Top 5 News Stories 19 June

1. As of 18 June, Ukraine currently has 34 063 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of those, 829 were diagnosed in the last 24 hours. So far, 966 people have died while 15 447 have recovered. Link

2. In the Odesa region, military officials and a contractor company stole more than 11 million UAH during the construction of barracks. An investigation discovered that the officials and representatives of the private enterprise organised an illegal scheme for appropriating budget funds that were allocated for contracting construction works. Link

3. The Ministry of Health plans to return to hard quarantine restrictions from 22 June in areas with the worst incidence rates of COVID-19. “We are not saying that in two weeks we will quarantine the country. This graph shows that in some areas of our country, strict quarantine should be introduced from June 22. Growth dynamics show this,” Deputy Minister of Health Victor Lyashko explained. Link

4. The court postponed the trial of the ex-president of Ukraine and the people’s deputy Petro Poroshenko. The State Bureau of Investigation confirmed the existence of a criminal case against Poroshenko about inciting religious hatred. As UNIAN reported earlier, Poroshenko is suspected of providing an obviously illegal order that prompted the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Yegor Bozhka, to exceed his official authority. The case concerns the appointment of Sergei Semochko to the post of first deputy head of the Intelligence Service. Link

5. Yesterday, armed groups of the Russian Federation violated the ceasefire 14 times. As a result of enemy shelling, one Ukrainian defender was killed, one wounded and another soldier was injured. Link