Ukrtelecom, Ukraine’s largest fixed-line operator, has launched the UKRTELECOM_FREE network in Kiev, Dnipro, Lviv, Odessa and Kharkiv, consisting of 700 free public Wi-Fi zones that will provide Internet access for two to four hours in case of power outage.
“We (Ukrtelecom) launched free Wi-Fi in five cities of Ukraine, so far in test mode. On the streets of Kiev, Dnipro, Lviv, Odessa and Kharkiv now work our free Wi-Fi (about 700 cabinets in total),” wrote Natalia Emchenko, director of communications at System Capital Management in Facebook.
Emchenko published a map, on which you can find addresses of free Wi-Fi zones from “Ukrtelecom”, noting that you can find out the points by a special sticker on the cabinets Free Wi-Fi.
PR-director of “Ukrtelecom” Lena Shramko specified in Facebook, that the speed of free Internet, distributed in zones, is up to 20 Mbit / s and may decrease as the number of users using the service at the same time increases. The radius of use of Wi-Fi – up to 10 meters.
Earlier Ukrtelecom CEO Yuri Kurmaz in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine said that the company will launch a network of free public areas in five cities where the upgraded infrastructure and installed active street cabinets (MSAN – Multi-Service Access Node – a device that connects subscriber lines to the core network).
“Ukrtelecom is the largest fixed-line operator in Ukraine. Most of its customers are state bodies, educational, administrative and medical institutions, emergency services.
Revenue “Ukrtelecom” for the first nine months of 2022 amounted to 3 billion 349.96 million UAH, which is 15.7% less than during the same period in 2021. The net loss was UAH 755.18 mln against net profit of UAH 360.03 mln for 9 months of 2021.
France and Italy have agreed to supply Ukraine with a SAMP-T anti-aircraft missile system, the French TV channel BFM-TV reported.
French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecorniou, during a phone conversation with his Italian counterpart Guido Crozetto on Friday, agreed on the final details of this delivery.
It is indicated that the air defense system will be delivered in the spring of 2023.
The French media note that this is the first delivery of a European long-range air defense system to Ukraine.
One of Europe’s largest bus operators FlixBus announced the launch of a new international line from Ukraine starting February 14: Kiev – Berlin – Hamburg – Bremen and extension of the existing one from Warsaw-Lublin to Odessa, the company’s press service said Thursday.
“Today we are taking the next step in developing lines from Ukraine to Germany and Poland. Warsaw, Berlin and Hamburg are top destinations for travelers. Demand proves that Ukrainians care about these destinations,” commented FlixBus director for Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics Michal Lehmann.
He noted that in spite of the war, the company has doubled the size of the route network from Ukraine during the year and plans to open new lines if it sees that people need transportation services.
According to the message tickets for flights N3206 Kyiv – Zhytomyr – Rivne – Lviv – Berlin – Hamburg – Bremen and N3242 Odessa – Uman – Vinnitsa – Khmelnytskyi- Lviv – Lublin – Warsaw are available at the site, in mobile application FlixBus and at partner agencies.
The route Odessa-Warsaw is presented on the current line, on which the bus departed from Vinnitsa. Given the high demand in the south of the country, it was decided to extend the line to include Uman and Odessa. Flights are daily. The bus will be on the road for about a day.
From Kiev to Germany the buses will go three times a week: on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. From Bremen to Ukraine the bus departs on Monday, Thursday and Sunday. Travel time is about 30 hours, including stops and border crossing time.
As reported, after the start of a full-scale war, FlixBus launched 8 new routes from Ukraine to Europe. The company already has 16 lines from Ukraine to six European countries: Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.
FlixBus, which develops bus transportation in Europe and the U.S., was founded in 2013. It operates on a partnership model with regional bus carriers that provide their buses and route documents.
In June 2019, FlixBus announced the opening of a representative office in Ukraine, in July 2020 the company launched domestic flights in the country.
Ukraine from the beginning of 2022/2023 marketing year (July-June) until February 3, exported 27.46 million tons of cereals, including 15.68 million tons of corn (57.1% of total supplies), 9.84 million tons of wheat (35.8%) and 1.83 million tons of barley (6.7%).
As reported on the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, the rate of grain exports since the beginning of this MY is 29.8% lower than the same period of the previous MY, when 39.12 million tons were delivered abroad. At that, the highest average daily rate in this MY with the least lagging behind last year’s figure was reached on January 9 (“minus” 29.61%).
According to the Ministry, Ukraine exported 15.68 million tons of corn (-2.1% compared to the same period last year), 9.84 million tons of wheat (1.75 times less), 1.83 million tons of barley (3 times less), 12.8 thousand tons of rye (12.3 times less) and 85 thousand tons of flour (+33%) from the beginning of 2022/2023 MY to February 3 this year.
It is specified that Ukraine exported 483 tons of grain since early February, including 362 tons of corn, 107 tons of wheat, 9 thousand tons of barley and 1.9 tons of flour.
As follows from the Ministry data, during the period from January 27 to February 3, 209.4 thousand tons of grain has been supplied to foreign markets on average per day, whereas during the preceding period from January 20-27 – 121.1 thousand tons / day (an increase of 1.73 times), on January 9-20 – 140 thousand tons / day, on January 2-9 – 121.7 thousand tons / day, and on December 21 – January 2 – 196.4 thousand tons / day on average.
As reported, Ukraine in 2021/2022 MY exported 48.51 million tons of grain and leguminous crops, which is 8.4% higher than in the previous MY, despite the full-scale invasion of Russia and the difficulties with the export of agricultural products due to the blockade of Ukrainian seaports. 18.74 million tons of wheat (12.6% more than in 2020/2021MY), 23.54 million tons of corn (+1.9%), 5.75 million tons of barley (+35.9%), 70.9 thousand tons of flour (-44.1%) were supplied to foreign markets.
Ukraine in 2020/2021 MY exported 44.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops: 16.64 million tons of wheat, 23.08 million tons of corn, 4.23 million tons of barley, 126.9 thousand tons of flour and 18.4 thousand tons of rye.
In 2019/2020, Ukraine exported 56.72 million tons of grain and leguminous crops.
Light snow is expected in Ukraine on Saturday, February 4, in the southern part of the country – light wet snow, in the Crimea with rain, in the western regions moderate, in Transcarpathia and Prikarpattya strong snow and snowstorm.
According to the Ukrhydrometeocenter, the roads of the country are slightly icy. The wind in the western part of the northwest, on the left bank of the south-east, 7-12 m / s, in the Carpathians, during the day in the western regions sometimes gusts of 15-20 m / s.
The temperature at night is 1-6° frost, in the Carpathians – up to 8° frost; during the day – from 3° frost to 2° warm, in the south – 0-5° warm.
February 4, light snow in Kiev. The roads are slightly icy in places. The wind is north, 7-12 m/s. The temperature at night is 3-5°C below freezing, during the day it is about 0°C.
According to the Central Geophysical Observatory of Boris Sreznevsky in Kiev on February 4, the highest temperature was recorded at +13.7 ° C in 2002, the lowest at night -26.7 ° C in 1911.
Sunday, February 5, with light snow at times, and rain in the Crimea. There is some icy roads. The wind is north, north-east, 7-12 m / s, in the southern part of the country sometimes gusts of 15-20 m / s, and blizzards.
Night temperature 5-10° frost, daytime 1-6° frost, in the south-eastern regions near 0°; in the Carpathians and Transcarpathians at night 12-17° frost, daytime 6-11° frost.
February 5, light snow at times in Kiev. The roads are sometimes covered with ice. Wind is north-east, 7-12 m/s. The temperature at night is 5-7° frost, and during the day – 2-4° frost.
The U.S. dollar is getting stronger against the euro and the pound sterling in trading on Friday, getting cheaper against the yen.
The ICE-calculated index showing the dollar’s performance against six currencies (euro, Swiss franc, yen, Canadian dollar, pound sterling and Swedish krona) is gaining 0.07%, while the broader WSJ Dollar Index is up 0.08%.
The euro/dollar pair is trading at $1.0894 as of 8:00 a.m., up from $1.0911 at the close of the previous session.
The pound was down to $1.2212 from $1.2224 at the close of the previous session.
Both the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England raised key interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) on Thursday, with the European regulator saying it intends to raise them by the same amount at its next meeting in March.
Britain’s central bank lowered its inflation forecasts for 2023-2025, while ECB President Christine Lagarde said risks to both economic growth and inflation in the euro zone have become more balanced.
The day before the Federal Reserve raised its prime rate by 25 basis points. The rate had been raised 50 bps at the previous meeting and had been raised four times before by 75 bps.
The head of the US Central Bank Jerome Powell acknowledged at a press conference following the meeting for the first time that the “disinflationary process has begun”. He also said that the rate will not exceed 5% and reiterated that the Fed can achieve slowdown in inflation without causing significant harm to the economy.
The value of the dollar paired with the yen fell to 128.3 yen in trading on Friday, compared with 128.72 yen the day before.
