The United States will provide the government of Ukraine with another $500 million in direct economic assistance, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday.
“Today, the United States is announcing that we intend to provide an additional $500 million in direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian government,” Biden said. According to him, the government of Ukraine will be able to use this money to stabilize the economy, support the population and pay salaries to employees.
He said that, thus, the total U.S. economic support to Ukraine over the past two months amounted to $1 billion.
Russia’s war against Ukraine, which began on February 24, has forced 5 million 34,44,000 people as of mid-day April 19 to leave the country in search of safety, protection and assistance, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has released this data.
It also for the first time made public data on the flow into Ukraine, citing the State Border Guard Service, according to which from February 28 to April 18, it was 948,500 people, while spokesman Andriy Demchenko on Wednesday estimated it since February 24 at 1.1 million.
Department specifies that the Ukrainian-Polish border accounted for 56.1% of all exits: 2 million 825,460. According to the Polish Border Agency’s data made public on Wednesday morning, 2.9 million people have entered the country from Ukraine since the war began, and 756,000 have passed in the opposite direction.
Romania and Moldova received 821,052, some 471,008 arrived in Hungary, and 342,081 in Slovakia.
The number of people, crossing the border between Russia and Belarus, has been growing at an accelerated rate compared to the EU and the Republic of Moldova over the past month: April 19, it reached 549,081 and 23,076, respectively.
For comparison: if since March 15, the number of those who entered Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia increased by 58-78%, then to Russia – 3.8 times, to Belarus – 19 times. According to Ukrainian authorities, a significant part of Ukrainian citizens were displaced to the territory of Russia and Belarus from the war zone or from the occupied territories against their will due to the absence of humanitarian corridors to Ukraine.
In general, the flow of people leaving the country has slowed down considerably compared to the beginning of the war and is gradually stabilizing: if in the first 19 days of the war 3 million people left Ukraine, it took first six days to increase by another half a million, then nine, and for the next two increases of half a million, eleven days each.
During the European Easter holidays, for the first time since the beginning of the war, the State Border Guard Service recorded a greater flow of people entering Ukraine at its western border on some days than exiting. In total, over the past seven days, about 250,000 people left the country and 225,000 entered.
UNHCR indicates that as of mid-2021, there were 53,047 Ukrainian refugees around the world seeking the appropriate status, including 36,049 in Europe.
The Ukrainian diaspora in the world by mid-2020 was estimated by UNHCR at 6.1 million, including 5 million in Europe.
The organization specifies that the right to free movement within the Schengen area means that there are very few border controls in the European Union, so data on arrivals in Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia reflect only border crossings in these countries, but the UN estimates that large numbers of people have moved to other countries.
In addition, UNHCR does not count people from border countries leaving Ukraine and returning home.
Road workers in the Zhytomyr region on the highway M-21 Vystupovichi – Zhytomyr – Mogilev-Podolsky are equipping a temporary passage parallel to the bridge over the river destroyed due to the war.
According to Ukravtodor on its Facebook page on Wednesday, today citizens have to make an almost 30-kilometer detour.
At present, the contractor group of companies “Avtostrada” equips the base and carries out earthworks.
“The temporary crossing will have two lanes to ensure traffic in both directions. We will pave the detour itself,” the message says.
The contractor plans to complete the construction of the temporary crossing by the end of the month.
In addition, road workers are inspecting and patching on the M-21 road. This applies to those areas where work has not been carried out in recent years, the state agency clarifies.
Ukravtodor also asks drivers to be careful while driving, especially in the northern part of the Zhytomyr region, to adhere to the permitted speed limit and drive according to road signs, as changes in traffic organization are possible. Avtostrada group of companies was created as a joint Ukrainian-German enterprise. From the first days of work, German quality control standards have been introduced at all stages of production. The fleet is equipped with the best examples of the latest technology from leading world manufacturers. Environmentally friendly asphalt plants have been opened, and our own powerful production bases have been created. Maxim Shkil is the owner of the Avtostrada group of companies.
DESTROYED BRIDGE, HIGHWAY, M-21, TEMPORARY CROSSING, АВТОСТРАДА
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Danish Prime Minister Matte Frederiksen arrived in Kyiv on Thursday.
“Just arrived to Kyiv. Ukraine has the support, solidarity and commitment of Spain,” Sanchez said on Twitter Thursday.
In turn, the Twitter service of the Danish Prime Minister reported that Frederiksen has already met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
“PM Frederiksen arrived in Kyiv to meet with President of Ukraine Zelensky to deliver concrete support to Ukraine,” the message reads.
At the same time, the press release notes that a meeting with Zelensky is scheduled with the heads of the governments of both countries.
Agro-industrial holding “Astarta”, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, in January-March 2022 reduced sales of this product by 44% compared to the same period in 2021 – from 58.14 thousand tons to 32.64 thousand. tons, while the average selling price on the domestic market increased by 14% – from UAH 16.14 thousand to UAH 18.45 thousand.
According to the report of the agrarian group on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Wednesday evening, sales of wheat by the agricultural holding in the first quarter of this year increased by 2.6 times compared to January-March 2021 – up to 10.1 thousand tons, corn – by 2.8 times , up to 200 thousand tons, sunflower – 6 times, up to 21.5 thousand tons. Also, 71 tons of rapeseed were sold, which was not sold in the first quarter of 2021.
Milk sales for the specified period did not change, remaining at the level of 24.3 thousand tons.
In turn, the sale of soybean oil by Astarta in the first quarter of 2022 decreased by 2.1 times compared to January-March 2021 – to 12.6 thousand tons, and soybean meal – by 2%, to 39.1 thousand tons.
The agricultural holding clarified that the average cost of sugar sold in January-March 2021 increased by 14% compared to the same period a year earlier – up to UAH 18.45 thousand / ton, wheat – by 5%, up to UAH 8.3 thousand / ton, corn – by 34%, up to 7.5 thousand UAH / ton. At the same time, the average price of sunflower rose by 67% – up to 18.9 thousand UAH/ton, soybean oil – by 25%, up to 37 thousand UAH/ton, soybean meal – by 2%, up to 15.5 thousand UAH/ton. ton, milk – by 3%, up to 12.1 thousand UAH/ton.
Thus, taking into account the size of products sold and its average price, it is possible to estimate the estimated revenue of Astarta from the sale of sugar in the first quarter of this year at UAH 602 million, corn – UAH 1.5 billion, soybean meal – UAH 615.8 million , sunflower – UAH 407.6 million, milk – UAH 293.5 million, soybean oil – UAH 221.6 million, wheat – UAH 84.21 million, rapeseed – UAH 1.24 million. Accordingly, the total estimated revenue of the agricultural holding from the sale of these crops amounted to UAH 3.72 billion.
As reported, the agrarian group planned to transfer 1.1 thousand tons of food in the form of humanitarian aid to the Vinnitsa region, of which 530 tons have already been delivered to the region, while the Odessa region will receive 1.3 thousand tons of humanitarian aid (850 tons have already been delivered).
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It includes six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand heads of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globino (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2021, the agricultural holding increased its net profit by 14 times compared to 2020 – up to EUR122.5 million, EBITDA – by 1.8 times, up to EUR201.5 million. Its revenue increased by 18.2% – up to EUR491.35 million, a third of which (EUR170 million) was generated by the production and sale of sugar.
Members of the delegation of the financial bloc of the Ukrainian government headed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal will hold meetings on Thursday and Friday with American deputies and ministers as well as leaders of financial and humanitarian organizations during their visit to Washington.
“Today and tomorrow we are working in Washington. The plan includes participation in a ministerial-level meeting at The 2022 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Meetings are also planned with representatives of Congress and U.S. ministers, heads of international financial and humanitarian organizations,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram Thursday.
Earlier, the prime minister announced meetings in Washington of the financial bloc of the Ukrainian government with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the U.S. government to raise additional funds “for the needs of the Ukrainian army, the Ukrainian economy and our people.” “In the coming months, the budget deficit could reach $5 billion, and therefore financial assistance from the West is needed now more than ever,” Shmyhal said.
