Last year, Chernihivoblenergo JSC’s losses as a result of accidents caused by trees and branches falling on power lines amounted to UAH 5.1 million, compared to UAH 2.6 million in 2023.
“Having calculated the losses incurred by the company due to improper maintenance of trees and bushes in 2024, we see that the situation with this issue has not only not improved, but has become much worse,” the company said on its website.
According to the company, last year, Chernihivoblenergo employees recorded 968 interruptions in power supply due to trees or branches falling on power lines (in 2023, 618 interruptions). In addition, 240.7 thousand consumers were without electricity for some time (195.7 thousand) and 8691 hours had no electricity (6156 hours).
It is noted that the authorities, organizations, institutions, enterprises and owners of private households in the areas of their territorial responsibility are responsible for the preservation of green spaces and proper care of them.
At the same time, Chernihivoblenergo emphasized that it is actively involved in clearing the routes of power line protection zones. In particular, the company annually develops its own clearing schedules, coordinates them with the relevant authorities and carefully adheres to them.
“We are also always ready to facilitate the safe performance of work on bringing green spaces into proper condition by the relevant persons by de-energizing power lines or their individual elements, subject to prior approval of the date of such work,” the statement said.
Initial registrations of electric vehicles (new and used) in Ukraine in February 2025 increased by 14% compared to February 2024 – up to 4,488 thousand units, UkrAutoprom reported on its Telegram channel.
Compared to January of this year, when 3,637 thousand electric vehicles were registered, the demand for them increased by 23%.
At the same time, according to the Association, the bulk of registered electric vehicles last month were passenger cars – 4,360 thousand units, of which 632 units were new (31.7% less than in February 2014), and 3,728 thousand were used (26% more).
Among the 128 commercial electric vehicles, 9 were new (in February 2014, two out of 43 units were new).
Thus, the share of new cars in the total registration of electric vehicles in February decreased to 14.3% compared to 24% in February 2024 and 18.8% in January this year.
The top five new electric vehicles on the market in February were BYD Song Plus EV – 115 units; Zeekr 001 – 65 units; Zeekr 7X – 41 units; Volkswagen ID.4 – 56 units, ZEEKR 001 – 46 units and Volkswagen ID.Unyx – 45 units.
The top five newly registered used electric vehicles were Tesla Model Y – 430 units; Tesla Model 3 – 429 units; Nissan Leaf – 407 units; Hyundai Kona Electric – 245 units; and KIA Niro EV – 231 units.
A significant decline in sales of new electric vehicles is also noted by the AUTO-Consulting information and analytical group – according to its data, in February, a decrease of 37% was recorded (with an overall drop in the new passenger car market by 20%), and their share decreased to 15.6% from 20% in February 2024.
As reported, according to UkrAvtoprom, in February 2024, the demand for electric vehicles in Ukraine increased 2.3 times compared to the same month in 2023 – to 3,924 thousand units, with the share of new vehicles remaining at 24%.
Last year, according to UkrAutoprom, registrations of electric vehicles (new and used) increased by 38% compared to 2023 to 51.7 thousand units, including 37% of passenger cars to 50.458 thousand, 64% of commercial vehicles to 1.264 thousand, and two electric buses were registered. The share of new vehicles was 20%.
Ukraine still maintains steel production growth in the first two months of 2025 despite the loss of the sector’s key coking coal mine in Pokrovsk in the eastern part of the country, data from the Ukrainian steel producers’ union showed on Saturday.
Ukrainian steelmaker Metinvest has suspended operations at Ukraine’s only coking coal mine, citing a deteriorating security situation as Russian forces advanced.
The raw steel output rose by 9.9% in January-February 2025 to 1.18 million metric tons, the data showed.
Steel production has suffered since Russia’s invasion on February 24, 2022, which has led to the destruction of leading steel plants.
Ukraine, formerly a major steel producer and exporter, reported a 70.7% drop in output in 2022 to 6.3 million tons. It fell to 6 million tons in 2023 but increased to 7.58 million in 2024.
The steelmakers’ union said in October the potential closure of the Pokrovsk mine could cause steel output to slump to 2-3 million metric tons in 2025.
Producers have said they hope to find coking coal, an ingredient in steel production, from elsewhere in Ukraine should the mine be seized by Russian troops, but imports would be needed, raising costs.
The Kyiv Metro has re-announced a tender for the purchase of 50 railcars as part of the Kyiv Urban Transport Modernization II project, funded by a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the subway reported.
According to the report, the tender involves the purchase of 10 five-car trains with a free passage between cars (a “tube”), including the supply of spare parts, consumables, equipment and tools for rolling stock maintenance and repair.
The procurement will be conducted in the format of an open tender with prequalification. The deadline for submitting proposals for the first stage is May 2025.
As reported, the first similar tender in August 2023 was won by Kryukiv Carriage Works (KVSZ), which offered 10 trains for EUR79.2 million (including VAT), which was 37% cheaper than the offer of the second participant, Czech Skoda.
KVSZ proposed a 97-meter-long metro train with an asynchronous traction drive with three motorized and two trailed non-motorized cars, with domestic-made bogies, with a total passenger capacity of 1,650 people.
However, in November of the same year, Kyiv Metro canceled its decision to award the contract to KVSZ, and the carriage plant, in turn, tried to appeal the decision in the Kyiv Commercial Court, but to no avail.
The court’s decision dismissing KVSZ’s claim came into force in November 2024.
According to the court materials, Kyiv justified the decision to cancel the award of the contract by the fact that KVSZ tried to replace the supplier of the main equipment (in particular, control systems, traction power and equipment, traction gearboxes, subway control system) from the Spanish CAF (which was agreed with the EBRD) to a Polish or Japanese company.
At the same time, KVSZ pointed out that the change of supplier was due to the fact that CAF refused to supply the plant with equipment due to the workload of production lines. However, Metro refused to replace the supplier because it contradicted the terms of the tender.
As reported, in February 2021, the EBRD and Kyiv Metro signed a EUR 50 million loan agreement for the purchase of 50 new subway cars.
The subway trains are to be purchased for the Syretsko-Pecherska subway line towards the Vynohradar residential area, which will be resumed in 2024.
According to the Kyiv Metro, its inventory fleet currently includes more than 830 cars. At the same time, about 100 railcars will soon reach the end of their service life.
Passenger traffic across the Ukrainian border in the first week of spring, from March 1 to March 7, increased by 1.1% compared to the previous week, to 440 thousand, due to an increase in the number of people entering Ukraine.
According to the State Border Guard Service’s Facebook page, the number of exit crossings decreased from 225,000 to 222,000, while the number of entry crossings increased from 210,000 to 218,000.
The number of vehicles that crossed the checkpoints remained at 117 thousand, while the flow of vehicles with humanitarian cargo increased from 553 to 621, so the ban on the “Shlyakh” system for volunteers has not yet affected the statistics.
According to the State Border Guard Service, as of 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, there were small queues at the Uzhhorod checkpoint (15 vehicles) on the border with Slovakia, at the Ustyluh checkpoint (15 vehicles) on the border with Poland, and at the Luzhanka (20 vehicles), Vylok (10 vehicles), and Tisa (6 vehicles) checkpoints on the border with Hungary.
The total number of people crossing the border this week in 2025 is slightly higher than last year’s: 215 thousand people left and 210 thousand entered Ukraine in the same seven days, with a traffic flow of 110 thousand. Last year, passenger traffic remained at this level for another week before increasing during the spring school holidays.
As reported, on May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine, which began with the outbreak of war, was replaced by an influx that lasted until September 23, 2022 and amounted to 409 thousand people. However, since the end of September, possibly under the influence of news about mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then massive shelling of energy infrastructure, the number of people leaving has been exceeding the number of people entering. In total, from the end of September 2022 to the first anniversary of the full-scale war, it reached 223 thousand people.
In the second year of the full-scale war, the number of border crossings to leave Ukraine, according to the State Border Guard Service, exceeded the number of crossings to enter by 25 thousand, while in the third year – by 187 thousand, and since the beginning of the fourth year – by another 21 thousand.
As Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev noted in early March 2023, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP.
In its January inflation report, the National Bank estimated the outflow from Ukraine in 2024 at 0.5 million (0.315 million according to the State Border Guard Service). In absolute terms, the number of migrants staying abroad will increase to 6.8 million in 2024. The NBU also maintained its outflow forecast for 2025 at 0.2 million.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of February 19, 2025, was estimated at 6.346 million, and 6.907 million worldwide, which is 43 thousand more than as of January 16.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data, 3.665 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), including approximately 160 thousand people, were displaced from the frontline areas in the east and south between May and October 2024 due to the intensification of hostilities.
Ukrainian steelmakers increased production of rolled steel in January-February this year by 6.3% year-on-year, up to 957 thousand tons from 900 thousand tons, according to preliminary data.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom on Saturday, steel production during this period increased by 9.9% to 1.183 million tons, and pig iron production by 8.4% to 1.139 million tons.
In February, the company produced 476.9 thousand tons of rolled products, 571.8 thousand tons of steel, and 544.4 thousand tons of pig iron, compared to 480.2 thousand tons of rolled products, 610.8 thousand tons of steel, and 594.8 thousand tons of pig iron in the previous month.
As reported, in 2024, Ukraine increased production of rolled steel by 15.8% year-on-year to 6.222 million tons from 5.372 million tons. During this period, steel production increased by 21.6% to 7.575 million tons, and pig iron production by 18.1% to 7.090 million tons.
In 2023, Ukraine increased production of total rolled products by 0.4% compared to 2022, to 5.372 million tons, but reduced steel production by 0.6% to 6.228 million tons and pig iron by 6.1% to 6.003 million tons.
In 2022, the country reduced production of total rolled products by 72% compared to 2021 to 5.350 million tons, steel by 70.7% to 6.263 million tons, and pig iron by 69.8% to 6.391 million tons.
In 2021, the company produced 21.165 million tons of pig iron (103.6% compared to 2020), 21.366 million tons of steel (103.6%), and 19.079 million tons of rolled products (103.5%).
