Olympic champion Sergei Bubka said he has nothing to do with any business in the occupied territories.
“Since 2014, I have not been in the occupied territory. I was born on Ukrainian soil. I have always represented Ukraine around the world with great pride. I have always fought for Ukraine. But now a campaign to destroy my reputation has been launched against me,” he said in a video distributed on Wednesday.
“I, like every Ukrainian, made my choice from the very beginning – to be with Ukraine and to do everything possible in the fight against Russian aggression. Since 2014, I have not been in the occupied territories. I haven’t visited my relatives and I couldn’t even be at my mom’s funeral. I have nothing to do with any business in the occupied territories. My job is to support Ukrainian athletes and Ukrainian sport at the international level,” Bubka said.
“I will do everything so that the current generation of Ukrainian athletes will be able to realize their Olympic dream – to perform at the Olympic Games in Paris next year,” he stressed, adding, “To those who are trying to blacken my name, I would like to say: To fight for Ukraine in sports has always been an honor for me. To fight for the state interests of my country is the highest honor for me.”
Earlier, an investigation by Bihus.info was published, in which journalists suggest that the firm “Firm Montblanc” LLC, owned by Sergey and Vasyl Bubkas, is listed in the Russian registers.
The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine has announced a change in the rules for importing and accounting for humanitarian aid starting December 1.
“On September 5, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution “Some issues of humanitarian aid entry and accounting under martial law”. According to the resolution, the rules for importing and accounting for humanitarian aid are being changed, and information about it will be digitized in an automated system,” the ministry’s press service said.
It is noted that among the main changes is the introduction of an accessible electronic tool for accounting for humanitarian aid.
In particular, using the web platform “Automated System for Registration of Humanitarian Aid,” organizations intending to import humanitarian aid will be able to register, log in to the site, form and submit a declaration, which will be sent to customs through information exchange.
“The system will automatically assign a unique code to the declaration. This code will be used by customs officers to let the cargo through,” the agency emphasized.
This preserves the declarative principle of importing humanitarian aid under martial law, and simplifies the process of importing such goods.
It also stipulates that organizations importing humanitarian aid will submit public reports after its distribution.
“After the organization has imported the aid, it will have to describe it in the system before distributing it. Then, the data will have to be entered: when and where (without specifying personal data of individuals) the cargo was distributed, whether there are any leftovers and what they are. Such a mechanism will show the path of humanitarian aid from the donor through the recipient to the recipients and guarantee the transparency of the process,” the ministry added.
In addition, the adopted resolution cancels letters of guarantee, which means that humanitarian aid for the military will be imported without additional bureaucratic burden.
According to the report, the system will be launched on December 1, 2023.
Oil prices steady after rising to highest since November, Brent above $90 per barrel
Oil prices were stable on Wednesday after rising to their highest levels since November last year on information about Saudi Arabia’s plans to extend voluntary production cuts until the end of 2023.
The cost of October futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange at 8:10 a.m. on Wednesday is $90.03 per barrel, which is $0.01 (0.01%) lower than the price at the close of the previous session. On Tuesday, these contracts rose by $1.04 (1.2%) to $90.04 per barrel, the highest since November 16.
The price of October futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) fell by $0.03 (0.03%) to $86.66 per barrel. As a result of the previous trading, the value of these contracts increased by $1.14 (1.3%) to $86.69 per barrel, the highest value since November 15.
Saudi Arabia will continue to voluntarily reduce oil production by 1 million bpd until the end of 2023, the kingdom’s state agency reported on Tuesday, citing an official source in the Ministry of Energy.
“Further supply constraints will support oil prices,” analysts at ANZ Group Holdings Ltd. said in a research note. “We are likely to see a significant reduction in oil inventories as a result of these restrictions.
Number of dead and wounded civilians in Ukraine from 24.02.2022 till 03.08.2023 un data
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Agrarians of all regions of Ukraine have started sowing winter crops for grain, as well as actively sowing rape. As of early September, 699.7 thousand hectares of winter crops have already been sown, including 654.9 thousand hectares of rape and 44.8 thousand hectares of grain, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.
According to the report, winter wheat has already been sown on 42.5 thousand hectares, winter barley on 1.2 thousand hectares, winter rye – 1.1 thousand hectares.
According to the ministry, due to favorable weather conditions sowing of rape has already been completed in Volyn, Poltava, Sumy and Ternopil regions. The largest areas under winter rape are now in Ternopil (72.5 thousand hectares), Vinnitsa (67.2 thousand hectares) and Kirovograd (59.4 thousand hectares) regions.
As reported, according to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the vast majority of agrarians do not plan to significantly change the sowing areas under winter crops in 2024 compared to last season.
Almost half of the voters in Vinnytsia region (47.4%) would support Vladimir Zelensky in the presidential election. These are the data of the sociological research conducted by the company “Active Group” on August 29 – September 2, 2023.
Assessing the direction of development of the country, the region and their city residents of Vinnytsia region believe that the country as a whole is developing in the right direction. The option “Completely true” was chosen by 22.4% of respondents, “Rather true” – 32.4%. “Rather wrong” was chosen by 18.6%, “Completely wrong” – 10.1%, 16.5% found it difficult to answer the question. 19.3% of respondents believe that the situation is developing in the right direction in Vinnytsia region, 41.3% believe that this statement is “Rather true”. 18,3% are convinced that this statement is “Rather wrong”, and 7,8% chose the option – “Completely” wrong. Another 13.3% chose the option – “Difficult to answer”. At the same time, only 18.6% agreed with the option that their city (OTG) is developing in the right direction, and another 33.9% agreed with the option that this is happening “Rather true”. The answer – “Rather wrong” was chosen by 21.6%, “Completely wrong” – by 14.3%. 11.6% chose the option “I find it difficult to answer”.
Answering the question “Which civilian structure, in your opinion, makes the greatest efforts to implement defense measures?” 39.6% of respondents are fully convinced that it is the OBA. 10.2% believe that it is the regional Rada, 18.1% believe that it is the Rada of the territorial community. 15,5% – none of these structures, 16,6% find it difficult to answer.
Regarding the awareness of the activity of local officials, 74.1% of respondents have heard about the activity of the OBA (Serhiy Borzov), 43.2% – about the activity of the chairman of the territorial community, 30.8% – about the activity of the regional council (Vyacheslav Sokolovyy)
To the question – “Which of these people, in your opinion, most influences the situation in Vinnytsia region?” 63.2% answered that it is Serhiy Borzov, 41.1% – Volodymyr Groysman, 25.2% – Petro Poroshenko, 22.3% – Vyacheslav Sokolovyy.
The distribution of answers to the question – “In your opinion, which of them primarily represents the interests of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky?” was as follows: Serhiy Borzov – 52.4%, Vyacheslav Sokolovyy – 5.4%, Chairman of the OTG – 8.3%, People’s Deputy from our district – 7.6%, none of them – 10.3%, the other – 2.6%, I find it difficult to answer – 13.4%.
The assessment of the leaders of trust on a ten-point scale was as follows: Sergei Borzov – 6.23 points, Irina Borzova – 5.82 points, Larisa Bilozir – 5.16 points, Nikolai Kucher – 4.93 points, Sergei Morgunov – 4.8 points.
On the question – “Which of these people would you vote for, if the election of the President of Ukraine were held in the near future and the following candidates were running?”, the leaders of the election race would be in Vinnytsia region as follows: Volodymyr Zelensky – 47.4% among all respondents. Petro Poroshenko – 10.7%. Serhiy Pritula – 7.8%. Dmytro Razumkov – 3.3% Yulia Tymoshenko – 3.2%. Igor Smeshko – 2.4%. Oleksiy Arestovich – 2.0%. Oleg Lyashko – 1.5%. Oleg Tyahnybok – 1.1%. Volodymyr Boyko – 0.6%. Would look for someone else – 6.2%. Would spoil the ballot – 1.0%. Would not go to the elections – 3.9%. I find it difficult to answer – 8.8%.
The situation is as follows by party: Servant of the People – 33.4% among all respondents. European Solidarity – 10.5%. Groisman’s Ukrainian strategy – 9.2%. August 24 – 3.4%. Batkivshchyna – 3.5%. Reasonable policy – 2.8%. Strength and Honor – 2.0%. Freedom – 1.5%. Voice – 1.3%. Other – 2.2%. Would spoil the ballot – 1.8%. Would not go to the polls – 6.7%. I find it difficult to answer – 18.8%.
As for the sources of information, 56.5% of Vinnichi residents would get it from Facebook, 37.5% – from Telegram, 34.8% – from the central television, 29.2% – from personal acquaintances or relatives, 27.8% – from Viber, 26.2% – from Instagram, 21.8% – from YouTube. Other sources of information received less than 20% of the respondents’ votes.
The full presentation with the results of the research can be downloaded at the link.
The research was carried out by the company “Active Group”. Survey method: personal formalized interview (face-to-face). General population: men and women over 18 years old living in Vinnytsia region. Sample: 2043 questionnaires (representative by age, gender and type of settlement). Data collection period: August 29 – September 2, 2023.
