This ends our live blogging for September 30. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
New government unveils ambitious five-year development plan:
By RFE/RL
Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has released a bold five-year action plan for Ukraine on the government's website that sets development of human capital and the economy, defense, quality of life, and European integration as priorities.
Billing his cabinet as the "technocratic government," Honcharuk on September 30 promised to "continuously invest in science, education, and culture" while seeking to create conditions for the delivery of "quality and accessible services to people."
In five years, the prime minister wants the economy to grow by 40 percent. To achieve this goal, Honcharuk told journalists at a briefing in Kyiv that gross domestic product (GDP) should rise by 5 percent next year, and increase by at least 7 percent in 2021-24.
To ensure the higher growth rates, Ukraine needs to draw $50 billion in investment over the next five years, Honcharuk said.
In dollar terms, the size of Ukraine's economy -- driven by steel and agricultural exports, as well as information-technology services -- in 2018 was $131 billion and this year it should approach $150 billion, according to Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital.
The World Bank and International Monetary Fund currently project economic growth this year to not surpass 3 percent.
In tandem with Honcharuk's other goals is achieving a minimum monthly salary of nearly $174 at the current exchange rate. Ukraine's currency is no longer pegged to the U.S. dollar and free-floats.
"In addition, the #Technocratic government aims to ensure that each family's utility bills do not exceed 15 percent of their income," Honcharuk said.
Ambulances and police cars in five years' time should arrive on calls within 10 minutes in cities and 20 minutes elsewhere.
All government services are to be transferred online and there'll be 24,000 kilometers of roadwork completed.
Demographic trends will be reversed as the population will start to rise due to the birthrate exceeding the death rate and as more Ukrainians repatriate than emigrate.
And environmental pollution will be reduced by 20 percent. (w/Ukraine Business News)
Gay veteran of Donbas war attacked in Kyiv:
By RFE/RL
An openly homosexual Ukrainian veteran of the war in the eastern part of the country was beaten up by five people as he was returning home late on September 28.
The news of Vasyl Davydenko's beating emerged two days later when fellow gay veteran, Viktor Pylypenko -- the first Donbas veteran to have come out -- posted a message on his Facebook timeline.
Davydenko, 41, told local TSN television on September 30 he believed the assault was because of his sexual orientation.
As he was approaching the entrance to his building, one of the five men asked if his name was Vasyl.
When Davydenko responded in the affirmative, another man said that he "gives intriguing interviews" to the media about his homosexuality and hit him in the genitals.
Davydenko then curled up into a fetal position on the ground as the five struck his head and legs and ripped apart a medical corset he was wearing to support his wounded spine.
A lawyer by profession, Davydenko first served in the Donbas volunteer battalion during the early stages of the war, which began in April 2014 when Russian-backed separatists began taking over government buildings, and police and Security Service stations.
He saw combat in the easternmost region of Luhansk starting in July 2014 and served until the middle of 2015.
Davydenko declared his homosexuality about 45 days ago as the second openly gay war veteran.
He told TSN TV that his entire family had pro-Russian views and he didn't talk to them. Aside from one relative in the government-controlled part of Ukraine, Davydenko's mother lives in Russian-occupied Crimea and his remaining family members reside in Russia.
Love took him to war because his partner, whom he met in February 2014, was already serving on the front, he said.
Eventually, Davydenko caught up to his lover in the front-line city of Shchastya, which literally means, "happiness."
"We were happy there," Davydenko said.
His partner, Arsen, died in battle in the Luhansk region in December 2014.
Davydenko said he didn't regret coming out and "other gays shouldn't be afraid of themselves in the first place."
In the interview, he said that "nobody can break us because we're stronger." (w/TSN, The Babel, and BBC Ukraine)