Kyivstar, the largest electronic communications operator, and SHERIFF, a holding of security companies, including SHERIFF Demining, which is a certified mine action operator, have signed a memorandum of cooperation.
Ukraine is currently the most mined country in the world. According to the State Emergency Service, about 175 thousand square kilometers of territory are contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance. That is why Kyivstar and SHERIFF Demining are starting to work on a technology for humanitarian demining operators.
The companies will jointly test RTK signal correction services, which will ensure high accuracy of mapping contaminated areas and marking explosive objects.
“Helping to rebuild the country is an important mission not only for Kyivstar, but also for the entire Ukrainian business. To speed up the process of demining and rebuilding the country, we are ready to share our experience in implementing the latest technologies that will save lives of Ukrainians,” comments Ilya Poltakov, Kyivstar’s Director of New Business Development. “In particular, for safe demining it is important to ensure the identification of the exact coordinates of mines and the boundaries of contaminated areas. This requires high-quality GNSS equipment with RTK technology support.”
Kyivstar will provide its partners with access to RTK technology and provide recommendations on the selection and use of GNSS receivers. The company’s specialists will also conduct analytical research to test positioning and location technologies.
“We expect that cooperation with Kyivstar will help us to significantly improve the accuracy of explosive ordnance detection and subsequent demining. This will allow us to clean up contaminated areas faster and safer and return them to peaceful life,” commented Yevhen Antypenko, SHERIFF Director.
About Kyivstar
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian electronic communications operator, which as of December 2023 served about 24 million mobile subscribers and more than 1.1 million Home Internet subscribers. The company provides services using a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G, Big Data, Cloud solutions, RTK cybersecurity services, digital TV, etc. Kyivstar is developing new telecom technologies in Ukraine and plans to invest USD 600 million in this area over the next three years. The company is helping the country overcome the challenges of wartime and has allocated over UAH 1.8 billion over the past two years to support the Armed Forces, subscribers, local communities, and charitable initiatives. The sole shareholder of Kyivstar is the international VEON Group headquartered in the Netherlands. The Group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ (New York) and Euronext (Amsterdam) stock exchanges. Kyivstar has been operating in Ukraine for more than 25 years and is recognized as the largest taxpayer in the telecom market, the best employer and a socially responsible company.
For more information: pr@kyivstar.net, www.kyivstar.ua
About SHERIFF
SHERIFF Security Holding is a national security operator that has been operating in Ukraine since 2003 and is a leader in the security services market. The company offers the maximum portfolio of services in its field: demining (certified mine action operator), a license to provide collection services and a NBU permit for a cash processing and transfer center, physical security, fire alarm maintenance and monitoring, fire extinguisher recharging, installation of video surveillance systems (including analytical systems) and access control, monitoring and response to burglar alarms, as well as Transfer customer support services, cargo escort, armored taxi, and other services. More than 40,000 clients have entrusted their security to SHERIFF.
For more information: pr@sheriff.com.ua, www.sheriff.com.ua
In the summer, Ukraine is expected to experience uneven precipitation across the country, which is why there is a high probability of extreme fire danger – such periods may occur in June and August throughout the country, said Natalia Ptukha, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center.
“According to tentative forecasts, for this season, for 2024, from April to September, the average monthly temperature is expected to be 1-2 degrees higher than normal,” she said during a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine on Friday.
According to her, in the summer there is a high probability of uneven precipitation both across the territory of Ukraine and in principle in time. “As a result, there is a high probability of long periods of extreme fire danger, including 7-10 days without precipitation. These are mainly June and August throughout Ukraine. In the southern regions, this can also be observed in May and September,” explained Ptukha.
The Polish Trade Inspectorate for Quality of Agricultural and Food Products (IJHARS) has fined 1.5 million zlotys (about $380,000) to an importing company that imported technical rapeseed and fodder wheat to the Polish market and sold them to a number of local companies as food agricultural products, according to the website of the agency.
It is specified that the trade inspection checked 3,882 tons of rapeseed and revealed the facts of changing the declared purpose from technical to consumer use and the declared country of origin from Ukraine to Poland.
A similar decision on the importing company in the form of imposing a fine was issued for the shipment of 7679 tons of wheat, which also revealed a discrepancy between the purpose of the product and its country of origin.
“Agri-food products intended for technical purposes are generally not produced, stored or transported in accordance with the safety standards required for food products. They are competitively priced because they are not subject to the provisions of food law, and businesses selling them do not incur the costs associated with meeting higher safety standards,” the agency said.
The trade inspectorate, based on the analysis of seized documentation, found that the fined company had put on the market more than 11,500 tons of counterfeit rapeseed and wheat imported from Ukraine and resold the goods to six counterparties from the Pomeranian and Lubelskie voivodships.
“Regardless of the administrative decision issued, the case is also the subject of criminal proceedings under the supervision of the regional prosecutor’s office in Rzeszów,” the office emphasized.
The fine issued to IJHARS in Lublin is not an isolated case, the Trade Inspection Office emphasized. Over the past few months, 6 other companies were fined for similar violations in the supply of wheat, barley, poultry meat and for obstructing inspectors from inspecting cargoes from Ukraine.
According to Przemyslaw Rzodkiewicz, chief inspector of commodity quality of agricultural and food products, inspectors checked more than 82,000 shipments in 2023.
“In order to intensify activities to ensure proper quality and positive image of food products in Poland, we have created a special group in IJHARS to combat food fraud and will soon launch a campaign together with numerous partners to counter misinformation about this category of goods,” he said.
Kyivpastrans has signed a contract with Anadolu Isuzu Otomotiv Sanayii Ve Ticaret A.Ş. (Turkey) for the supply of 12-meter fully low-floor buses for EUR 18.595 million with financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
This information is contained in the notification of the award of the contract in the framework of the tender published in the Official Journal of the EU, which is cited by AllTransUA.
The tender for the supply of buses to Kyiv was announced back in March 2021, and the proposals were opened in November of the same year after several postponements, but the evaluation of the proposals was suspended due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.
The first batch of buses, according to the tender announcement, is to be delivered within 8 months of receiving the advance payment, and the entire contract is designed for 22 months.
According to AllTransUA, the second bidder was also the Turkish company Otokar.
The number of buses is not specified in the announcement, but according to media reports, it can be up to 85 buses.
As reported, earlier Ukrainian bus manufacturers noted that they either could not participate in EIB tenders due to the conditions or preferred foreign participants.
In 2020, Kyiv purchased 200 Belarusian MAZ buses on lease.
In April, wrestling will return to Ukrainian television. Kyivstar TV is launching a WWE channel on its cinema and television platform, which will broadcast the world’s most famous wrestling competitions, including WrestleMania.
Previously, the WWE show was broadcast in Ukraine from 2009 to 2013 on QTV. Back then, it was very popular among viewers. In addition to the fights themselves, viewers remembered the extremely accurate commentary from Oleksandr Belkin and Serhiy Novak, who will become commentators for the next matches on the WWE channel.
When asked how large the wrestling audience is, Belkin says that it is very difficult to make any assumptions today, as the last Ukrainian-language program was broadcast at the end of 2013.
The next match, WrestleMania 40, will take place in Philadelphia on April 7 and 8 at 02:00 Kyiv time. This two-day event deserves special attention of wrestling fans, as it will feature Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
“The audience should expect, first of all, a bright, unforgettable, sports show! A show where dreams are made or broken, a show of real, best professionals in their field! For me personally, the main question is: will this Wrestlemania bring another victory to Roman Reigns? I hope not (smiles – ed.), but we’ll see! I’ll be waiting for everyone live, two nights in a row,” said Alexander Belkin.
WrestleMania is one of the oldest and most significant events in wrestling. Participation in this event is considered the main achievement of a wrestler in his career. It is where championship matches and competitions between the most conflicting athletes take place. This sport is a theatrical wrestling event that combines elements of athleticism, martial arts, and theatrical performance.
The WWE channel is available on Kyivstar TV’s movie and TV platform in the Online TV section. The platform’s users will be able to find the recordings of the matches in the video library, so they can watch their favorite sporting events at their convenience.
“We are glad to be the first to bring wrestling back to Ukraine, and moreover, to allow fans to watch their favorite shows with a legendary commentator in their native language,” commented Pavlo Rybak, CEO of Kyivstar TV.
In addition to WrestleMania 40, Kyivstar TV will broadcast such shows as Money in the Bank, SummerSlam Detroit, Crown Jewel, Survivor Series: War Games, Royal Rumble, Backlash France, Bash in Berlin. Weekly events will also be available for viewing: WWE RAW on Tuesdays, WWE SMAKEDOWN on Saturdays, and WWE NXT on Wednesdays.
How to watch the WWE channel?
You can watch wrestling competitions from any device: smartphone, laptop, tablet or Smart TV. To do this, you need to download the application or open the Kyivstar TV website, which are available to users of all mobile operators and Internet providers, and subscribe.
WWE channel is included in all standard packages – Basic, Family, Premium HD.
Kyivstar subscribers can also activate Superpower by Kyivstar TV to watch content on the platform under the terms of their tariff. Super Power is an optional service available in the tariff at no extra charge.
You can choose your Superpower and check the possibility of its activation in the My Kyivstar application, by calling the toll-free number 500 or by dialing a special USSD code *500*4# or by contacting consultants in Kyivstar stores. By choosing Super Power Kyivstar TV, you will have access to 400 TV channels and 18,000 movies, series, shows and cartoons after the subscription fee is recharged.
Subscribers of other operators can connect premium access to the movie and TV platform for 14 days for UAH 29.
For reference:
Kyivstar TV is a joint project of 1+1 media and Kyivstar, founded on December 11, 2019. It is a film and television platform that provides users with access to hundreds of thousands of hours of domestic and foreign content, live programs, and regularly offers exclusive pre-premiere screenings of projects. The platform has more than 400 TV channels and a VOD library of 20 thousand movies, series, cartoons, and shows. Find out more about new releases on the platform on the Kino for TV telegram channel.
Ukraine’s international reserves in March, according to preliminary estimates of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), increased by 18%, or $6.7 billion – to $43 billion 762.7 million.
“Such dynamics is due to significant (more than $9 billion) volumes of receipts from international partners, which exceeded the net sale of currency by the National Bank and the country’s debt payments in foreign currency,” the NBU website explained on Friday.
In addition, the National Bank noted that $9.32 billion was transferred to foreign currency accounts of the Cabinet of Ministers in March, while $363.5 million was paid for servicing and repayment of the state debt.
As the regulator noted, Ukraine also paid $728.5m to the International Monetary Fund.
Among other factors determining the volume of reserves, the NBU named operations on the foreign exchange market: in March, the regulator’s net sale of foreign currency amounted to $1.79bn, which is 18.5% more than in the previous month.
According to balance sheet data, the NBU sold $1.81 bln on the foreign exchange market and bought $25.9 mln in reserves.
The central bank also indicated that the current volume of reserves was positively affected by the revaluation of the value of financial instruments, adding $266.3 million.
“The current volume of international reserves provides funding for 5.8 months of future imports,” the regulator stated.
As reported, the NBU in January reduced the forecast of Ukraine’s international reserves at the end of 2024 to $40.4 billion from $44.7 billion and to $42.1 billion from $45 billion at the end of 2025. Earlier, Experts Club analytical center and Maxim Urakin released a video analysis of how the GDP of the world’s countries has changed in recent years, more detailed video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=BsZmIUERHSBJrO_3 Subscribe to Experts Club YouTube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
EXPERTS CLUB, GDP, International reserves of Ukraine, MACROECONOMICS, NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE, NBU, URAKIN
