Passenger traffic across the Ukrainian border in the third week of December, from December 13 to 19, jumped by 26.3% to 562,000 as Christmas approached, and this weekend the increase reached 50%, causing queues at the border with Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia, according to data from the State Border Service.
According to them, the number of border crossings for departure increased to 279,000 from 226,000 a week earlier, while the increase for entry was even more significant – to 283,000 from 219,000.
This Saturday, December 20, the number of border crossings for exit and entry was also similar – 62,000 and 63,000, compared to 41,000 and 39,000, respectively, on the previous Saturday.
The number of vehicles that passed through checkpoints this week also jumped to 140,000 from 123,000 a week earlier, while the flow of vehicles carrying humanitarian cargo remained at around 520.
According to the State Border Service, as of 12:00 on Sunday, there were no queues at the border with Romania and Poland, while at the borders with three other countries, there were queues at all checkpoints.
At the border with Poland, most passenger cars and buses were waiting to cross at the Krakovets checkpoint – 150 and 20, respectively. The queue at the Ustyluh checkpoint consisted of 125 cars and 15 buses, at the Rava-Ruska checkpoint – 110 cars, Smilnytsia checkpoint – 85 cars and 6 buses, Shehyni checkpoint – 80 cars and 19 buses, Hrushev checkpoint – 80 cars and 9 buses, Nizhankovychi checkpoint – 80 cars and 1 bus, Ugrinov checkpoint – 75 cars and 9 buses, Yagodin checkpoint – 30 buses (passage of passenger cars is temporarily suspended).
Forty passenger cars and two buses were waiting to cross the border with Slovakia at the Uzhgorod checkpoint, and 30 cars were waiting at the Maly Berezny checkpoint.
At the border with Hungary, the longest queues were at the Luzhanka and Dzvinovo checkpoints, with 50 and 45 cars, respectively. There were 30 cars at the Kosino and Vilok checkpoints and 5 at the Tisa checkpoint.
The total number of border crossings this week is slightly lower than last year. At that time, 294,000 people left Ukraine and 290,000 entered the country over the same 7 days, although the flow of cars was lower – 134,000.
Last year, a 28.1% jump in passenger traffic was recorded this week, and the following week it increased by another 12.5%.
As reported, from May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine, which began with the start of the war, was replaced by an influx that continued until September 23, 2022, and amounted to 409,000 people. However, since the end of September, possibly influenced by news of mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, followed by massive shelling of energy infrastructure, the number of people leaving has exceeded the number of people entering. In total, from the end of September 2022 to the first anniversary of the full-scale war, it reached 223,000 people.
During the second year of full-scale war, the number of border crossings to leave Ukraine, according to the State Border Service, exceeded the number of crossings to enter by 25,000, during the third year by 187,000, and since the beginning of the fourth year by 203,000.
As Sergei Sobolev, then Deputy Minister of Economy, noted in early March 2023, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP.
In its July inflation report, the National Bank worsened its migration forecast: while in April it expected a net inflow of 0.2 million people to Ukraine in 2026, it now forecasts a net outflow of 0.2 million, which corresponds to the estimate of the net outflow this year. “Net return will only begin in 2027 (about 0.1 million people, compared to 0.5 million in the previous forecast),” the NBU added and confirmed this forecast at the end of October. In absolute terms, the National Bank estimates the number of migrants currently remaining abroad at about 5.8 million.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of December 11, 2025, was estimated at 5.311 million (5.331 million as of November 14), and 5.860 million (5.850 million) worldwide.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data for July this year, there are 3.340 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), compared to 3.757 million in April.
According to Serbian Economist, the next EU-Western Balkans summit is planned to be held in Montenegro on June 5, 2026, Montenegrin media reported, citing sources close to the country’s president’s office.
European Council President António Costa also said he expects the next meeting to take place in Montenegro in June 2026.
According to the Council of the EU, the EU-Western Balkans summits are attended by leaders of EU countries and EU institutions, as well as leaders of six partners in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
Commenting on the plans for 2026, Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović said that there are “high expectations” for the meeting in Montenegro in Brussels and that “it should be a summit of results,” first and foremost for Montenegro itself.
By that date, the European Union intends to begin work on an agreement on Montenegro’s accession to the EU.
Regular EU-Western Balkans summits have been held since 2018; the previous summit took place in Brussels in December 2024.
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs/1973
Corum Druzhkivka Machine-Building Plant (Corum DrMZ), part of the Corum Group (DTEK Energy), has manufactured its first support beam, which serves as a support for the mine’s lifting vessel (skip or cage) during scheduled maintenance or repair work, the plant announced on Facebook.
“This is not a serial product or a borrowed solution. The machine builders developed a new type of equipment from scratch, created the design, worked out the technical solutions, and patented them as a utility model. For the company, this is a new product and the result of its own engineering development,” the statement said.
The design is rated for significant loads — up to 60 tons in normal operation and up to 80 tons at maximum, which is important for human safety.
The plant explains that during the work, the beam will temporarily hold the skip in the cross-section of the mine shaft. Built-in hydraulic jacks will allow the vessel to be lifted above the beam structure, creating safe conditions for servicing suspended devices or ropes.
“The beam is not a permanent piece of equipment, but its use will increase safety during routine maintenance and repair work. Currently, the beam is manufactured for use in one of DTEK Energy’s mines, but the mine potentially needs three more support beams — one of the same size and two of a different design,” the company said.
Once its effectiveness has been confirmed, the solution has the potential to be rolled out to other mines.
Korum DrMZ, which relocated from Druzhkivka (Donetsk region) to Dnipro in 2022, in January-September this year, according to YouControl, incurred losses of almost UAH 90 million, compared to a net profit of UAH 4.6 million for the same period last year and slightly lower net sales revenue of UAH 844.6 million.
In January-October, the plant manufactured 336 units of mining equipment, repaired 12 units of equipment, and produced over 821,000 parts.
Corum Group is a leading manufacturer of mining equipment in Ukraine. It is part of DTEK Energy, an operating company responsible for coal mining and coal-fired power generation within Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK energy holding.
Portugal officially collects and publishes statistics on real estate transactions involving foreign buyers, but the publicly available data is usually aggregated by group (Portuguese buyers, EU residents, non-residents/non-EU), without a detailed breakdown by nationality. Detailed rankings of buyer countries are usually provided by specialized analytical companies and media based on real estate network databases.
According to data from the Portuguese National Statistics Institute (INE), in 2023, foreigners accounted for about 7.6% of all home purchases in the country, but provided approximately 13% of the total value of transactions. At the same time, buyers from non-EU countries pay an average of around €405,000 per property, while foreigners from the EU pay around €277,000, and the average market price is around €200,000.
In some regions, the proportion of foreigners is much higher. In the Algarve, they account for about 27% of all transactions and up to 38% of the total sales value, with 4 out of 5 properties there being purchased by non-residents. In cities, primarily Lisbon and Porto, the share of foreign transactions is smaller, at around 4-6%, but it is in the capital that the most expensive purchases are concentrated.
Private analysts provide a detailed picture by nationality. In Lisbon, according to Confidencial Imobiliário, 4,750 apartments and houses worth €2.22 billion were sold in the Urban Rehabilitation Area in 2023, of which 1,580 properties (about a third) were bought by foreigners. Buyers from North America led the way (approximately 16% of all “foreign” transactions), followed by the French (13%) and the British (9%). Chinese, Brazilian, and German investors also had a significant presence.
In the Algarve, according to estimates by Engel & Völkers, British buyers predominate, but there is also an active presence of citizens from Germany, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and the Netherlands; interest from Americans is growing noticeably.
Based on this data and market reviews, we can identify a conditional “top 10” of the most active foreign buyers of Portuguese real estate (by number of transactions and total investment volume):
Investors under the previous “golden visa” scheme (primarily from China, Brazil, Turkey, the US, and South Africa) are listed separately, but following the reform of the program, their share is gradually being redistributed in favor of “regular” transactions.
Thus, Portugal publishes official data on the share and prices of transactions with foreigners, but a detailed map by nationality is based mainly on research by specialized agencies and market analysts. Taken together, they show that demand is primarily driven by investors from Western Europe, North America, and Brazil, while the role of buyers from Eastern Europe and the CIS remains niche.
Global seaborne thermal coal exports in 2025 fell for the first time since 2020, by 5% to a three-year low of 945 million tons, Reuters reports, citing data from Kpler.
The main reason for the decline was a reduction in imports by Asian countries.
Since the beginning of the year, they have imported 841 million tons of thermal coal, which is 7% less than the figure for the whole of 2024.
China was the largest importer (305 million tons), followed by India (157 million tons), Japan (100 million tons), South Korea (76 million tons), and Vietnam (45 million tons).
At the same time, only South Korea and Vietnam increased their volumes. China reduced imports by 12%, India by 3%, which in both cases is explained by an increase in domestic coal production and consumption of other energy sources.
PJSC Lekhim-Kharkiv (Kharkiv) will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders remotely by means of a poll, according to a statement from the company.
According to the document, voting began on December 12 at 11:00 a.m. and will end on December 23 at 6:00 p.m., which is also the date set for the meeting (the date of the end of voting).
The draft agenda includes issues on the termination of the powers of the members of the supervisory board, the election of a new supervisory board (cumulative voting), and the approval of the terms of civil law contracts with the members of the supervisory board. In particular, the company proposes to terminate the powers of the head of the supervisory board, Valery Pechaev, and members of the supervisory board, Valentina Mazurik and Angela Nikitina. It is also proposed to define the agreements with the members of the supervisory board as gratuitous and to authorize the chairman of the management board, Dmitry Kolesnikov, to sign them on behalf of the company within one month from the date of the decision.
PrJSC Lekhim-Kharkiv (EGRPOU code 22676945) is registered in Kharkiv, at 36 Severina Pototskogo Street. The main shareholder is PrJSC Lekhim, which owns 98.17673% of the company’s shares (according to the ownership structure as of May 22, 2025).
According to the IFRS financial statements, in 2024, the company received net sales revenue of UAH 766.2 million and net profit of UAH 32.7 million; assets as of December 31, 2024 amounted to UAH 864.2 million, and equity capital amounted to UAH 671.8 million. The average number of employees in 2024 was 416.
