In 2024, VESCO group, which unites the clay mining business of umgi investment company (formerly UMG Investments) of SCM Group, resumed production of raw materials in difficult working conditions in the region of active hostilities, said Yevhenii Tsymarman, CEO of VESCO in Ukraine, in an address to employees.
According to him, the main outcome and the biggest achievement of each military year is that the company continues to work, supporting the country and its defenders.
“Thanks to the hard work of the VESCO Group team in Ukraine, cohesion and dedication, we managed to achieve important results in 2024. We resumed production of raw materials despite the difficult working conditions in the region of active hostilities. We have reopened another shipment station, increasing the volume of finished goods shipped to customers and port warehouses,” the CEO said.
He also added that the company has restored the capacity of its physical and chemical laboratory to remain a reliable partner for customers even in the most difficult times.
“We continued to fulfill our reclamation obligations to restore soil fertility and vegetation cover after the completion of mining operations. We have maintained the tradition of annual salary increases and medical insurance for our staff at the expense of the group,” stated the CEO.
Despite all the difficulties, the company already has plans for 2025, Mr. Tsymarman noted.
umgi is an investment company focused on developing businesses in the raw materials and processing sectors. It was founded in 2006 by SCM Group. Investment focus: mining; by-product and waste management; production of industrial goods and services. The total value of portfolio companies is estimated at over $500 million.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih’s Kryvyi Rih Mining and Metallurgical Plant (AMKR, Dnipro region) intends to extend the previously defined environmental protection measures for two years after the war.
According to the materials available to Interfax-Ukraine, the company intends to obtain permits for emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere from stationary sources – sintering machines No. 1-3 of sinter shop No. 2, extend the deadlines for implementing measures to reduce pollutant emissions and operate generators to be used to provide electricity to consumers in the event of a power outage.
It is specified that the generators to be used during the power outage are not subject to environmental impact assessment and do not belong to the types of activities of facilities that may have a significant impact on the environment.
The plant has completed a complete reconstruction of Sinter Shop No. 2 (SSC-2), namely six sinter machines, to meet the maximum permissible emission standards in accordance with the law. The number of irrigation nozzles was increased at four gas purification units of the sinter plant’s charge preparation department (AC-3), and the dust standard of 50 mg/cubic meter was achieved.
The planned environmental protection measures include the installation of water cannons for dust suppression in the charge material warehouses, improving the efficiency of the existing 23 treatment plants of the charge material preparation department of the sinter plant (AC-3), including their modernization, reconstruction, repair, etc. It is also planned to decommission AC-1 after the pelletizing plant is commissioned.
The plant’s materials list the process equipment for which advanced technological standards have been established, including sinter machines. AMKR undertakes to implement emission reduction measures on this equipment after two years from the date of termination or lifting of martial law in Ukraine.
“ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest rolled steel producer in Ukraine. It specializes in long products, including rebar and wire rod.
ArcelorMittal owns the largest mining and metallurgical plant in Ukraine, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, and a number of small companies, including ArcelorMittal Beryslav.
Greenville Group plans to launch a new apartment complex in Kyiv and a comfort+ residential complex in Lviv in 2025, the group’s press service toldInterfax-Ukraine.
“Greenville Group is building business class residential complexes Greenville Park and Greenville in Pechersk in Kyiv. Next year, we plan to launch two new projects – an apartment complex in Kyiv and a comfort+ residential complex in Lviv. Both projects are currently under development,” the company said.
By the end of 2024, the developer completed the construction of 19.4 thousand square meters of housing in its capital projects. Next year, it is planned to start construction of section 9 in the Greenville residential complex, complete sections 6-7 and underground parking, and complete the facade and installation of power grids, water supply, and heating systems in the Greenville Park residential complex.
According to the group, customers are taking a wait-and-see attitude and are in no hurry to invest in business class housing.
“According to our observations, almost 60% of visits to sales departments are due to pent-up demand. Another massive missile strike on Kyiv is almost guaranteed to postpone the signing of agreements for 3-6 months – people need time to recover and re-evaluate the feasibility of the purchase,” Greenville explained.
In addition, fewer deals are being made in the higher-end housing category under the eOselya program: in 2024, the company concluded five such agreements. At the same time, alternative programs from developers are growing in popularity. According to Greenville’s analysis, the number of customers who used installment programs increased by 15% year-on-year.
Greenville Group was established in 2007. It makes joint investments in construction projects based on green technologies and invests in renewable energy projects.
The company’s portfolio includes four residential development projects in Lviv (RC Misto Trav, Dobra Oselya, Greenville House, Greenville Park Lviv) and two projects in Kyiv (Greenville and Greenville Park).
In 2024, Ukraine received $41.7 billion in external financing to cover the budget deficit, which made it possible to allocate the necessary funds to repel full-scale Russian aggression, Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said.
“This makes it possible to fully finance pensions, salaries in education and healthcare, and the entire humanitarian and social system,” the Finance Minister said during a national telethon on Monday.
He noted that this year and next year, Ukraine will allocate UAH 2.2 trillion ($52.5 billion at the current exchange rate), or 26% of GDP, to the security and defense sector.
Regarding budget financing for 2025, which is planned in the state budget at $38.4 billion, Marchenko emphasized the importance of implementing the G7’s ERA initiative to allocate $50 billion to Ukraine from frozen Russian assets.
“We have access to $50 billion, which allows us to look forward to 2025 with confidence. Moreover, if everything goes well, we plan to close 2026 and 2027 with the help of these assets,” the Finance Minister said.
He clarified that in 2024, the state budget has already received the first $1 billion of this $50 billion from the United States.
In general, assessing Ukraine’s dependence on external financing, Marchenko believes that “if we end the war, such dependence will not be glaring.” The minister reiterated that the huge budget deficit is due to the cost of the war.
Passenger traffic across the Ukrainian border in the week of December 21-27 increased by another 12.5% compared to the previous week, to 657,000, primarily due to a sharp increase on the weekend before Christmas, when it reached 133-136,000 people per day.
According to the State Border Guard Service’s Facebook page, the number of outbound crossings increased from 294,000 to 325,000, while the number of inbound crossings increased from 290,000 to 332,000.
At the same time, the number of vehicles crossing the checkpoints decreased from 134 thousand to 117 thousand over the week, while the flow of vehicles with humanitarian cargo decreased from 633 to 471.
“We would like to draw the attention of citizens crossing the border at Krakovets, Uhryniv and Rava-Ruska checkpoints. There is a certain accumulation of vehicles leaving Ukraine,” the State Border Guard Service said on Sunday.
On the border with Poland, as of 18:00, there were queues at the checkpoints Krakovets (80 cars), Ustyluh (65), Uhryniv (30) and Rava-Ruska (10).
On the border with Hungary, the longest queue is at Tisa checkpoint – 15 cars, while Luzhanka has 10, Kosyno and Vylok – 5 cars each.
At the Maly Berezny checkpoint on the border with Slovakia, 25 cars have accumulated, while at the Uzhhorod checkpoint, 6 buses have accumulated.
The total number of people crossing the border in the fourth week of winter this year is higher than last year’s: 280 thousand people left Ukraine and 302 thousand entered during the same seven days, with a traffic of 110 thousand cars.
Last year, passenger traffic decreased by 3.6% during this week, while the following week it dropped by another 18.4%.
As reported, on May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine, which began with the outbreak of war, was replaced by an influx that lasted until September 23, 2022 and amounted to 409 thousand people. However, since the end of September, possibly under the influence of news about mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, and then massive shelling of energy infrastructure, the number of people leaving has been exceeding the number of people entering. It temporarily stopped in the second half of December and early January during the holidays, but then resumed again and reached a total of 223 thousand people from the end of September 2022 to the first anniversary of the full-scale war.
During the second year of the full-scale war, the number of border crossings to leave Ukraine, according to the State Border Guard Service, exceeded the number of crossings to enter by 25 thousand, while since the beginning of the third year, the number of crossings has increased by another 191 thousand.
As Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev noted in early March last year, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP. In its macroeconomic forecast for this year, the Ministry of Economy has included 1.5 million people returning to Ukraine.
At the same time, the National Bank, in its October inflation report, again downgraded its forecast for the outflow from Ukraine this year from 0.4 million to 0.5 million. In absolute terms, the number of migrants staying abroad is expected to increase to 6.8 million this year.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe was estimated at 6.254 million as of December 16 this year, and 6.814 million in the world in general, which is 28 thousand more than as of November 18 this year.
In Ukraine, according to the latest UN data as of August this year, there were 3.669 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), which is 121 thousand more than in April this year.
According to regional authorities cited by the UN, more than 128,000 people have left Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine since August 1, including 24,000 who fled active hostilities, while approximately 330,000 remain in the region, including approximately 63,000 in active combat zones.
In Sumy region, the authorities estimate that 36,000 people, including 6,000 children, were evacuated between August 1 and October 3.
