On December 23, the grand opening of the Republican Badminton Tournament "Sporty Donbass" took place on the basis of the complex children's and youth sports school No. 5 in Donetsk.

Despite the support of the armistice and the implementation of the Minsk agreements expressed by Ukraine, Ukraine continues violating the first and main point of the accords – the "silence regime".

On December 22, according to the agenda of the plenary session, in the framework of parliamentary control over the activities of the Council of Ministers in accordance with the current legislation, the Acting Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Finance Minister Ekaterina Matyushchenko addressed the deputies with a report on the results of 2017.

The official Kiev is trying to reduce the level of claims to the authorities regarding corruption and price increases by distractions, in particular by using public opinion polls. 

The Permanent Plenipotentiary Representative of the Donetsk People's Republic at the talks of the Contact Group in Minsk Denis Pushilin in the programme "60 minutes" on the channel "Russia 1" called the work of the Ukrainian representatives in the JCCC in the absence of Russian servicemen ineffective.

On December 20, in Minsk, the final in 2017 meeting of the Contact Group on peaceful settlement of the Donbass conflict was held. The agenda of the meeting included issues of compliance with a ceasefire regime, the implementation of agreements on the withdrawal of prohibited weapons and the disengagement of forces and facilities, as well as discussion of the preparation process for the exchange of prisoners.

US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said that "Russia and its puppets are a source of violence in the east of Ukraine." Also, the United States calls on Russia "to put an end to the attacks in the east of Ukraine and to agree to an effective UN peacekeeping mission."

The Ukrainian press constantly informs about all new 'achievements' of the country's economy. This week, for example, the director of the Financial Stability Department (although it is be better to say the instability) of the NBU (National Bank of Ukraine) Vavrishchuk told that Ukraine has set a new world record – in the number of accumulating debts on loans.

The decision to terminate the activities of the Russian military in the Joint Control and Coordination Centre (JCCC) is caused by unacceptable working conditions created by the Ukrainian party, the Chairman of the People's Council, the Permanent Representative of the DPR to the Contact group in Minsk, Denis Pushilin, stated in Vesti programme on the TV channel Russia-24.

According to the latest published data of the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, the birth rate in the country has fallen drastically. The increase in prices for utilities, medical and pension reforms did their job – in just three quarters of 2017 the number of people in Ukraine decreased by 150 thousand people.