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Meet Nina (71) and Ivan (75) from eastern Ukraine, where the conflict has entered its eighth year.

They are the dramatis personae in a new video/social media campaign being run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to help focus attention on the plight of the 3 million people affected by the fighting.

Along with the 1.4 million displaced, over 10,000 people have died in the conflict. Health-care facilities, living quarters, schools and roads have been damaged while water and electricity supplies are frequently disrupted.

Before the conflict, Nina and Ivan lived a good life. There was a real sense of community in the village, with family and friends close by. They got married 50 years ago, had two sons and worked as teachers in the local school until they retired.

When the conflict started in 2014, they didnt think it would last very long. But the fighting soon reached their village. There were days and nights when the shelling was too severe to stay, and they had to find shelter further away. Thankfully, they were not home the day their house was hit.

When the fighting moved further away, Nina and Ivan decided to come back. This was their home and the community pulled together to help them fix their damaged house.

Nina and Ivans sons quit the village before the conflict but used to visit regularly. When the conflict started and the contact line separating government- from non-government-controlled areas came into being, visits became increasingly rare.

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, movement restrictions became even more severe and their sons have not been able to visit at all. These new restrictions made it very difficult for Nina and Ivan to get their pensions.

Their children manage to send some money from time to time, which Nina and Ivan spend on food, medicine, heating materials and other basic needs. They can never save enough to fix the roof.

Humanitarian assistance such as coal deliveries by IOM teams, made possible through European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), have helped relieve stress on limited resources and allowed them to save money to cover additional essential needs, such as, in the case of Nina and Ivan, much needed roof repairs.

Here are some more stories of people who have been helped by IOM and the EU.

Vira was among 5,400 householders to receive coal which helped keep families warm during the harsh Ukrainian winter. Three tons of coal per family were delivered along a 427 kilometre-long contact line dividing the region into areas under the Governments control and those outside it.

Her son Volodymyr has special medical needs. I used to buy coal on my own and hire people to help move it to the barn, which was quite expensive. Now, as I received coal as humanitarian aid, I can buy medicines for my son, says Vira.

Valerii broke his leg eight years ago and had no money to pay for surgery, so he has been suffering ever since. When shelling started in 2014, he was unable to make it to the shelter, but he and his wife somehow survived a direct hit on their house.

We had to choose whether we would buy bread or coal, he remembers. We heated our house only once in two days to save fuel and money, shivering day and night before we received three tons of coal.

My yard was hit by a shell and we sat in a basement for a month, recalls Valentyna. We keep suffering from water shortages, because the water filtration station is often interrupted by hostilities. I do not know how we are getting through all these difficulties. I just want peace.

She plans to use the money she saved on coal to cover other essential expenses, such as drinking water, food and medicine.

In 2016, Oleksandr, a former bus driver, suffered a stroke and has been living alone on a small disability pension ever since. He also mentions having funds for medicine as a most important impact of the IOM aid: I had been saving money for heating, but after IOM brought me three tons of coal, I was able to cover some of my other pressing needs.

Visits to social and medical institutions have been a challenge for people like Oleksandr. The facilities in the region suffer from the collateral damage of aging infrastructure and the recent hostilities. To help keep the chill at bay during the cold season, IOM has provided essential rehabilitation works to medical and social facilities in the Donetsk Region, including two hospitals, one clinic and a boarding school, that were damaged by fighting.

The Organization has also contributed to the renovations of a newly established centre for internally displaced persons. In total, over 14,000 people will use the services of these renovated institutions, now without risking their health due to broken windows or leaky roofs.

The seven-year-old armed conflict in eastern Ukraine has taken a heavy toll on the lives of millions of ordinary Ukrainians living on both sides of the contact line. It is anything but frozen. Frequent military escalations and ceasefire violations continue disrupting the lives of civilians. The conflict has destabilized the entire country and caused a negative impact on the general stability of the region.

New social risks that are likely to have long-term, generational effects have emerged, with mental health consequences that are especially dire for children living within the conflict zone, survivors of gender-based violence and victims of exploitation. The elderly population is considered to be particularly fragile.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created additional pressure on an already weakened health-care and social service systems. During the first months of the pandemic, all crossing points along the contact line were closed in an attempt to contain the virus.

This made it almost impossible for many elderly and disabled people to receive pensions and social benefits or to maintain family ties. The pandemic has made hundreds of thousands of conflict-weary people more vulnerable and more dependent on humanitarian aid, while the humanitarian access has remained restricted.

Compounding these issues, the precarious security situation in Ukraines eastern conflict area presents a constant concern that any deterioration of security conditions there could severely aggravate the humanitarian situation for over 3 million people in need of assistance, whose resilience is already strained.

Though the number of people in need in eastern Ukraine remains the same as in 2020, their needs became much more severe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Anh Nguyen, Chief of Mission at IOM Ukraine. IOM works to leave no one behind on both sides of the contact line and we are grateful to donors and partners for their support to the most vulnerable.

Written by Varvara Zhluktenko. Photos by IOM/Polina Perfilieva. Illustrations by Jenya Polosina.

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Bread or Coal: The Bitter Choice for Ukraine's Conflict-Affected - Ukraine - ReliefWeb

KYIV, June 18 (Reuters) - After 123 days handcuffed together to save their on-again off-again relationship, Ukrainians Alexandr Kudlay and Viktoria Pustovitova have split up, shedding their bonds on national TV and saying the experiment had brought home uncomfortable truths.

The young couple from the eastern city of Kharkiv decided to handcuff themselves together on Valentine's Day, in a last-ditch attempt to break the cycle of breaking up and making up.

Throughout the experiment, which they documented to a growing social media following, they did everything together, from grocery shopping to cigarette breaks. They took turns to use the bathroom and take showers.

Pustovitova, who initially resisted the handcuff idea, shed tears as she discussed the latest break-up.

"I think it will be a good lesson for us, for other Ukrainian couples and couples abroad not to repeat what we have done," she told Reuters in an interview in Kyiv.

Pustovitova said personal space is what she missed most, although she also felt her boyfriend did not pay her enough attention while they were chained together.

Alexandr Kudlay and Viktoria Pustovitova, who handcuffed themselves and spent 123 days together, have the chain dismantled by a representative from a Ukrainian record book in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2021. The Ukrainian couple split up after 123 days handcuffed together, shedding their bonds on national TV and saying the experiment had brought home uncomfortable truths. Picture taken June 17, 2021. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

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"We stayed together all day, I did not receive any attention from Alexandr because we were constantly together. He did not tell me: 'I miss you', while I would like to hear that," said the 29-year-old beautician.

Kudlay said he did not regret resorting to desperate measures to save the relationship, adding that the cuffs helped him understand that the two were not "like-minded people".

"We are not on the same wavelength, we are totally different," the 33-year-old car salesman said.

The couple plan to sell the handcuffs in an online auction and donate part of the money to charity.

They had the bonds removed in front of Ukrainian TV news channels and a representative from a Ukrainian record book, who said no couple in the world had managed a similar feat.

Their last photo on Instagram, where they have more than 7,800 followers, showed the couple standing apart, looking at the floor.

Editing by Matthias Williams and Mike Collett-White

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ukraine's inseparable couple ditches the handcuffs and parts ways - Reuters

Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine When the President of Ukraine invited CBS News to visit the front line in his country's war against Russian-backed separatists, we expected a quick trip in an armored motorcade to the muddy trenches that cut a bloody scar through the wheat fields of eastern Ukraine. We did not anticipate an informal breakfast lard on rye bread, salmon sashimi, homemade cookies and shots of brandy with President Volodymyr Zelensky and his elderly parents in their tiny, Soviet-era kitchen.

The war in Ukraine has raged since 2014, when protests in the capital, Kyiv, toppled a government friendly to Moscow. Russia retaliated by sending troops across the border to seize control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula, and by backing a separatist insurgency in the east. The United Nations puts the death toll after seven years of war at more than 13,000.

The U.S. has supported Zelenskyy's government with money, weapons and training. But the president told us what he really wants is America to back his country's bid to join NATO a move that the U.S. fears could exacerbate tensions with Moscow.

Just days before President Biden's summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, during which Ukraine will figure near the top of the agenda, we asked Zelensky why ordinary Americans should care about the conflict in his country, which is thousands of miles from their own.

"It can be tomorrow in their houses" he told us.

That may sound far-fetched, but experts say Russian hackers are using Ukraine as a testing ground including attacking its power grid before employing similar tactics in the U.S. When tens of thousands of Russian troops massed at Ukraine's border earlier this year, some saw it as a move intended not only to scare an American ally, but as a threat to the United States and its allies.

President Zelenskyy grew up in an era when Ukraine was part of the USSR, and he was raised in a Russian-speaking household. Part of his early years were spent in the Mongolian city of Erdenet which, at the time, was within the outer reaches of the Soviet empire. His father Oleksandr, a professor of computing, had been sent there to teach.

Like many Ukrainians, Zelenskyy believes that Vladimir Putin has neo-imperial ambitions for Russia, to control its neighbors once again.

"They don't want to make us free", he told CBS News.

Zelenskyy started down his surprising path to the presidency as a comedian with his own production company. He played a fictional President of Ukraine, contending with corrupt oligarchs, in the wildly popular television series "Servant of the People."

It served as a springboard for his own, very real political career. One of Zelenskyy's top priorities in office has been combating widespread corruption.

Over breakfast, Zelenskyy, an only child, told us that his parents were "always" worried about him since his election to Ukraine's top job.

In a country where corruption is endemic and Enemy No. 1 is the massive nuclear power next door, I asked the president's parents whether they preferred comedy or politics as a career path for their son.

"Maybe comedy is more to my liking," replied his father, with a wry smile.

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Ahead of Biden-Putin summit, Ukraine leader tells Americans war with Russia could "be tomorrow in their houses" - CBS News

Soccer Football - Euro 2020 - Group C - Ukraine v North Macedonia - National Arena, Bucharest, Romania - June 17, 2021 Ukraine coach Andriy Shevchenko celebrates after the match Pool via REUTERS/Mihai Barbu

BUCHAREST, June 17 (Reuters) - Ukraine struggled to conquer their nerves against North Macedonia at the European Championship, coach Andriy Shevchenko said after his team's nail-biting 2-1 victory at the National Arena Bucharest on Thursday. read more

Shevchenko's team dominated the first half against the lowest-ranked side at the finals, going into the interval two goals ahead, but went off the boil in the second half, nearly conceding from North Macedonia's first attack. read more

Ukraine's Georgiy Bushchan denied midfielder Arijan Ademi in the 47th minute and that attempt set the tone for a much more competitive game in which North Macedonia pulled a goal back via Ezgjan Alioski, who followed up after his penalty was saved.

"First of all this part of the European Championship is a very different atmosphere. It's very emotional," Shevchenko told reporters. "It's a different kind of tournament. At any second, the balance of the team can change.

"We played a very good first half but they started the second half very well and our mistake caused a penalty that they scored (from).

"Some sort of anxiety, nervousness appeared. We got more chances and we should have scored for the third time... but we also need to praise North Macedonia's character."

Ukraine's Ruslan Malinovskiy missed a late penalty that would have extended their lead and Shevchenko defended his decision to substitute both scorers, Andriy Yarmolenko and Roman Yaremchuk, in the 70th minute.

"We changed it completely because we had to protect our goal and we had to press a little bit in front to prevent long passes," the coach added. "We got two fresh players who were pressing quite a lot.

"I think during the game we had enough chances to score more... The main point is that we got the victory."

Ukraine have three points after two games and play Austria on Monday. Netherlands face Austria later on Thursday with both sides on three points after opening victories.

Yarmolenko, who scored Ukraine's first and assisted their second, said their coaches had warned them at halftime that North Macedonia would come out fighting.

"They told us North Macedonia will start attacking because they have nothing to lose," the Ukraine captain said. "They made us nervous. When the score was 2-1 we panicked a little bit.

"We didn't want to lose and it was obvious that everyone was nervous, but it's very good we managed to hold on for victory."

North Macedonia, who lost to Austria in their first game, need the Austrians to beat the Dutch if they are to have any hope of extending their stay at their first major tournament.

Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; editing by Ken Ferris

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ukraine affected by nerves in win over North Macedonia - Shevchenko - Reuters

The Ukrainian parliament has released an updated version of the draft law On Virtual Assets. The revised bill requires exchanges to obtain government authorization, disclose their ownership and implement mandatory KYC procedures. The document has been criticized by regulators in Kyiv but the government wants the legislation passed before the parliaments summer break.

Ukrainian lawmakers have revised the draft law designed to regulate the countrys expanding crypto space. The deputies have introduced a number of amendments since December when it was voted on first reading in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraines parliament. The latest version of the document was released this week by the parliamentary Digital Transformation Committee which recommended its adoption.

The bill recognizes a virtual asset as an intangible good that has value and is an object of civil circulation, Forklog reported. Virtual assets can certify property or non-property rights, including rights to claim other objects of civil rights, the publication detailed. The draft also distinguishes between financial instruments and virtual assets backed by currencies.

One of the key regulations concerns cryptocurrency exchanges and exchangers. To operate legally, they will have to be authorized by the Ministry of Digital Transformation. Crypto service providers will be obliged to reveal their ownership structure and monitor financial transactions to prevent money laundering. The permits will be valid for a period of one year. Russian platforms will not be allowed to do business in Ukraine.

Another important aspect is the introduction of mandatory identification and verification procedures. As part of the know-your-customer (KYC) process, individuals will be required to provide IDs, bank accounts and information about their electronic wallets. Companies will also have to share their business registration numbers. Trading platforms that do not currently carry out client verifications will have to update their onboarding procedures to comply with the law.

The authors of the new legislation have tasked the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) with oversight of the laws implementation. NSSMC and NBU representatives have criticized the draft and called for further revisions in correspondence with the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Dmytro Razumkov.

The central bank has pointed out that the bill On Virtual Assets is riddled with significant gaps and conceptual errors that could create legal uncertainty. At the same time, the securities commission has complained that the law does not clearly define the responsibilities of each regulator and has no mechanisms in place to coordinate regulatory activities in the market.

The NSSMC also insisted that the adopted virtual assets classification and regulatory approach do not correspond to the best international practices and the EU legislation. The agency is concerned about the absence of texts dealing with investor protection and crime prevention. The NBU added that while virtual assets are not recognized as legal tender in Ukraine, the law does not explicitly prohibit their exchange for goods and services and does not limit trading with other virtual assets or the national fiat currency in any way. The bank fears this could lead to the emergence of a parallel settlement system outside its control. The Radas legal department called for more amendments to the draft.

The Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, Alexander Bornyakov, acknowledged that the ministry faces criticism from various government agencies that consider the bill insufficiently perfect. However, he noted that the need to protect the interests of the state is often understood as a need to establish additional restrictions and to unreasonably complicate the business environment. Bornyakov stressed that the interests of the crypto market participants would be his departments main priority and promised his team would do their best to ensure the bill hits the floor of the Rada during its last plenary week ending on July 13.

In the past few years, Ukraine has emerged as a generally crypto-friendly destination. The country was ranked first among over 150 nations in last years edition of the Global Crypto Adoption Index by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis.

Whats your opinion about the proposed crypto legislation in Ukraine? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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Revised Bill 'On Virtual Assets' Aims to Regulate Ukraine's Crypto Space This Summer Regulation Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News