Airbnb accommodation booking service will finance housing for 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has said.
“Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said on Twitter that the company will finance housing for people displaced from Ukraine,” Fedorov wrote on his Facebook on Monday.
So, on his Twitter, Brian Chesky wrote: “Airbnb and Airbnb.org are working with our Hosts to house up to 100,000 refugees fleeing from Ukraine, for free.”
He stressed that housing is primarily needed in Poland, Germany, Hungary and Romania.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has signed an application for Ukraine’s membership in the European Union, Deputy Head of the President’s Office Andriy Sybiha said.
“President of Ukraine Zelensky has signed a historic document – an application for Ukraine’s membership in the European Union,” he said on Facebook.
A joint statement was signed with Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
“Documents are on their way to Brussels! Congratulations, Ukraine, congratulations to all of us! History is being made now!” Sybiha added.
National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom (NNGC) urged participants in the electricity market to fulfill their obligations under contracts for its purchase and sale.
“It is important to continue to fulfill obligations under electricity purchase and sale agreements and take a prudent approach to intentions to declare force majeure circumstances when they are fulfilled. We must be united like never before and support each other in this difficult time,” the NNGC said in a statement.
Energoatom is the operator of all four operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine. It operates 15 power units equipped with water-cooled power reactors with a total installed electrical capacity of 13,835 GW.
On February 24, 2022, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) transferred part of the profit before distribution in the amount of UAH 19 billion to the state budget of Ukraine to financially support the functioning of the state under martial law, according to the website of the central bank.
“The National Bank promptly transferred part of the profit before distribution at the end of 2021 to the state budget of Ukraine. This amount is UAH 19 billion. This is a step that our state, its Armed Forces and every Ukrainian needs,” Governor of the NBU Kyrylo Shevchenko said.
The decision to transfer part of the profits was made by the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
As reported, the National Bank opened a special multi-currency account to raise funds for the needs of the Ukrainian army in connection with the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and the danger to the state independence of Ukraine, its territorial integrity.
Travel companies saw sales of vacation packages to destinations in Russia and abroad tumble 20-40% on the first day of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Russian tour operators association ATOR reported on Friday.
Tourists are also asking about the conditions for cancelling trips, but so far few have actually done so, ATOR said.
“Sales of tour packages are lagging behind the average figures last week by 20-40%. The figures vary depending on the company. A large portion of the drop in sales was for tours in Russia – at some companies in this segment it is as much as 40%. Tour operators believe that this is probably a short-term phenomenon that has more to do with the confusion with tourists’ departures from regions in southern Russia,” ATOR said.
The steepest drop has been in sales of trips in the next few weeks in March. Early bookings for summer holidays at resorts in Krasnodar Territory and Crimea declined far less, by only 10-20%, ATOR said.
“Tourists, as we see, believe that the crisis will be resolved by the end of spring. The drop in this segment is smaller than for earlier dates,” the association said.
Sales of vacations abroad also saw a smaller decline, of 15-20%, and also primarily for the coming weeks.
“Some tourists who planned to buy tours for upcoming dates prefer to hold off on booking. But requests continue to come in for the summer, including quite expensive ones. The decline here is not very noticeable. As always, it is the luxury segment that is the most stable,” ATOR said.
Travel agencies and tour operators said they are getting many questions from tourists about the possible size of penalties for trip cancellations, but there are few actual cancellations so far, partly because cancellation terms for upcoming dates usually stipulate penalties. There are also tourists asking about possible travel discounts being offered in connection with the crisis.
Taxi calling services Bolt and Uklon continue to work.
The Uber service has stopped working in Ukraine, the company said in its app.
“Uber rides are not available in this region at this time,” a message to passengers in Kyiv reads.
In Lviv, the application shows that there are no trips available.
In Kharkiv and Odesa, a message is also displayed stating that trips in the region are not available.
“Due to the growth of geopolitical tensions and recent events, we have decided to suspend the operation of the application. The safety of all application users is our top priority. We continue to monitor the circumstances and hope that this is a temporary situation,” the company said.
Uber has been operating in Ukraine since 2016 and is present in nine cities.
