The European Union on Saturday, February 25, enacted the tenth package of sanctions against Russia, the EU press service said.
“The Council decided to introduce restrictive measures against 87 more individuals and 34 legal entities,” the text of the communiqué reads.
The list of restrictive measures includes Russian officials, military leaders, propagandists and, among others, the former general director of Motor Sich, Vyacheslav Boguslayev. He is on trial in Ukraine for treason.
In particular, the sanctions will affect such organizations as Alfa Bank, Rosbank and Tinkoff Bank, Commercial Automobiles – GAZ Group LLC, a number of Rosatom companies, Patriot media group, National Reinsurance Company, and Yevgeny Primakov, head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova, Deputy Head of Moscow Region Government Vyacheslav Dukhin for deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, surgeon Leonid Roshal, head of Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights Valery Fadeev, Rosatomflot enterprise, which operates the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet, the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Kirill Kleimenov, Deputy General Director of Channel One, Alexander Akopov, Deputy General Director of National Media Group, and military commander Alexei Avdeev, Mikhail Teplinsky, military commander, Sergei Karakaev, Rossiya Segodnya media group and executive director Kirill Vyshinsky, Rossiya 24 chief executive Yevgeny Bekasov, Literaturnaya Gazeta chief executive Maxim Zamshev, Regnum agency chief Marina Akhmedova, and Sputnik news agency.
The sanctions also affected four Iranian citizens, including the managing director of the aerospace company Qods Aviation Industry.
The sanctions include an asset freeze, a ban on entry and transit through EU countries and a ban on citizens and companies in the EU providing funds to them.
“We will continue to increase the pressure on Russia for as long as necessary,” said Josep Borrell, head of EU diplomacy.
Source
Poland will provide treatment and rehabilitation for 2,500 wounded Ukrainian soldiers, Vladimir Zelenski said at a press conference after talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Kiev on Friday.
“I will separately note the interaction on the treatment and rehabilitation of our soldiers. 2,500 of our military will be able to receive such assistance,” Zielenski said.
According to him, “Poland was with us every minute of this year and will be with us until the joint victory.”
Zelensky reminded that Poland is one of the top partners of Ukraine in defense support. “Poland has become one of the founders of the ‘tank coalition.’ Today we can report the first tanks (received – IF) from Poland,” he said.
The head of state also expressed the hope that “we will be able to overcome the taboo on the ‘air coalition’. This will strengthen the Ukrainian army and security of our airspace”.
The president also said that during the negotiations the simplification of “processes at the border” was discussed. “Supply chains were built across the border. When the war started, these chains gave everything – water, food, weapons, people. Gradually we simplified the procedures to keep our people alive,” he said.
The Security Service of Ukraine has exposed corruption of the head of the Odessa department of expertise and research specialized laboratory of the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
According to the website of the security service on Saturday, the official has established a mechanism of systematic extortion of money from businessmen.
“For a bribe, the official promised importers of food products not to create artificial obstacles during the examination of the quality of foreign goods imported into Ukraine. In addition, he “guaranteed” to entrepreneurs the “accelerated” process of preparation of the corresponding documents with positive conclusions of the expertise. For each “extraordinary” examination the official demanded 300 dollars. Every day dozens of representatives of commercial structures passed through the customs laboratory in Odessa, who transported foreign products to Ukraine”, – the report says.
SBU officers have documented numerous facts of unlawful receipt of benefits by the perpetrator and detained him at his workplace while receiving another bribe.
He was notified of suspicion under Part 3 Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (acceptance of an offer, promise or receipt of an undue advantage by an official). The issue of a measure of restraint is being decided.
Ukraine’s largest mobile operator “Kyivstar” in a year of war paid 10.7 billion UAH of taxes and invested in technological development of 3.5 billion UAH, the president of the company, Alexander Komarov said on Facebook.
The second largest operator “Vodafone Ukraine” reported paying 4.97 billion UAH of taxes and fees in 2022 and almost 4 billion UAH of investments in support and development of telecom infrastructure in Ukraine.
“92% of the network is working as usual today. This is an incredible result, given that 8% are in the occupied territories. At the same time we returned connection to 815 settlements, where we built more than 600 base stations (BS). More 700 new base stations of 4G standard were built, which increased the 4G coverage by 20%”, – wrote Komarov.
He added that the generating capacity of Kyivstar reached 39.2 MW thanks to increase of the number of diesel generators by 75% and installation of 18 thousand new batteries.
“As of today 88% of the network in the country is working in normal mode” – stated “Vodafone Ukraine”.
According to the company, 581 base stations were resumed and 2.9 thousand km of fiber-optic cable were repaired, thanks to which it was possible to restore the availability of services to people in 759 settlements of the country.
“Vodafone Ukraine” also reported that 723 base stations were launched in new locations, 414 additional mobile generators were purchased and 24.71 thousand batteries were replaced.
Import of goods in jan-oct 2022 in most important positions and in relation to same period in 2021
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
The retail real estate market has not halted its development under war conditions, the opening of seven shopping centers in 2023 has been announced, as Director of Ukrainian Trade Guild (UTG) Eugenia Loktionova said to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
The expert noted that after February 24, 2022 all operators of commercial real estate market have revised their business plans.
At the beginning of 2022, about 20 shopping centers announced their imminent opening. For example, three malls were planned to be opened in Kyiv, Odesa and Khmelnytskyi, and one in Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Ternopil, Rivne, Uzhgorod and Zhytomyr.
In fact, only nine shopping centers were opened in 2022. The largest in Lviv and the region: Fabrik, Epicenter, Laz-695, Maidan, and Dom Interieri. Also opened MFC Lake Plaza in Kiev, MFC Pannonia in Uzhgorod, Happy Mall in Rivne and MFC Prut in Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region.
“The others, even those already ready for launch, postponed the opening date. Among the risks of launching the mall in today’s conditions, first of all, is the possibility of missile attacks and destruction due to military action. Then we need to consider the work with virtually minimal rental income, because almost all the shopping centers, except for those that are located in the western part of the country, due to migration of the population, most of the visitors were missed” – said Ms. Loktionova.
But at the same time, according to the head of UTG, even in conditions of military operations in areas where there is no hot phase and no risk to life of visitors and employees, it is necessary to open the shopping mall.
The expert notes that in the near future, due to the activity of military operations, launches of new shopping malls should not be expected in the eastern and northeastern regions of the country.
“It is clear that developers have no possibility to plan anything, if every day cities can be under shelling and the threat of rocket attacks. That’s why development in the retail real estate sector correlates with the map of military operations. But after the end of hostilities our country should quickly revive and become even better,” she explained.
At the same time, she said, has retained, and sometimes even increased the activity of retail real estate developers in western Ukraine, especially in cities such as Lutsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Chernivtsi, as well as in the border town of Izmail.
According to Loktionova, shopping center “Odis” is planned to be launched in Ismail in April this year, its leasable area (GLA) is 2 thousand square meters, total (GBA) is 2,5 thousand square meters.
At the end of 2023 REC “Pokrovsky” in Izmail (GLA 4,5 thousand sq.m., GBA 5,3 thousand sq.m.) and a large-scale project of Planeta Mall in Kharkov (GLA 70 thousand sq.m., GBA 110 thousand sq.m.) are expected to be launched.
The opening of Aquarelle and Mercury shopping centers, the second phase of Veles shopping center in Ivano-Frankivsk, Temp shopping center in Khmelnitsky, Vector shopping center in Truskavets and Park shopping center in Drohobych, Lviv region is also announced for 2023.
At the same time the opening of shopping and entertainment center White Lines in Kiev (GLA 27 thousand sq. m, GBA 40 thousand sq. m) is postponed for the next year 2024. The opening of Proskyrov Plaza Shopping and Entertainment Centre (Khmelnitsky) and Brigantina Shopping and Entertainment Centre (Vinnitsa) is announced for the end of 2024.
“Now, as we forecasted earlier, the most popular formats are small shopping centers of regional format with the area of 10-15 thousand square meters. Exactly such objects showed themselves to be the most stable at the moment. As for the chances of realization of the previously announced large-scale projects in the capital, there will be no changes before the end of the war”, – Ms. Loktionova said.
As for tenants, the ratio of system and local players depends on the region and the size of the project, she said.
“If the mall is located in a city with a large number of potential visitors, has a substantial area that meets the requirements of the system players, then in such objects their share will be higher than in smaller shopping centers (where local players used to prevail). However, now the issue of security (as much as possible in the current environment) of the location has come to the forefront.
Therefore, many system players have begun to consider proposals to locate in shopping centers in Western areas, which are smaller in scale in comparison with those built in cities with a population of millions”, – said Ms. Loktionova.
UTG was founded in 2001. Has developed more than 1300 concepts of real estate. Over the years, with the participation of the company leased 4.7 million square meters of commercial space in Ukraine.
