raid tug “Yany Kapu” and two small armoured artillery boats “Berdyansk” and “Nikopol”. They captured all three ships of the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, captured 24 Ukrainian sailors, among whom, there were wounded. Ukrainians were sent to Moscow for the trial. And in ten regions of Ukraine, martial law was introduced for 30 days.
The Russians blocked the Kerch Strait, after which the Sea of Azov became practically the internal lake of the Russian Federation. The ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk turned out to be blocked, which inflicts great losses on the Ukrainian economy. The world once again expressed concern about the Kremlin’s aggressive actions, and the Kremlin itself again bears the idea of “Novorossiya”, which failed with a crash in 2014 ‒ the accession of the east and south of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
2) Activists are killed
After the Revolution of Dignity, the driving force of which, not least, was the social activists, 2018 turned out to be the cruellest for not indifferent citizens, who did not put up with the injustice of local authorities, corruption manifestations, the arbitrariness of law enforcement. The hunt for them resembled an internal front because dozens of people were injured. And the assassination attempts on activists went from the phase of banal intimidation to their physical destruction.
The most resonant event was the death of the Kherson activist and adviser to the mayor Kateryna Handzyuk. In the summer, the girl was poured with sulfuric acid, and a few months later she died in the Kyiv hospital. Kateryna’s murderers were detained, they were former ATO participants, but the case with the customers has not yet been brought to an end. In Berdyansk, a criminal killed a famous activist and veteran of the ATO Sarmat. And in the forest belt in the Kharkiv region, public activist Mykola Bychok was found hanging. The guy was only 23 years old. Odesa activists Serhii Sternenko, Vitalii Ustymenko and Oleg Mykhaylyk turned out to be on the verge of death. Three cynical attempts were made on Serhii, in all cases he survived, and during the last attack, he also cut short the life of one of the bandits. Vitalii was stabbed with a knife by an unknown person, and Oleg was wounded with a firearm near the State Police of Ukraine in the Odesa region.
In September, community activists held a peaceful rally “The Night on Bankova” near the Presidential Administration under the slogan “Silence kills”. They put forward several requirements to the Government, among which an extraordinary meeting of the NSDC due to the increasing intensity of attacks on activists, prompt and effective investigation of criminal proceedings against attacks with reports at each stage to the public, the creation in the Verkhovna Rada the Temporary Investigation Commission, regarding attacks on activists in the past two years, the urgent public report of the Interior Minister from the parliamentary rostrum on the state case investigation. The requirements were not implemented, although there were fewer attacks on those, who were not indifferent in recent months.
3) Gas and apartment fees have risen
Ukrainian is not to be accustomed to the growth of tariffs, although every time the redistribution of the family budget to feed the insatiable “communal dragon” is painful. The Government has long warned about the gas price increase for the population, which the IMF allegedly requires to provide the following loans, but for a long time did not decide on an unpopular step on the eve of the elections. However, from November 1, blue fuel still rose in price by almost a quarter ‒ by 23.5% and the Prime Minister and the Profile minister rushed to reassure consumers, they say, this is not about price increase, but leveling gas prices, subsidies for unprotected citizens, and, in fact, the growth of tariffs for heat and hot water will not be so significant ‒ something about 16%.
However, industry experts are not so optimistic about the real situation. The subsidy, according to their assurances, will be less only because the money for the compensation, laid in the state budget for the next year, is much less. Funds from higher tariffs will not be directed to the modernization of housing and public utilities, but to pay off external debts. As for the raising of the total payment for utility services, it can be at least 25%. But the main thing is not this, but the fact that gas prices will continue to grow, in particular, in 2019. Because the current price of blue fuel ‒ 8550 UAH for 1 thousand cubic meters ‒ in fact, is not a market price, which lenders require.
4) Explosions in the artillery warehouses
Bakhmut (Artemivsk), Novobohdanivka, Lozova, Svatovo, Balakliya, Kalynivka… On October 9, 2018, Ichnya was added to this list of settlements from different regions of Ukraine. All of them are united by explosions of ammunition in military depots, fire for various reasons occurred in the past decade and a half. Moreover, extraordinary events in Svatovo in Luhansk region, Balakliya in Kharkiv, Kalynivka in Vinnytsya and Ichnya in Chernihiv region took place during the Russian aggression, the war in the east of Ukraine. That is, the issue of sabotage at the arsenals was considered first.
A serious fire in the ammunition storage depots in Ichnya occurred at night, explosions were heard tens of kilometres from the scene. It was necessary to evacuate thousands of people from several localities of Ichnya and Pryluky districts. On the same day, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman visited Chernihiv region, he held a meeting of the operational headquarters. Within a radius of 30 km from the site of the explosions, the airspace was closed, the movement of rail and road transport was suspended. Fortunately, there were no fatalities and injured people, although the victims turned to doctors due to smoke. Ichnya arsenal explosions were not the largest in Ukraine but caused a lot of damage and including the moral one.
5) Corruption flourishes
This year also did not become decisive in the fight against corruption. Not a single significant corrupt official was not only behind bars but, obviously, they were not afraid of the fair anger of the relevant authorities. In addition, numerous anti-corruption bodies continue to imitate the fight against intruders, and their leaders to settle scores with each other. By the end of the year, the State Bureau of Investigation officially started working, its employees read out the oath, but for now, there is no sense in talking about the results of the activities of the structure that will fight against top corrupt officials. The formation of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court may be completed in spring 2019, but this does not mean that it will work immediately. High expectations are still being placed on the SACC but without the former enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, the District Administrative Court of Kyiv showed up again. On December 11th, 2018, it resumed Roman Nasirov as the Chairman of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine. The court declared illegal and cancelled the order of the Cabinet of Ministers on dismissal. In addition, the resolution refers to compensation for Mr Nasirov during the forced absenteeism of more than 180 thousand UAH. Such a state of affairs simply looks like mocking against the background of statements by powerful people about the need to fight corruption.
Text by Viktor Tsvilikhovskyi
