Good morning. We'll get the live blog started today with a couple of stories filed overnight by RFE/RL's news desk:

Putin Gives 'Hero Of Labor' Award To Close Associate For Crimean Bridge

Russian President Vladimir Putin has awarded his former judo instructor the title of “Hero of Labor” for building a controversial bridge from the nation’s southern provinces to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Arkady Rotenberg, a friend of Putin’s going back decades when they practiced martial arts in their youth, received the award on March 16, the sixth anniversary of a widely denounced referendum that was organized by Russia to annex Crimea.

Rotenberg’s Stroygazmontazh was the general contractor for the $3.7 billion bridge, which stretches 19 kilometers and is the sole link between Crimea and Russia. The bridge was opened to automobile traffic in 2018 and rail traffic last year.

The United States and the European Union have condemned Russia’s construction of the bridge, calling it a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and have imposed sanctions on firms associated with its construction, including Stroygazmontazh.

Rotenberg sold the company late last year for 75 billion rubles ($1 billion) reportedly to companies affiliated with the state-owned gas giant Gazprom.

In 2013, Putin signed an order establishing a "Hero of Labor" award for Russia to "raise the prestige of selfless and conscientious labor."

The award had also existed in Soviet times.

With reporting by Kommersant

Zelenskiy Calls On Oligarchs To Help Finance Virus Fight As China's Ma Donates Testing Kits

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on the nation’s wealthiest businessmen to donate funds and equipment to help fight the coronavirus inside the country.

Zelenskiy met with the top business owners at his office in Kyiv on March 16 as the country registered its fifth case of the COVID-19 infection. The president said he told the tycoons that the country needed 500 ambulances and as much as 13 billion hryvnya ($490 million) for medicine.

“Business should be socially responsible during diffucult times for the government. Ukrainians should feel protected when they go to state hospitals. And I insist that you help now,” Zelenskiy told the businessmen.

Ukraine is one of Europe’s poorest countries with an outdated and underfunded health-care system that could be quickly overwhelmed if coronavirus cases spike inside the country.

The attendees included among others Rinat Akhmetov, the nation’s wealthiest man, and Ihor Kolomoyskiy, a billionaire who has business ties with Zelenskiy and was seen by many as being one of his main backers during his presidential campaign last year.

Akhmetov donated four artificial lung-ventilation devices to the Health Ministry as well as hazmat suits, thermometers, and face masks.

Viktor Pinchuk, the billionaire owner of a pipe company, has donated 10 lung-ventilation devices to hospitals in Kyiv and other regions of Ukraine.

Akhmetov, Kolomoyskiy, and Pinchuk made their initial wealth by scooping up Ukrainian state assets on the cheap during the turbulent 1990s in a process that many citizens consider to have been unfair.

They are among a group of businessmen, known as oligarchs, that control a massive swath of the Ukrainian economy.

Several other wealthy businessmen are purchasing used ventilation devices in the United States for delivery to Ukraine.

Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of the Alibaba Group, one of China’s largest technology companies, financed the purchase of one million coronavirus testing kits for Ukraine at a cost of $80 million, Zelenskiy said. The testing kits will arrive on March 21 from China, he added.

With reporting by AFP and the Kyiv Post

This ends our live blogging for March 16. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.

Ukraine's central bank: