The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food and the World Bank plan to expand cooperation in the development of Ukraine’s agribusiness sector.
The agreement was reached following talks between Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval and World Bank Managing Director for Operations Anna Bjerde, the ministry’s press service reported.
According to the report, the parties agreed to expand cooperation in three areas: preparing analytical data for decision-making in the agribusiness sector; institutional support for the Ministry of Agrarian Policy with a focus on integration into EU policies and standards; implementation of programs for more than 200,000 small and medium-sized farmers as the basis for Ukraine’s agricultural sustainability.
“Our goal is not only to preserve but also to transform Ukrainian agriculture in line with EU standards and opportunities. And the advocacy platform provided today by the World Bank team in Vienna is actually the key to faster and more successful European integration,” Koval emphasized.
In addition, during the meeting with World Bank representatives led by Regional Director for Sustainable Development in Europe and Central Asia Sameh Wahba, the possibility of deepening cooperation in the field of irrigation was discussed. In particular, they talked about restarting the irrigation system development plan to get help in more regions of Ukraine.
Cool weather with short-term rains and thunderstorms will continue in Ukraine in the coming days, in particular on June 13 – at night in the northern regions, during the day, except for Transcarpathia, the Carpathians and the southern part, short-term rains, in some places thunderstorms, the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center reported.
The wind will be mainly northwesterly, 7-12 m/s, during the day in Ukraine, except in the far west, with gusts of 15-20 m/s. The temperature in the south of the country will be 11-16° at night and 21-26° during the day; in the rest of the country, it will be 8-13° at night and 15-20° during the day (in the Carpathians, it will be 1-6° at night and 10-15° during the day).
In Kyiv on June 13, there will be light rain at night and moderate short-term rain during the day. The wind will be northwesterly, 7-12 m/s, with gusts of 15-18 m/s during the day. The temperature at night will be 10-12°, during the day 17-19°.
According to the Boris Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory in Kyiv, on June 13, the highest daytime temperature was 33.6°C in 1946, and the lowest nighttime temperature was 4.8°C in 1885.
On Saturday, June 14, there will be no precipitation at night, and moderate precipitation during the day in Ukraine, with light short-term rains in some western regions and thunderstorms in some places. The wind will be northwesterly, 7-12 m/s, with gusts of 15-20 m/s in some places in the northeast of the country during the day. The temperature at night will be 10-15°, during the day 18-23°, in the south of the country up to 25°; in the
Carpathians at night 4-9° above zero, during the day 12-17°.
In Kyiv, June 14 will be dry at night, with short showers during the day. The wind will be northwesterly, 7-12 m/s.
The temperature at night will be 12-14°, during the day 20-22°.
Ukraine’s first residential complex with individual five-second safety zones will appear in Lviv, according to the press service of the complex’s developer, Lviv City, an architectural company Archimatika.
“The most common damage during shelling is debris caused by shock waves. A safety room is an individual room that provides additional protection from such debris. In Ukraine, there is currently no experience in designing and implementing such rooms. Together with the customer, we consulted with the State Emergency Service and studied Israeli experience. In general, this development is a cooperation between several parties and the adaptation of foreign experience to Ukrainian realities,” said architect Oleksandr Stolovyi.
According to the company, the Lviv City complex from VD Group (on the territory of the former Lvivprylad) will have, like other Ukrainian new buildings, a standard shelter, but with expanded functionality—a medical unit, a children’s room, a room for cooking, etc. In addition, each apartment will be equipped with an individual additional protection zone — a safety room. In the event of an unexpected threat, it can be reached in 5 seconds — the time it takes to get behind “two walls.” Like standard shelters (SPP), safety rooms do not protect against direct missile strikes, but they provide additional protection against the most common types of damage.
Safety rooms are grouped around an inter-apartment corridor, i.e., as far as possible from the outer walls, deep inside the apartments. This minimizes the impact of the blast wave and the debris it causes.
Each such room is equipped with thick reinforced concrete walls, reinforced doors, an autonomous ventilation system, and an alarm. When there is no shelling, the room can be used as a regular room—an office, a closet, a storage room, etc.
Equally important, the reinforced walls of the safe rooms grouped around the inter-apartment corridor also act as additional stiffening diaphragms. In other words, they increase the rigidity and stability of the entire building.
“It’s a kind of internal core. Under physical impact within the normal load limits from an explosion, except for a direct hit, it will not collapse. It gives people an extra chance if there is no time to get to the main shelter. If the blast-proof doors that close the room are blocked, there is an alarm. A person can signal that they are inside and need to be rescued. This is an additional measure that is not yet standardized in Ukraine. Therefore, we urge everyone to follow safety rules and use the shelters at the parking lot level,” Stolovoy concluded.
As reported, in 2024, the western Ukrainian developer VD Group bought the LvivTech.City project from Ukrainian entrepreneur Vasyl Khmelnytskyi UFuture. After being redesigned, the project is being implemented under the Lviv.City brand. There are five phases planned, with 11 buildings ranging from 7 to 11 stories high, a total of 500 apartments, as well as a modern preschool, hospital, coworking areas, and an extensive commercial component.
The construction company VD Group (EDRPOU code 39475589) has been operating since 2017, with Vasyl Kavlak as the ultimate beneficiary. The developer is implementing projects in Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, Lviv, and Bukovel, with four already commissioned and 13 under construction.
Electronics retailer Yabluka plans to acquire the Citrus chain and develop its business model, according to Yabluka founder Artur Gatonok.
“I would say the opposite: it is Citrus that is absorbing Yabluka — we will develop its business model,” he told Forbes Ukraine.
Gatunok did not disclose the amount of the deal.
As of June 2025, the Citrus chain has about 40 stores in Ukraine, as well as an online store. In addition to its online store, the Yabluka chain has about 30 retail outlets.
Citrus is the first Ukrainian chain of stores specializing in gadgets and accessories. The company was founded in 2000. According to Opendatabot, the owner of Importmax LLC, which develops the chain, is Victoria Manzaruk (80.5%) and ZNVKIF Stewart (19.5%). According to the results of 2024, the company increased its net income by 9.8% to UAH 4.8 billion, and its net profit by 3.2 times to UAH 26.4 million.
According to data from open sources, the Yabluka brand is registered to Innovative Technologies of the XXI Century LLC. According to Forbes Ukraine, the company’s revenue last year decreased by 41% to UAH 232.7 million.
As reported, in September 2024, Igor Khizhnyak, CEO of Comfy, one of Ukraine’s largest electronics retailers, accused certain retailers, including Yabluka, of illegally importing iPhones.
The domestic market for peas is seeing a decline in prices—before the start of the new season, quotations are falling by several percent, but more and more traders are showing interest in this crop for the first time, which could lead to an increase in demand and prices, according to the analytical cooperative Pusk, created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council (VAR).
“We are currently seeing a slight decline in the price of peas before the start of the season. Theoretically, prices could fall further to 13,500–14,000 UAH/ton. But at the same time, many traders who previously did not work with peas at all are starting to actively engage in purchases. Niche crops usually offer good margins, especially for export. This motivates the market,” analysts say.
They emphasize that in 2025, the area under peas increased: last year, farmers sowed 212,000 hectares, while this year — over 250,000 hectares. However, even these volumes remain relatively small compared to other crops.
At the same time, the opening of the Chinese market is an important factor: demand from China could quickly absorb all the additional production.
“We have seen some growth in acreage, but not millions of hectares. China has opened its market, and a significant portion of the peas will likely go there. That means that an additional 40,000 hectares of pea acreage is not such a large resource. In this situation, a deficit is quite possible — demand will exceed supply,” analysts predict.
After a short-term decline, pea prices may stabilize and rise in mid-July-August. A similar situation already occurred last year, when prices began to rise instead of falling as expected.
“The pea market may again see levels of 15,000–16,000 UAH/ton. Everything will depend on logistics, weather conditions, and the pace of Chinese imports,” concluded Pusk.
The industrial and construction group Kovalska has upgraded the equipment at its Kovalska Lab Innovation and Technology Center, investing UAH 6.6 million of its own funds and international grants in the first stage of modernization, according to its press service.
“The first to be modernized was the raw materials intake control laboratory: we carried out a comprehensive renovation, purchased modern equipment, and rearranged the space, dismantling the old foundations. We also purchased the latest laboratory equipment from leading European manufacturers: German Testing, Italian Controls, and Matest,” said Viktoria Spivak, director of Kovalska Lab.
It is noted that the new equipment will allow expanding the range of testing capabilities of the laboratory in accordance with European requirements, as well as increasing the productivity of work and the accuracy of the results obtained, since all devices operate in automatic mode. Specialized software minimizes the human factor in the measurement process.
Among the new additions is high-precision equipment for measuring the main quality indicators of cement, active mineral additives, and inert fillers.
According to Spivak, the company introduces dozens of new products into production every year.
Kovalska Lab has been operating as Kovalska’s in-house R&D division for over 13 years. It brings together more than 40 specialists and covers 10 areas of work, from the development of innovative concretes to product certification. The laboratory has recently opened its services to external customers. Its range of capabilities includes laboratory and field testing, new product development, customized technical solutions, and full technological support for projects.
According to Spivak, the company systematically invests in the development of its own R&D department, updates its material and technical equipment, and improves its research approaches in order to be able to develop product recipes tailored to customer needs.
The Kovalskaya Industrial and Construction Group is Ukraine’s largest manufacturer of building materials and one of the leading developers. The company’s products are represented by a number of brands, including Beton vid Kovalskoi, Avenue paving slabs, and Siltek building mixtures. The enterprises carry out a full cycle of work from raw material extraction and product manufacturing to the construction of buildings for various purposes. As of April 2025, the Group’s production facilities are operating in the Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Lviv, and Chernihiv regions. Kovalskaya’s aerated concrete plant is located in the temporarily occupied territory in Nova Kakhovka.
