JSC Ukrposhta plans to digitize 100% of its services in 2021.
“Ukrposhta is facing an ambitious task – during this year to make 100% digitalization of services,” Minister of Infrastructure Vladyslav Krykliy said during the “Ukraine 30. Infrastructure” forum.
According to Krykliy, this will be implemented due to the support of Ukraine’s international partners and almost 2,000 mobile rural branches that will be able to deliver parcels and will be involved in the e-commerce system.
According to Krykliy’s presentation, construction of five automated postal hubs and ten sorting depots is also planned this year.
SkyUp Airlines, according to the released information, plans to operate four flights from Kyiv to Tashkent (Uzbekistan). They are scheduled for March 4, 11, 18 and 25.
Upon arrival in Uzbekistan, citizens of Ukraine must sign a commitment to undergo mandatory 14-day self-isolation at their place of residence or hotel.
Regardless of the presence of a certificate of the absence of COVID-19, upon arrival in Uzbekistan, citizens of Ukraine are required to undergo express testing for antigens to COVID-19 at their own expense.
The Ministry of Energy and the Czech Witkowitz group of companies are considering cooperation in the construction of small modular nuclear reactors (up to 300 MW), the ministry said on Facebook following a meeting of the parties on Tuesday.
“We are on the verge of challenges associated with the need to decarbonize the economy. Green energy is actively developing. Therefore, we need to provide the system with balancing capacities,” Deputy Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko, quoted by the press service, said.
According to him, it is necessary to fully understand the economics of building such reactors and only after that make a final decision.
In his opinion, the place of such generation should be determined in the overall development of the power system of Ukraine and reflected in the energy strategy until 2050.
The Ministry of Energy said that a working group will be created for further elaboration of the issue.
Witkowitz is one of the most powerful engineering plants in Central Europe, founded in the 19th century and known for its innovative technological solutions.
Witkowitz plans to invest at least EUR 50 million in the creation of new production facilities on the basis of Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash, Dnipro), including for the repair of railway cars and locomotives at the first stage.
Estonian company Fermi Energia, established to develop a project for the possible construction of a new generation modular nuclear reactor (small nuclear power plant) in Estonia, plans to complete preliminary studies in 2021.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has appointed Deputy Head of State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) Volodymyr Mikheev acting head of the agency. He replaced First Deputy Head of the SSAU Mykhailo Lev in this position.
The corresponding orders were adopted by the government on February 22 and made public on Tuesday.
As reported, Lev temporarily headed the SSAU since the middle of November, when Volodymyr Usov, who had headed the agency since January 24, 2020, was fired.
Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant (NFP, Dnipropetrovsk region) in January of this year reduced production by 3.9% compared to the same period last year, to 40,270 tonnes.
As the Ukrainian Association of Producers of Ferroalloys and Other Electrometallurgy Products told Interfax-Ukraine, in January 2021, the plant increased the production of silicon manganese by 0.3%, to 37,830 tonnes, but reduced ferromanganese and other ferroalloys by 42.2%, to 2,440 tonnes.
In December, the plant produced 36,230 tonnes of ferroalloys, in November – 35,180 tonnes, in October – 35,480 tonnes, in September – 35,200 tonnes, in August – 35,340 tonnes, and in July – 52,430 tonnes.
Earlier, during conference calls, Director General of Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant Volodymyr Kutsyn announced an increase in demand for ferroalloys, so the planned target for February was increased.
At a meeting held on February 16, it was noted that the plant was fulfilling the planned target for February in the amount of 48,000 tonnes. Heating of three more ovens also continues.
“Heating is proceeding according to the schedule: furnaces No. 7 and 16 are heated up by 60%, furnace No. 8 – by 40%,” the Electrometallurg newsapaper said, citing the head of the production and technical department.
As reported, Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant in 2020 reduced production by 29.1% compared to the previous year, to 513,320 tonnes.
Ukraine is launching its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Wednesday, Ukrainian Health Minister Maksym Stepanov said.
“The COVID-19 vaccination campaign is starting today [on February 24]. The first vaccine [shipments] were sent to the regions at 7:00 a.m. I have set an objective to carry out the first stage of vaccination within a short period of time,” Stepanov said at a press briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Ukraine has enough vaccine doses for the first and second stages of the campaign, the minister said.
“We are expecting supplies through the COVAX initiative of more than 100,000 doses from the Pfizer company, around two million doses from Sinovac, 1.5 million doses from AstraZeneca, another four million doses or so from Serum Institute under COVAX, a contract for ten million doses from Novavax has already been signed, and we plan to sign a contract for another five million doses in the near future,” Stepanov said.
This amount of vaccine doses is more than enough for a full-fledged vaccination drive this year, he said.
“Apart from that, we are going to sign more contracts and already have relevant agreements,” Stepanov said.
Stepanov also said that he had visited the Bharat Biotech enterprise, which has developed a COVID-19 vaccine, during his visit to India.
“The vaccine has undergone the three phases of clinical trials, with the final stage involving more than 25,000 volunteers. The final results of the phase 3 trials are expected to become available within the next ten days. Scientists’ tentative conclusions are optimistic – the vaccine is effective and safe,” the minister said.
“During the negotiations with the company, we reached an agreement confirming the mutual readiness of the producer and Ukraine to take part in clinical trials of a new development, which is a vaccine in the form of nasal spray or drops. They are starting the phase 1 trials, while the phase 2 and phase 3 trials may be conducted partly in Ukraine. The clinical trials should be completed before September-October. Conducting such trials in Ukraine will give us priority access to the vaccine if its efficacy is proven,” Stepanov said.
The State Expert Center of the Ukrainian Health Ministry, in turn, has announced that it finished reviewing the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines for the novel coronavirus on February 22.
