The Ukrainian Parliament today adopted a bill (No.6400) on the Urban Planning Code in the first reading. The code sets out the principles of urban planning, determines the regional and local site development rules, the order of location of construction facilities, and submission of primary data for the design of facilities.

The Ukrainian Parliament today extended the term of office of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights from five to seven years.

The Ukrainian Parliament today elected its four candidates of the National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting. Parliament elected Yevhen Baranov (249 votes), Oksana Yelmanova (250 votes), Iryna Opilat (249 votes) and Mykola Fartushniy (362 votes). The Party of Regions submitted the candidacies of Baranov and Fartushniy, while Yelmanov’s came from the Communist Party and the Lytvyn Bloc put forward Iryna Opilat. These three political forces are part of the ruling parliamentary coalition.

The Ukrainian Parliament today rejected all of the bills amending Ukrainian legislation on elections to local councils, as well as the election of deputies of the Crimean Supreme Council, and the heads of villages, towns and cities.

Arnold Radovets, an MP of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, has joined the ruling parliamentary coalition, speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn announced today.

The Ukrainian Parliament today annulled The Law on Legal Acts (No 1343-1). A total of 239 MPs today voted in favor of annulling the law. The current president, Viktor Yanukovych, sent back the law without signing it, saying that it requires additional work.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that it is necessary to change the country's constitution but failed to indicate precisely what changes he has in mind. During an address to the nation marking Constitution Day on June 28, Yanukovych said that constitutional amendments adopted during the Orange Revolution in late 2004, which shifted powers from the presidency to the Ukrainian Parliament and government, had led to a "serious crisis of power". Yanukovych insisted that the changes should not be turned into a "political action" and should be based on "social consensus". The following is an excerpt from Yanukovych's address on June 28: