Dismantling the monument to Shchors and appointing a new head of the parliamentary committee: highlights for December 9

Dismantling the monument to Shchors

In Kyiv, a monument to Mykola Shchors, one of the Bolshevik commanders during the Soviet-Ukrainian war of 1917-1921, was dismantled. The dismantling process began at 7 a.m. on December 9 and lasted six hours.

During the work, it was necessary to partially block traffic on Tarasa Shevchenka Boulevard. The Kyiv City State Administration explained that the dismantling took place in the morning on a weekend, so as not to paralyze traffic along the central streets of the city. For now, they plan to store the dismantled statue on the territory next to the Aviation Museum.

Appointment of new head of parliamentary committee

The Verkhovna Rada appointed Yaroslav Yurchyshyn as the new head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Freedom of Speech instead of Nestor Shufrych.

In 2019, Yurchyshyn was elected as a people’s deputy from the “Voice” party (No. 7 on the list). He is a member of the faction of the same name and the first deputy head of the Committee on Anti-Corruption Policy.

The newly appointed head of the committee was also the executive director of Transparency International Ukraine, a member of the Council of Public Control at NABU, a member of the competition commissions for the election of SAPO prosecutors, and the head of ARMA.

Adoption of a law criminalizing smuggling

The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading the bill on the criminalization of smuggling as a whole. It was initiated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who submitted the document back in 2021. Then it was adopted in the first reading.

The adoption of this bill was a requirement for the European Union to provide €1.5 billion in macro-financial assistance this year.

Russian shelling

Today, December 9, the Russians attacked the city of Beryslav, Kherson region. The Russian military dropped ammunition from a drone on civilians who were walking along the street. As a result of the attack, a local resident died — he received injuries incompatible with life. Another person was also injured by shrapnel.

Subsequently, the occupiers also shelled Kherson, injuring two people. A woman and a 29-year-old man were hospitalized with injuries of varying severity. Then the Russian army struck Kherson again, wounding another person.

In addition, today it became known about yesterday’s shelling of the village of Stepnohirsk, Zaporizhzhia region. A civilian died there.

At about 3:30 p.m. today, the Russians hit the city of Kupiansk, Kharkiv region. Two women 57 and 71 years old were killed in the attack. A 30-year-old man was wounded.

In the evening, the Russian military launched a missile at Ukraine. Air defense forces shot it down over the Dnipropetrovsk region. In addition, during the day the Russians attacked Nikopol with two kamikaze drones. As a result of the attacks, an infrastructure facility, a warehouse building, and a five-story building were damaged.

Other important news

• The Verkhovna Rada approved an appeal to EU member states asking for support for the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession.
• The Verkhovna Rada expanded the list of people who can receive payments in the event of the death of a military man.
• Flooding of the metro in Kyiv: there is a threat of emergency, the stations can function as shelters, the commission said.
• A health complex in the Zakarpattia region announced that the military broke into its territory and detained two workers.
• Border blockade: Hungarian carriers are also organizing a protest.