U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Marisa Lago arrived in Kyiv on Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said.
“Welcome to Kyiv, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Lago! Today, we will meet with the business community, entrepreneurs, and government officials to discuss how the U.S. private sector can get involved in supporting Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the ambassador wrote on social media.
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo, links the statement to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau about his alleged criminal offense to the case of the company’s purchase of bulletproof vests at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“This is an old, dead case of bulletproof vests that the company purchased at the request of the National Guard in early March 2022. We found several hundred bulletproof vests of class 4 at a price of UAH 16.4 thousand including VAT. At that time, it was significantly lower than the prices at which others were buying,” Kudrytskyi said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, apart from Ukrenergo, there are no claims against anyone, and from time to time “nameless political analysts” revive the case: either by throwing it into the media space or by writing statements to have the NPC checked once again.
The company’s CEO added that he treats this as an attempt to create an information throw-in and believes that “the case has not had and will not have any prospects in law enforcement agencies or in courts.”
Kudrytskyi suggested that the reason for his discrediting as the head of the company may be the active involvement of Ukrenergo in international financing, which has exceeded EUR 1.5 billion since the beginning of the full-scale war.
“Alternatively, some people are not satisfied with the EUR 1.5 billion of financing we have attracted since the beginning of the war. Maybe there are other reasons. In my opinion, this is just white noise,” said the head of the system operator.
Answering Energoreforma’s question about the reaction of international partners to the information about a possible criminal offense, Kudrytskyi noted that there was none. “Western partners have not reacted in any way.
There is no need to make any judgments. Trust is determined not by words, but by facts, and our partners have entrusted us with EUR1.5 billion, which is several times or even ten times more than any other company,” he said.
At the same time, Kudrytskyi emphasized that each artificial media attack leads to additional difficulties in attracting much-needed additional financial resources for the power system.
“The people who do this pursue their own selfish interests and, most likely, corrupt interests, but ultimately harm the interests of the state,” summarized the CEO of Ukrenergo.
The High Anti-Corruption Court, by its ruling of July 17, 2024, ordered the authorized persons of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to enter information about a criminal offense into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URPI) at the request of the person indicated in the ruling as person No. 6, dated June 28, 2024. The ruling states that the applicant raised the issue of possible criminal offenses committed by the Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo. The court notes that such a statement must be entered into the URPTI within 24 hours of its submission.
As reported, on June 26, the Security Service and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced that they had exposed the head of one of the departments of NPC Ukrenergo, who is no longer employed by the company, for corruption during the purchase of bulletproof vests.
According to the investigation, this purchase resulted in budget losses of over UAH 10 million. The issue of choosing a measure of restraint against the suspect is being decided.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, NPC Ukrenergo has attracted more than EUR 1.5 billion in international financing in the form of loans and grants, half of which was used to restore and reconstruct the grids. Another 24% was used to build passive protection, and 34% to maintain market liquidity. The largest amount of funding was provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) – EUR670 million. Another EUR324 million was received with the support of the German state development bank KfW, EUR224 million – from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and EUR136 million – from the European Investment Bank (EIB). July 18 NPC Ukrenergo and KfW agree on a EUR100 million grant. July 23 The EIB Group announces that it plans to allocate EUR86 million to Ukrenergo for the construction of drone shelters.
China intends to increase grain imports from Ukraine and will support the smooth operation of logistics channels, assured Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Wang Yi at a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“In recent years, China has been Ukraine’s largest trading partner and largest exporter of agricultural products. The volume of bilateral trade has shown rapid growth in the first half of this year, demonstrating the space and potential for cooperation between the two countries,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s press service quoted him as saying.
The Chinese minister emphasized that both sides should fully realize the role of the cooperation mechanism and strengthen practical cooperation in various fields.
“China will continue to expand grain imports from Ukraine and jointly maintain uninterrupted logistics channels and international food security,” Wang Yi assured.
“Ukraine hopes to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen political mutual trust, intensify cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade and agriculture, and strengthen exchanges between local sister cities,” the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said.
Kuleba assured that Ukraine highly appreciates China’s positive and constructive role in ensuring peace and maintaining international order. Ukraine also attaches great importance to China’s opinion on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
Ukraine is willing and ready to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia. Of course, the negotiations should be reasonable and substantive, aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace,” the Ukrainian minister summarized.
Exports of goods from Ukraine in June 2024 decreased by 7% compared to a year earlier and amounted to $2.77 billion, the lowest figure since the beginning of this year, the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) reported on Tuesday.
According to the IER’s monitoring of foreign trade, exports of agricultural products decreased by 2% to $1.60 billion, but exports of its components developed differently: corn exports increased by 12% (21% in physical terms), while exports of wheat and oil decreased by 32% and 5%, respectively.
In June, exports of metallurgy products fell by over 9% y-o-y to $355 m. The IER believes that this likely reflected higher energy costs and a change in the structure of exports: exports of pig iron and certain types of rolled products decreased, while exports of semi-finished and other products increased.
In addition, exports of mineral products, primarily iron ore, increased by 33%, but were lower than in January-April 2024.
The IER emphasized that due to the resumption of exports from Odesa ports, the volume of iron ore exports in tons increased by 87% in June, although it was lower than in previous months due to a shortage of electricity.
Exports of mineral products grew by only 33%.
As for imports, they remained almost unchanged in June compared to May, but increased by 12% to $5.63 billion by the same period in 2023.
In terms of sectors, imports of machinery and equipment increased by almost 20% year-on-year in June 2024 (especially imports of drones, batteries, and generators), while imports of cars decreased slightly in dollar terms due to lower import prices.
Imports of energy products increased by 16% yoy due to higher imports of coke and coal, likely to meet the needs of the metallurgy sector, which increased steel production.
At the same time, imports of chemicals and food products decreased.
It is noted that the greatest impact was the growth of imports of “other goods” (primarily purchased for the needs of the Armed Forces) – under this category, goods worth $752 million were imported to Ukraine ($400 million in the previous months of the year).
As explained by the IER, the shortage of electricity led to an increase in its imports – from $6 million in June 2023 to $78 million in June 2024, as well as batteries – from $18 million a year earlier to $68 million in June 2024.
In Ukraine, soybeans continue to fall in price, in the first three weeks of July, market operators announced the purchase prices for them in the range of 16 500-18 800 UAH/t CPT, which is 500-900 UAH/t lower than at the end of June, APK-Inform news agency reported.
“The decline in prices was mainly due to the decrease in demand for soybeans from processors due to the reduction of soybean processing caused by the low attractiveness of prices for soybean meal/cake, the transition of plants to rapeseed processing, and the energy crisis, which significantly hit the processors. This was especially evident in the central regions, where stricter restrictions on electricity supply were introduced,” the analysts explained.
According to their information, given the current situation, the volume of soybean purchases in the country decreased significantly, which resulted in the reduction of the number of finished product offers.
In addition, the downward price trend in soybean exports also continued in the period under review, although the pace of shipments increased significantly in July. Demand prices decreased by 20-30 USD/t and were quoted from 400 USD/t with delivery to the port. At the same time, the demand prices for soybeans of the new harvest were 20-30 USD/t lower than the current price level for the legume in 2023, which was largely due to the expectation of the record harvest of soybeans in Ukraine in 2024, APK-Inform stated.
The OKKO filling station chain has ordered 100 new tank cars from TAS Poltavagon, and received the first 20 units in July, the company’s press service reports.
According to it, the group will receive the entire batch in early 2025.
The new rolling stock will significantly increase OKKO’s logistics maneuverability, allowing it to import petroleum products to Ukraine faster and more profitably, as well as provide transportation services to other market participants.
“Until now, we have had 45 of our own tanks in operation. Some of them are in use, some were intended for bitumen transportation, but are now being repurposed for diesel fuel. In addition, the company leases more than 400 tank cars. By adding another 100 new units, the company will become a powerful private operator of tank cars for the transportation of petroleum products in Ukraine. “Only Ukrzaliznytsia has a larger fleet,” said Denis Gromov, Director of Logistics at OKKO.
The company clarified that the tank car manufacturer was selected at a tender among three Ukrainian companies. They considered engaging foreign companies, but their products would require additional certification in Ukraine, which could take longer.
It took six months from the moment we signed the contract with TAS Poltavagon to the production of the first batch. These are tank cars for oil products of the 15-1755 model with a carrying capacity of 68 tons and a service life of 32 years.
“This is not the first experience of cooperation with OKKO for TAS Poltavagon. Previously, our company has already supplied fuel storage tanks to the group’s filling stations. The current contract gives us the opportunity to join our partner in strengthening Ukraine’s fuel security, restore the status of a tank farm and prove our leadership in this market,” said Yuriy Pysarevsky, CEO of the plant.
OKKO also reminded that in 2022-23 the group significantly updated its own fleet of vehicles for fuel transportation. “The company continues to develop the transportation and logistics business further – investments in rail tank cars will be several times larger. The advance payment under the current contract alone amounted to UAH 100 million,” the press release said.
Earlier, in June 2024, OKKO Vice President Yuriy Kuchabsky noted that after the latest hostile attacks on the group’s tank farms, “it was decided to switch to working ‘on wheels’, that is, without accumulating fuel at the tank farms.” The group is also considering leasing terminals in Ukraine’s neighboring countries.
OKKO Group unites more than 10 diversified businesses in manufacturing, trade, construction, insurance, maintenance and other services. The flagship company of the group is Galnaftogaz, which operates one of the largest filling stations in Ukraine under the OKKO brand, with about 400 filling stations.
The group’s founder and ultimate beneficiary is Vitaliy Antonov.
