The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development have signed a grant agreement for EUR 7 million for the preparation and implementation of the Ukrainian Recovery Programme (URP), the press service of the Ministry has reported. “The signed grant of EUR 7 million contributes to the implementation of a new loan agreement – the Ukrainian Recovery Programme – in accordance with the leading international approaches and the interests of Ukrainian communities. Thanks to the URP, hospitals, schools, kindergartens, sports infrastructure and other key infrastructure in eastern Ukraine have already been restored,” Deputy Minister of Communities and Territories Development Ivan Lukeria.
The grant is provided under the EU Neighborhood Investment Platform (NIP) and complements the URP funding from the EIB.
According to the report, the URP funds will finance several hundred small and medium-sized projects at the municipal level, including the restoration of social infrastructure, improvement of utilities, repair of damaged administrative buildings. The implementation of the projects will improve conditions for 13 million Ukrainians.
“The new loan agreement from the EIB in the amount of EUR 340 million, which we signed last year, contributes to the large-scale reconstruction of social infrastructure in Ukraine. And the grant of EUR 7 million from the EU will help us to quickly implement the planned recovery,” Minister of Communities and Territories Development Oleksiy Chernyshov said.
The Belarusian airline Belavia has cancelled all flights to Ukraine until August 25, 2021, Belavia said in a statement on its website.
“Due to the ban of the Ukrainian authorities on Belavia flights, the airline is forced to cancel flights to/from Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, and Kharkiv from May 26 to August 25, 2021,” Belavia said.
On May 25, night flights to Kyiv and Odesa were also canceled, it said.
“Passengers who purchased tickets on the indicated dates will be able to refund their full price without penalties or change the date of departure during the validity period of the ticket,” the airline said.
Ukraine suspended air traffic with Belarus on May 26.
A Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius was forced to land at the Minsk airport while passing through Belarus’ airspace on May 23.
On President Alexander Lukashenko’s orders, Belarus scrambled a MiG-29 fighter jet to accompany it. The Ryanair plane was carrying Raman Pratasevich, former editor-in-chief of Nexta and editor of Belarus Golovnogo Mozga (Belarus of the Brain), Telegram channels that are both designated as extremist in Belarus, and his companion, Sofia Sapega, a Russian citizen and a student of European Humanities University in Vilnius. Both were detained by the Belarusian authorities.
The European Union and the United States have condemned the forced landing of the Ryanair plane in Minsk, demanding that Pratasevich be released.
Minsk, in turn, said that an email message about a bomb allegedly planted on the Ryanair plane en route from Athens to Vilnius had been signed by “Hamas soldiers.”
The volume of sales of enterprises in the service sector of Ukraine in the first quarter of 2021 amounted to UAH 237.7 billion, which in comparable prices is 1% higher than the level of the fourth quarter of 2020, the State Statistics Service has said.
According to the report, the volume of services sold to the population amounted to 21% of the total volume of services rendered.
The State Statistics Service reminded that in the first quarter of 2020 the volume of sales of service enterprises grew by 23.1%.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a bill to increase the number of servicemen in the Armed Forces by 11,000, and the relevant bill has been published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada.
“The bill proposes increasing at the legislative level the number of servicemen in the Ukrainian Armed Forces by 11,000 to ensure the functioning of a separate branch of the army, that is, the territorial defense forces, as well as the further development of the resistance system,” the explanatory note to the bill reads.
Thus, the president suggested approving the number of Armed Forces personnel in an amount not exceeding 261,000, including 215,000 military personnel.
According to the bill, during any special period, the size of the Ukrainian army is increased by the number of personnel called up for military service in pursuance of presidential orders on mobilization approved by the law.
Currently, the Ukrainian Armed Forces should not exceed 250,000 people, including 204,000 servicemen.
TAS Insurance Group (Kyiv) paid out UAH 101.57 million of compensation under concluded insurance contracts in April, which is 55.4% more than the corresponding figure for the second month of spring 2020, according to the insurer’s website.
According to a press release, 39.08% of the company’s payments in April fell, in particular, on OSAGO (UAH 39.7 million), which is 56.8% more than in the reporting period last year.
In turn, the share of KASKO in the April portfolio of the insurer’s payments amounted to 32.02%, or UAH 32.53 million (more by 62.3%)
Even more – by 95.1% – the volume of payments under voluntary medical insurance contracts increased: UAH 16.84 million were paid under them in April, which is 16.58% of the total amount of the insurer’s indemnities for the specified period.
According to Green Card policies, TAS paid UAH 10.39 million in April, which is 10.23% of the company’s total payments for the month and is 12.9% more than the corresponding figure for the reporting period of 2020.
Under other insurance contracts, TAS Insurance Group paid out UAH 2.11 million of indemnities in April.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a EUR 20 million senior secured loan to Winner Imports Ukraine LLC, Ukrainian importer and retailer of several well-known international vehicle brands. The money will be invested in sustainable dealerships for Renault and Volvo.
As reported on the bank’s website on Tuesday, the loan was approved by the EBRD’s board of directors on May 18. Financing will focus on green economy transition and circular economy through investments in dealerships, expansion of client’s logistic capacities, distribution and service infrastructure for vehicles, including electric.
“All building financed by the Bank will obtain BREEAM or EDGE sustainable certification. Project contributes to the adoption of advanced green practices in a country where such standards and practices are still uncommon, for instance, according to the latest data, only 12 BREEAM certificates have been issued in Ukraine to date with only one certificate issued in the retail category,” the EBRD said.
The total cost of the project is EUR 43 million, but the sources of co-financing are not given.
Winner Imports Ukraine LLC, part of Winner Group, is the official importer of Ford, Volvo, Jaguar, Land Rover, Porsche and Bentley, SAIC Motor vehicles in Ukraine.
In addition, in 2020, the company became an official dealer of the Renault auto brand, since the spring of the same year it began to provide services for cars of this brand in its multi-brand center Winner Automotive, and has planned to open a Renault concept dealership this year.
Winner Group Ukraine has been operating in the Ukrainian market for over 28 years, during this time more than 140,000 cars have been sold and more than 50 dealer centers have been opened in Ukraine.
