Ukraine ranks last among European countries in terms of the affordability of purchasing GTA VI, according to a visualization by Maven Mapping, which compares the number of working hours required to buy the game based on the average hourly wage.
According to the study, the average Ukrainian worker would need about 31.12 hours to buy the new Grand Theft Auto game. That’s nearly four full workdays based on a standard eight-hour workday.
By comparison, in Northern and Western European countries, purchasing GTA VI is equivalent to just a few hours of work. In Denmark, it takes about 1.7 hours; in Norway, 1.77 hours; in the Netherlands, 2.2 hours; in Germany, 2.32 hours; and in France, 2.67 hours.
In Central and Southeastern Europe, the figure is significantly higher. In Croatia, it takes about 4.94 hours to buy the game; in Serbia, 16.95 hours; in Romania, 17.64 hours; in Montenegro—17.92 hours, in Bulgaria—18.77 hours, in Turkey—23.52 hours, and in Bosnia and Herzegovina—23.89 hours.
Ukraine, with a figure of 31.12 hours, ranks at the very bottom of the list. This reflects not so much the price of a specific game as the gap in purchasing power between the Ukrainian market and the wealthier countries of Europe. While for a worker in Denmark or Germany such a purchase is comparable to a few hours of work, for a Ukrainian it represents an expense equivalent to nearly half a workweek.
Such rankings are not official economic statistics, as they depend on the selected game price, the method used to calculate wages, and exchange rates. However, they clearly illustrate how global prices for digital goods are perceived in countries with different income levels.
Source: Maven Mapping – https://www.threads.com/@maven.mapping/post/DaACB90iNhn/number-of-hours-needed-to-buy-gta-vi/
Following the deaths of demining specialists as a result of Russian shelling in the Kherson region, the Ukrainian Red Cross (URC) stresses the need to comply with international humanitarian law (IHL).
“Humanitarian workers risk their lives every day to save others, assist the civilian population, and make Ukrainian soil safer. They must never be targeted. The Ukrainian Red Cross once again emphasizes the need to comply with the norms of international humanitarian law,” the URC stated in a Facebook post on Thursday.
The Ukrainian Red Cross expressed its condolences to the team at Norwegian People’s Aid Ukraine, as well as to the families, loved ones, and colleagues of those who died.
As previously reported, on June 24, a staff member of the international humanitarian organization Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) was killed as a result of Russian shelling in the Kherson region; another deminer died in the hospital from severe injuries. Three specialists were wounded.
In just over 24 hours, floodwaters in Ukraine have claimed the lives of 17 people, including nine children; the search for four more people is ongoing, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
“The tragedies occurred in 12 regions of Ukraine… Unfortunately, these terrible figures may rise—the search is currently underway in three regions for four people, including three children,” said Viktor Vitovetsky, director of the Department of Civil Protection and Preventive Activities at the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
According to available statistics from rescue services, as of early May 2026, 135 people—including 10 children—had died in Ukraine’s water bodies since the beginning of the year. At that time, the State Emergency Service reported that 74 people, including 23 children, had been rescued since the start of the year.
With the start of the summer season, the statistics have deteriorated sharply. According to the State Emergency Service, from the beginning of June through June 21 alone, 64 emergencies occurred while people were swimming in Ukraine’s water bodies, resulting in the deaths of 53 people, including nine children.
Taking into account the new data on 17 deaths over the past 24 hours, the number of victims in water bodies since the start of the year may be at least 205. However, the State Emergency Service has not provided an updated total figure for the period from the start of 2026 through June 25 in a public statement.
Rescuers remind the public that most water-related tragedies occur due to swimming in unequipped areas, overestimating one’s abilities, alcohol consumption, violations of water safety rules, and a lack of supervision of children.
The State Emergency Service emphasizes that children should only be near water under constant adult supervision.
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, artificial intelligence can be a useful assistant for authors, students, and researchers, but it cannot replace a writer because it lacks its own life experience, according to Rostyslav Semkiv, director of the Smoloskyp publishing house, who stated this in an interview with the “Interfax-Ukraine” agency.
“I view artificial intelligence much the same way I view nuclear energy. It can be used for good, or it can be used for harm. It all depends on how a person uses this tool,” Semkiv said.
According to him, AI can help find sources, organize information, select relevant literature, and improve the logic of texts—just as professors, editors, or academic advisors used to do.
At the same time, he cautioned against completely delegating creative and intellectual work to algorithms.
“As an assistant, it’s a wonderful tool. As a substitute for one’s own thinking, it’s a bad idea,” Semkiv emphasized.
He also noted that artificial intelligence still often makes mistakes, especially when it comes to Ukrainian literature or highly specialized topics, and in some cases may even invent facts that do not exist.
Commenting on the emergence of books written with the help of AI, Semkiv noted that it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish such texts based solely on formal characteristics. However, the main difference, in his opinion, lies elsewhere.
“Literature is, first and foremost, the transmission of experience. A person writes based on their own life, observations, and experiences. Artificial intelligence does not have such experience,” he said.
According to Semkiv, a writer always brings their own life context, emotions, and observations into the text, whereas artificial intelligence merely generalizes a vast number of already existing texts.
“True literature is always an attempt to express oneself, one’s environment, one’s context, and one’s own story. And this is precisely where artificial intelligence has very serious limitations,” Semkiv concluded.
As previously reported, Rostyslav Semkiv, director of the “Smoloskyp” publishing house, believes that Ukrainian libraries should be transformed into modern community cultural centers, and the world is becoming increasingly interested in Ukraine through literature, while the full-scale war has already shaped a new generation of Ukrainian writers. He also stated that Ukraine’s book market continues to grow despite the war, and audiobooks could become one of the drivers of its development. Additionally, in June, due to an accident on the heating network, the Smoloskyp publishing house building in Kyiv was flooded, resulting in damage to about 30% of the book collection.
At least 164 people were killed and 971 were injured as a result of two powerful earthquakes in Venezuela that occurred on the evening of June 24, according to international news agencies, including the Associated Press, CNN, and Reuters, citing the country’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez.
“At least 164 people were killed and 971 were injured after two powerful earthquakes shook Venezuela,” Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said on Thursday, adding that rescue teams are rushing to the hardest-hit areas to free people trapped under the rubble,” the AP reported on its website on Thursday.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes, which struck on Wednesday evening, were among the strongest to hit Venezuela in over a century and were felt throughout the region. The country’s main airport sustained damage and was closed, and buildings were evacuated even in such remote areas as the Brazilian Amazon, located approximately 1,700 km from Venezuela’s capital, Caracas.
According to Rodríguez, authorities are deploying rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira state, located on the coast north of Caracas. That state has been hit the hardest.
The acting president noted that they are trying to make the most of daylight hours to speed up rescue efforts for people believed to be trapped under the rubble. “Dozens of buildings have collapsed there… and we are now conducting intensive rescue operations to save lives,” said Rodríguez.
After 6:00 p.m. on June 24, two powerful earthquakes with magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5 struck Venezuela in quick succession. Many buildings were reported to have collapsed.
According to Serbian Economist, an international Masonic convention organized by the Regular Grand Lodge of Serbia took place in Belgrade. Representatives of Masonic organizations from five continents arrived in the Serbian capital, and the meeting itself was timed to mark the centennial of the 1926 Belgrade Masonic Peace Congress.
The organizers presented the event as a symbolic gathering dedicated to peace, dialogue, and the memory of an event that was viewed in interwar Europe as an attempt at reconciliation following World War I. Details of this year’s convention program were disclosed only sparingly in public announcements; however, the Regular Grand Lodge of Serbia noted that an international congress, an academy, commemorative events, and the annual assembly were planned in Belgrade.
The history of this issue dates back to the 1920s. After World War I, Europe sought to establish a new system of relations among former adversaries. At the political level, the 1925 Locarno Agreements became a symbol of this process, while in Masonic circles, the 1926 Belgrade Peace Congress played a similar role.
At that time, representatives of 20 national Masonic lodges from 15 European countries, as well as two overseas lodges, gathered in Belgrade. In historical publications, this event is sometimes referred to as the “Masonic Locarno,” as it was linked to the idea of reconciliation and the restoration of ties between European societies after the war.
One of the symbolic moments of the 1926 congress was the public reconciliation of French and German Freemasons following World War I.
Freemasonry, or Free Masonry, is an international fraternal movement that emerged in its modern form in Europe during the Early Modern period. Its origins are linked to the professional guilds of medieval stonemasons and builders, while its modern organizational form is associated with the establishment of the first Grand Lodge in London in 1717. Over time, Freemasonry evolved not into a professional craft guild but into a network of societies based on rituals, symbolism, and the ideals of personal improvement, brotherhood, charity, and moral education.
According to estimates by major Masonic organizations, there are approximately 6 million Masons worldwide. One of the oldest and most influential organizations—the United Grand Lodge of England—unites about 170,000 members and more than 7,000 lodges in England, Wales, and overseas districts.
However, there is no single global “central authority” in Freemasonry: various Grand Lodges may or may not recognize one another, depending on their own rules and traditions.
There are several Masonic organizations operating in Serbia, but the Regular Grand Lodge of Serbia positions itself as the sole sovereign, regular, and internationally recognized Grand Lodge within the country.
https://t.me/relocationrs/3105
