We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other ongoing Ukraine coverage here.
Good morning. We'll start the live blog this morning with this item from RFE/RL's news desk:
Huge Purges Start At Ukrainian Customs Agency
The head of Ukraine’s State Customs Service, Maksym Nefyodov, has said his agency, which has been beset with corruption problems, will undergo a huge makeover next year and that he has started taking steps toward that goal, according to a presentation he gave to business associations, diplomats, donors, and political stakeholders in Kyiv on December 11.
Eighty percent of his Kyiv staff and 40 percent of officials at border posts have been purged, his "New Customs" plan says.
Nefyodov, a former investment banker, has had free rein to revamp the customs service since the old agency was abolished earlier this year.
In previous interviews given this year, Nefyodov said state coffers lose between $4 billion and $8 billion due to corruption.
"Furthermore, there are indirect losses from the decline in business activities, the deterioration of the business climate, tax evasion and illegal employment. Companies that operate in the shadows can’t attract loans and develop further," he told Business News Europe about his policy of zero tolerance of corruption.
Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk praised the customs service head's initial moves.
"I personally warn every bribe-taker or smuggler that the time of the schemes on which you made a fortune have passed," he said.
Additionally, according to Nefyodov's vision, seized goods will be auctioned online on an existing platform that is used for public procurement.
Twelve border checkpoints are slated for renovation and 11 mobile scanners will be installed.
Based on reporting by Delo, Liga News, Business News Europe, and Ukraine Business News
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Another Ukraine item from our news desk (courtesy of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service):
Death Toll In Ukraine College Fire Rises As Director Arrested For Negligence
ODESA, Ukraine -- Rescuers in Ukraine have found three more dead bodies amid the rubble of a burned-out technical college in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, bringing the number of deaths to 16.
The State Emergency Service said on December 12 that the bodies were extracted from the debris overnight.
The regional police said there are no more missing people after the fire.
The fire broke out on December 4 at 10:12 a.m. local time on the third floor of the six-story Odesa College of Economics, Law, and Hotel and Restaurant Business, eventually engulfing an area of 4,000 square meters.
The building was completed in 1914 and has landmark status.
A fire inspection of the building conducted in June 2014 found gross violations with orders to correct them, prosecutors said.
Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has said that each family that lost someone in the fire will receive the equivalent of $8,500.
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