The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading and as a whole draft law No. 13200 ‘On Mentoring,’ which introduces the institution of individual and corporate mentoring for children aged 10 and older and young people from vulnerable groups.
As explained by the relevant committee, mentoring currently covers a very narrow circle of children, and there is a lack of clear mechanisms for organising mentoring – from the selection and training of mentors to support, accounting and control. The new law is intended to expand the circle of mentoring recipients and standardise procedures.
The document provides for two forms of mentoring – individual and corporate, establishes requirements for mentors (in particular, age 21 and Ukrainian citizenship), launches a social service for organising mentoring and defines the entities that organise and control the process. Mechanisms for accounting, monitoring, support and state supervision in the field of mentoring are also being introduced.
According to information from the materials for the second reading, an age threshold of 10 years has been set for children, and the mentoring agreement is to be tripartite: mentor, parents or legal representatives of the child and social service provider. Mentoring is only possible with the consent of the legal representatives and the child themselves.
Commenting on the adoption of the law to Interfax-Ukraine, lawyer Oleksiy Shevchuk emphasised the novelty of the mechanism for older children.
‘The key point is that it is not necessary to establish guardianship or custody for children aged 10 and older,’ he said.
The law will come into force after it is signed by the president and officially published in accordance with the established procedure.
On 18 December, the Chinese authorities introduced an independent customs regime for Hainan Island, which allows for freer importation of foreign goods and expands the range of products eligible for zero tariffs, according to Xinhua.
This is one of the most significant steps in China’s efforts to promote free trade and greater economic openness, the publication notes.
The island, which covers an area of more than 30,000 square kilometres, has been declared a special customs control zone. The business environment for foreign companies here will be more in line with international standards, with lower taxes and production costs, as well as expanded access to services, including healthcare and education. Businesses will be able to use Hainan as a platform to enter the huge mainland Chinese market, Xinhua notes.
The list of goods exempt from customs duties at the port of Hainan has been expanded from 1,900 to 6,600, and the share of such goods in total shipments will increase from 21% to 74%.
In addition, in accordance with current regulations, these goods can be shipped to mainland China after processing, creating added value of at least 30%.
Hainan became a special economic zone in China in 1988. According to official data, more than 9,600 new enterprises with foreign investment have been established in the province since 2020.
Hainan’s GDP last year was $113 billion, which is comparable to the world’s 70th largest economy, according to the World Bank.
The Enforcement Division of the State Enforcement Service has once again listed the Lustdorf sports and recreation complex (Odessa) on the OpenMarket electronic platform (SE “SETAM” of the Ministry of Justice) at a starting price of UAH 191.9 million.
According to the SETAM press service, the total area of the complex is 7,700 square meters. The lot includes an administrative building, a hotel, a sports and recreation complex, a football field, stands, boiler rooms, etc. The land plot is not included in the lot.
The auction is scheduled for January 1, 2026. The guarantee deposit is UAH 9.5 million.
As reported, in 2021, the Kyiv District Court of Odesa upheld the claim of the National Bank of Ukraine against the former owner of Imexbank, Leonid Klimov, and ruled to sell the Lyustdorf sports and recreation complex in Odesa at an open auction to repay UAH 309 million of the bank’s debt on the stabilization loan provided to it.
As the owner of Imexbank, Klimov entered into surety and mortgage agreements with the National Bank in 2014, assuming personal obligations to repay the regulator’s debt on the bank’s stabilization loans.
In January 2016, the National Bank went to court to collect the debt through legal proceedings, as Klimov had failed to fulfill his obligations under the guarantee agreement.
On January 26, 2015, the NBU decided to classify Imexbank as insolvent, and on May 21, 2015, it revoked the bank’s license and liquidated the financial institution.
Since the beginning of 2025, 324 MW of new wind power capacity has been built in Ukraine, while in the previous two years—between 2022 and the first quarter of 2025—248 MW of new wind power capacity was commissioned. This was announced by Andriy Konechenkov, Chairman of the Board of the Ukrainian Wind Energy Association (UWEA), at a press conference entitled “Wind Energy and UHE in 2025: A Year of New Decisions, Challenges, and Growth” at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Friday.
“Today, about 40% of this volume has already been connected to the grid and is generating electricity, the rest is in the testing stage, and companies promise us that, if not by the end of this year, then by the end of the first quarter of 2026, all 324 MW will be generating electricity,” he said.
In addition, according to Konechenkov, new wind farm projects with a total capacity of 4.5 GW are still being implemented in Ukraine, of which 44% are located in the west of the country, 34% in the central regions, and the remaining 22% in the south of Ukraine, primarily in the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions.
According to the UEA, the total capacity of wind farms installed in Ukraine is currently 2.3 GW, of which 1.3 GW are located in the temporarily occupied territory.
The country also has 534 MW of total installed capacity of energy storage systems (BESS).
Ukrproduct Group, a major Ukrainian producer of packaged butter and processed cheese, maintained stable production levels at its main production sites in January-September 2025 and implemented business continuity protocols that had been refined since the start of the full-scale invasion.
“Exports accounted for 20.4% of total sales, strengthening the group’s position as one of Ukraine’s leading dairy exporters,” the company said in a report published on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday.
At the same time, processed cheese production volumes fell by 8.5%, which the company attributed to lower demand in the domestic market.
At the same time, Ukrproduct’s sales of processed cheese products increased by 8.1% due to consumers switching to cheaper alternatives. Sales of butter on the domestic market declined due to a significant decrease in profitability, but overall they increased by 25.8% due to exports.
The increase in exports of spreads boosted sales of spreads by 5% and sales of skimmed milk powder and skimmed milk products by 74.7%.
At the same time, kombucha sales increased by 30.6%, while kvass sales decreased by 13.3% due to cooler summer weather and a reduction in the number of keg sales outlets, the company explained.
During the period in question, Ukrproduct increased its sales of sunflower seeds more than fourfold, which it attributed to the diversification of its product range.
“Profitability remained under pressure due to dependence on diesel fuel, product spoilage, inflation in raw material prices, rising personnel costs, and continued instability in the energy sector,” the company said.
Ukrproduct Group is a large Ukrainian producer of packaged oil, processed cheese, and kvass. It produces dairy products under the trademarks Nash Molokhnik, Nash Sirok, Molendam, and Vershkovaya Dolina, as well as kvass under the trademark Arsenyevsky.
Ukrproduct Group consists of two plants in Zhytomyr (one specializing in processed cheese, the other producing kvass), as well as two enterprises in the Khmelnytskyi region: a milk plant in Starokostiantyniv, which produces packaged butter, spreads, cheese, and dry milk, and a dairy plant in Letychiv.
The group’s production facilities have the capacity to produce up to 70,000 tons of dairy products per year.
In January–September 2025, the KSG Agro agricultural holding increased its revenue from the sale of live pigs by 48.3% to $9.22 million, compared to $6.21 million in the same period of 2024.
According to the agricultural holding’s report, published on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Thursday, profits in the pig farming segment for the specified period amounted to almost $1.936 million.
“Despite the war, there is a stable demand for high-quality pork in Ukraine. This summer, our herd was replenished with 500 purebred sows from Danish Pig Genetics, supplied by Breeders of Denmark A/S (Denmark). This made it possible to renew the pig population with 4,000 of the most stable, highly productive F-1 hybrid sows,” said Sergey Kasyanov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KSG Agro.
He assured that all pork produced at the agricultural holding’s pig farms goes to the domestic market, which makes it possible to effectively ensure Ukraine’s food security during the war.
The vertically integrated holding company KSG Agro is engaged in pig breeding, as well as the production, storage, processing, and sale of grain and oilseeds. Its land bank in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions is about 21,000 hectares.
According to KSG Agro, it is one of the top five pork producers in Ukraine.
In 2023, the agricultural holding began implementing a “network-centric” strategy, under which it will transition from developing a large location to a number of smaller pig farms located in different regions of the country.
In January-September 2025, KSG Agro received $5.96 million in operating profit and $6.92 million in gross profit, which is 68% and 31% more than in the same period of 2024.
