Trending Ukraine: 130th in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index

Discover the latest updates on Ukraine in trending World News as of April 22, 2016.

While Ukraine’s leaders have stabilized the budget and overcome a recession, their record on tackling graft is less impressive. The country ranks 130th in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, almost exactly where it was in 2010. No one’s been convicted over the billions of dollars Ukraine’s post-revolution leaders say the old regime stole. The same applies to the 2014 killing of more than 100 demonstrators. (Daryna Krasnolutska, Bloomberg).

Thirty years ago, on April 26, 1986, Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant malfunctioned and exploded during a routine test.The site is now administered by Ukraine, which faces a complex challenge: It must manage an engineering marvel that’s been designed to contain Chernobyl’s poisonous remains, and deal with the painful economic aftermath, all while negotiating with international creditors to keep the national economy from collapsing (John Wendle, Bloomberg).

Cash-strapped Ukrainian government canceled the local school lunch program for 350,000 children last year – the only source of clean food in the village Zalyshany near Chernobyl.Ukraine’s Institute of Agricultural Radiology says the most recent testing in the zone showed radiation levels in wild-grown food such as nuts, berries and mushrooms were two to five times higher than what is considered safe (Yuras Karmanau, Associated Press).

Mr Yanukovich’s critics say the former Ukrainian president hindered Ukraine’s integration with the west, running a presidential campaign — guided by Mr Manafort — that exploited ideological divisions between the western part of the country and a pro-Russia east that is now run by separatists (Courtney Weaver, additional reporting by Roman Olearchyk and Demetri Sevastopulo, Financial Times).

April 22- Alexander Zakharchenko, the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, says there are several options of a peaceful solution to the conflict in Donbas, saying that Kyiv is, nevertheless, preparing to make another attempt to resolve the conflict using military methods (Interfax).

EMPR

Maria Nesheva