OKKO Group plans to fully launch a bioethanol plant worth EUR110 million in the third quarter of 2026, said Vasyl Danyliak, CEO of the group.
“This year we are going to fully commission the elevator and warehouse group and will be able to accept corn from our cluster. In the third quarter of 2026, we plan to fully launch the plant,” Danyliak said during the We build Ukraine conference on Thursday, which was broadcast online.
He noted that the total investment in the plant over 2024-2026 is EUR110 million, of which EUR35 million is the group’s own contribution and EUR75 million is debt financing. Of this, EUR60 million was provided by the EBRD for a period of nine years, and another EUR15 million by Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine for a period of seven years.
According to Danyliak, the annual capacity of the plant for bioethanol, the need for which is growing with the mandatory addition of 5% of this alcohol to motor gasoline from May 1, 2025, is 83 thousand tons, for livestock feed – 70 thousand tons, for corn processing – 270 thousand tons.
As reported, in June 2024, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and OKKO signed a EUR 60 million loan agreement for the construction of a new bioethanol plant in Ukraine at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin.
OKKO Group unites more than 10 diversified businesses in production, 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.
Kyiv’s K41 Community Fund announced that the investor has bought the building of the former Richert brewery in the Podil district of the capital and canceled the project to build the Richert & Park residential complex on this territory.
“From now on, A Development is leaving the territory of Yurkovytsia, and this site is protected from residential development. We have found investments that allowed us to buy the building of the Richert plant and also to lease the land around the brewery with a lake for a long-term lease,” the K41 Community Fund project said on its Instagram page.
According to him, a park with a lake and public spaces are planned to be opened on this territory.
Earlier, in November 2024, A Development reported on a change in the concept of the renovation project “Richert & Park”, namely, a reduction in the building area by 40 thousand square meters and the creation of a 5.85-hectare park with a cultural center. The customer of the construction was Keramoblocks-Invest LLC.
However, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine later approved the acquisition of Keriks Development LLC by AMC Progressive Investment Strategies, which was the tenant of the land plots where the renovation project was planned.
According to Opendatabot, the owner of AMC Progressive Investment Strategies is the CEO of the Kernel agricultural holding, Andriy Verevsky. As of April 24, 2025, Verevsky is also listed as a beneficiary of Kerix Development. The previous beneficiary, Oleksiy Baranov, who owns A Development, was removed from the register on February 4.
In addition, in February, the owner of Keramobloki-Invest also changed: the current owner is Kernel-Trade LLC owned by Verevsky, and Baranov was removed from the founders of JSC ZNVKIF Laram System.
The first Central Asia-Italy summit scheduled for April 27 in Astana has been postponed at the request of the Italian side. The reason for the postponement was the participation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni in mourning events on the occasion of the death of Pope Francis. New dates for the visit and the summit will be agreed upon and announced later.
The summit was supposed to be the first meeting in the Central Asia-Italy format with the participation of the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The following issues were expected to be discussed.
Development of a strategic partnership between Italy and the countries of Central Asia.
Strengthening economic and trade ties.
Cooperation in the field of energy and sustainable development.
Discussion of regional security and cultural and humanitarian exchange.
The summit was expected to sign agreements and joint statements aimed at expanding cooperation between Italy and the countries of the region.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni postponed her visit to Kazakhstan and participation in the summit due to the need to attend mourning events in memory of Pope Francis, who died on April 21, 2025. Italy has declared five days of national mourning.
Despite the postponement, both sides expressed interest in holding the summit in the near future. New dates for the Italian Prime Minister’s visit and the Central Asia-Italy summit are expected to be agreed upon in the coming weeks.
The warehouses of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” are waiting for the shipment of 100 thousand cubic meters of round timber, and the business has increased its debt to UAH 500 million for the products already delivered, the press service of the state enterprise reported.
The state-owned enterprise reminded that during recent meetings with business, there was a demand to increase harvesting, as there is a shortage of resources.
“But the facts show otherwise. Since the beginning of April, the hotline of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has not received a single complaint about the failure to fulfill timber supply contracts due to the fault of foresters (the only case concerns a conflict between entrepreneurs in the Carpathian region, which our employees became hostages). However, the volume of unselected products in the warehouses has increased significantly,” the statement said.
The Forests of Ukraine emphasized that there are a dozen companies among those who do not fulfill their obligations.
Business liability for breach of contract is now minimal. Buyers risk virtually nothing. With significant price fluctuations in the market, it is sometimes easier not to choose products under an open contract and re-enter the auction, the state enterprise explained.
However, due to the accumulation of timber products and reloading of warehouses, storage costs are increasing at the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. Late payment negatively affects the state of settlements with service providers (primarily for logging). The forced shutdown destabilizes the work of logging companies, and we lose scarce employees who are difficult to replace.
“Our company is working to solve the problem. We are increasing the share of long-term contracts. The situation is definitely normalizing. However, the issue of business responsibility must be taken into account in further discussions on increasing procurement. If we demand it, we must meet it,” the state-owned enterprise emphasized.
President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that he has spoken with US President Donald Trump about the peace process in Ukraine.
“We both agreed that the war should end as soon as possible to prevent further unnecessary deaths,” Ramaphosa wrote in X on Thursday following the meeting.
According to him, the two sides agreed to meet in the near future to discuss US-South Africa relations. “We also talked about the need to develop good relations between our two countries,” Ramaphosa added.
President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa called the visit of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Pretoria “historic” as it was the first time the Ukrainian head of state had come to South Africa since the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the countries.
“This official working visit reflects our common desire to strengthen bilateral relations between our countries for the benefit of our peoples. This is in many ways a historic visit, because it is the first visit of a Ukrainian head of state to South Africa in 33 years since the establishment of official diplomatic relations between South Africa and Ukraine,” he said at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Pretoria on Thursday.
According to Ramaphosa, he held “successful talks” with President Zelensky, during which the leaders exchanged views on how to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations between the two countries. They also discussed how ministers from both sides can work together to deepen and broaden these relations.
They also noted the growing interest in expanding relations in the areas of diplomacy, post-conflict reconstruction, development and empowerment of peoples, especially women.
“We also discussed opportunities for cooperation in areas such as agriculture, trade, education, infrastructure and energy, as well as other social issues,” the president added.
In addition, Ramaphosa noted the significant steps taken by Ukraine, and President Zelensky in particular, to expand relations with the African continent. These include the provision of grain in the food sector, the expansion of agricultural cooperation, and the opening of a grain hub to the port of Mombasa in Kenya.
According to him, today’s meeting provided an opportunity to discuss the common interest in promoting peace, security, stability and sustainable development on the continent, in Ukraine and around the world.
