Mobile network operator Kyivstar has expanded its 4G network coverage in Volyn and Zhytomyr regions and connected 402 more settlements to new mobile technologies.
The press service of the company said on Thursday that in particular, in Zhytomyr region, high-speed mobile Internet appeared in the settlements of Andriyivka, Bilkivtsi, Zamyslovychi, Kalynivka, Korostyshiv, Lebedivka, Nemyrivka and in Volyn region in the settlements of Borokhiv, Volodymyr-Volynsky, Horodysche, Domanove, Liubeshiv, and Ruzhyn.
The operator said that in order to improve coverage, LTE900 technology was activated at 98 base stations.
According to the data provided, a total of 14,000 base stations of the operator support 4G communication, which makes it possible to access new mobile technologies for 87% of the population of Ukraine.
At the same time, the operator said that in 2021 it intends to continue developing the network to increase the population’s access to 4G up to 90%.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) on January 21 will consider the applications of Nebras Power Investment Management B.V. (the Netherlands), a member of the Qatar group Nebras, for the acquisition of 50% and more in six companies operating solar and wind power plants of businessman Vasyl Khmelnytsky and his partners.
According to the committee’s agenda, the matter concerns providing 50% in Volyn West Wind-1 LLC, Volyn West Wind-2 LLC, as well as over 50% in Free Energy Henichesk LLC, Scythia-Solar-1 LLC, Scythia-Solar-2 LLC and Port Solar LLC.
The committee will also consider the issue of granting permission to Cyprus-based Enox Trading Limited and Serhiy Yevtushenko to establish Volyn Wind Cyprus Limited.
According to data on UDP Renewables’ website, SES Free Energy (18.3 MW) began generating electricity in November 2018, Scythia-Solar-1 (13 MW) in March 2019, Scythia-Solar-2 (33 MW) in July 2019, Port Solar (8.4 MW) in October 2019.
The declared capacity of two phases of Volyn West Wind is 57 MW and 56.8 MW.
UDP Renewables is an investment and development company in the renewable energy industry. The strategic investor in UDP Renewables is Vasyl Khmelnitsky’s holding company UFuture.
The State Agency of Automobile Roads of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) during tenders in the state electronic trading system ProZorro has reduced the expected cost of building a new bridge in Kremenchuk (Poltava region) by 11%, or UAH 1.27 billion.
Ukravtodor reported the tender was won by the Turkish company Dogus Insaat Ve Ticaret with a final offer of UAH 11.249 billion – an agreement with it will be signed after the completion of all tender procedures.
“The fact that new international players appear in the road sector who are immediately ready to compete on equal terms with others is a sign of a healthy market. And another confirmation that the path we have chosen is working. I am sure that there are more such companies – and quality as well will grow,” Head of Ukravtodor Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
According to him, 95% of the materials that will be used in the construction of the bridge will be Ukrainian.
According to the feasibility study of the project, the new bridge will be cable-stayed, with four lanes, two in each direction. On the right bank of the Dnipro River, it will connect with the N-08 highway, on the left – with the existing street network of Kremenchuk. At these points, it is planned to build transport interchanges at different levels. The total length of the structures will be over 3 km.
Dogus Insaat Ve Ticaret will both design and build the new bridge crossing as the “design and build” tender was announced.
The Synevo laboratory, part of the Swedish holding Medicover, has launched PCR tests that detect British and South African coronavirus (COVID-19) strains, including their currently known mutations.
According to Synevo’s press release, new PCR tests are carried out on new generation equipment and reagents from the U.S. company Abbott.
Investments in equipment for testing (two analyzers) amounted to more than EUR 200,000.
The tests detect the virus at the earliest stages of the disease, when the virus cells are still very little in the body, while other test systems will still give false negative results, although the person is already sick.
According to Synevo Development Director Mykola Butenko, new PCR tests allow detecting British and South African COVID-19 strains with the same accuracy as the previous COVID-19 strains.
In addition, new PCR tests, in addition to detecting COVID-19, can determine the viral load of SARS-CoV-2 on the body and the likely stage of the disease.
“We have received official confirmation from the head office of Abbott in the United States that new PCR tests detect two new strains of coronavirus: British and South African. These results were obtained by Abbott in clinical trials, and the reagents have already received international FDA accreditation,” Butenko said in a press release.
Synevo said that Abbott’s PCR tests are one of the most reliable in the world, their sensitivity is only 100 copies per 1 ml of biomaterial, while the sensitivity of other PCR tests for COVID-19 available on the Ukrainian market, from 400 copies and higher. This sensitivity allows almost completely eliminate false negative results.
Synevo is Ukraine’s largest network of medical laboratories, a division of the Swedish medical holding Medicover. The Synevo network consists of more than 300 laboratory centers operating in more than 115 cities throughout Ukraine, as well as seven laboratories in which more than 1,500 types of tests are performed.
Grape processing in Ukraine in 2020 decreased by 38.8% compared to 2019, to 75,980 tonnes, according to the State Statistics Service.
According to its data, of the total number of grapes processed into winemaking materials, the enterprises directly grew 27.4%, or 20,800 tonnes, and the rest of the raw materials were purchased from households.
In Odesa region in 2020, some 56,400 tonnes of grapes were processed and in Mykolaiv region 15,400 tonnes, which is less than in 2019 by 32.4% and 26.7% respectively.
The main varieties of processed grapes remain Cabernet Sauvignon with 13% (less by 23.5% compared to 2019), Muscat with 10.4% (less by 5.4%), Chardonnay with 9.9% (less by 33.6%) and Aligote with 9.5% (less by 48.7%).
The service said that the production of winemaking materials in 2020 decreased by 41.2% compared to 2019, to 5.68 million decaliters. At the same time, the production of table wine decreased by 42.5%, to 3.58 million decaliters, champagne and sparkling wines by 28.2%, to 1.36 million decaliters, and the production of cognac fell by about 90.5%, to 230,000 decaliters.
The decline in grape processing was reported to be mainly caused by adverse weather conditions. Grape growers in Odesa region complained about the dry winter and spring of 2020 with insufficient rainfall.
According to the State Customs Service, exports of Ukrainian wine and grape must in 2020 increased in quantity terms by 88.7%, to 16,620 tonnes, and in monetary terms by 9.6% to $13.08 million.
At the same time, the export volumes were significantly lower than imports, which last year increased by 15.6% in quantity terms, to 64,430 tonnes, and in monetary terms by 22.1%, to $179.23 million.
Exports of vermouth and other grape wine in 2020 amounted to 460 tonnes for $1.09 million (less by 23.7% and 34.8% respectively), while their imports to 3,790 tonnes for $8.09 million (an increase in quantity terms by 1.4% and a decrease in monetary terms by 12.6%).
The conflict in Donbas is not and cannot turn into a frozen one, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde has said.
“I am categorically opposed to calling the conflict in Donbas or Crimea frozen […] As this will mean that you have surrendered and do not consider it possible to resolve it. And I believe that Donbas is definitely not frozen now. After all, the Trilateral Contact Group or the Normandy format is still in operation, trying to find a solution,” Linde said in an interview with Yevropeiska Pravda (European Truth) published on Wednesday.
She said that at the Normandy Four summit in Paris, there was an agreement on a new meeting of leaders under a number of conditions.
“Ukraine has fulfilled all the conditions. Russia, unfortunately, has not yet. Now everything depends on how the negotiations will continue, on how it will be agreed to fulfill these conditions,” Linde said.
According to her, there is still a positive result from the negotiations, this is a truce that has been going on since July 27. “And even despite the fact that now we see a worsening of the situation, that a Ukrainian serviceman died a week ago, the situation is still much better than it was a year ago. After all, in 2020, there were 34 victims in January and February alone,” the OSCE Chairperson said.
Linde said the priority of her chairmanship is to try to resolve the conflict, or at least take a step towards its solution, without departing from the principle of comprehensive security.
“And, we will, of course, continue to follow the principle of the integrity and unity of Ukraine, which includes the Ukrainian Crimea and Sevastopol. We will try to build on the achievements of the preliminary chairmanships in the OSCE, using both the Normandy format and the Trilateral Contact Group,” she said.
When asked whether the OSCE should become a participant in the Normandy format, Linde said it is not, since Normandy is already an established format. She said that it is always worth analyzing what is effective, what works. And the current Normandy format is just working.
“But the OSCE has concentrated its efforts in the Trilateral Contact Group, where our representative Heidi Grau does a very important job. And even if she is criticized in Ukraine, in fact she does a lot to get closer to resolving the conflict, and these efforts deserve support as well as the work of the SMM – the greatest mission of our organization,” she said.
