You're reading: Daily Digest: Top news of Wednesday, July 18
  • What did Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin talk about during their private conversation on July 16 in Helsinki? Well, Ukraine and Russia’s occupation of Crimea was one of the topics, according to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, in a CNN report. Ukrainian officials are asking the White House what was said or whether there were any agreements reached, according to Interfax-Ukraine news.
  • Ukraine’s trade deficit from January through March topped $2 billion, according to the State Statistics Service.
  • Two Ukrainian bloggers sneaked into the tank warehouse to show there is no security and that the weaponry is left unguarded. Instead of thinking them for calling attention to the breaches, the state authorities have opened a criminal investigation against them who could face trespassing charges.
  • Naftogaz, the state-owned oil and gas monopoly, posted its record net profit in 2017 — a cool $1.4 billion, an indication that corruption that hobbled that enterprise is lower than it was when Naftogaz was losing $6 billion yearly.
  • Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says he has no presidential ambitions in 2019; he wants, instead, to run for re-election as mayor.
  • Mykhaylo Yezhel, a former Ukrainian defense minister and ambassador to Belarus wanted on corruption charges involving the theft of $1.6 million, has received political asylum in Belarus, according to newly opened court records in Kyiv.
  • The European Union is keeping up sanctions against Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea for another year — barring EU firms from doing business on the peninsula or importing from it. Sanctions are also sought against six poeple who participated in the illegal construction of the Kerch Bridge.
  • Ukraine has a total of 42.3 million people as of June 1, down from 48.4 million people during the last national census in 2001, according to the State Statistics Service and reported by Ukrainian News Agency.
  • Ukraine has finally removed the requirement that foreigners with work permits must leave the country and then return. “It’s not about illegal immigrants coming to us,” said First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Maksym Nefyodov, according to Interfax-News Ukraine. “It’s about removing completely absurd legislation norms when a person who receied a permanent employment certificate fromt he Interior Ministry…must leave the territory of Ukraine and come back.”