Google has decided to maintain special conditions for Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) until the end of the war, exempting them from paying for Google Workspace, which was introduced in the rest of the world on July 1, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has said.
“Since July, Google has been introducing a paid subscription to Google Workspace, but we have agreed on special conditions for our small and medium-sized enterprises. Until the end of the full-scale war, these services will be free,” Fedorov wrote on the Telegram channel on Monday.
He also thanked Google for its regular assistance and support to Ukraine, in particular, for providing the country with $15 million in assistance and free use of Google Workspace by Ukrainian teachers, as well as donating 43,000 laptops to schools.
Google Workspace includes corporate mail, cloud storage and other services.
The Ukraine Recovery Plan for 2022-2032 includes a number of projects in the agro-industrial complex, the implementation of which will require an investment of at least $37 billion, including a project for the development of processing in the agricultural sector in accordance with the Green Deal principles, for which it is planned to raise $10.2 billion.
It is proposed to increase the production of starch, syrups, gluten, lecithin, protein, premixes, meat and milk as the key directions for the development of processing in the agro-industrial complex, according to a detailed document provided to Interfax-Ukraine by Secretary of the National Council for Ukraine Recovery Danylo Hetmantsev.
It is also planned to attract $4 billion of investments in the construction of an irrigation system on a total area of 1 million hectares, $7.7 billion in increasing the production of agricultural products with high added value, $1.6 billion in the reclamation of war-damaged lands, $5.5 billion in increasing livestock production and $1 billion to promote the transition of the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex to “green” development.
According to the document, it is planned to attract $6.5 billion by 2032 to restore 10,500 Ukrainian agricultural enterprises after the war.
The plan for the recovery of Ukraine specifies that the main problems of the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex are the low degree of agricultural products processing, the generation of insignificant amounts of surplus value by the agricultural sector, and the country’s dependence on “oversized imports.”
As reported, the Ukraine Recovery Plan is aimed at accelerating sustainable economic growth. The plan defines a list of national programs to achieve the key results.
In total, the program provides for the implementation of 850 projects during 2022-2032, which will allow Ukraine to enter the TOP-25 countries in the world in terms of the Human Capital Index and the Economic Complexity Index.
The application for the transit of Russian gas through the territory of Ukraine remains at the level of the previous days and months.
Europe has been without Nord Stream gas for the second day.
The energy deficit was aggravated by a two-fold drop in electricity production due to wind.
TRANSIT THROUGH UKRAINE
“Operator GTS Ukrainy” accepted from “Gazprom” an application for gas transit for Tuesday in the amount of 41.2 million cubic meters. m, evidenced by OGTSU data. The indicator on Monday was 41.1 million cubic meters. m. Powers are declared only at one of the two points of entry into the Ukrainian GTS – the Suzha gas measuring station. The application was not accepted for the corridor through the Sokhranovka GIS.
OGTSU announced a force majeure for the acceptance of gas for transit through the GIS station “Sochranovka”, referring to the fact that it cannot carry out operational and technological control over the compressor station “Novopskov”.
Kyiv offered to transfer transit volumes from “Sochranovka” to GIS “Suja”, but “Gazprom” stated that this was technologically impossible.
At the same time, Ukraine insists that payment should still be made on the basis of the estimated volume of transportation of the long-term contract of 109 million cubic meters. m per day according to the “download or pay” rule. “Naftogaz” claims that it is now not receiving payment for transit and is preparing to apply to arbitration.
EUROPEAN MARKET
At the beginning of the new week, the production of electricity due to wind in Europe fell to 7.6% of the energy balance in the EU, while the average indicator for the past week was 15%, according to data from the WindEurope association.
Europe continues to pump gas into underground storage facilities. At the moment, the reserves are about 62.08%, according to data from the Gas Infrastructure Europe association. The increase over the last day was 0.46 percentage points. The current level of reserves in the UGC of Europe lags behind the five-year average by 1.24 percentage points. Since this year, the EU has introduced strict regulation of the use of underground storage facilities. By the beginning of the selection season in 2022, the reserves should be at least 80% of the capacity of the UHP, and 90% thereafter.
European terminals for receiving LNG in July are operating at an average capacity of 63% of their capacity, which is equal to the June indicator. For now, the region remains a premium market for LNG, as prices in Asia are slightly lower than European hubs.
Spot prices for gas in Europe against the background of the Nord Stream repair shutdown are at the level of $1,690 per thousand cubic meters. In Asia, prices are noticeably lower – the August futures on the JKM Platts index (Japan Korea Marker – reflects the spot market value of cargo delivered to Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan) is trading at $1,390.
Ambassadors of the “Big Seven” (G7) countries recalled the critical importance of the timely appointment of the head of the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) in Ukraine.
“As we discussed with Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanyshina on July 7, the G7 ambassadors reiterate that the timely appointment of the head of the SAP is critically important for strengthening the anti-corruption institutions of Ukraine,” the message on Twitter states.
As reported, the European Commission recommended granting Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership “with the understanding that seven steps will be taken.” One of these steps was called “completion of the appointment of the new head of the SAP by certifying the identified winner of the competition” and the launch and completion of the process of selection and appointment of the new director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU).
The competition commission for the election of the head of the SAP from 2021 cannot approve the results of the competition, according to which NABU detective Alexander Klymenko received 246 points for the position of head of the SAP, and prosecutor of the Prosecutor General’s Office Andrey Sinyuk – 229 points.
The updated memorandum of economic and financial policy of Ukraine with the International Monetary Fund provided for the election of a new head of the SAP by December 2021.
The Ukrainian Football Championship will start on August 23, the Minister of Youth and Sports Vadym Gutzait reports.
“The Ministry of Youth Sports, together with the Ukrainian Football Association, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, the National Police, the State Security Service, the regional and Kyiv city military administrations will develop the Procedure for organizing and holding competitions under martial law,” the press service of the Ministry of Sports said in a statement with reference to Gutzeit.
It is noted that the matches will be held on the territory of Ukraine, without spectators, with the permission of the local military administrations and with mandatory observance of all safety rules.
“Stadiums must have a place for shelter equipped to all standards. During air strikes, matches will be stopped – football players, coaches and the entire staff must quickly take shelter. The presence of representatives of local military administrations, medical brigades and the State Emergency Service is mandatory,” the message says .
The Government Emergency Response Team of Ukraine CERT-UA, operating under Gosspetssvyaz, reported the distribution of dangerous e-mails with the subject “Unified Official Report on the Humanitarian Situation. Ukraine”.
“The letters come from compromised e-mail addresses of state structures of Ukraine and contain attachments entitled “Humanitarian catastrophe of Ukraine since February 24, 2022″ in the form of an XLS document,” the press service of Gosspetssvyaz reported on Monday.
“The document contains a macro, the activation of which will lead to the launch of the file “baseupd.exe”, its execution will lead to the defeat of the computer by the malicious program Cobalt Strike Beacon”, – warned experts.
Activity is tracked by identifier UAC-0056. Gosspetssvyaz noted that these attackers had already carried out a cyberattack last week.
