The Ukrainian bakery chain Lviv Croissants is opening its first bakery in California (USA), according to the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers (URTC).
The 204 sq. m Lviv Croissants bakery, which opened in the Quail Pointe shopping center in Fair Oaks (Sacramento County), offers a wide range of products, including croissants with various fillings, soups, salads, desserts, and its own roasted coffee.
This is the chain’s first bakery in California and an important step in its expansion in the US. Last year, Lviv Croissants opened a store in Georgia.
According to the company’s website, the brand entered the European market in September 2022.
Currently, the chain has 178 locations throughout Ukraine, 11 in Poland, and one each in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. In April 2025, the Lviv Croissants chain opened its first outlet in South Korea. Korean franchisees invested about $250,000 in the bakery, and the total investment in the opening was about $500,000.
BAKERY, California, Lviv Croissants, Quail Pointe Shopping Center
Germany is one of the countries that enjoy the greatest trust and sympathy among Ukrainians. This is evidenced by the results of an all-Ukrainian survey conducted by Active Group in cooperation with the Experts Club information and analytical center in August 2025.
According to the survey, 76.7% of Ukrainian citizens have a positive attitude toward Germany (51.3% are mostly positive, 25.3% are completely positive). Only 4.0% of respondents expressed a negative attitude (3.3% – mostly negative, 0.7% – completely negative). Another 18.7% of Ukrainians are neutral, and 1.0% admitted that they do not know enough about this country.
“For Ukrainians, Germany is first and foremost a guarantor of stability in the European Union, a country that made a huge contribution to supporting Ukraine during the war. At the same time, economic cooperation is also essential: in the first half of 2025, bilateral trade exceeded $5.63 billion, of which Ukrainian exports amounted to $1.58 billion and imports from Germany exceeded $4.05 billion. The negative balance of about $2.5 billion demonstrates that we import more than we export, but this reflects the high demand for German technology and equipment,” said Maksym Urakin, founder of Experts Club.
In turn, Oleksandr Poznyi, co-founder of Active Group, emphasized that the positive attitude of Ukrainians goes far beyond the economy.
“Germany is viewed as a strategic ally in the political and security dimensions. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have found refuge there, and large-scale financial and military assistance plays a key role in the stability of our country. The combination of these factors explains why more than three-quarters of Ukrainians have a positive attitude towards Germany and why this country remains among the absolute leaders of trust in our society,” he added.
The survey was part of a broader study of international sympathies and antipathies of Ukrainians in the current geopolitical context.
The full video is available here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgC9TPnMoMI&t
You can subscribe to the Experts Club YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
ACTIVE GROUP, DIPLOMACY, EXPERTS CLUB, GERMANY, Poznyi, SOCIOLOGY, TRADE, URAKIN
Ukraine will receive $88 million in funding as part of the World Bank’s Resilient, Inclusive, and Environmentally Sustainable Entrepreneurship (RISE) project to support the private sector. The funds are provided under a guarantee from the Japanese government to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
“As a result of the conclusion of this agreement, it is planned to attract $80 million ($8 million – capitalization of interest on the loan, which will be used to pay a one-time commission and a commission for obligations) to the general fund of the state budget,” the Ministry of Finance said in a press release on Tuesday.
According to the press release, the loan agreement was signed by Ukraine’s Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Oleksiy Sobolev and the World Bank’s Regional Director for Eastern Europe Bob Som.
The RISE project aims to address critical issues that hinder the sustainability, growth, and sustainable development of the private sector. The project is scheduled to be implemented between 2024 and 2027. The total amount of funding for the implementation period is planned to exceed $1 billion, of which $593 million has been preliminarily allocated.
The Ministry of Finance also noted that the total budget assistance from Japan attracted through World Bank mechanisms since February 2022 has exceeded $8.7 billion.
RISE is a World Bank project implemented using the Program-for-Results (PforR) financial instrument. Part of PforR aims to review and support results in the following areas: improving the effectiveness of state support for SMEs with a focus on green competitiveness; improving the business environment and digital government services for businesses; ensuring SMEs’ access to export markets.
Cyprus intends to develop cooperation with Mariupol University, which was evacuated from Mariupol after the start of the full-scale war and continues to operate in territory controlled by Ukraine. This was stated by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Cyprus to Ukraine, Michalis Firillas, during a meeting with a representative of Interfax-Ukraine.
“Cyprus is a European hub for educational programs, and we see great potential in cooperation with Ukrainian universities. In particular, we are interested in developing a partnership with Mariupol University, as Mariupol has historically been the center of the Greek community in Ukraine. This creates a natural bridge for educational and cultural projects,” the diplomat said.
Firilas stressed that educational cooperation should become an important component of bilateral relations. “We want students and teachers from Ukraine to have more opportunities to participate in academic programs in Cyprus, and Cypriot universities to participate in joint research and exchanges,” he said.
According to the ambassador, Cyprus is also ready to expand scholarship programs in cooperation with Mariupol University so that Ukrainian students can receive a quality European education and participate in international academic initiatives. He added that this would contribute to the integration of Ukrainian educational institutions into the European academic space.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accepted credentials from the newly appointed ambassadors of Cyprus, Michalis Firillas, Latvia, Andrejs Pildegovičs, and Pakistan, Kanwar Adnan Ahmed Khan, according to the press service.
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Michalis Firillas discussed increasing sanctions pressure on Russia, food security, joint projects within the European Union, the security situation in the region, and cooperation with partners, particularly in multilateral formats,” the statement said.
In addition, Zelensky and the Cypriot ambassador discussed Ukraine’s future membership in the European Union and priorities during Cyprus’ presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2026.
The president also discussed with Pildegovičs the development of the PURL initiative, increasing pressure on Russia, and humanitarian aid. The ambassador assured that Latvia would actively promote Ukraine’s interests at the UN next year when the country becomes a non-permanent member of the organization.
Zelensky discussed with the Pakistani ambassador the development of bilateral cooperation, particularly in the defense and military-technical spheres, as well as partnership in trade and food.
The attitude of Ukrainians toward China remains complex and controversial: a neutral position prevails, but among those who have decided, negative assessments significantly outweigh positive ones. This is evidenced by the results of an all-Ukrainian survey conducted by Active Group in cooperation with the Experts Club information and analytical center in August 2025.
According to the survey, 44.7% of Ukrainian citizens expressed a neutral attitude toward China. At the same time, 40.7% of respondents indicated that their assessment was negative (30.0% – mostly negative, 10.7% – completely negative). Only 12.0% of Ukrainians have a positive attitude toward China (8.3% – mostly positive, 3.7% – completely positive). Another 3.0% of respondents admitted that they did not know enough about the country to express their own opinion.
“Negative attitudes toward China among Ukrainians are primarily related to its foreign policy stance, which many people find ambiguous in the context of global events. However, the economic factor is extremely important: in the first half of 2025, China remained Ukraine’s No. 1 trading partner. Our exports to China amounted to more than $846 million, while imports exceeded $8.1 billion. This means that China’s influence on the Ukrainian economy is extremely significant, and it is simply impossible to ignore it,” said Maksym Urakin, founder of Experts Club.
In his turn, Oleksandr Poznyi, co-founder of Active Group, drew attention to the importance of separating economic interests from public perception.
“The survey shows that Ukrainians are not ready to unequivocally perceive China as an ally. For many, it remains an alienated state, and a significant share of negative assessments is explained by the global political context and lack of trust. At the same time, economic cooperation is so extensive that it could become the basis for a gradual change in public opinion in the future,” he added.
The poll is part of a broader study that analyzes international sympathies and antipathies of Ukrainians in the current geopolitical environment.
The full video can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgC9TPnMoMI&t
You can subscribe to the Experts Club YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
ACTIVE GROUP, CHINA, DIPLOMACY, EXPERTS CLUB, Poznyi, SOCIOLOGY, TRADE, URAKIN
