“We can confirm that there is a trend for Ukrainians to return home. We really see all the migration, we see all countries. Today, according to the Kyivstar database, Poland has accepted 35% of Ukrainians who have left the country, Germany – 15%, the Czech Republic – 7%, Italy – 5%, Moldova and Romania – 2% each, that is, these are the list of the top countries where Kyivstar customers went,” Kyivstar President Oleksandr Komarov said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He also said that according to the operator, there are about 8.7 million internally displaced persons in Ukraine.
“These are two types of migration: from big cities to towns and from east to west. Approximately 4 million people have moved to other areas of the country, others have moved from cities to villages within their regions. The internal migration of such a large number of people is a technical challenge for mobile networks,” Komarov said.
According to him, today the average speed of mobile Internet in the Kyivstar network has fallen from about 38 Mbps to 28 Mbps due to the fact that almost 5 million subscribers have left the cities for the countryside.
“From territories where mobile data transmission is available in the 1800MHz and 2600MHz bands, they went to where LTE-900 technology works, which has a lower capacity. And this is the reason that we are now rethinking our plan to build new base stations for this year. For example, in areas with strong growth in subscribers, we plan to move from LTE-900 to LTE-1800, it is possible to increase it up to 2600 MHz somewhere,” the president of the operator said.
He also said that the operator focuses on the subscriber migration data in terms of network development. In particular, the changes affected plans to build a gigabit network.
If earlier the operator focused in this part mainly on large cities, then during the war, the construction of a gigabit network in Lviv was completed in the first place, and it is also planned to expand other sections of the network in Western Ukraine.
As reported, specialists of the Kyivstar mobile network operator in the two months of the war eliminated more than 48,000 accidents in the physical and digital infrastructure of the network, and also replaced almost 25,000 meters of optical fiber.
The production of beer in Ukraine (except for non-alcoholic beer with an alcohol content of up to 0.5% by volume) in January-April 2022 decreased by 42.8% compared to the first four months of 2021, to 28 million decalitres.
As reported on the website of the industry organization of brewers Ukrpivo on Monday, in the first quarter of 2022, the drop in beer production amounted to 49.9% compared to January-March 2021, decreasing from 34.1 million decaliters to 17.1 million decaliters.
Thus, in April of this year, 10.9 million deciliters of beer were produced, or 39% of the total volume of this drink produced since the beginning of the year.
At the same time, malt production in January-April 2022 decreased by 55.6% compared to the same date in 2021 – to 37.0 thousand tons, while in the first quarter of 2022 its production decreased by 40.8% .
As reported, in 2021 Ukraine produced 5% less beer compared to 2020 – 170.5 million decalitres, and in 2020 its production decreased by 0.4% compared to 2019 – to 179.7 million decalitres.
Malt production in 2021 amounted to 218.5 thousand tons, which is 19.5% less than in 2020. At the same time, the year before last, its production decreased by 18% compared to 2019, to 275 thousand tons.
Ukraine, at the request of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, will receive 140 tonnes of buckwheat seeds, the vessel with the cargo was sent by the Canada-Ukraine Foundation (Canada), Ambassador of Ukraine to Canada Yulia Kovaliv wrote on Facebook on Monday.
The seeding rate of buckwheat is 80-100 kg/ha, respectively, Ukraine can sow 1,120-1,400 ha with seeds received from Canada.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, by May 12, Ukraine sowed 12,200 hectares with buckwheat, which is 14.9% of the 81,600 hectares planned for this year. Thus, thanks to assistance from Canada, Ukraine can sow 1.3-1.7% of the area planned for this crop.
Metinvest, the largest Ukrainian mining and metallurgical holding, in January-March this year reduced steel production by 8% compared to the same period last year and by 25% compared to the previous quarter – to 1.962 million tonnes, according to a press release from the parent company Metinvest B.V.
According to the report, production of pig iron decreased by 15% and 31% respectively – to 1.828 million tonnes, coke – by 33% and 28% respectively, to 783,000 tonnes.
Metinvest added that in January-March this year, the group reduced the total production of iron ore concentrate by 3% compared to the same period last year and by 10% compared to the previous quarter, to 2.786 million tonnes.
The output of pellets amounted to UAH 1.281 million, which is 35% less than in Q1 2021, but 34% more than in the previous quarter, while the output of coking coal concentrate in the first quarter of this year increased by 29% compared to Q1 2021, but decreased by 14% from Q4 2021 – to 1.276 million tonnes.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated mining group of companies that manages assets in every link of the production chain from iron ore, coal mining and coke production to the production of semi-finished products and finished products from steel, pipes and coils, as well as production of other high value-added products. The group consists of mining and metallurgical enterprises located in Ukraine, Europe and the United States, has a sales network covering all key global markets.
Metinvest’s main shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart-Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage the company.
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide Ukraine with a $100 million loan for 30 years at 1% per annum with a grace period of 10 years, the Ministry of Finance said on its website.
According to the press release, the agreement was signed on Monday by Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and JICA President Dr. Akihiko Tanaka.
“The concessional loan of 13 billion yen, which is the first part of the agreed financial assistance between Ukraine and Japan, will be directed to the state budget to finance priority expenses. First of all, to support the most unprotected population of Ukraine,” the press service of the ministry said, citing Marchenko.
The signed agreement refers to the budgetary support for the stabilization of the situation in Ukraine, in particular, the provision of priority social, and humanitarian expenditures, health care, support for internally displaced persons, and other priority expenditures, the Finance Ministry added.
EU foreign ministers have agreed to provide Ukraine with an additional EUR 500 million, bringing the total amount of European assistance to EUR 2 billion, EU diplomat Josep Borrell has said on Monday.
During a press conference, Borrell said the EU has agreed to provide an additional EUR 500 million from the European Peace Facility for the delivery of weapons. What started with EUR 500 million is now approaching EUR 2 billion, according to him.
The head of EU diplomacy said this is just the tip of the iceberg, as the EU member states provide assistance to Ukraine on their own.
Borrell announced plans to provide such additional financial assistance to Ukraine last week.
