President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says that neither he nor Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba were invited to a meeting in Ankara on June 8, which will, in particular, consider the issue of Black Sea shipping and which will be attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs RF Sergey Lavrov.
“I was not invited. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has not been invited to date,” Zelensky said during a conversation with reporters on Monday, answering a related question.
According to him, he discussed with Turkish President Recemop Tayyip Erdogan, among others, the issue of mediation by the Turkish side in unblocking Ukrainian ports.
“For us, it is important that we are ready to produce grain… For us (important – IF) that there is a safe corridor of ships – that this or that fleet of this or that state will ensure the export of this grain to us. That’s all. And here we talked both with Britain and Turkey. Turkey is now finding a format to give us guarantees… I think because of this they are meeting with the Russians so that Russia will give Turkey guarantees that nothing will happen to their ships. I think so. But, however, the details of their meeting are unknown to me yet,” Zelensky said.
The President also said that negotiations on the export of grain are being held with the UN, as well as with the Baltic countries and Poland – on the export of some volume by rail, but this direction is not a priority due to the long delivery times. Through Odessa ports, according to him, Ukraine can export 10 million tons of grain monthly. “If now we have 22-25 million tons blocked there, but in the fall we may already have 75. What are we going to do? Therefore, we won’t be able to do without ports,” Zelensky stressed.
When asked under what conditions Ukraine can go for demining the coast of Odessa ports and who should be the guarantor for the Ukrainian side to do this, he replied: “I consider the strongest guarantee is our appropriate weapons that will be deployed in the region, the unblocking of another corridor to the port for the export of grain”.
“We are working on this with specific states, with specific anti-ship systems. We are working and are already getting a little, I can already state. I think this is the best guarantee,” Zelensky added.
National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom paid UAH 11.3 billion to the state budget in January-May 2022, which is twice the figure for the same period last year.
“Thanks to such indicators, Energoatom ranked third among all taxpayers in Ukraine and received special thanks for the financial support of Ukraine from the Central Interregional Department of the State Tax Service for Work with Large Taxpayers,” the company said on its Telegram channel on Monday.
As reported, Energoatom paid more than UAH 4.8 billion to the state budget in the first quarter of this year, which is a third or almost UAH 1.2 billion more than in the same period last year.
The UK will transfer M270 launchers to Ukraine, which can hit targets at a distance of up to 80 km with high-precision missiles, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has said.
“As Russia’s tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine. These highly capable multiple-launch rocket systems will enable our Ukrainian friends to better protect themselves against the brutal use of long-range artillery, which Putin’s forces have used indiscriminately to flatten cities,” Wallace said, the government of the UK said on its website on Monday.
Along with the weapons system, the UK will also supply M31A1 ammunition in large quantities.
The Ukrainian military will be trained to use launchers in the UK to maximize the effectiveness of the systems.
“We cannot stand by while Russian long-range artillery flattens cities and kills innocent civilians. The UK will gift the Ukrainian Armed Forces multiple-launch rocket systems so they can effectively repel the continuing Russian onslaught,” PM of the UK Boris Johnson said on Twitter.
The UK’s decision was closely coordinated with the U.S. decision to transfer to Ukraine a variant of the MLRS Highly Mobile Artillery Missile System (HIMARS).
The National Bank’s raising the key policy rate to 25% per annum will allow strengthening the hryvnia exchange rate and raising hryvnia deposit rates, some experts believe, but some of them point to possible additional shocks for the economy.
“Good news for the hryvnia exchange rate and depositors – deposit rates will quickly catch up with inflation. The inflationary reality is already 20%+, it cannot be ignored forever. And it will be with us for a long time,” the head of the analytical department of Alfa-Bank Ukraine, Oleksiy Blinov, said.
A sharp increase in the key policy rate will help avoid imbalances that could turn into powerful crisis-forming mechanisms, the banker believes.
According to Blinov, it is possible to reduce the rate if Ukraine wins and under the terms of strengthened international assistance.
Investment market expert Ivan Uhlianytsia also notes in a commentary to the agency that such movements will not harm the economy, but will allow to streamline its exchange rate and price imbalances, slow them down a bit.
“This is an attempt to retain the hryvnia a little, reduce the motivation to go into the currency and goods, bring it closer to reality,” the expert points out.
He predicts that as a result of such a step, the official and non-cash dollar exchange rate will move closer to UAH 32-33/$1, which will reduce the consumption of reserves and reduce “foreign exchange tourism,” which, according to the expert, the NBU only encouraged before that, releasing the cash exchange rate, but keeping the non-cash one at UAH 29.25/$1.
Mykhailo Demkiv, a financial analyst at ICU Group, also notes in a commentary to the agency that with this step, the central bank is trying to stimulate savings instead of converting them into currency.
In addition, he expects the growth of government bonds yield rates, and the next auction, which will take place on June 7, will be an important signal. The rise in the cost of borrowing for the Ministry of Finance is one of the possible negative effects of such a decision, Demkiv notes.
“Refinancing will also rise in price, banks will take it very carefully, only when absolutely necessary. After some time, the banks will be forced to increase rates on hryvnia deposits,” he said.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 06/06/22
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
