Presidential Election in Ukraine: One Week Countdown

With just seven days to go until the Presidential Election, there is little time left for the candidates to tip the scales in their favour. Yet many voters are still undecided. With so much at stake, it is important that Ukrainians keep a cool head and make the right choice for their future. To discuss the likely and unlikely developments ahead of the elections, we will be joined by the British journalist and longtime Ukraine observer Bohdan Nahaylo, director of the Mohyla School of Journalism Yevhen Fedchenko and Kyiv-based writer and founder of Statement Email Paul Niland.

Ukrainian political prisoner Pavlo Gryb has been sentenced to six years in prison by a Rostov-on-Don court in Russia for promotion of “terrorism”. He denied all charges and announced a hunger strike in protest.

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko also made headlines this week with his interview to the American publication The Hill. He claimed that the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch gave him a list of those, whom Ukraine should not prosecute “from the first meeting.” The U.S. Department of State denied allegations. Later Petro Poroshenko took Yovanovitch’s side in this issue by providing her with his support.