Polish Ambassador in Kyiv Bartosz Cichocki and his Israeli counterpart Joel Lion have said that honoring people who “actively propagated ethnic cleansings” is insulting and are expecting the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) and the Lviv Regional Council to join “efforts to seek the truth” in this issue. “We are seriously concerned and saddened that representatives of Ukrainian authorities of various levels, including the Lviv Regional Council and the KCSA, still mark historical events and honor persons who must be condemned once and for all,” the ambassadors said in a joint statement.
They thus are alarmed by the fact on December 24, the Lviv Regional Council issued a resolution, which implies the allocation of public funds in 2020 to honor the memory of one of the leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN, which is banned in Russia) Andriy Melnyk, as well as writer and statesman Ivan Lypa and his son and public figure Yuriy Lypa.
“In addition, on January 1, the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA) placed a banner with a portrait of Stepan Bandera on its building. Remembering our innocent brothers and sisters killed in 1939-1945 on the occupied Polish territories, which are currently part of Ukraine, we, the ambassadors of Poland and Israel, believe that honoring people, who have actively propagated ethnic purges, is an insult, and leads to the opposite result in the fight against anti-Semitism and in the reconciliation process between our peoples,” the statement reads.
In this connection, the ambassadors are expecting the Lviv Regional Council and the KCSA to join the dialogue seeking the truth.
“On our part, we stand ready to promote better cooperation between various institutions in Israel and Poland, including with Yad Vashem and with the Institute of National Remembrance,” the statement said.
As reported, a procession with torches marking Bandera’s 111th birth anniversary took place in downtown Kyiv in the evening on January 1.
According to media reports, about 1,500 attended the event.
About 2,000 attended the torch march that marked Bandera’s birth anniversary in 2019.
The initial registration of new cars in Ukraine in 2019 increased by 8% compared to 2018, to almost 88,500 units, Ukrautoprom reports.
According to a press release on the association’s website, the market rose, despite the pressure exerted by the sharply increased imports of used cars and the legalization of cars with European registration.
As reported, with reference to data from Ukrautoprom, in 2018 the market of new passenger cars did not exceed the indicator of 2017, amounting to 81,800 units.
The leader in 2019 was the Renault brand with the registration of 14,603 cars (in 2018 it ranked second after Toyota with 8,722 cars), followed by Toyota with 12,570 registered cars (in 2018 it ranked first with 10,082 cars). KIA ranks third with 7,586 vehicles.
The top ten rating of 2019 also included Skoda with 6,231 cars, Nissan with 5,333 cars, Hyundai with 5,099 vehicles, Volkswagen with 4,675 cars, Suzuki with 2,614 cars, Mazda with 2,483 cars, and Peugeot with 2,366 cars.
Ukraine from November 1 to December 31, 2019 reduced reserves of natural gas in underground gas storage facilities (UGS) by 13.1% (by 2.850 billion cubic meters), to 18.934 billion cubic meters (bcm), according to recent data from JSC Ukrtransgaz.
Gas taking from the UGS of Ukraine, in particular, on December 31 amounted to 47.41 million cubic meters with the imports being 15.14 million cubic meters and domestic production standing at 56.97 million cubic meters.
According to the calculations of the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the current volume exceeds the inventory on December 31, 2018 by 36.4%, December 31, 2017 by 28.9%, and December 31, 2016 by 57.9%.
In 2019, the total gas injection into the storage facilities exceeded its taking by 5.05 billion cubic meters, while in 2018 gas taking exceeded its injection by 820 million cubic meters.
As reported, over the past heating season, which lasted from November 6, 2018 to April 4, 2019, gas reserves in the UGS decreased by 8.450 billion cubic meters (from 17.195 billion cubic meters to 8.745 billion cubic meters).
Ukraine entered the 2019/2020 heating season starting on November 1 with the maximum reserves of 21.784 billion cubic meters over the last ten years.
Citibank, acting as the operator of the account of the Clearstream international central securities depository (ICSD) in the depository of government securities of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) was first on the list of primary dealers on the government domestic loan bonds market in terms of purchase volumes made by the Finance Ministry of Ukraine. State-owned Oschadbank and Ukrgasbank are second and third. They are followed by two banks with foreign capital: OTP Bank and Raiffeisen Bank Aval.
A year ago the list differed: four state-owned banks were in the top four of primary dealers in H2 2018: PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Ukreximbank and Ukrgasbank, and OTP Bank was fifth, while Citibank was 12th, the last on the list.
The top ten of the 2019 list also includes FUIB, PrivatBank, Alfa-Bank, Ukreximbank and Kredobank, followed by bank Pivdenny and UkrSibbank.
As an ICSD headquartered in Luxembourg, Clearstream, a part of Deutsche Börse Group, on May 27, 2019 connected the Ukrainian market to its network via an account opened in the depository of the NBU and made Ukrainian securities available in its payment system.
Kristina Kvien, the deputy chief of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Ukraine, in her address to Ukrainians assured of unwavering support of the Ukrainian state by the U.S., Voice of America has reported. “I am excited to take on a new challenge and great responsibility of leading the U.S. Embassy team in Ukraine. Our policy of strong support for Ukraine remains steady,” she said. It is also currently unknown who could become the new U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. As reported, Kvien took over as U.S. Chargé d’Affaires from January 2, 2020.
The enhanced sanctions of the Russian Federation against Ukrainian goods will affect 1.3% of current exports of Ukrainian goods for January-September 2019, which in monetary terms is $31.2 million, and about 0.4% of current imports of Russian goods to Ukraine for the specified period, or $21.4 million, a source at the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture has told Interfax.
The largest restrictions regarding the ban on imports to Ukraine relate to the following items: boilers for central heating for $8.7 million, parts of pumps for $3.6 million, radiators for central heating with non-electric heating for $2.8 million.
The source noted that a significant part of goods that fell under the sanctions is industrial medical goods: plastic products for $6.5 million, pipes, tubes, hoses for $4.5 million, hygienic or pharmaceutical products from vulcanized rubber for $1.4 million, other products made of vulcanized rubber, except for hard, for $3.7 million.
At the same time, the ban on import to Ukraine of Russian paper and cardboard for recycling in monetary terms is estimated at $21.4 million. According to data of the State Statistics Service for the nine months of 2019, the volume of the Russian Federation in the total import of this item is 52.6%.
As for the supply of starch, in January-September 2019 this product was not exported to the Russian Federation.
“At the same time, there is a tendency to increase the use of EU tariff quotas for starch with a volume of 10,000 tonnes compared to 2016. During 2017-2019, the quota is used almost in full,” the source said.
The government of the Russian Federation by the resolution of December 16, 2019 expanded the list of goods prohibited for imports to Ukraine, supplementing it with the position “paper and cardboard for recycling.” In addition, the list of goods originating in Ukraine, which are forbidden for imports to the Russian Federation, was expanded.
