During his visit to Lviv, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares Bueno announced an additional EUR 10 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
According to the Spanish Foreign Ministry, Albares visited Ukraine on January 28 for the third time since the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression.
Albares, along with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Sybiga and UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, inaugurated a cultural center created through the Spanish-University of Spain Development Cooperation Trust Fund. The center, funded by AECID, was created to create a space specifically dedicated to culture as a factor of peace and resilience in the wartime and post-war context in Ukraine, a country whose cultural productive structure lost 90% of its resources due to the war unleashed by the Russian invasion.
“This center complements Spain’s comprehensive commitment to Ukraine’s reconstruction, which is reflected today in a new announcement of EUR 10 million from the Spanish Humanitarian Aid Cooperation, adding to the 100 million that Spain has provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the war,” the statement said.
This area of humanitarian aid is complemented by another – reconstruction, which has accumulated EUR400 million since the beginning of Russian aggression.
Albares also visited a hospital in Lviv, where he announced that Spain would provide a Spanish team of medical trainers to help medical professionals in the hospital.
Albares reiterated Spain’s support for Ukraine during the Russian aggression. In particular, the training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Spain includes about 7000 trained military personnel.
In addition, Albares also reaffirmed support for Ukraine’s accession process to the European Union, which began during Spain’s EU presidency, reminding Ukraine that Spain has always expressed its strong support for it.
Agro-Region plans to install another irrigation system in the Kyiv cluster in 2025, which will increase the irrigated area by 20% to 580 hectares, the agricultural holding’s press service reported on Facebook.
Ivan Andriychuk, Executive Director of Kyiv Cluster, said that the existing irrigation systems are currently being modernized to make more efficient use of water resources.
He reminded that in 2025, the company had already made significant investments in upgrading its technology park to increase production efficiency and ensure business stability. As part of this modernization, three Daewoo Novus trucks, one Massey Ferguson 8737 tractor and three Renault Duster cars were purchased for the Kyiv cluster.
“We are planning to purchase additional tillage equipment to improve land cultivation, as well as to equip seeders to improve sowing accuracy. These investments help to increase the company’s efficiency, reducing costs and improving yields. They are an important step in ensuring the stability and development of agricultural production in the future,” the expert summarized.
As reported, in December 2024-January 2025, the agricultural holding invested more than $1.7 million in the renewal of the machine and tractor fleet for the spring season.
Agro-Region owns a land bank of 39 thousand hectares in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr and Khmelnytsky regions. It specializes in crop production. It consists of 11 companies organized into four crop production clusters. It has two elevators – Boryspil elevator with a capacity of 73 thousand tons and Miropil elevator with a capacity of 52 thousand tons.
Agro-Region’s annual harvest of grains and oilseeds is up to 200 thousand tons.
In April 2021, the Swedish company Lobiu Sala AB, owned by the former Minister of Economy of Ukraine Aivaras Abromavičius, received permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to purchase the Swedish Agro Region Stockholm Holding, which manages the Agro-Region group of companies in Ukraine.
In 2024, Universalna Insurance Company (Kyiv) collected insurance premiums worth UAH 2.535 billion, which is 26% higher than a year earlier, the company reported on its website.
According to the company, payments for voluntary motor vehicle insurance (hull insurance) amounted to UAH 889.3 million, up 37%, health insurance – UAH 731.1 million (+26%), and accident insurance – UAH 250.5 million (+5%).
Last year’s payments under compulsory motor third-party liability insurance amounted to UAH 162 million (+10%).
In addition, the company collected UAH 140 million (+34%) under property insurance contracts and UAH 362 million (+26%) under other contracts.
Universalna Insurance Company was founded in 1991. It specializes in providing risk insurance services. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, it is among the top ten risk insurance companies in terms of insurance premiums collected in the first nine months of 2024.
Last year, Nova Poshta, the leader in express delivery in Ukraine, increased the number of branches and post offices in Ukraine by 10 thousand compared to 2023, to 37,210 points, the company’s press service reports.
“Over the past year, the network of Nova Poshta branches and post offices in Ukraine has increased by more than 10 thousand units, bringing the total number to 37,210 service points,” the company said on Tuesday.
This includes the opening of 1,747 branches last year and the installation of 8,410 post offices across the country, the press service of Nova Poshta said.
Despite the difficult security situation, including regular enemy shelling, the company continued to develop its network in the frontline areas: in 2024, it opened 1214 service points there, most of them in Kharkiv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Last year, investments in the development of Nova Poshta’s network of branches and post offices increased by 35% year-on-year to UAH 1.8 billion.
As of the beginning of 2025, Nova Poshta’s network consists of a total of 13,208 outlets and 24,002 post offices. It covers more than 10 thousand settlements in Ukraine.
This year, the company plans to increase the number of service points in Ukraine by another 11 thousand and allocate UAH 1.2 billion in investments, the press service said.
In Kyiv, Nova Poshta has opened the first barrier-free branch with all the conditions for comfortable service for people with disabilities. Its area is 709 square meters. The branch is equipped with adapted furniture, has a wide entrance without a threshold and automatic doors with a sound beacon. A digital assistant has been set up in the branch. Investments in its arrangement amounted to UAH 32 million.
China’s total non-financial direct investment (ODI) overseas in 2024 rose 10.5 percent to $143.85 billion, the Ministry of Commerce said. The amount of money invested in states along the Belt and Road rose 5.4 percent to $33.69 billion, Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.
The number of workers sent abroad last year reached 409,000, up 17.9 percent. As a result, 594,000 Chinese workers were employed abroad at the end of December.
The amount of overseas contracting work performed by Chinese companies rose 3.1% to $165.97 billion.
As reported, China’s total ODI grew 6% through 2023.
State-owned enterprise NAEK Energoatom (Kiev) announced a tender for compulsory motor third party liability insurance for owners of land vehicles (MTPL) on January 28.
As reported in the Prozorro electronic public procurement system, the total expected cost of purchasing the services is UAH 1.591 mln.
The deadline for submitting tender documents is February 5.
