Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest telecommunications operator, reported difficulties with voice communication and the use of its mobile app in a number of cities in western and southern Ukraine on Wednesday morning.
“Dear subscribers, we are aware that there are currently difficulties with voice communication and the mobile application in a number of cities in western and southern Ukraine. The company’s specialists are working to restore services. We are doing our best to fix the technical issues as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience,” the company said in a post on Facebook.
Users write in the comments under the post that there is no connection in Lviv, and it is lost in Rivne and Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad and Sumy regions. At the same time, everything is working in Ternopil and Vinnytsia. A number of users also reported problems with “home internet” in Dnipro.
Earlier, Kyivstar restored high-speed mobile Internet in the Kyiv and Kharkiv subways. The company said that it plans to achieve full stabilization in the provision of services by the end of the week.
After a disruption in the early morning hours of December 12 caused by a large-scale cyberattack, Kyivstar began restoring voice services in the evening of December 13, and within a day mobile internet was back online in some regions, with the company announcing its full restoration across the country on the evening of December 15.
On December 17, Kivestar resumed providing voice services, including roaming, mobile data, Home Internet, virtual private network (VPN) services and started restoring access to M2M (Machine-to-Machine) services for business customers. Kyivstar restored access to SMS services, including international roaming, and M2M services on 18 December.
Export of agricultural products during the marketing year, mln tons
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
INGO Insurance Company (Kyiv) is expanding its war risk protection by enabling small and medium-sized businesses to receive compensation for losses if the insured facility suffers as a result of air attacks or sabotage on Ukrainian territory located no closer than 100 km from the contact line.
According to the insurer’s website, it is already possible to insure facilities worth UAH 20 million against military risks.
To receive an insurance payment, the affected company will need to provide a standard list of documents and a written statement to law enforcement agencies regarding a criminal offense under Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Violation of the Laws and Customs of War” and a copy of the extract from the URPI under the same article.
At the same time, the company notes that in international practice, the risk of war is classified as force majeure and exceptions, according to which insurance payments are not made in a typical property contract. A separate insurance coverage is required to protect against war.
“The world has never seen a war with such intensity of shelling and scale of destruction in the 21st century. That is why reinsurers have not yet expressed a clear desire to insure property war risks from Ukraine, although negotiations are ongoing,” said Andrey Semchenko, director of the underwriting department at INGO Insurance Company.
He emphasized that even in such circumstances, INGO can offer businesses a favorable insurance offer, as it has the necessary competencies and ability to assess risks in a war on the basis of its own statistics.
According to Semchenko, the company already provides protection against war risks in other types of insurance, such as cargo transportation insurance (both sea and land), hull insurance, medical insurance, accident insurance, crop insurance, residential insurance, etc., and plans to further expand this list.
INGO Insurance Company has over 25 years of experience in the market.
Since 2017, the company’s major shareholder has been the Ukrainian business group DCH of Aleksandr Yaroslavsky.
High interest rates and the termination of large-scale government assistance provided to companies during the COVID-19 pandemic have hit businesses in most developed economies hard, resulting in double-digit bankruptcy growth rates, the Financial Times reports.
Thus, the number of corporate bankruptcies in the United States for the fiscal year ended September 30 increased by 30% compared to the same period a year earlier.
In Germany, which is the largest economy in Europe, the number of bankrupt companies increased by 25% in January-September. Since June, double-digit growth rates have been recorded every month, the country’s statistical office said.
According to the EU statistics agency, the number of insolvent companies in the community countries increased by 13% in January-September and reached the highest level in eight years. In France, the Netherlands, and Japan, the number of bankruptcies in October increased by more than 30% year-on-year. In England and Wales, the insolvency rate in January-September reached its highest level since 2009.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recently reported that in a number of countries, including the Nordic countries of Denmark, Sweden and Finland, the number of corporate bankruptcies has exceeded the levels of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.
The main negative factors are “the cost of debt servicing and the withdrawal of pandemic support, as well as high energy bills, especially in energy-intensive sectors,” according to Capital Economics Chief Economist Neil Shearing.
According to analysts, most bankruptcies were recorded in the transportation and hospitality industries.
Shearing warned that the trend of deteriorating solvency of companies will continue, as many businesses will have to refinance their debt at higher rates in the coming months, even though central banks are expected to have already reached their peak.
The surge in bankruptcies will put pressure on global economic activity and job growth over the next few years, experts say.
The international rating agency Moody’s expects the number of defaults of companies with speculative grade ratings in the world to continue to grow in 2024 after it already exceeded the average for recent years in October.
German insurer Allianz predicts that the global insolvency rate will reach 10% next year, up from 6% in 2023. The hospitality, transportation and retail sectors will be most affected.
“We are seeing an increase in corporate bankruptcies in almost all countries,” said Maxim Lemerl, a leading analyst at Allianz Research.
In December, OTP Bank made a charitable contribution of UAH 11 million to the Superhumans Center. This amount includes UAH 10 million for the creation and provision of personalized wards for the Superhumans Center, as well as UAH 1 million for prosthetics for the center’s patients.
“In this powerful partnership with the Superhumans Center, we are inspired and motivated to seek and find new opportunities to support our heroes. As a result, the patients will receive the necessary rehabilitation, and the center will receive additional equipment,” said Volodymyr Mudryi, CEO of OTP Bank.
The total amount of OTP Bank’s assistance to the Superhumans Center has already amounted to UAH 21 million: in addition to the UAH 11 million just transferred, more than UAH 3 million was raised at a charity auction dedicated to the Independence Day of Ukraine, and OTP Bank added to these funds and transferred another UAH 5 million to the Superhumans Center to create an educational center on its basis. In addition, the bank transfers UAH 1 million to the Superhumans Center’s account on a monthly basis.
“As long as our heroes need support, we will not stop! We urge all our customers and partners to join the bank’s charitable initiatives,” said Lesia Syrota, OTP Bank Retail Sales Director and team leader of the OTP Bank Helps Ukraine project.
Thus, until December 25, OTP Bank is holding a charity Christmas auction, the proceeds from which will also be transferred to the Superhumans Center for prosthetics for defenders who lost their limbs in the war and need comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation. All customers of the bank can take part in the charity auction in the OTP Bank UA app. The full list of lots is available on the website.
We remind you that in September OTP Bank and Superhumans Center signed an agreement on charitable donation for 2023-2024.
In 11 months of 2023, Ukrhydroenergo paid UAH 7.9 billion in taxes, duties and other mandatory payments to the state budget, including UAH 2.2 billion in dividends.
According to the company’s press release on Tuesday, in addition to taxes, direct assistance to the Armed Forces amounted to more than UAH 200 million during the year.
“In the context of confronting the aggressor, one of the main tasks of all enterprises, regardless of ownership, is to pay taxes in full and on time. This is primarily additional funds for the resilience of the Armed Forces, social support for Ukrainians affected by the Russian armed aggression and the restoration of our country,” Ukrhydroenergo emphasized.
