The number of adult Ukrainians vaccinated against COVID-19 will soon exceed 50%, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“In the near future, 50% of adult Ukrainians will receive vaccinations. There are enough vaccines for everyone to be vaccinated. Since the beginning of the year, 40 million doses of vaccines have been delivered to Ukraine,” he said, opening a government meeting on Wednesday.
The Cabinet of Ministers has spent more than UAH 35 billion to finance the fight against COVID-19, Shmyhal said.
He added that in 2022 Ukraine would also be provided with a sufficient amount of vaccines against COVID-19.
The State Forest Resources Agency of Ukraine has planted 240 million trees in 2021, it is planned to increase this figure by a quarter, to 300 million in 2022, according to a press release from the department on Tuesday.
“This year, enterprises subordinate to the State Forest Resources Agency have planted 240 million seedlings and saplings. In addition, additional 9 million woody plants have been planted on the lands of other forest users,” head of the agency Yuriy Bolokhovets said.
The State Forest Resources Agency clarified that 59.5 million out of 240 million trees have been planted as part of the presidential program Green Country, which provides for planting 1 billion trees in three years, its implementation began in the summer of 2021.
It is clarified that 51 million trees have been planted in Zhytomyr region, Rivne region – 29.5 million, Volyn region – 23.3 million, and Chernihiv region – 15.6 million.
In the forest-steppe regions, 66.5 million trees have been planted, including in Kyiv region – almost 20 million, Poltava and Sumy regions – almost 10 million each, Cherkasy region – 8.2 million, Kharkiv region – 6.2 million, Vinnytsia region – 5.2 million, Ternopil region – 4.4 million, and Khmelnytsky region – 3.7 million.
In addition, in the steppe regions of the country, foresters have planted 21.3 million trees, including in Luhansk region – 6.6 million, Zaporizhia region – 4.4 million, Kirovohrad region – 3.8 million, and Kherson region – 2.7 million.
According to the State Forest Resources Agency, 30.3 million trees have been planted in the Carpathians in 2021, including 15.1 million in Zakarpattia region, in Lviv region – 8.1 million, and in Chernivtsi and Ivano-Frankivsk regions – 3.5 million each.
Philip Morris tobacco company announced the beginning of recycling electronic devices that the company sells in Ukraine: IQOS, IQOS VEEV and lil.
“Users can return the old device at any IQOS Space store. From there, the electronics are sent for recycling to Philip Morris’s international partner Flextronics International Kft. (Hungary),” the company said in a statement.
According to it, about 608,000 products have already been received for recycling from Ukraine to Hungary, in particular devices, holders and chargers for devices that the company has collected thanks to exchange programs.
The company indicated that it is possible to hand over used sticks, pods, cartridges and even electronic cigarettes from other manufacturers for recycling; their utilization is provided by the Ukrainian partner of Philip Morris – Waste Management Center LLC.
Philip Morris International previously announced its goal to recycle 100% of its smokeless devices by 2025 and reduce plastic waste from its products by 50%. In 2020, the company achieved 84% recycling of IQOS devices (percentage of the weight of each device).
The mobile operator Vodafone Ukraine plans to expand its frequency portfolio in 2022, CEO of Vodafone Ukraine Olha Ustynova has said.
“Given the constant organic growth of traffic, we plan to expand our frequency portfolio as much as possible. We expect that additional frequencies will enable us to provide the transmission of traffic that is growing [by 17-18% quarterly],” she said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Ustynova also stressed that the operator’s priority for 2022 is the fulfillment of licensing conditions for covering 90% of the population and cities with 2,000 inhabitants and more with 4G technologies.
“We must complete this stage in June. We have been building very actively last year. If last year our 4G coverage geography had 68%, then by the end of 2021 we will reach 83% of the population. In order to fulfill our obligations on coverage figures, we are left with a few percentages, while they are the most labor-intensive,” the CEO of Vodafone Ukraine said.
According to her, the operator has practically completed coverage of cities with a population of 2,000 or more residents – only isolated cases remain. “To reach the indicator of 90% of the population, we have to cover many small villages, each of which brings us one tenth of a percent closer to the target figure. The plans for the next year also include active construction on the roads of national importance,” Ustynova said.
Another big project of Vodafone Ukraine for 2022 will be to improve coverage in new buildings in Kyiv.
Vodafone Ukraine is the second largest mobile operator in Ukraine.
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning recommended the parliament to adopt at the second reading bill No. 5655 on reforming the sphere of urban planning, co-author of the bill, head of the coordination council for solving problematic issues in urban planning, MP Olena Shuliak wrote on Facebook.
“For many months, together with all market participants, we have analyzed each of 2,000 edits in detail and publicly, took into account the comments, and heard the recommendations. Even the NACP confirmed after the analysis: No. 5655 takes into account the requirements of the Anti-Corruption Strategy 2021-2025,” she said.
Earlier, Shuliak reported that the bill on urban planning reform could be adopted by the end of 2021.
As reported, on July 1, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada adopted draft law No. 5655 at the first reading.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has imposed sanctions on two Ukrainian TV channels, namely, Pershyi Nezalezhnyi and UkrLive, the presidential press service said in a statement.
“To endorse the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) resolution dated December 28, 2021, ‘On special personal economic and other restrictions (sanctions)’,” the presidential order said.
In particular, the president endorsed the NSDC resolution regarding sanctions on Novyny Media Holding, Time Media, and Teleprostir.
The order takes effect on the publishing date.
From now on, Ukrainian officials will be prohibited from issuing any licenses and allowing use of radio frequencies in Ukraine to the sanctioned channels.
Legal entities owning the channels will be prohibited from conducting financial operations in the Ukrainian territory and using accounts in Ukrainian banks.
The sanctions will be valid for five years.
