Wide resistance to vaccines plagues Ukraine's COVID-19 fight
The country designated 14,000 doses of its first vaccine shipment for the military, especially those fighting Russia-backed separatists in the east. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)KYIV โ After receiving its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine, Ukraine found itself in a new struggle against the pandemic โ persuading its widely reluctant people to get the shot. The resistance appears to be rooted in longstanding suspicion of vaccines dating back to the Soviet era, amplified by politicians' allegations about low-quality vaccines, corruption scandals and misinformation spread through social media. Those declining included Olena Obyedko, a 26-year-old nurse who works in the hospital's intensive care ward for COVID-19 patients, where people die every week. The country designated 14,000 doses of its first vaccine shipment for the military, especially those fighting Russia-backed separatists in the east.
Ukraine's local elections test leader and his young party
FILE In this file photo taken on Wednesday, May 20, 2020, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to the media during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukrainians are heading to the polls on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2020 to cast ballots in local elections seen as a key test for President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. During Ukraine's July 2019 parliamentary election, the party came out on top with 43% support. โThe local elections will set the stage for an attack on Zelenskiy from all sides,โ said Volodymyr Fesenko, the director of Penta Center, an independent think tank. Karasev observed that recent decentralization efforts that gave broad authority to local mayors and councils would make the outcome of Sunday's local elections particularly significant.
'Catastrophically short of doctors': Virus wallops Ukraine
Dr. Oleh Hornostayev speaks to a coronavirus patient at a hospital intensive care unit in Stryi, Ukraine, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020. Coronavirus infections in Ukraine began surging in late summer, and the ripples are hitting towns in the western part of the country. We are catastrophically short of doctors,โ says Stetsik, the chief doctor at the only hospital in the town of 20,000 people. The World Health Organization warns that the number of infections in Ukraine could continue to grow and reach 7,000-9,000 a day. โWe may increase the hospital capacity and improve oxygen supply, but we could just be simply short of doctors,โ he said.
Biden audio first shared by 'Russian agent' thrives online
The leaked recordings of apparent conversations between Joe Biden and Ukraines then-president largely confirm Bidens account of his dealings in Ukraine. The choppy audio, disclosed by a Ukrainian lawmaker whom U.S. officials described Thursday, Sept. 10, 2020, as an active Russian agent who has sought to spread online misinformation about Biden. And unlike in 2016, when Russia used bogus social media accounts or bots to wage a misinformation campaign, this time they're being spread by legitimate American social media users. There have been more than 117,000 mentions of Biden and the audio on Twitter since May, according to analysis by Zignal Labs, a social media monitoring firm. YouTube, for example, said the audio recordings donโt violate policy because the tech company has been unable to confirm they were obtained through hacking.
Charges, sanctions revive specter of Russian interference
with officials taking aim at Russian interference in the political process even as President Donald Trump expresses doubt about Russian meddling. In the case of the sanctions, officials denounced audio recordings that had been released by the Ukrainian parliamentarian and promoted by Trump on Twitter. The Treasury Department action is the second time in as many months that the administration has called out Derkach by name. Derkach is a graduate of a Russian spy academy who, the Treasury Department says, maintains close ties to Russian intelligence services. Most of the infiltration attempts by Russian, Chinese and Iranian agents were halted by Microsoft security software and the targets notified.
US charges Russian with plot to create election distrust
WASHINGTON The Trump administration has charged a Russian national in a sweeping plot to create distrust in the American political process. The Justice Department charges were announced Thursday along with sanctions against four people, including a Ukraine lawmaker, accused of election interferenceTHIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. WASHINGTON (AP) The Trump administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on a Russian-linked Ukrainian lawmaker for interfering in the U.S. presidential election by releasing edited audio recordings designed to denigrate Democrat Joe Biden. The action by the Treasury Department is the second time in as many months that the administration has called out Andrii Derkach by name. Derkach is a graduate of a Russian spy academy who, the Treasury Department says, maintains close ties to Russian intelligence services.
Ukraine to investigate leaked tapes with ex-president, Biden
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks to the media during a news conference in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, May 20, 2020. The Ukrainian investigation was opened on treason and abuse of office charges, indicating it was mostly directed against former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. Poroshenko rejected the tapes as a fabrication by pro-Russian forces in Ukraine. Zelenskiy, who carefully avoided taking sides in the U.S. impeachment inquiry, said his predecessor could be in trouble over the tapes. But on the tape Derkach released, the two men introduced as Vice President Biden and President Poroshenko discuss replacing Shokin as a condition for the loan guarantees, but make no mention of Burisma.
Giuliani's case rests on two Ukrainians
(CNN) - There are two Ukrainians at the heart of US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani's allegations against former US Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Both headed Ukraine's prosecutor's office -- Viktor Shokin between 2015 and 2016, and Yuriy Lutsenko between 2016 and 2019. A CNN analysis of multiple documents, supported by interviews in Ukraine, shows that it was Shokin and Lutsenko who supplied Giuliani's team with a complex narrative. Two former officials who worked with Lutsenko told CNN that they believe he was trying to save his own political career. Neither Shokin nor Lutsenko had a substantial record of prosecutions for corruption while they held the office of Prosecutor-General.
GOP senators urged reform of Ukrainian prosecutor general's office
CNN's KFile found a February 2016 bipartisan letter signed by several Republican senators that urged then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to "press ahead with urgent reforms to the Prosecutor General's office and judiciary." We similarly urge you to press ahead with urgent reforms to the Prosecutor General's Office and judiciary. "It's not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption," Biden said. "The Office of the General Prosecutor desperately needs reform. Added Herbst, "Vice President Biden has been a great advocate for reform in Ukraine."
Ukraine ex-pres.: No knowledge of prosecutor's offer to help Trump
Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he had no knowledge about his prosecutor-general's offer to help US President Donald Trump investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. KIEV, Ukraine - Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has told CNN that he had no knowledge about his prosecutor-general's offer to help US President Donald Trump investigate the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, a leading candidate to face him in the 2020 presidential election. Trump has denied his decision to delay the aid had anything to do with his desire for Ukraine to investigate Biden. A whistleblower complaint about that call has prompted an impeachment inquiry, focused on Trump and Giuliani's Ukraine dealings. Nor, Poroshenko said, did he speak to former US President Barack Obama or Trump about any commercial or personal business dealings.