Metinvest Group, as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative, has built the country’s first underground hospital for the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in coordination with the Vostok Medical Forces, to provide primary medical care and stabilize the condition of warriors after being wounded on the front line, having invested more than UAH 20 million, the group said in a press release on Tuesday
In turn, the Defense Ministry in a statement on its website indicated that the hospital was the first in a large-scale project implemented by the ministry in coordination with the Medical Forces Vostok, and in total it provides for the construction of more than two dozen underground stabpoints.
It is specified that the first facility is located near the front line and is designed to provide medical assistance to Ukrainian defenders in the safest possible conditions. The hospital is built on the basis of six enlarged steel bunkers-“kryivoks” developed by Metinvest, each of which is 7.6 meters long and 2.5 meters in diameter. Ventilation, water supply, drainage and alternative power supply systems have been installed to ensure the functioning of the facility.
Additional security measures have been taken during the installation of the underground hospital, in particular, it is additionally equipped with high-power REB systems and alternative power sources.
“Such underground stabpoints are critically important for preserving the lives of our military… This is the first step in a large-scale project that will strengthen our medical infrastructure and allow to support defenders on the front line even more effectively,” emphasized Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
“Metinvest” specified that the staffing of the hospital corresponds to the level of field hospitals of the second echelon (Role/Echelon 2) in accordance with NATO standards, and the investment included the cost of not only the construction of the hospital, but also the completion of its equipment.
“A medical hospital at a depth of many meters underground is the most ambitious and complex project we have had to implement since the beginning of the full-scale invasion within the framework of Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative,” said Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Oleksandr Mironenko.
It is noted that the steel underground hospital is not inferior to civilian hospitals in terms of medical equipment. In particular, Metinvest has equipped the hospital with oxygen concentrators, ventilator, cardiac monitors, defibrillators, operating equipment and lighting, sterilizers, patient heating systems, medical furniture for the total amount of more than UAH 7 million.
“This underground hospital is the best of stabilization points. It will allow to provide medical care to more than 100 patients per day, saving hundreds of lives of our heroes. I hope that the number of such facilities will grow,” said Roman Kuzev, acting commander of Medical Forces Vostok.
A new educational institution of the KAN Development educational network, Architectural and Engineering Collegium A+ (AIC+), opened in Kiev on Monday. The collegium is designed for 680 students, the company’s representatives said at the opening of AIC+. The area of the building is 13.1 thousand square meters, the total area of the training center is 3.30 hectares, of which 4 thousand sq. m. – shelter area. The training center is located on the territory of the residential neighborhood “Faina Town” in Kiev.
The company explained that the project is a conceptual educational complex that combines kindergarten, primary, secondary school, specialized lyceum and extracurricular activities in engineering, IT and architecture.
KAN added that $23 million was invested directly in the collegium, while the construction of each school shelter cost almost UAH 65 million.
As of today, KAN Development has invested over $100 million in educational institutions.
AIC+ became the 15th educational institution of the A+ network, where 3 thousand children study in full-day format and 700 teachers teach.
A+ activities began in 2005 at the initiative of Ivanna Nikonova. To date, the A+ educational network consists of three elementary school, two secondary schools, four kindergartens, three children’s clubs, a distance education center, a sports and music school and a wide range of extracurricular studios.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and grain market participants in addenda to the memorandum of understanding fixed in 2024/2025 marketing year the limit for export volume of 16.2 million tons of wheat and a mixture of wheat and rye (meslin) according to the code UKT VED 1001, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported.
“The purpose of signing the memorandum and its annex is to ensure food security, predictable, anticipated, flexible and stable grain export regime and sustainable functioning of the grain market in Ukraine,” the press service quoted Acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky as saying.
The parties also agreed on monthly monitoring of the volume of grain exports and, if necessary, adjustment of the limit export volume in January 2025.
As reported, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and grain market participants in July 2024 signed a memorandum of understanding for 2024/25 MY. The parties agreed to cooperate on coordination of balance characteristics of the grain market of Ukraine to ensure food security, stabilization of the grain market, projected grain exports and receipt of foreign exchange earnings.
Turkey has officially applied to join BRICS, Bloomberg reports citing its sources.
The publication writes that such a decision is due to the fact that the country wants to strengthen its global influence, as well as to establish new ties outside the traditional Western allies.
BRICS is an abbreviation for Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. This association is also called an analog of the G7 or G20 – a club for the interests of countries that are not satisfied with the “dominance” of the West. Earlier this year, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were joined by four new members – Iran, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt. Saudi Arabia was invited to join, but has not yet done so.
Malaysia, Thailand and Azerbaijan have applied to join BRICS. The next BRICS summit to discuss its expansion will be held in Russia in late October 2024.
On August 30, 2024 PJSC Insurance Company “Columnaid Ukraine” has received from the new shareholder SCP Luxembourg S.A.R.L. the message about acquisition on August 27, 2024 of a significant block of shares exceeding the threshold value of 95% of voting shares of the company.
According to the message of the insurer in the information disclosure system of the NCSSM, SCP Luxembourg owns 100% of the authorized capital of IC “Columnaid Ukraine”.
The message indicates that the date of alienation of shares of IC “Colonnade Ukraine” by previous shareholders of the company – Colonnade Finance S.A R.L., Fairfax Financial (US) LLC and Fairfax Holdings Inc. – is August 27, 2024.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine on December 28, 2023 agreed SCP Luxembourg SARL direct ownership of 99.9833% of PJSC IC Colonnade Ukraine.
PJSC IC Colonnade Ukraine (until 2016 – PJSC IC QBE Ukraine) was founded in 1998 as the first international insurer in the Ukrainian market. In November 2015 the company Colonnade Finance SARL (Luxembourg) has concentrated 99,9833% of the authorized capital of the insurer.
Earlier Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited has concluded an agreement with QBE Management (Ireland) Limited and its Ukrainian partner on indirect acquisition of 100% of the Ukrainian IC through the companies Colonnade Finance SARL (Luxembourg), Fairfax Holdings Inc. (Connecticut, USA), Fairfax Financial (US) LLS (Delaware, USA).
Almost 194 thousand new sole proprietorships were opened by Ukrainians in 8 months of 2024, according to the Unified State Register (USR). 60% of new businesses were started by women. During the same period, just over 120 thousand businesses were closed. More than a third of new businesses close in the first year of operation.
193,192 new sole proprietorships were registered since the beginning of the year. This is even more than before the outbreak of full-scale war, when 186,144 new cases were opened in the same period. After a significant decline at the beginning of the great invasion, the number of new registrations has stabilized and has remained at the same level for the second year in a row.
Most new businesses were opened by entrepreneurs in the capital – 26,303 or 13.6% of the total number of new businesses this year. New businesses are also being actively registered in Dnipropetrovs’k (18,025), Lviv (14,459), Kyiv (14,428), and Kharkiv (12,954) regions.
The most noticeable increase in the number of new fops over the year was in Zaporizhzhia region – by 11%, Kirovohrad region – by 10%, and Chernihiv region – by 9.6%. At the same time, business activity slowed down significantly in the frontline Luhansk (-14.7%) and Ivano-Frankivsk (-8%) regions. Despite the fact that Kharkiv region is among the regions with the largest number of new firms, the number of registrations in this region decreased by 6% compared to the previous year.
One third of new businesses are opened in the trade sector, and the IT sector attracts 7.6% of new entrepreneurs. The top three most popular areas for new business start-ups are personal services (7%). It is worth noting that the top has undergone some changes over the year: in 2023, cafes and restaurants were among the leaders, but this year they were replaced by information services.
The share of women among newly minted businessmen reached a record high of 60%. For comparison, in 2023, this figure was 55.6%, and in the first year of full-scale business, it was 47%.
Currently, the number of new cases is 1.6 times higher than the number of closed ones. Thus, 120,154 fops have been closed in Ukraine since the beginning of the year. Newly established businesses suffered the most: 24.5% of those that were opened last year closed, and 13.7% of those that opened this year. The median period of operation of the fops closed this year is 2 years and 7 months.
The largest number of fops closed in Kyiv – 13% (15,770), Kharkiv – 8% (10,097) and Dnipropetrovs’k – 8% (9,931) regions.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/foponomics-2024-9
