Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak met with the newly appointed Chinese Ambassador to Ukraine Ma Shengkun.
“During the meeting, we discussed the prospects for bilateral cooperation between China and Ukraine,” the press service of the Presidential Office reports on its telegram channel.
During the meeting, Yermak noted that China’s role is important in achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
“In addition, they discussed the possibility of bilateral dialogue at the highest level,” the statement said.
More than 52% of customers became new to the Foxtrot brand during the month of the company’s assortment being presented on the Kasta marketplace, the press service of the omnichannel retailer reported.
The release notes that among several thousand orders, more than 52% of customers were new to Foxtrot.
“The first month’s experience not only proves the correctness of the cooperation strategy between Foxtrot and Kasta, but also confirms the importance of such collaborations for both market development and consumers. In addition, innovative approaches and the exchange of best practices allow us to find new opportunities to improve the service and offers to our customers,” said Kirill Popov-Cherkasov, Foxtrot’s ecommerce director.
The product groups with the largest receipts among the orders for Kasta were charging stations (in particular, powerful models of the BLUETTI line); laptops (ACER Predator, APPLE MacBook Air M3); smartphones (APPLE iPhone 16 Pro, SAMSUNG Galaxy S24) and large household appliances (refrigerators, washing machines). Accessories and small appliances are also very popular among Kasta visitors. In particular, in quantitative terms, the top five includes such product groups as clothes dryers, knife sets, portable vacuum cleaners, and electric kettles.
As reported earlier, Foxtrot omnichannel retailer has been represented on the Kasta marketplace since November 13. The collaboration involves the placement of about 10 thousand products from the retailer’s assortment.
“Foxtrot is one of the largest omnichannel retailers in Ukraine in terms of the number of stores and sales of electronics and household appliances. The company operates 123 stores in 67 cities, including the frontline cities of Kherson, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, an online platform Foxtrot.ua and a mobile application of the same name. In 9M24, Foxtrot paid UAH 700.5 million in sales.
The Foxtrot brand is developed by Foxtrot Group of Companies. The co-founders are Valery Makovetsky and Gennady Vykhodtsev.
Kasta (Kasta Group LLC, EDRPOU 41021687) is a marketplace of clothing, footwear and accessories in Ukraine, founded in 2010, and a resident of Diia City since January 16, 24. The authorized capital is UAH 58.2 million, according to the results of 2023, the revenue was UAH 64 million 388 thousand, the net loss was UAH 31.1 million.
Oil prices rose in pre-holiday trading on Tuesday, recovering the losses incurred the day before.
The cost of February futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange rose by $0.95 (1.3%) to $73.58 per barrel.
February futures for WTI on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) rose by $0.86 (1.2%) to $70.1 per barrel.
Media reports that China may issue special treasury bonds worth a record 3 trillion yuan ($411 billion) in 2025 to raise funds to support the national economy have encouraged oil traders. China is one of the world’s largest oil importers and consumers.
Quotes continue to be supported by concerns about geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, as well as the prospect of tighter sanctions against Russia and Iran.
Meanwhile, expectations of an oversupply of crude oil amid unclear demand prospects and a stronger US dollar are having a restraining effect on oil prices, making commodities less attractive.
The market was evaluating the latest statements by US President-elect Donald Trump, who threatened to restore Washington’s control over the Panama Canal if the fee for passage through it is not reduced, and was also waiting for official data on commercial oil reserves in the US, which will be published this week with a delay due to the holidays.
“We can assume that WTI will trade around the $70 mark until Friday, when the late weekly report from the Energy Information Administration is released, which will set additional price targets,” Ritterbusch said in a research note.
On Wednesday, exchanges in the US, UK, Germany, France and other European countries, as well as Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia, are closed for Christmas. Many sites will remain closed on Thursday.
“Corum Druzhkovka Machine-Building Plant (Corum DrMZ), a part of Corum Group (DTEK Energy), is completing the production of three oscillating platforms for DTEK Pavlohradvuhillya mine, Corum reported on Facebook.
According to the report, the oscillating platform is a special equipment that ensures smooth movement of trolleys between the rails of the mine’s receiving platform and the cage moving in the vertical shaft. The entrance platform allows trolleys to enter and exit the mine without any obstacles.
According to the company, this is the first time such equipment has been manufactured for Dniprovska mine. Its service life is more than 20 years.
“The oscillating platforms are ready to be delivered to customers,” the statement said.
“Corum DrMZ, which will be relocated to Dnipro in 2022, according to the report, produced 430 units of mining equipment in January-November this year, as well as more than 850 thousand units of components and spare parts.
Corum Group is a leading mining equipment manufacturer in Ukraine. It is a part of DTEK Energy, an operating company responsible for coal mining and coal-fired power generation within Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK energy holding.
Due to the Russian cyberattack, all registration activities in Ukraine are unavailable, about 25 state registries have been suspended, and the consequences of the attack on the registries will become fully clear after the registry resumes its work, said Alexander Keyer, managing partner of RI Group law firm.
“As a result of the massive cyberattack, about 25 state registries have been suspended to some extent, which has practically paralyzed a significant part of the processes in various areas of business and citizens’ lives. Almost all activities requiring data from state registries have been put on hold, in particular, all registration activities are unavailable,” he explained to Interfax-Ukraine.
Mr. Keyer noted that the situation is primarily a problem “for real estate-related activities, as it is impossible to conduct transactions with real estate – no sale and purchase agreements, lease, gift, mortgage agreements, no pledges, seizure of property, prohibition on alienation of property, etc.”
“Businesses and citizens are forced to simply postpone these actions until the state registries are restored to proper operation,” he said.
Mr. Keyer clarified that all legal and notarial actions requiring access to state registries are not carried out until the registries are restored.
“Notaries have stopped performing most notarial acts related to the need to use the real estate/movable property registers, but continue to provide services that do not require verification of data from the registers, such as registration of wills and amendments thereto, certification of signatures, certification of copies of documents, etc.” he said.
At the same time, Keyer noted that businesses are currently unable to carry out registration activities in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, in particular, it is impossible to register a change of manager, members of legal entities, or change of authorized capital.
In addition, due to the cyberattack, the provision of registration services related to the change of ownership of vehicles, except for the initial registration of vehicles (new and imported from abroad), was suspended by the service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“Both businesses and citizens have no choice but to postpone actions that are now impossible until the registries are up and running. There is currently no clear and verified information on the leakage and destruction of critical data from the registers. Therefore, the consequences of the attack on the registries will become fully clear after the registry is restored and will largely depend on how critical the damage to the registries is,” he said.
Keyer believes that, for example, after access to the State Register of Real Property Rights is restored, “it is quite likely that data will disappear from the register or that information on the owners of real estate, the seizure or pledge of these objects, etc. will change.”
“This situation creates certain opportunities for various types of fraudulent activities with real estate. In this regard, after restoring access to the registers, we strongly recommend that you thoroughly check the information in the registers and, in case of detection of disappearance, change or other actions with the information, immediately take appropriate measures to protect your violated rights and interests,” the lawyer emphasized.
As reported, on December 19, the Ministry of Justice announced a large-scale failure at the level of the network infrastructure serving state registries due to a cyberattack by the Russian Federation on state registries under the competence of the Ministry of Justice. According to Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, the time for priority restoration will be approximately two weeks. First of all, the State Register of Civil Status Acts, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, and the State Register of Real Property Rights and Encumbrances will be restored.
On December 20, Stefanyshyna said that all data in the registers would be restored, but it would take some time, and that no personal data leakage had been confirmed.
Sales of Apple Inc. smartphones will be high during the Christmas period and will reach a record high in fiscal year 2025, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives predicts.
Ives believes that hundreds of millions of people around the world will upgrade their iPhones to the latest model with built-in AI functions in the coming months. According to his estimates, almost 300 million iPhone owners have not updated their smartphones in the last four years or more.
According to the analyst’s forecast, sales of new iPhones in the current fiscal year, which will end in September, will reach a record 240 million units. The consensus forecast of experts surveyed by FactSet suggests that this figure will be 207.6 million iPhones, Market Watch writes.
“We believe that the success of iPhone 16 sales this holiday season will be the beginning of a revival in Apple’s growth over the next 12-18 months, given the current quarter,” Ives said in a note to clients.
The AI features of the new iPhones are not yet available in China and many other countries, but they may be launched in April, Ives said. At the same time, the company can name its new technology partner in China.
The expert estimates that almost 100 million iPhones in China may be updated this year.
Ives is confident that Apple will become the first company to exceed $4 trillion in capitalization, and he expects this to happen in early 2025. Currently, Apple’s market value is $3.86 trillion, up 32.6% since the beginning of this year. The company’s shares rose 0.1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday to $255.6.
Ives reiterated an “outperform” recommendation for Apple shares and a $300 price target.
