President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz discussed the issues of vaccination, European integration of Ukraine, as well as joint investment projects.
“Discussed the Ukrainian-Austrian cooperation with Sebastian Kurz by phone, in particular joint investment projects. Informed him about the security situation in Donbas. Exchanged views on the course of vaccination and support for Ukraine’s European integration aspirations,” Zelensky wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
According to the head of the Ukrainian state, he invited Kurz to visit Ukraine.
A group of MPs from the Servant of the People faction have proposed to raise the retirement age of Ukrainians to 61 years. The text of bill No. 5566 was published on the website of the Verkhovna Rada.
Among the authors of the bill are Head of the committee on social policy and protection of the veterans’s rights Halyna Tretiakova, as well as MPs Iryna Vereschuk, Mariana Bezuhla, Olha Vasylevska-Smahliuk and others.
The authors of the legislative initiative propose to increase the retirement age by one month annually, starting from January 1, 2023. This increase will raise the retirement age in Ukraine by one year and will reach 61 years until 2035.
At the same time, the bill provides that women who have given birth to a child and raised him or her to the age of six have a right to reduce the retirement age by six months.
The bill proposes to amend Articles 26 and 115 of the law on compulsory state pension insurance.
If adopted, the bill will enter into force on January 1, 2022.
From December 31, 2023, Ukraine will limit to a minimum the content of phosphates and other phosphorus compounds in household detergents (up to 0.1-0.2 gram), and from December 31 of the same year to December 31, 2026 will gradually limit the content of phosphates in industrial detergents (up to 0.05-0.1%). The relevant resolution on amendments to the technical regulations for detergents was adopted by the government at a session on Wednesday.
According to it, the document suggests limiting the content of phosphates in laundry detergents for household washing machines to 0.2 gram at the recommended wash dose for the main washing machine cycle, and in household dishwashers – up to 0.1 gram at a standard dose for loading a dishwasher with a table set for 12 persons.
In addition, from the same date, the mass fraction of total phosphorus in detergents for hand washing, laundry and cleaning, as well as in other detergents, is limited to 0.05% phosphorus.
At the same time, the previous technical regulation included only a washing powder (with a limitation of the phosphorus content to 0.5 gram in the dose recommended for washing in a washing machine) and a detergent for household dishwashers (0.3 gram), but the new edition suggests replacing a washing powder into a detergent for laundry and detailing into products for household and industrial use.
Limits on the content of total phosphorus in detergents used for industrial laundry, washing and cleaning are introduced in stages: in detergents for industrial washing machines it should be reduced from 0.1% from December 31, 2023 to 0.05% as of December 31, 2026, and for industrial dishwashers – from 0.25% to 0.1%.
At the same time, the voluntary application of the established restrictions is possible before the specified dates.
According to the document, the Cabinet of Ministers ordered the Ministry of Economy to update the List of National Standards for determining methods of testing detergents for compliance with the technical regulations within six months from the date of entry into force of the resolution.
In addition, the ministry, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources, the State Customs Service and the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, must develop and submit for approval to the Cabinet of Ministers a draft plan of measures for state market supervision and control of products for compliance with the technical regulations.
The regulation is effective six months from the date of publication (excluding the established dates for the reduction of phosphate content).
The explanatory note to the document notes that, according to official statistics, in recent years, there has been a tendency for a significant amount of phosphate-containing pollutants to enter the water bodies of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the introduction of restrictions on the content of phosphates in detergents allows expecting a significant improvement of the ecological state of Ukrainian water bodies, primarily large rivers – the main sources of drinking water supply, in particular, reducing their eutrophication (bio-mass generation in a water-body).
U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (Democratic Party), Chris Murphy (Democratic Party) and Rob Portman (Republican Party) have pledged bipartisan support to Ukraine.
At a briefing following a meeting with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Wednesday, Shaheen said the senators paid this visit to express their bipartisan support to the people of Ukraine, independence and the progress that Ukraine has made in reforms, and they had a very effective meeting with the President of Ukraine.
According to her, their meeting with the president started with a briefing from people from the area of combat operation about the current situation there.
Shaheen said the senators have a very clear picture of the challenges that Ukraine’s troops and everyone on the front face. This will help them so that when the senators return to the United States, they talk about the continuing need to support Ukraine’s efforts.
Senator Rob Portman said they discussed with the president the importance of strengthening relations between Ukraine and the United States, providing even more effective military assistance so that Ukraine can defend itself.
Portman said they also talked about other assistance that the United States can provide, namely, in the area of economy, reform and countering Russian disinformation.
Senator Chris Murphy (Democratic Party, Conneticut) said that many have been done in Ukraine in a short period of time, but many serious challenges are still facing Ukraine. He said that the three senators will persuade colleagues in the Senate of the need to continue providing security assistance to Ukraine.
Murphy also said that ongoing reforms are also important to the U.S.-Ukrainian partnership. The senators spoke with President Zelensky about some specific reforms, namely reforming the SBU, guaranteeing NABU independence and continuing corporate governance reform.
Senator Shaheen said that Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Taran briefed the senators about Ukraine’s needs for weapons, and assured that she would inform Congress and the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden about them.
She also said that today the senators met with the Ukrainian defense minister, he was very specific about Ukraine’s weapons needs. The senators will convey this message to Congress and the administration in Washington, and they promised to continue supporting Ukraine’s security.
The volume of construction work performed in Ukraine in January-April 2021 decreased 5.3% compared to the same period in 2020.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-April 2021, the volume of construction work completed amounted to UAH 39.8 billion.
According to the statistics authority, in April 2021 the seasonally adjusted index of construction products amounted to 111.3% compared to the previous month, adjusted for the effect of calendar days compared to April 2020 it was 110.2%.
The State Statistics Service reported that in April 2021 compared to April 2020, an increase in the volume of construction work was observed in all segments of construction: in residential construction by 40.1%, nonresidential – by 4.5%, and engineering – by 2.5%.
The share of new construction of the total volume of completed construction work was 42.7%, the share of repair was 29.1%, and reconstruction and technical re-equipment was 28.2%.
An increase in the volume of construction work in January-April 2021 compared to January-April 2020 was recorded in Khmelnytsky (by 30.1%, to UAH 1 billion), Ternopil (by 32%, to UAH 766.1 million), Rivne ( by 25.9%, to UAH 754.5 million), Volyn (by 11.4%, to UAH 489 million), Kharkiv (by 9.4%, to UAH 4.5 billion), Donetsk (by 8.1%, to UAH 1.4 billion), Kyiv (by 5.2%, to UAH 2.6 billion) and Odesa (by 0.1%, to UAH 3 billion) regions.
In other regions, there was a decrease in construction volumes. The most significant drop was seen in Chernivtsi (by 50%), Kherson (by 32.9%) and Vinnytsia (by 30.3%) regions.
The statistics are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied Crimea and the temporarily occupied areas in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
As reported, the volume of construction work performed in Ukraine in 2020 increased 4% compared to 2019.
