Ukrainians petition Zelenskyy over asset declaration law
A look back at a petition against delayed asset disclosure, alongside Russian claims about drones in Kherson Oblast and talks on Black Sea grain.
What did Ukrainians make of a law that could delay public disclosure of officials' assets? On 8 September 2023, tens of thousands of them signed a petition asking President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to veto the asset declaration legislation.
Critics argued that the bill, by delaying the requirement to declare assets publicly, could prevent officials from being held accountable. The petition reflected opposition among tens of thousands of Ukrainians to legislation they saw as undermining efforts to hold officials to account.
Claims from occupied Kherson Oblast
On the same day, Russia said its air defence systems had shot down two Ukrainian drones that were attempting to attack a polling station in Skadovsk, Kherson Oblast, while voting was under way in Russian elections held there.
Grain talks two days earlier
Two days earlier, on 6 September 2023, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, held talks in Sochi, Russia. They discussed reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which would allow grain to pass across the Black Sea.
The initiative was an agreement between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations. It was signed in Istanbul on 22 July 2022 for 120 days, and set up procedures to export grain safely from certain ports. A joint coordination and inspection centre was established in Turkey, with the UN serving as secretariat. It followed the halt of maritime grain shipments from Ukraine after the February 2022 invasion, which pushed up world food prices and raised the threat of famine in lower-income countries.
