Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a draft law on the application of sectoral special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) to the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Verkhovna Rada on May 27, 2023.
The card of the project number 9333 appeared on the website of the Parliament.
“In accordance with Article 93 of the Constitution of Ukraine and part two of Article 5 of the Law of Ukraine “On Sanctions” I am submitting for consideration of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a draft resolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “On Approval of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated May 27, 2023 “On the application of sectoral special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions) to the Islamic Republic of Iran”, – said in the text of the document.
According to the addendum to the draft, it is proposed to apply sanctions against Iran for 50 years. The restrictive measures include a complete ban on trade with Iran, stopping the transit of resources, flights and shipments by Iran through Ukraine as well as preventing Iranian residents from taking capital out of Ukraine.
In addition, it is proposed to prohibit the transfer of technology and intellectual property rights to residents of Iran and to prohibit investments in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will visit the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 28-29 for the first time since 1991, the Foreign Ministry’s press service said.
“This will be the first visit of the Ukrainian Foreign Minister to Nigeria since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992,” the statement said.
It is noted that the Ukrainian foreign minister will take part in the inauguration of the newly elected President of Nigeria Bola Tinubu. He will also hold a series of bilateral meetings with the heads of delegations of African countries.
“The key topics of the Minister’s meetings will be the intensification of political dialogue between Ukraine and African countries, the promotion of the Formula of peace President Vladimir Zelensky, food security, increase in trade and deepening cooperation in international organizations,” – stressed in the department.
People’s deputies have submitted to the Verkhovna Rada a draft resolution on the use in Ukraine of the historical name of the country Georgia – Sakartvelo.
The card of the document under the number 9329 appeared on the website of the parliament.
The authors of the project are a group of people’s deputies, including the head of the parliamentary committee on the integration of Ukraine into the European Union Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, members of the faction “European Solidarity” Alexei Goncharenko, Irina Gerashchenko, Irina Friz, Vladimir Aryev, Sofia Fedina, Victoria Syumar and others.
“To introduce the use in Ukraine at the official level, official correspondence and communication, as well as in the media of the official and historical name Sakartvelo instead of Georgia. In accordance, the Georgian people (Georgians) shall be called – Kartvels,” – is stated in the text of the draft resolution.
The authors of the bill in an explanatory note notes that the relations between Ukraine and Georgia are deep and multifaceted, but one of the steps of additional rapprochement on the part of Ukraine could be the official use of the historical name of Georgia – Sakartvelo. It is also stressed that for almost fifteen years, official Tbilisi has been persuading its international partners to abandon the name “Georgia,” which is considered russified, and the name itself is Russian.
“Therefore, Georgians are asking to use the historical name of their country – Sakartvelo,” emphasize the authors of the project.
It is also noted that the name “Georgia” is used in the world by about 20 countries, including Ukraine. Most of these countries are post-Soviet countries or those that experienced significant Soviet influence.
“Ukraine, which is a separate subject of international law and historically builds friendly relations with Georgia and which, especially at the present time of Russian aggression, gets rid of everything russified and manifestations of colonial policy, should start using the historical name of the country Georgia – Sakartvelo, and the name of the Georgian people (Georgians) – kartveli”, – think MPs.
For the second week in a row, the flow of those entering Ukraine is roughly equal to the flow of those leaving the country, according to both the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Polish Border Guard Service.
According to the data of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine in Facebook, the flow to the exit from Ukraine increased from 252 thousand to 263 thousand people, while the flow to the entrance – from 256 thousand to 262 thousand people.
The number of transport means, crossing the western border of Ukraine, according to the department, in the 21st week of the year increased from 126 thousand to 128 thousand, and the number of vehicles with humanitarian cargoes, from 421 to 503.
Polish Border Guard Service for the last seven days recorded a small net outflow from Ukraine – 2.5 thousand people, whereas a week ago there was the same outflow.
According to the Polish Ministry, the number of people, entering from Ukraine to Poland increased from 164.8 thousand people to 167.2 thousand, whereas the flow back from Poland to Ukraine decreased from 167.3 thousand to 164.9 thousand people.
On the whole, since the beginning of the war, by May 26, 2023, 12,15 million people had arrived from Ukraine to Poland, while 10,35 million people went in the opposite direction.
As it was reported, since May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine was replaced by an inflow, which lasted until September 23 and amounted to 409 thousand people.
However, from late September, probably under the influence of news about mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then massive shelling of the energy infrastructure, a net outflow was recorded. It temporarily stopped in the second half of December – early January for the period of holidays, but from the second week of January it resumed again and cumulatively since late September by the anniversary of the full-scale war reached 223 thousand people.
From that moment up to the present moment 105 thousand more people entered Ukraine than left.
As Deputy Minister of Economy Sergei Sobolev noted in early March, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home gives a 0.5% increase in GDP.
According to the UNHCR, the number of Ukrainians registered in Europe with temporary protection status or similar reached 5.14 million as of May 16, increasing by about 15,000 over the week.
Ukraine plans to complete the sowing campaign this year on June 5-10, good weather in May allowed to catch up the lag in April, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky said on the air of a single telethon on Saturday.
“If you look in general, we see that 85%, even closer to 90% of the plan set at 13 million hectares have already been implemented, that is, literally in early June, 5-10 June, the sowing season will be completely completed,” he said.
Vysotsky specified that sowing of early spring crops, such as spring wheat, barley, peas, oats, has already been completed, as well as sowing of sugar beet in the amount greater than last year.
“Sugar will be produced more than enough,” said the first deputy head of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
According to him, sowing of late crops – sunflower, soybean and also, partially, corn – is still going on.
“This year the share of oilseeds, namely soybeans, sunflower and rapeseed has increased. It is connected, first of all, with expensive logistics, respectively, the change of crop rotation for the crops, which have a higher price per ton, per unit of the proceeds,” – explained Vysotsky.
He clarified that at present the sowing season in some places lags behind the average statistical forecast up to one and a half to two weeks, but so far it is not critical.
The first deputy minister said that the first two decades of June will be critical. “Preliminarily colleagues from the Hydrometeorological Center say that such short, but quite intense rains should still fall in this period … We hope that for the growing season the next two decades it will still rain all over Ukraine”, – said Vysotsky.
Friday, May 26, at the Ukrainian Investment Forum in Copenhagen, it was announced the launch of a Danish investment fund social program for Ukraine totaling DKK 1 billion, which is about $133 million, the press service of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine reported.
“Denmark is one of the leaders in financial assistance to Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion the total military support amounted to $1.4 billion and the total humanitarian aid, including macrofinancial assistance – $212 million. The Ukrainian government highly appreciates Danish support and looks forward to deepening bilateral cooperation and further involving Danish businesses in the reconstruction projects in Ukraine. Thus, special investment fund, created for Ukraine, will finance projects with the use of the best Danish technologies and innovative solutions and will be available for both public and private sectors”, – noted the First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko.
As Deputy Minister of Economy Alexander Griban noted, the main cooperation between Ukraine and Denmark is establishment of mutually beneficial relations, when Ukrainian companies not only import Danish products, but also localize the production of such products in Ukraine.
“We are interested in Danish technologies and we see big prospect in application and localization of Danish companies in Ukraine in priority branches. In particular, these are renewable energy, construction materials, technologies of municipal economy renovation as well as defense and dual-purpose technologies”, he said.
In addition, the forum announced funding approval of two pilot projects in the field of agriculture and agro-processing. The question is about the affected companies of the southern region – “Nibulon”, which will receive a credit of 25 mln Euros, and “Agrofusion” – 15 mln Euros. Also, loans will be granted to agricultural companies located near the front line in Mykolayiv, which will restore the destroyed production facilities, buying equipment from Danish exporters.
According to Griban, the Danish fund will not only provide financial guarantees, but will also directly carry out lending, which puts it on a separate level of financial institutions that have opened their programs for Ukraine. Also, the Danish government plans to significantly increase the limits and expand the financial assistance program for Ukraine.
“We don’t have to wait for the war to stop. We would like to attract Danish business in the early stages of Ukraine’s recovery. We must act and support the Ukrainian economy,” stressed Morten Bedskov, Minister of Entrepreneurship of Denmark.
