St. Andrew’s Church has reopened in Kyiv after almost five years of restoration work, according to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
“The St. Andrew’s Church Museum is reopened. The restoration of one of the most famous baroque monuments of Ukraine took place in three stages: strengthening the hill; restoration of the external facades; work on the interiors,” the Ministry of Culture reported on Facebook.
The ministry said also that from December 15, everyone will be able to see the unique iconostasis as it was at the time of the author of the project, the architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.
As reported, on December 2, the press service of the Ministry of Culture announced the opening of St. Andrew’s Church online on January 12, the first service will be held in the church on December 13.
It is reported that the aim of the restoration was the desire to reveal the original solutions and vision of the architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, whose 320th birthday is celebrated this year.
By the end of 2020, Ukraine plans to attract a $170 million loan from the World Bank out of the $300 million provided, the Finance Ministry said on Monday.
“Today, on December 14, Ukraine and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed an agreement on the second additional financing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic for the Social Safety Nets Modernization Project,” the Ministry of Finance said in a message on the website.
“The main goal is social assistance and social services for low-income families, as well as assistance to those affected by the adverse economic impact of the pandemic,” the press service said, quoting Minister Serhiy Marchenko.
As the Ministry of Finance recalled, this is the second additional financing of the specified project, the total amount of the loan for it should be $750 million.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 14/12/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of December 14
One troy ounce=31.10 grams
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky took part in the International Climate Ambition Summit, which took place online on December 12, the presidential press service reported.
“This year, the event was attended by more than 70 heads of state and government, who recorded short video appeals outlining the ‘new and ambitious’ commitments of their states under the Paris Climate Agreement,” a message posted on Sunday morning reads.
In his video address, Zelensky said that this year Ukraine was particularly affected by climate change: prolonged droughts destroyed crops in a number of regions, large-scale forest fires in the east and devastating floods in the west. “Every inhabitant of the planet already feels the breath of global warming and suffers losses due to a passive attitude to climate policy,” the President stressed.
According to him, Ukraine has consistently adhered to its commitments to effectively implement the Sustainable Development Goals – 2030 and international climate agreements.
“In preparation for the Conference of the Parties to the Paris Agreement in Glasgow, we are working on a second nationally determined contribution. On this basis, we consider the target for greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 in all sectors of Ukraine’s economy in the range from 36% to 42% compared to 1990, i.e. a reduction of 58-64%,” Zelensky said.
In addition to the new commitments under the Paris Agreement, Ukraine is also working to improve the mechanisms of state financial support for climate policy, the President informed.
“Ukraine also seeks to align its climate policy and legislation with the European Green Deal. We are stepping up cooperation with the EU in the areas of energy efficiency, development of hydrogen energy and renewable energy sources, fair transformation of the coal sector and development of a national greenhouse gas emission allowance trading system,” the President noted.
“Ukraine’s long-term goal is to achieve carbon neutrality. We will make every effort to minimize the time to achieve this goal,” he added.
Also, according to the Head of State, Ukraine continues the process of revising its Energy Strategy, which provides for the development of renewable energy and gradual replacement of fossil fuels, including coal.
“We have started preparing a framework strategy for adaptation to climate change in Ukraine until 2030. The document will coordinate the work of various authorities at the national and local levels. Ukraine is and will remain one of the active and responsible participants in the global process of combating climate change and protecting the environment,” the President stressed.
The International Climate Ambition Summit 2020 is dedicated to the fifth anniversary of the Paris Climate Agreement (2015) and preparations for the next UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), which will be held in Glasgow, UK, in November 2021.
The event will be chaired by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Under Article 4 of the Paris Agreement, parties are required to report their Nationally Determined Contribution every five years, indicating progress relative to their current contribution, and reflecting the most likely ambition and respective capabilities in light of national circumstances. According to Ukraine’s first nationally determined contribution to the Paris Agreement, the country has committed itself not to exceed 60% in 2030 of its 1990 greenhouse gas emissions (or a 40% reduction since 1990, excluding the “Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry”).
The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on Saturday night decided to provide Ukraine with a $300 million loan for the Second additional financing aimed at overcoming the consequences of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic for the project “Modernization of social support system for the population of Ukraine.”
“Social protection measures, for the implementation of which a new loan is provided, will help the government of Ukraine finance social assistance programs in order to save about one million Ukrainians from falling below the poverty line,” the bank’s release quoted the words of its regional director for Eastern Europe (Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine) Arup Banerji.
The World Bank’s support for Ukraine to protect low-income citizens who have been severely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak is a powerful anti-poverty response, he said.
The World Bank reminds that the decision on the first additional financing for the above project in the amount of $150 million was made on April 30 this year.
According to the bank’s forecasts, due to the consequences of the pandemic, the poverty level in Ukraine could grow by 4 percentage points, reaching about 23% by the end of 2020.
Its experts report that the crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic requires the introduction of prompt emergency response measures in the country and the provision of emergency cash assistance to citizens. It also highlighted the need to strengthen social protection infrastructure and develop systems capable of delivering payments to people in times of crisis.
“The allocated funds will help Ukraine finance urgent measures in the field of social protection to overcome the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, which provide for emergency cash payments to those citizens and households who have lost their jobs or sources of income as a result of the pandemic,” the message says.
The second additional funding will support the introduction of an online social assistance system and the expansion of social benefits and pensions through direct money transfers to bank accounts. Payments to families with low income will be carried out under the current program of state social assistance to low-income families, the World Bank said.
The World Bank estimates that 60% of Ukrainian citizens who are on the brink of poverty due to the economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak are not yet recipients of social assistance under one of the existing social protection programs.
