The Optima Distance School has announced that it has been forced to suspend the construction of an educational center near Kyiv due to unfounded accusations by law enforcement officials of illegal land acquisition.
Maria Miletska, founder and CEO of the Optima distance school, told Interfax-Ukraine at a press conference on Tuesday that the issue is the investigation by law enforcement agencies that accused her of illegally seizing a 4 hectare plot of land near Kyiv.
According to Miletska, the project has been suspended for at least four months.
For his part, Miletska’s lawyer, Oleksandr Protas, noted that, according to the accusations by law enforcement agencies, Miletska has no legal rights to the land plot, despite the fact that she purchased it on the secondary market at a market price.
Protas clarified that the land plot was alienated from the land fund of the Ministry of Defense six or seven years ago and has changed hands several times since then.
“As it turned out later, this land is under investigation because it became a source of enrichment for some officials. I can’t comment on whether this land was transferred to individuals legally or illegally, but Maria Miletska bought this land absolutely legally, at a market price. A company engaged in professional land search offered the land, all payments were made in non-cash form, and there were no comments from the state registrar or the notary who carried out the registration. And after the land was acquired, Maria Oleksandrivna, unfortunately, became a party to the criminal proceedings,” he said.
At the same time, the lawyer emphasized the “unprecedented pressure (on Miletska – IF-U) from the investigators who are investigating this case”.
“I was present during the searches that took place unexpectedly, I witnessed outright threats against me. There was no need to conduct such investigative actions as a search at all, because the documents that law enforcement officers needed were provided voluntarily,” he said.
Protas noted that “there are already two court decisions where Maria Oleksandrivna is recognized as an absolutely bona fide purchaser of this land.”
“The panel of judges took the side of our client that Maria Miletska did not alienate the land from the Ministry of Defense, that Miletska purchased it from individuals to whom the state had no claims until recently,” he said.
Protas clarified that the local village council distributed the land among its residents back in 2017, and until 2023, they were absolutely the legal owners of the land.
At the same time, Protas noted that his client has no grounds to apply to the ECHR so far, as all the possibilities for protection provided by national law have not been exhausted.
In turn, the founder of the Optima School, Latvian citizen Roberts Vaisla, noted that the school has already implemented several educational projects in Ukraine. These include the Optima Kids project, which provides educational materials and enables children to prepare for school, and a college that provides training in three specialties.
In addition, Optima has received Cambridge accreditation and is preparing content that allows Ukrainian children to study according to Cambridge standards and programs in Ukraine.
In 2023, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) transported 148.4 million tons of cargo by all types of traffic, down 1.5% from 2022 and due to the availability of pre-war January-February 2022 in the comparison database, the company’s website reports.
According to it, from March to December 2023, UZ transported an average of 23% more cargo per month than in the same period in 2022.
It is specified that November was a record month last year, when the company transported 14.1 million tons of cargo.
According to the release, 22.3 million tons of cargo were transported to seaports for further export last year, while 34.4 million tons were exported via land crossings.
Domestic transportation in 2023 increased by 11.4% to 84.8 million tons compared to 2022.
According to UZ, the leaders in terms of cargo volumes in 2023 were grains – 30.6 million tons (+5.9%), construction materials – 29.6 million tons (+29.6%), iron and manganese ore – 27.5 million tons (-13.2%), coal – 26.2 million tons (-11.2%) and ferrous metals – 8.2 million tons (-10.6%).
In 2023, Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Plant (KZHRK) reduced its production of commercial iron ore from underground mining by 24.4% year-on-year to 2,183 thousand tons.
According to the company, in December, Pokrovska mine produced 40 thousand tons of ore, Kryvorizka mine – 25 thousand tons, Kozatska mine – 40 thousand tons, and Ternovska mine – 40 thousand tons, while the total production of the plant in December amounted to 145 thousand tons.
As reported, in 2022, KZHRK reduced production of commercial iron ore from underground mining by 32.8% year-on-year to 2.888 million tons.
KZHRK specializes in underground iron ore mining. The company has four mines: “Pokrovska (formerly Zhovtneva), Kryvorizka (Batkivshchyna), Kozatska (formerly Gvardiyska) and Ternivska (formerly Ordzhonikidze and then Lenin).
Starmill Limited owns 99.88% of the plant’s shares.
Earlier it was reported that SCM Group owns a certain share in KZHRK, while Metinvest Group has no relation to KZHRK. At the same time, SCM Group is only an investor, while Privat Group exercises operational control over the plant.
Oil prices are falling on Wednesday amid a general decline in risk appetite and a stronger US dollar, despite the ongoing tensions in the Red Sea region.
The cost of March futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:15 a.m. is $77.66 per barrel, which is $0.63 (0.8%) lower than at the close of the previous trading. On Tuesday, these contracts rose by $0.14 (0.2%) to $78.29 per barrel.
Futures for WTI for February in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) have fallen by $0.65 (0.9%) to $71.75 per barrel by this time. As a result of previous trading, the value of these contracts fell by $0.28 (0.4%) to $72.4 per barrel.
Traders seem to be “more concerned about a lack of demand than a shortage of supply at the moment,” said Colin Sizinski, portfolio manager at SIA Wealth Management, as quoted by Market Watch.
The sharp decline in the Empire State Manufacturing index in January “signals a slowdown in US growth, and the Chinese economy is a major concern,” the expert said.
China’s GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2023 accelerated to 5.2% year-on-year from 4.9% in October-December, but was worse than market expectations (+5.3%).
On Wednesday, the dollar index DXY is adding 0.1%, having risen by 0.6% the day before.
Forecast of unemployment rate in Ukraine according to methodology of international labor organization until 2025
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
On the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a meeting with Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh.
The head of state thanked Vietnam for supporting the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine, as well as for humanitarian aid to our country, the press service of the President of Ukraine reported.
“The interlocutors noted the importance of intensifying bilateral relations, as Ukraine and Vietnam are united by long-standing ties. The President called on Vietnam to support the implementation of the points of the Ukrainian peace formula,” – noted in the message.
Volodymyr Zelensky and Pham Minh Chinh discussed the possibility of activating bilateral contacts between Ukraine and Vietnam at different levels.
DAVOS, Pham Minh Chinh, VIETNAM, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
