National
- The Unification Council in Kyiv’s Saint Sophia Cathedral elected the head of the unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church on Dec. 15, the latest step on the path to Ukraine gaining its own national church. Epiphanius, Metropolitan of Pereyaslav and Bila Tserkva, born Serhii Dumenko, will head new church, the council announced.
- The news that Ukraine had finally created a unified national Orthodox Church on Dec. 15 brought swift reactions from the religious and political worlds— mostly positive, some negative.
- Photographs from the scene in Kyiv as Ukraine took another step towards achieving full independence from Russia on Dec. 15: A historic synod gathered in Saint Sophia Cathedral in the Ukrainian capital to appoint the head of a new national, independent church and approve its charter.
- Read Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s remarks on Dec. 15 following the All-Ukrainian Orthodox Unity Council’s decision to name a leader upon the creation of a unified independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church. The church will gain official international recognition on Jan. 6.
Russia’s war on Ukraine
- Russian-led forces violated the ceasefire 12 times in the Donbas on Dec. 15, including using weapons banned by Minsk Agreements, the Ukrainian military reported. One Ukrainian soldier was shot dead by an enemy sniper and another one was injured in combat.
- The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine spotted more electronic warfare equipment in Russian-occupied parts of the Donbas. The drone that spotted the equipment was then fired on by Russian-led forces.
- A Ukrainian Su-27 fighter aircraft crashed while attempting to land on Dec. 15 afternoon during a scheduled flight, killing the pilot, the Ukrainian military said.
- In Brussels,Ukraine and NATO signed an implementation agreement on neutralization of explosive items and countering improvised explosive devices. Vast numbers of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines have been sewn in the east of Ukraine since Russia’s military intervention and occupation of part of the Donbas in 2014.
Business
- European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic has invited Ukraine and Russia for thenext round of trilateral gas talks at a political level in January. Ukraine’s gas transit contract with Russia ends in 2019, and Moscow has threatened not to renew it.
- Times are hard at Ukraine’s major trading port at Mariupol. In fact, it’s almost dead – and workers say things have not been this bad for decades. The BBC’s Zhanna Bezpiatchuk reports from the southern Ukrainian port on the Azov Sea, where business is being strangled by Russia’s harassment of merchant shipping.
- Germany will provide Ukraine with financial assistance worth 35 million euros to combat climate change, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources has announced. The money is to be spent on projects to fight climate change in the Black Sea area and promote the development of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels.
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