Verkhovna Rada appoints Dmytro Lubinets as Ukraine’s new ombudsman

On July 1, the Ukrainian parliament approved the appointment of lawmaker Dmytro Lubinets as Ukraine’s new ombudsman, another lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak reported. Lubinets headed the parliament’s human rights committee. Verkhovna Rada dismissed the previous ombudsman Lyudmyla Denisova on May 31, after Ukrainian journalists and activists had raised concerns over her reports of rapes by Russian soldiers, which sometimes were seen as insensitive or disrespectful toward survivors.