On May 18, according to the agenda of the plenary meeting, deputies considered draft decrees on awarding of the People's Council of the Donetsk People's Republic with a Badge and Certificate of Honour. The meeting was attended by 82 deputies from the "Donetsk Republic" and "Free Donbass" parties.

In Ukraine, once again there was a rise in tariffs for utility services. Since May 12, 2017, cold water and sanitation tariffs have been raised. Naturally, the rise in price occurred directly during the holidays, apparently, it was done during the time when Ukrainians' attention was occupied with completely different news. In particular, with provocations and clashes taking place in the cities of Ukraine during the celebration of 9 May.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has imposed fines for usage of St. George Ribbon. In the present times, the Ukrainian people would better be very careful to use a combination of orange and black colors, because right ‘patriots’ may even identify a bumblebee on your shoulder as a prohibited symbol.

Decree No. 133/2017 on the imposition of sanctions against natural and legal persons has been posted on the website of the President of Ukraine today. As indicated therein, today, that is, from the day of publication, it comes into force. I am in the sanctions list too, so I decided to comment on this Poroshenko’s gimmick.

Having occupied the penultimate place in the tank competition "Strong Europe", Ukraine has once again caused some damage to its image of the "martyr-country". It had for a long time put on a bogus mantle of the victim to be engaged in begging from Western countries. And for this, it is necessary to regularly show the worst level in almost everything.

On May 15, a regular meeting of the Contact group on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in the Donbass was held in Minsk. The agenda included issues related to the observance of the ceasefire and the prisoners' exchange.

A popular outrage at the domestic policy of the Kiev regime is beginning to become more visible in Ukraine. More and more Ukrainians want to celebrate traditional holidays and are no longer afraid of demonstrating an active rejection of imposed "values".

On May 12, the second meeting of the Integration Committee “Russia – Donbass” was held in Donetsk. The event was attended by the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Zakharchenko, the Chairman of the DPR People’s Council Denis Pushilin, the People’s Council’s deputies, public and political figures of the Russian Federation and the Lugansk People’s Republic.

On May 11, a celebratory procession on the occasion of Republic Day took place in the central street of the capital city of the Republic, Artema Street. The event was attended by the Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Alexander Zakharchenko, the Chairman of the DPR People’s Council Denis Pushilin, the People’s Council deputies, tens of thousands of citizens of the Republic as well as guest from other countries.

The Russophobic campaign in the United States, which reached its peak under the presidency of Barack Obama, unfortunately, continues today. So, on May 3, the House of Representatives of the US Congress voted to create an interdepartmental committee to counteract the supposedly "active hidden influence" of Russia in other countries.