Politics

• The Ukrainian government is ready to report to the parliament on its activities says Yulia Tymoshenko, but the Verkhovna Rada meeting started with the Party of Regions blocking the rostrum and demanding that the government’s resignation not be considered, only after asking for it earlier and Yanukovich declaring he was ready to be Premier.
• The Ukrainian parliament has come to a preliminary agreement to set the country’s next parliamentary elections for January 17, 2010, but still needs to be ratified by the Supreme Rada.
• What everyone else already knew:  Ukrainian experts believe that the gas row between Russia and Ukraine was the result of a range of economic and political factors.  Many analysts say Ukraine did not come out well in its recent dispute with Russia over prices for natural gas.
• Tomorrow begins discussions between Ukraine and the Czech-led EU.

Economy

• Viktor Yuschenko has demanded that the National Bank of Ukraine punish banks that failed to pay back deposits when agreement terms had expired, following complaints from Ukrainians regarding the non or incomplete payment of deposits by the banks.
• Ukraine among many other troubled countries are on their way to becoming the next Iceland.
• The full text of the Ukrainian-Russian gas transit deal for the next decade is available here and here.

Local

• A French journalist reports 150 “Asgarda” Ukrainian women living in the Carpathian Mountains who follow a rigorous routine of fighting with medieval weaponry, boxing and idolizing Yulia Tymoshenko. (Edit: Taras of Ukrainiana has found their website)
• Birthrates have outpaced mortality rates in Kyiv and two western oblasts, being attributed to child benefits from the state.
• The local council of the Russian Orthodox Church has given itself broad autonomy over the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, to counter Yushchenko’s initiative on creation of a unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

World

• Somali pirates who have been holding a Ukrainian ship with military weapons on board have announced their intention to immediately release the ship along with its 20 crew members, following a $3 million ransom.
• The International Court of Justice drew a new maritime border between Romania and Ukraine on Tuesday to settle a dispute over parts of the Black Sea believed to hold significant oil and gas reserves, the ruling gives Romania about four-fifths of the area it claimed.
• A low-budget documentary “Svoi-Chuzhoi” was recently broadcast on Russian television. The film was labeled “a provocation” which attempts to discredit the Ukrainian armed forces by linking them to the Russia-Georgia conflict last August, without any direct evidence showed in the film as admitted by the film’s maker.

Fun

• For the fans of ‘So you think you can dance’, Ukraine’s 2008 season is up on Bittorrent.

Sports

• A new hotel for the Euro-2012 soccer tournament was built over one of famed Yiddish writer Sholom Aleichem’s homes in Kyiv.  Meanwhile an official UEFA delegation arrived in Ukraine on Monday to check on the country’s preparations to joint host the Euro 2012 soccer championships.
• Dynamo Kyiv have signed forward Guilherme Milhomem, 20, from Cruzeiro EC on a five-year deal and sent back Kléber.

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