President of the European Council Charles Michel has announced that the issue of granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for membership of the European Union will be included in the agenda of the upcoming summit, which will be held in Brussels on June 23-24.
He wrote about this on his Twitter page. “Candidate status will feature on next week’s EUCO agenda. Called President Zelensky to inform him of way forward. We stand united with the people of Ukraine in solidarity and in our common future, ” the President of the European Council wrote.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, commenting on her phone conversation with Zelensky, wrote on her Twitter page: “I was very moved by President Zelensky’s kind words over the phone today, following our recommendation to grant Ukraine the candidate status. The Ukrainians can count on the EU_Commission’s constant support as they move along the path to the European Union,” she assured.
In May 2022, Ukraine exported the maximum volumes of sunflower oil since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation – 186 thousand tons, which is 23% more than the previous month.
In May, there was also a gradual increase in the countries-importers of Ukrainian oil – products were shipped to more than 60 countries of the world, although the EU countries remained its main consumers, the website of the APK-Inform agency reported on Friday.
According to him, Poland became the largest importer of Ukrainian oil, which accounted for 20% (37.2 thousand tons) of supplies of this product from Ukraine.
“Shipping to more distant countries of the world (25% of Ukrainian exports in May) is significantly limited by logistics, an increase in delivery time and, accordingly, its cost. At the same time, Turkey should be singled out among the main importers after the EU countries, where almost 12 thousand tons of sunflower oil,” the agency said in a statement.
The growth in sunflower oil exports indicates the adaptation of market participants to current realities and the gradual establishment of product supply chains through land border crossings and Danube river ports, the agency stated.
In turn, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the country exported 202.65 thousand tons of sunflower oil in May (+56% compared to April 2022), which is 8% higher than the data from APK-Inform.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that he and the Prime Minister of Great Britain have a common view on how to move towards victory over the Russian occupiers.
According to the head of state, his talks with the Prime Minister of Great Britain were as substantive as possible.
“We went over all the key issues of bilateral relations. Issues of the general situation in Europe and in the world. First of all, these are two important things: defense and security. We discussed the current situation on the front line in our east, in the south of our state, our capabilities in protecting against Russian aggression. We have a common view on how to move towards victory. Because this is the result Ukraine needs – the victory of our state,” Zelensky said at a briefing with Johnson in Kyiv on Friday.
He thanked the British Prime Minister for understanding Ukraine’s needs for weapons.
“We talked about the need to increase the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine. The main thing today is also to ensure the air defense of Ukraine. We began to move in this direction,” the president added.
Yesterday, Bitcoin once again came close to the critical level of $20,000 per 1 BTC. Even the record-breaking increase in the interest rate of the Fed did not save the main cryptocurrency from falling. However, it could not save, since cryptocurrencies are a fairly young investment asset, which has not yet been affected by transition periods and changing phases of economic growth.
The crypto market continues to develop according to its own rules, remaining a speculative product, the high volatility of which attracts a large number of traders who are ready to take risks for the sake of quick earnings. Most often, such traders massively buy cryptocurrency during the growth phase and start to get rid of it just as massively when the market falls, which stimulates a further collapse.
But this time the situation is somewhat different. Many analysts are talking about the beginning of the “darkest time for crypto” in its entire history. The traditional opponents of bitcoin have also revived. Thus, the famous financier Warren Buffett recently stated:
“If I were now offered to buy bitcoins at $25, I would not take them. What should I do with them then? I would have to sell them back to you later. This is a dead end.”
And he added that he doesn’t know if bitcoin will rise or fall next year, in five or ten years, but he knows for sure that he does not produce anything.
The Open4business publication turned to Igor Stakovichenko, an expert in economics and finance, with a request to comment on the situation in the cryptocurrency market. According to the economist, the problem of the lack of a real resource and production base for digital assets has become especially acute in recent months. This is due to the fact that Russian aggression in Ukraine disrupted supply chains and led to higher prices for real sector products in the global economy.
“The fall in the capitalization of the largest companies and the crisis in the stock market naturally led to the collapse of the cryptocurrency market, as many investors considered this asset too risky,” the financier notes.
Stakovichenko stressed that in the current situation, the fall of the bitcoin market below 22,000 launched a new, even deeper “bearish phase” of the cycle, as it greatly shook the position of long-term holders of the asset. The long-term holders, who had held their positions during the last drops, could not stand it and started dumping the cue ball at the lowest prices.
“This shook the whole structure, and both technical and macroeconomic indicators today indicate a possible fall of the main cryptocurrency to 16,000 or even lower,” the expert said.
However, according to Stakovichenko, it is still too early to bury bitcoin, as “whales” (investors owning more than 10,000 BTC) still continue to accumulate this digital currency, which may indicate the possibility of growth in the medium and long term.
BITCOIN, CRYPTOCURRENCY, CRYPTOCURRENCY_MARKET, EXPERT, FINANCE, STAKOVICHENKO, ИГОРЬ_СТАКОВИЧЕНКО
Based on the results of a comprehensive assessment and taking into account the ongoing war, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced the impossibility of holding the final Eurovision 2023 in Ukraine in May 2023 and will start negotiations on its organization in the UK, whose representative took second place following the Ukrainian group “Kalush” at Eurovision 2022.
“After an objective analysis, the Reference Group, the governing board of the Eurovision Song Contest, has concluded with deep regret that, given the current circumstances, the security and operational guarantees necessary for a broadcaster to run, organize and produce the Eurovision Song Contest in accordance with the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest , cannot be performed by the (national broadcaster) “UA: Suspіlne movlennya,” the EBU said on Friday on its website.
According to him, as a result of this decision, in accordance with the rules and to ensure the continuity of the event, the EBU will now start negotiations with the BBC on the possible hosting of the final stage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in the UK.
The priority in negotiations with the possible hosts of Eurovision 2023 will be to reflect Ukraine’s victory in this year’s contest, the release notes.
In addition, the EBU thanked Suspіlna for cooperating and exploring all possible scenarios in the weeks following Kalush’s May 14 victory in Turin and promised support in a number of areas to ensure the company continues to provide services to Ukrainians.
The European Commission recommends that the European Council grant Ukraine the status of a candidate member of the European Union with the subsequent implementation of the necessary steps.
The corresponding announcement on Friday in Brussels was made by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.
