Budget for 2025, Kostin's dismissal and possible participation of DPRK fighters in battles in Donetsk: highlights for October 31

Budget 2025

In the first reading, the Verkhovna Rada supported the draft state budget for 2025. It was supported by 247 MPs.

No amendments were made to the draft law, except for the abolition of the salary increase for prosecutors. At the same time, the current version of the draft law does not provide for funding for the “eRestoration” program, a state program of financial assistance for the reconstruction of housing damaged by the hostilities.

Kostin's final dismissal

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has officially dismissed Andrii Kostin from the post of Prosecutor General. Earlier, he resigned amid a scandal with prosecutors over disability benefits.

The news of the Prosecutor General's resignation became known a week earlier, following a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council convened by the President to discuss the situation with fake disabilities of officials. A few days ago, the Verkhovna Rada supported Kostin's dismissal.

Soldiers from the DPRK may appear in battles in Donetsk region

North Korea's military engineers are already in the temporarily occupied territory of Donetsk region. Later, Russia plans to involve the North Korean military in the battles in the Donetsk sector, said Andrii Kovalenko, head of the National Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation.

According to him, 3,000 DPRK soldiers are currently stationed in the Kursk region. In total, there are 12,000 DPRK soldiers in Russia.

“They will be wearing Russian uniforms, and propaganda will pass them off as Kalmyks, Tuvans, and Buryats,” Kovalenko said.

Zelenskyy reveals the first point of his internal victory pland

Countering disinformation will be the first point of Ukraine's internal action plan during the war, said Dmytro Lytvyn, the President's communications adviser.

According to him, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Lytvynenko has already formulated this point as “information firmness”. Various structures are involved, including the two intelligence agencies — the Defence Intelligence and the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine — as well as the Security Service of Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers is also involved in the development of the plan.

Lytvyn also said that the internal action plan would be presented to the public within the next month.

Bakanov employed his son in the Security Service of Ukraine after the start of the invasion

Ukrainska Pravda has found out that former head of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Bakanov employed his son Artur Lazarenko in the SBU at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, where he continues to work to this day.

According to the newspaper's sources, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Bakanov employed his son in the SBU. He, like his father, became a lieutenant and serves in the 6th Directorate of the SBU Counterintelligence Department. Artur Ivanovych has his mother's surname, Lazarenko.

When asked by a journalist how he got to the SBU, what he did before, and what he does in his position, Artur Lazarenko did not answer and refused to talk about his “personal life”.

Threat of a fake thousand hryvnias from Zelensky

Links to fake accounts of the Ministry of Social Policy, which allegedly promise to pay UAH 1,000 from the state, are being circulated among Telegram channels, the ministry said.

“These are fraudulent resources, the transition to which requires personal card data, as a result of which fraudsters can gain access to your funds,” the Ministry of Social Policy warns.

The government urged not to trust such messages and not to follow the links.

Scandal in another orphanage in Lviv region

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets has reported that children's rights are being violated in an orphanage in Lviv region. This is the second case of child abuse in institutions in the Lviv region.

For example, children in the orphanage were placed in an isolation ward as a form of punishment. It is known that children were kept there for 5 days. The administration of the institution explained this by saying that the children were faking illness to avoid going to school. However, it is unacceptable to leave minors there behind closed doors without round-the-clock supervision, the ombudsman emphasized.

According to the ombudsman, the report on the violations has already been received by the relevant state authorities.

Musk summoned to court

American businessman Elon Musk has been summoned to court in the case of the distribution of money to American voters from his America PAC organization.

The judge ordered all parties, including Musk, to attend a court hearing in Philadelphia on October 31. Earlier, Musk announced that he would pay $1 million every day to a random registered voter who signed a petition from his America PAC organization.

Other important news:

• President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spoken out about the territorial concessions to Russia that US presidential candidate Donald Trump might offer if he wins. He believes that this is impossible.
• Russia reports an attack on a fuel and energy facility in Bashkiria. Ukraine is accused of the attack.
• Norway is preparing a new 500 million euro aid package for Ukraine, which will include F-16 fighter jets and NASAMS air defense systems.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov believes that the victory plan prepared by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is “schizophrenic”. According to him, such actions of the Ukrainian leader “do not bring peace in Europe any closer”.
• In October, courts in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn, Zakarpattia, and Ternopil regions issued about a hundred decisions not to imprison soldiers who had left their units without permission for the first time, but to allow them to return to service.