MPS propose to amend the state budget for 2021 and distribute UAH 38.75 billion of additional receipts, including UAH 12 billion for subsidies and UAH 15 billion for the repair of national roads.
Bill No. 6052 was registered by a group of MPs in parliament on Tuesday.
According to an explanatory note to the bill posted on the parliament’s website, it is proposed to increase receipts from corporate income tax – by UAH 30 billion, VAT on imports – by UAH 6 billion, VAT on goods manufactured in Ukraine – by UAH 2 billion, fee paid during the legal process for establishing ownership to cars – by UAH 0.75 billion.
At the expense of these additional receipts, the MPs propose to increase spending on subsidies by UAH 12 billion, to UAH 47.295 billion, according to the bill.
In addition, the MPs propose to provide for an additional amount of funding for the road infrastructure in the amount of UAH 15 billion.
“In particular, in 2021, it is planned to carry out repair and construction work on a total length of 4,500 km of state highways, but the existing funding is currently insufficient to implement these plans,” the authors of the bill said in the explanatory note.
The bill also proposes to send additional funding in the amount of UAH 2.5 billion for the construction of social and cultural facilities, transport infrastructure. Thus, it is proposed to increase the amount of subventions from the state budget to local budgets by the indicated amount.
In addition to this, the bill proposes to allocate UAH 1.5 billion from additional receipts for the construction of projects within the framework of the Big Construction state program.
Another UAH 1 billion is proposed to be used to pay off debts and pay salaries to employees of state-run mines. In addition, the MPs propose to allocate UAH 556 million to replenish the charter capital of the state-owned enterprises Boryspil International Airport, Ukraine state aviation enterprise and Ukrservice of the Transport Ministry.
Amendments to the current state budget also imply the following directions: UAH 282 million to provide housing for 215 internally displaced persons who defended the sovereignty of Ukraine, UAH 280.5 million for timely settlements with dismissed military personnel, UAH 176.8 million for providing prisons with food and settlements for utilities, UAH 86.9 million for a budget program for the development of an emergency medical care system and modernization of the material and technical base of healthcare institutions, as well as UAH 10 million for additional circulations of the Uriadovy Kurier newspaper.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has extended the validity of green COVID certificates from 180 to 365 days.
The corresponding decree was published on the government website.
The Ukrainian airline SkyUp opens flights from Kiev to the Spanish capital Madrid. The first flight is scheduled for October 18, the airline’s press service has said.
“SkyUp Airlines opens flights Kiev – Madrid – Kiev. It will be possible to travel twice a week: on Mondays and Fridays. Departures from Kyiv are scheduled in the morning,” the airline said.
Electricity production in the integrated power system of Ukraine in January-August 2021 increased by 6.4% (by 6.163 billion kWh) compared to the same period in 2020, to 102.559 billion kWh, according to recent data from the Energy Ministry.
According to the calculations of Interfax-Ukraine, nuclear power plants (NPP) for the eight months increased the generation of electricity by 8.1% – up to 55.279 billion kWh. In particular, production at Zaporizhia NPP amounted to 22.938 billion kWh (more by 27.4% compared to January-August 2020), Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP – 11.990 billion kWh (less by 0.4%), Rivne NPP – 12.988 billion kWh (less by 0.1%), Khmelnytsky NPP – 7.363 billion kWh (less by 8.9%).
Thermal power plants (TPP), as well as combined heat and power plants (CHPP) and cogeneration plants reduced their output by 3.4% – to 30.149 billion kWh. In particular, the generating companies of TPPs increased production by 3.7% – up to 23.922 billion kWh, while CHPPs and cogeneration plants – decreased by 23.6%, to 6.227 billion kWh.
Hydro power and pumped storage power plants increased production by 50.2%, to 7.539 billion kWh, while block stations decreased by 13.3%, to 1.099 billion kWh.
Electricity production by unconventional sources (wind farms, solar power plants, biomass) increased by 9.6%, to 8.493 billion kWh.
The share of nuclear power plants in the structure of electricity production amounted to 53.9% (in January-August 2020 – 53%), thermal power plants, thermal power plants, CHPPs and cogeneration plants – 29.4% (32.4%), hydroelectric power plants and pumped storage power plants – 7.4% (5.2%), block stations – 1.1% (1.3%), alternative sources – 8.3% (8%).
In August 2021, electricity production in the integrated power system of Ukraine increased by 6.7% (by 761.7 million kWh) compared to the same month last year, to 12.16 billion kWh.
In addition, the supply of heat energy for the eight months increased by 11.8% (by 1.511 million Gcal) compared to the same period last year, to 14.273 million Gcal.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal supports the introduction of dual citizenship.
“Dual citizenship is a sign of civilized countries. In many civilized countries it is a common norm […] Dual citizenship should be introduced. It will strengthen us,” Shmyhal told a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
According to him, many ethnic Ukrainians live abroad, and many of them would like to have Ukrainian citizenship.
At the same time, the Prime Minister said that he was categorically against the dual citizenship of the aggressor country.
National online cinema SWEET.TV plans in 2021 to dub and voice over 50 films and 100 trailers in Ukrainian.
As director of SWEET.TV Oleksandr Rezunov said during a conference at the press center of Interfax-Ukraine, popularization of the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian-language content is the platform’s social mission.
“For us, Ukrainianization of cinema has long become the norm. That is why the ‘Hollywood in Ukrainian’ project was created – the main social project of SWEET.TV. Within its framework, we, at our own expense, implement Ukrainian dubbing and voicing of films, cartoons and TV series that have not previously been translated into Ukrainian. To implement this project, SWEET.TV became the first Ukrainian online cinema to enter into direct contracts with Hollywood film studios specifically for the territory of Ukraine, not the CIS,” he said.
According to Rezunov, during the year of the project’s existence, 181 films, cartoons and TV series received the Ukrainian-language audio track. Also, 829 trailers sounded in Ukrainian.
“By the end of 2021, we plan to dub and voice more than 50 films and more than 100 trailers. We also created our own Foundation for the Development of Ukrainian Cinema and Television, where we transfer UAH 10 from each paid connection to SWEET.TV. The collected funds are directed to the implementation of new projects of talented Ukrainian directors,” Rezunov said.
According to him, there are significant opportunities for the growth of OTT services in Ukraine: out of almost 15 million households in the country, only 4-4.5 million use pay TV services.
“Some 10 million Ukrainian households have never paid for television. They are the prospect for the development of the streaming services market, the so-called ‘growth zone’ for OTT companies,” the SWEET.TV director said.
SWEET.TV is a Ukrainian OTT platform with over 260 TV channels, including HD and 4K, as well as products from Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, etc.
The platform has direct contracts with Disney, Paramount, Universal, Sony and other international content producers for dubbing media products specifically for the territory of Ukraine, and not for the CIS. The service creates Ukrainian-language dubbing for cult Hollywood films in the “Hollywood in Ukrainian” project.
