Germany has extended the temporary protection of refugees from Ukraine until March 4, 2025, and residence permits will be extended automatically, the press service of the German Ministry of the Interior reports.
“The residence permits of refugees from Ukraine who fled Russian aggression and were granted protection in Germany will be valid until March 4, 2025. The Federal Ministry of the Interior has provided for this in its resolution. Today, the Federal Council approved this resolution,” the ministry said in a press release on its website on Friday.
According to the report, Ukrainian refugees “do not need to apply for an extension of their residence status, nor do they need to have any related meetings with the immigration authorities. The basis for further extension of temporary protection is the decision of the EU member states at the end of September 2023.”
“All those who were forced to flee the war will remain safe with us and will have access to education and the labor market. We have extended the term of Ukraine’s refugee protection status. The residence permits are automatically valid until March 4, 2025, without the need for refugees from Ukraine to visit the immigration service again,” said Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Feser.
She added that the German authorities will continue to protect the lives of many Ukrainians and to support Ukraine closely.
According to the German side, there are currently about 1.1 million people living in Germany who have entered the country since February 24, 2022, in connection with Russian aggression against Ukraine. About 350 thousand of them are children and young people under the age of 18. About two-thirds of adult refugees are women.
Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will develop a feasibility study (FS) of the euro track project that will connect Mostyska station on the Polish border to Sknylyv (a settlement in the suburbs of Lviv), the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (MCDI) said on Friday.
The corresponding memorandum was signed by Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration Oleksandr Kubrakov, U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink, from UZ – head of the board Eugene Lyashchenko and board member Vyacheslav Eremin.
It is indicated that further development of the 1435 mm wide section of the track will include its connection to Uzhgorod, Kovel, Chernivtsi, and at a later stage to Kiev and eastern Ukraine.
“The track will be used not only for freight, but also for passenger transportation in the direction of EU countries,” Kubrakov said.
He stressed that one of the important tasks to increase export capacity is to modernize and replace the tracks, and if necessary, to build new ones.
“The signing of the Memorandum with USAID will have a tangible impact on the recovery of the Ukrainian economy and contribute to the European integration processes in general,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.
Earlier, the head of the UZ board, Yevhen Lyashchenko, told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency that the design of the construction of the Euroway from the state border with Poland to Sknyliv will be completed by the end of this year. According to him, the implementation of this project will make it possible to organize communication by euro track from Lviv to Krakow, Prague and Vienna.
As reported, the construction of euro track in the direction Mostyska-Sknyliw was planned to begin in 2020. Also in 2020 the government included this project in the list of priority investment projects until 2023.
The railway station Sknyliw is located in Lviv at a distance of 5.5 km from the Lviv station, 3 km from Lviv airport and 1 km from the bus station.
BRIDGET BRINK, Eugene Lyashchenko, UKRZALIZNYTSIA, USAID, Вячеслав Еремин, Олександр Кубраков, УЗ
The Ukrainian Weather Center warns of natural meteorological phenomena in Ukraine on November 27.
“On November 27, wind gusts of 17-22 m/s (I hazard level, yellow), gusts of 25-30 m/s at night and in the morning (except for the western, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia and Sumy regions), blizzards (II hazard level, orange); heavy snow (I hazard level, yellow) in Kyiv, Kirovohrad and Poltava regions, heavy snow, snow drifts (II hazard level, orange) in Chernihiv, Sumy and Cherkasy regions. There is ice cover on the roads of the country (I level of danger, yellow),” the Ukrainian Weather Center said in a storm warning.
Ukrainian-made cement should become a key material for reconstruction, and at the peak of reconstruction the market could reach 15 million tons of products, or more than $1 billion a year, according to Ukrcement.
“In the production of building materials, we can really compete with foreign producers by taking advantage of logistics. In addition, the average price of cement in Ukraine is more than 30% lower than in other Central and Eastern European countries. Tales of “cheap imports” are just private interest,” the association said.
At the same time, the cost of cement has increased significantly over the past three years. According to Ukrcement, since 2020, the cost of energy has increased by more than 200%, coal by 280%, and transportation by 317%. At the same time, energy and logistics account for 72% of the cement production cost structure.
The association believes that the state has two main tasks in managing the recovery: maximum transparency in the selection of contractors and localization.
The potential of Ukraine’s cement industry is 13.6 million tons of cement annually, said Lyudmyla Krypka, executive director of the Ukrcement Association. At the same time, companies are preparing for consumption growth and are planning to expand their capacities.
“The cement industry is probably the only heavy industry in Ukraine where players have modernized their production facilities to meet the quality and ensure the required production volumes. We are preparing for a possible increase in cement consumption. At least two companies already have plans to build additional clinker kilns,” the expert told Interfax-Ukraine.
Ukrcement Association was established in January 2004 through the reorganization of the Ukrainian Concern of Cement Industry Enterprises and Organizations Ukrcement.
The State Customs Service (SCS), with the support of the EU Advisory Mission, is implementing a pilot project at the Rava-Ruska-Krebenne checkpoint to use individual portable video cameras during customs clearance, the service reported in a Telegram message on Friday.
“The body-worn video recorders operate with the ability to record and store video images in encrypted form, in particular in night mode. Also, the technical characteristics of the DVRs make it impossible for an inspector or an unauthorized person to delete information,” the statement said.
It is expected that the use of video recorders in the work of customs authorities will strengthen the prevention of smuggling, violation of customs rules, prevention of abuse of office, corruption, as well as protection of officials from slander and accusations of unscrupulous entrepreneurs.
It is noted that at the pilot project stage, body-worn video recorders are being tested in the area of Lviv Customs at the Rava-Ruska-Krebenne checkpoint: customs officers have 62 body-worn recorders there.
The possibility of further deploying the project at other checkpoints is also being considered.
Investment company Concorde Capital has invested about UAH 200 million in the project of cottage town “O.Krasa” in Irpen and allows further investment, the head of Concorde Capital Igor Mazepa told Forbes Ukraine.
“Under UAH 200 million (already invested – IF-U). I hope that this is all. But in fact I would proceed from the fact that potentially we will have to invest the same amount more. This is our first investment in the project from scratch since the beginning of the war,” Mazepa said.
According to him, the investment company is implementing the project together with the developer Svitlo Development of businessman Sergei Krikun and the construction group “Vidvazhnyh” ex-mayor of Irpen Vladimir Karplyuk and his business partner Vladimir Spivak.
“We came together on pure business interest. Karplyuk is a comfortable and understandable partner. The plot and the idea is his, from me – money and formation of working capital,” he explained.
Mazepa pointed out that currently 50 objects are under construction, 32 of which have already been sold. In total, the first phase includes 200 objects of various formats: townhouses, townhouses, duplexes, cottages.
“After the beginning of the war in Irpen registered 15 thousand migrants from the east of Ukraine. Now there may be more. 2 thousand houses or apartments were destroyed or damaged because of the hostilities. We proceeded from the assumption that with our offer we will be able to meet the demand of both native and new residents of Irpen. This assumption is still being realized”, – said the businessman, noting that about one third of the objects in the project are adapted for participation in the “eOsela” program.
Answering the question about cement business, Mazepa pointed out that the production volume of two plants of the company “Krivoy Rog Cement” at the end of the year will be about 780 thousand tons with a capacity of 1.6 million tons. He said that Concorde Capital plans to make capital investments of “tens of millions of dollars” in this area, including reducing the share of coal in energy consumption through processing, as well as expanding capacity to 2 million tons of cement per year.
According to LUN, the area of the cottage town “O.Krasa” is 60 hectares. In addition to housing, the territory will accommodate cafes, stores, public and recreational spaces, children’s center and school, SPA-center and sports grounds, business center and co-working, medical center “Dobrobut”.
The project was developed by the architectural bureau “Modus”. Completion of the first district of the town is scheduled for the summer of 2025.
