The biopharmaceutical company “Biopharma” invests about $2 million annually in education; plans for this year include opening biology schools in Uzhhorod and Lviv, company president Kostyantyn Yefimenko told the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency.
“We invest about $2 million in education every year. We have already built two biology schools in Kyiv and Bila Tserkva. After school, the children come to us for extracurricular classes. Ten hours a week: three hours of math, three hours of chemistry, and four hours of biology. It’s free for the children, but they’re taught by top-notch instructors,” said Yefimenko.
He noted, however, that the goal of this project is not to train a large number of employees specifically for the company.
“We don’t need a very large number of people at Biopharma; our revenue per employee is over one million dollars. We need talented people, but not a large number of them. I’m doing this as a charitable project; I want to build 25 such schools in Ukraine. I want these people to start creating their own companies in the biotech sector. This is impossible to achieve with the current level of school and university education. It requires people with highly specialized training. And I hope that we will be able to train such people; they will come to us so that we can help them or invest in them, and create these companies together with them. My goal is to create the conditions for such an ecosystem,” Yefimenko noted.
He announced that the immediate plans include opening two more biology schools, in Uzhhorod and Lviv, which will begin operations this fall.
“Biofarma” is a Ukrainian biotechnology company engaged in plasma collection and specializing in the production of plasma for the manufacture of blood products.
biology schools, biotechnology, EDUCATION, Yefimenko, БІОФАРМА
During the war, the proportion of women among the unemployed rose to 81%, Stanislav Pavlenko, deputy director of the State Employment Center (SEC), said in comments to the “Interfax-Ukraine” news agency on Monday.
“While women accounted for 55% of the unemployed before the start of the full-scale war, today that proportion has risen to 81%,” Pavlenko said.
He also added that a pilot program has been in effect since 2025, allowing Ukrainian women to learn trades in fields traditionally considered male-dominated.
“Under the program’s terms, training is provided in 31 professions. A mandatory condition is that women must be employed upon completion of their training,” Pavlenko said.
Since the beginning of the year, 402 women have been enrolled in such training as part of the project.
At the same time, Pavlenko noted that “in Ukraine, data on the unemployment rate is calculated by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine based on labor force surveys.” However, starting in 2022, the results of these surveys have not been published by the statistics agency.
“According to the latest published data, in 2021 the unemployment rate (based on the methodology of the International Labor Organization) among the population aged 15–70 stood at 9.9% of the labor force,” said the official from the State Employment Service.
Labor market, State Employment Service, UNEMPLOYMENT, vocational training, WOMEN
Ukrainian clinics have signed more than 100 memorandums of understanding as part of the international medical partnership program launched under the patronage of Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska.
According to the Ministry of Health, 26 of these memorandums were signed with medical institutions in France and are being implemented with the support of Expertise France, the French interministerial agency for international cooperation and development.
For example, as part of the partnership, the Chernihiv Regional Children’s Hospital is collaborating with the University Hospital of Lille, and the Chernihiv Regional Psychoneurological Hospital is collaborating with the University Hospital of Nîmes.
The Ministry of Health notes that in June 2024, the governments of Ukraine and France signed an intergovernmental grant agreement totaling 200 million euros, part of which is allocated to the healthcare sector and critical infrastructure: seven agreements in the healthcare sector have been signed, totaling 51 million euros. In addition, in 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ratified framework agreements between Ukraine and France on cooperation in the reconstruction and modernization of hospitals and in oncology diagnostics.
FRANCE, international partnership, MEDICINE, Ministry of Health
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, the winners of the fifth “Mykolaychuk OPEN” audience film festival, which took place from June 13 to 20, were announced in Chernivtsi.
This was reported by the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema, citing its Facebook page.
As part of the festival, the jury selected the winners of three competition programs: the national short film competition, the international feature film competition, and the music video competition.
The winner of the national short film competition was the film “Natural Balance” by director Oleksandr Myronyuk. The film “The Inaccessibles” by Kirill Zemlyanoy received a Special Jury Mention; the Jury Prize went to “A Brief Guide to Breaking Up” by Varvara Zaritskaya; and the AMO Pictures Special Mention was awarded to “Tell Me a Fairy Tale” by Diana Anikeeva.
In the international feature-length competition, the top prize went to the film “About People and Meat” by director Jan Jong-hyun. The same film also received the Jury Prize. The jury’s special mention was awarded to the film “Queen at Sea” by director Lance Hammer, while the special prize for second place went to “Rock, Grass, and Cars” by director H. M. Kravioto.
In the music video competition, the Audience Choice Award went to “Limb” by the band Small Depo and the Third Assault Brigade, directed by Sofiko. The jury selected “Mad Dog” by the band Oi FUSK, directed by Illia Dutsyk, as the winner.
The Mykolaychuk OPEN Festival is an international audience-driven film festival held annually in Chernivtsi in honor of Ukrainian actor, director, and screenwriter Ivan Mykolaychuk.
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1178492.html
The cow herd in Ukraine will continue to shrink and, as of January 1, 2028, could fall to 917,000 head, compared to an estimated 1.055 million head at the beginning of 2026, while milk production, after many years of decline, will stabilize at around 6.7 million metric tons per year, according to the study “The Dairy Industry of Ukraine in the Context of European Integration.”
Vadym Chagarovsky, Chairman of the Ukrainian Dairy Enterprises Association, noted during the study’s presentation at Agro Ukraine Week 2026 that despite the steady decline in the cow herd in Ukraine, productivity is rising and the volume of milk sent for processing is increasing.
According to the study, the total dairy cow herd across all farm categories decreased from 2.018 million head in 2018 to 1.055 million head in 2026, a decline of 48%.
The largest decline is occurring on private farms, where the herd size decreased by 55% between 2018 and 2026—to 660 thousand head—and may fall to 500 thousand head by 2028.
At the same time, following a prolonged decline, the herd size at agricultural enterprises is projected to grow from 395 thousand head in 2026 to 417 thousand head in 2028.
Milk production in Ukraine has also declined in recent years—from 10.2 million metric tons in 2017 to 6.9 million metric tons in 2025, or by 33%.
At the same time, the study’s authors predict that the long-standing decline in milk production will come to an end and that production will stabilize at 6.7 million metric tons in 2026–2027.
Milk production at agricultural enterprises will continue to grow—from 3.4 million metric tons in 2026 to 3.7 million metric tons in 2027—while production on private farms will decrease from 3.3 million metric tons to 3 million metric tons, respectively. The share of industrial milk production is forecast to increase from 46% in 2025 to 55% in 2027.
Chagarovsky also emphasized that the Ukrainian dairy industry retains its potential for growth thanks to industrial production and the modernization of enterprises.
According to the study, Ukraine’s dairy industry currently produces 6.9 million metric tons of milk per year, accounts for about 0.25% of GDP, and generates 124 billion hryvnia in output. Ukraine’s share of global milk production stands at 0.7%.
To transition to an industrial model of sector development and increase production to 10 million metric tons of milk per year, investments totaling EUR9 billion are needed to establish a raw material base. Specifically, this includes increasing the herd by 750,000 cows and constructing approximately 700 industrial dairy farms. According to the study’s authors, an additional EUR6 billion needs to be allocated to modernizing and expanding processing capacities.
The study “Ukraine’s Dairy Industry in the Context of European Integration” was prepared by the Ukrainian Dairy Industry Association.
Cow, dairy industry, EUROPEAN INTEGRATION, INVESTMENTS, MILK, PRODUCTION
The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine has published a draft order that provides for a 30% increase in rail freight rates effective August 1, 2026, and the standardization of rates for the transportation of empty railcars.
According to the explanatory note accompanying the document, the need to revise the rates stems from the deteriorating financial condition of JSC “Ukrzaliznytsia,” whose revenues are insufficient to cover current expenses. The ministry noted that the last tariff revision took place nearly four years ago, while between July 2022 and April 2026, the industrial producer price index rose by 252.1%.
According to the Ministry of Development, in 2025, freight volumes decreased by 12.5% compared to the previous year, and Ukrzaliznytsia’s net loss amounted to 7.6 billion UAH. In the first four months of 2026, the loss reached 9.3 billion UAH.
The ministry noted that without tariff indexation, the company’s projected net loss for 2026 will exceed 13 billion hryvnias, and the funding shortfall will reach over 26 billion hryvnias.
The draft order also provides for the completion of the unification of tariffs for the transportation of empty railcars. For railcars used for unloading cargo in tariff classes 1 and 2, tariffs will increase by approximately 60%, while for railcars used for cargo in tariff class 3, they will remain unchanged.
The Ministry of Development expects that the proposed changes will allow Ukrzaliznytsia to partially cover its funding shortfall in 2026 and secure additional financial resources amounting to approximately 8.6 billion UAH.
