On Oct. 22, President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a decree requiring the liquidation of medical examination commissions that determine the severity and extent of disabilities by December 31.
The decree was issued after a meeting held by the National Security and Defense Council on October 22. During the meeting, officials discussed the violations committed at medical examination commissions and how they fraudulently acquired disability status through corruption schemes.
The medical examination commissions can grant a disability status that allows you to avoid military service, receive a higher pension and other social benefits.
In accordance with the decree, within three months, working groups are to be formed to verify disability certificates issued by medical examination commissions. If there are any violations, the certificates will be annulled.
In the week following Oct. 22, officials with disabilities who receive pension payments should be inspected. The decree stated that a new bill would be drafted in a month to change the method of calculating pensions for officials.
In two weeks, a plan should be developed to digitalize the entire medical examination commission. In the meantime, the procedure for former state officials with disabilities crossing state borders will be reviewed in a month.
Vasyl Maliuk, the head of the Security Service of Ukraine, said that following the NSDC, the SBU had exposed corrupt schemes at medical examinations commissions in 2024. This resulted in the cancellation of 4106 fake disability status documents.
Maliuk said that 64 officials from medical examination commissions were charged with crimes and nine more suspects were convicted.
In Rivne, Mykolaiv and Khmelnytskyi oblasts, corruption schemes at medical examinations commissions that are linked to draft evasion were reported.
Andriy Kostin, Ukraine’s Prosecutor-General, resigned on October 22 after reports that prosecutors had illegally obtained disability status.
A government official from South Korea claimed North Korea sent fighter pilots in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.
“I am grateful for the trust of the President of Ukraine and Verkhovna Rada. In this situation, however, I think it’s right for me resign as prosecutor general,” said he.
According to a draft prepared by Italy, this year’s G7 chair, the leaders will issue a statement in October saying “Russia’s assets will remain frozen until Russia ends its aggressive behavior and pays for damage it has done to Ukraine.”
Zelensky, in a conversation with journalists, did not exclude the possibility that “some partners” might consider Ukraine’s NATO membership in exchange for occupied territories. “We don’t discuss this,” he said.
Zelensky, who was speaking at a Kyiv Independent-sponsored meeting, was asked about Pyongyang’s growing support for Moscow. In recent days, it is reported that the support has gone from weapons to boots on ground.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, said that Washington also plans to provide $800 millions as a first tranche for the manufacture of Ukrainian drones.
BRICS is a grouping of emerging economies that includes Russia, China, India and Brazil.
This is Pyongyang’s first public response to multiple reports from Kyiv or Seoul about such a deployment.
The loan will go towards Ukraine’s military expenditures. Kyiv can invest in key equipment for fighting Russia, including artillery, air defence, and wider equipment support.
The Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces destroyed 46 of 60 Shahed drones launched overnight by Russia.
A government source told South Korean news agency Yonhap that, “while watching signs of North Korea and Russia military cooperation, response measures will be taken step by step.”
Russian local authorities claim that Ukrainian drones attacked four Russian plants, including three distilleries, overnight on October 22, including in the oblasts of Tula, Tambov, and Voronezh.
In an interview with Wladyslaw Bartoszewsk, Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs on October 21, Wladyslaw T. Bartoszewsk stated that Warsaw wants to review the classified additions made to Ukraine’s recent victory plan presented by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This includes 1,350 casualties that Russian forces have suffered in the last day.
The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported on October 21 that Russian soldiers executed two captured Ukrainians near Selydove, in Donetsk Oblast.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces of Sudan (RSF) claim to have shot down an cargo plane in Darfur. It is speculated that Russians were on board.
Zelensky stated in his evening speech that “every meeting with our partners includes discussions about the Defense-Industrial Complex.” “We need Ukraine’s ability to defend its independence and sovereignty regardless of any threats from the outside world,” Zelensky said in his evening address.
Sandu stated on X that “the people of Moldova have spoken. Our EU future will be now anchored in our constitution.” “We fought fairly and won an unfair battle. The fight isn’t yet over. “We will continue to push for peace, prosperity and the freedom to create our own future.”
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