Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmihal says that the Ukrainian authorities expect to hold an international expert conference in Germany on the restoration of Ukraine in autumn.
“We appreciate Germany’s contribution to ensuring the unity of the European Union in support of Ukraine and measures to counter full-scale Russian aggression. I also want to thank the German side for the fact that, following the results of the G7 summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced the convening of an international expert conference on the restoration of Ukraine and the creation of an appropriate recovery plan within the framework of the German G7 presidency,” the government press service quotes Shmyhal after a meeting with German Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Feser and German Federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Hubertus Geil.
The prime minister stressed that Ukraine expects such a conference to be held this autumn in Germany, and according to him, the European Commission also expressed its readiness to join the event.
In addition, Shmigal thanked Germany for providing Ukraine with 1 billion euros in grant financial assistance.
The parties also discussed the development of projects in the social sphere, as well as the issue of recognition of Ukrainian documents in the Diya application.
In turn, German Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Feser said that Germany is ready to help in clearing Ukrainian territories and will do everything in its power to help Ukraine in the war.
The European Investment Bank (EIB), with the support of the EU budget, has approved funding for Ukraine in the amount of EUR1.59 billion, of which EUR1 billion will be provided immediately, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said.
“The EIB, with EU budget support, approved EUR1.59 billion of financing for Ukraine, with EUR1 billion to be released immediately. It will help rebuild infrastructure and resume services. And support energy, transport and education projects for the future,” she said on Twitter.
“This is the second package of support for Ukraine under the EIB Ukraine solidarity urgent response developed in close cooperation with the European Commission. It follows an emergency support package of EUR668 million fully disbursed within a month of the war’s beginning. Like the first one, this new financing is offered at favorable terms including long tenors,” the EIB said on its website.
“Immediate financial assistance will total EUR1.05 billion. This will consist of upfront disbursements under eight existing finance contracts. It will help the Ukrainian government to cover priority short-term financing needs, provide support to strategic state-owned companies, ensure urgent repairs of damaged infrastructure, resume the provision of disrupted municipal services, and support urgent energy and energy efficiency measures in preparation for the cold season,” the report says.
“The second block will be resuming implementation of EIB-financed projects in Ukraine totaling EUR540 million where possible, excluding areas of active hostilities and territories not controlled by the Ukrainian government. The selected projects will cover energy, energy efficiency, roads, transport, education and infrastructure, as well as reconstruction and recovery programs. The exact timing of these disbursements will depend on the state of advancement of underlying projects,” the release reads.
“The European Commission will keep working with EU member states and our international partners to support Ukraine on every level — for as long as it takes,” Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission Executive Vice President, said.
“To rebuild Ukraine, we need strong global support and growing financial assistance. I am grateful to the EIB and the European Union for the long-standing cooperation and financial support and for standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Finance Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko said.
The State Inspectorate for Architecture and Urban Planning of Ukraine processed over 16,000 requests from customers during the period of martial law, its press service reported.
“It is too early to talk about the restoration of the pre-war pace of construction, there are areas where it is not being carried out at all, however, we note a positive trend towards intensifying construction compared to previous months,” the inspectorate said in a Facebook post.
According to it, for the period from March 15 to July 15, the chief inspectors of the construction supervision processed 5,700 messages about the start of construction work and 420 permits for their implementation, as well as 8,900 declarations about the readiness of the facility for operation (including amnesty), and 344 certificates of acceptance of the object into operation. At the same time, 1,300 changes were made to messages, declarations and permits.
The inspectorate notes that most of the applications for the acceptance of objects into operation during martial law came from Kyiv region. At the same time, customers from Lviv, Kyiv, Khmelnytsky regions most actively applied for a permit for construction work.
According to it, a significant part of the issued construction permits relate to the overhaul or reconstruction of social infrastructure facilities, especially medical facilities. Among the applications received for new construction: a sheet glass plant in Kyiv region, a kindergarten-nursery in Dnipropetrovsk region, a water park in Zakarpattia regions, etc.
The export of Ukrainian grain will be launched primarily from Chornomorsk commercial sea port (Odesa region).
“We believe that within the next 24 hours we will be ready to work on resuming the export of agricultural products from our ports. We are talking about the port of Chornomorsk, it will be the first. Then there will be the port of Odesa and the port of Pivdenny,” the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Ukraine Yuriy Vaskov said during a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
According to him, within two weeks the Infrastructure Ministry will be technically ready to export from all terminals of the three seaports of the country.
The first shipment of grain, according to Vaskov, is expected this week.
Farmers of Odesa region had already harvested almost 2 million tonnes of grain, Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for Odesa regional military administration, said.
“We have one more front, we should not forget about it, and it is also one of the main ones – this is the agrarian front. Today, our grain growers have already harvested almost 2 million tonnes [of grain]. The northern parts of Odesa region have joined the harvest. We understand that if there is grain [and there will be!], there is flour. And Odesa region and other regions of our state, and, accordingly, entire Ukraine will have this resource,” he said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center on Monday.
At the same time, Bratchuk is convinced that the grain reserves in Odesa region will be sufficient for Ukraine to be able to export it to other countries.
The European Broadcasting Union and the BBC have agreed that the international song contest Eurovision 2023 will be held in the UK on behalf of the Ukrainian TV and radio company Suspilne. “Following the decision that, unfortunately, next year’s event would not be possible in Ukraine for security reasons, the EBU considered a number of options with the winner. As a result of discussions, the EBU invited the British public broadcaster BBC, from which the participant took second place in the 2022 contest, to act as the organizer of the 67th Eurovision Song Contest,” the Suspіlny press service said.
It is noted that representatives of Suspіlny will cooperate with the BBC to develop and introduce Ukrainian elements in the show next year, and Ukraine, as the winning country of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022, will also automatically enter the final of the future contest.
According to the report, the host city of the contest in 2023 will be selected in the coming months as a result of the competitive procedure, which will begin this week, and the dates of the Eurovision-202 will be announced in due course.
In turn, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on the Twitter microblog that in a conversation with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, he agreed that wherever Eurovision 2023 takes place, it should glorify the country and people of Ukraine.
“Since we are now the host, the UK will honor this promise directly and put on a fantastic contest on behalf of our Ukrainian friends,” he wrote.
As reported, on June 14, the official kick-off meeting of the Eurovision organizers from Ukraine with the Supervisory Board, partners of the International Song Contest and the EBU core team took place, discussed issues of guarantees and preparation activities, a security questionnaire, potential locations for the contest. At the same time, on June 17, the EBU refused Ukraine to host Eurovision in 2023 after analyzing the security situation in the country. He also announced that he would start negotiations with the BBC about the possible holding of the competition in the UK.
After that, the Minister of Culture and Information Policy Oleksandr Tkachenko said that Ukraine did not agree with the nature of the decision on the impossibility of holding the Eurovision 2023 international song contest in the country, and demanded to change it.
In turn, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed the hope that Ukraine will be able to host the Eurovision Song Contest next year 2023.
Later, Poland also stated that it did not agree with the decision of the European Broadcasting Union to deprive Ukraine of the right to host Eurovision 2023.
