The Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, National Minorities and Interethnic Relations recommends that the Verkhovna Rada adopt in the first reading the presidential draft law on multiple citizenship (No. 11469).
According to the press service of the Verkhovna Rada’s apparatus, this decision was made at a meeting of the committee on Tuesday.
As previously reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy submitted draft law No. 11469 “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on Ensuring the Exercise of the Right to Acquire and Retain Ukrainian Citizenship” to the Verkhovna Rada.
According to the explanatory note to the draft law, the goals and objectives of the draft law are to update the legal regulation of Ukrainian citizenship, taking into account the need to ensure national security and national interests of Ukraine.
The draft law also simplifies the procedure for acquiring Ukrainian citizenship and improves the regulation of the legal status of foreigners and stateless persons who, in accordance with the procedure established by the legislation of Ukraine, are performing/have performed military service under contract in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Special Transport Service, the National Guard of Ukraine or are one of the spouses of such a person or a child of such a person.
It is noted that the adoption of this draft law will expand the opportunities for certain categories of foreigners and stateless persons to acquire Ukrainian citizenship. At the same time, multiple citizenship will not be introduced for people with Russian citizenship or citizens of states that do not recognize the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.
The Verkhovna Rada has ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The corresponding bill No. 0285 on the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and amendments to it as a whole was voted for by 281 MPs at the plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada on Wednesday, Oleksiy Honcharenko, a member of the European Solidarity faction, said in a Telegram message on Wednesday.
Ukraine ratified the Rome Statute with declarations on the procedure for relations with the ICC and for seven years after the Rome Statute enters into force “does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over its citizens for crimes under Article 8 of the Rome Statute” (war crimes).
The draft law confirms Ukraine’s recognition of the ICC’s jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes since November 21, 2013, and declares recognition of the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression since July 17, 2018 (the date of entry into force of the amendments adopted by the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute in Kampala on the crime of aggression).
As noted in the explanatory note to the draft law, ratification of the Rome Statute will allow Ukraine to become a full member of the International Criminal Court. After the Rome Statute enters into force, Ukraine will participate in the work of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute and will be able to submit candidates for the election of judges and prosecutors to the ICC. Membership in the Rome Statute will help prevent and deter the commission of particularly serious crimes in the future. Ukraine will be able to effectively cooperate with the ICC, which will help ensure that those responsible for particularly serious crimes that are of concern to the international community are punished.
The housing price index in Ukraine at the end of April-June 2024 amounted to 110%, while in the same period of 2023 the index amounted to 114.2%, the State Statistics Service reported. According to its data, in the primary market housing prices in the second quarter of 2024 accelerated growth to 12.6% against 11.9% in the first quarter of last year. The growth in prices for one- and two-bedroom apartments amounted to 12.8%, three-room apartments – 12.5%.
In the secondary market, prices slowed down to 8.7% in April-June 2024 against 15.6% in the same period of 2023. Thus, the price growth for one-bedroom apartments amounted to 9%, two-bedroom apartments – 8.8%, three-bedroom apartments – 8.7%.
Compared to the previous quarter, housing prices rose by an average of 0.5%, while in the primary market – increased by 2.1%, in the secondary market – decreased by 0.3%.
According to the State Statistics Committee, since the beginning of the year, the prices on the “primary market” increased by an average of 15.1%, with one-room apartments – by 15.2%, two-room apartments – by 15%, three-room apartments – by 15.1%. In the secondary market, prices rose by 12.4%, 11.9% and 12%, respectively.
The State Statistics Committee pointed out that the figures are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territories and part of the territories where there are (were) hostilities.
Nova Poshta LLC has taken out a $20 million loan from Credit Agricole Bank to buy out a cargo and postal terminal in Lviv region to improve the company’s logistics capacities in western Ukraine.
“The loan term is five years. The money will be used to develop a logistics hub in Lviv,” Nova Poshta said in a statement on Monday.
It is specified that the loan funds will also be used to automate and install new modern sorting lines, which will triple the hub’s capacity.
“This is not the first loan to Nova Poshta from Credit Agricole, and the new agreement is a consistent development of our strategic cooperation. When the time comes to finance large-scale international projects, we want to have a reliable credit reputation with leading European banks,” Petro Fokov, CFO of NOVA Group, said in the release.
Nova Poshta LLC, the largest logistics operator in Ukraine from the NOVA group, intends to acquire Nova Development LLC (Sokilnyky village, Lviv district, Lviv region), whose main activity is the lease and operation of its own or leased real estate.
As reported, at the end of February this year, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine granted Nova Poshta permission to purchase more than 50% of Nova Development, the legal successor of Best Logistics Group, which was engaged in the construction and leasing of logistics complexes and was part of the full-cycle development holding Globus.
“Best Logistics Group has already cooperated with Nova Poshta during the construction of a sorting terminal in Lviv in 2019, with investments of almost EUR 10 million, with Nova Poshta’s investment of approximately EUR 4 million. According to Vyacheslav Klimov, co-founder of NOVA Group, Nova Poshta was responsible for the equipment, while Best Logistics Group was responsible for the construction of the building.
The authorized capital of Nova Development, according to the state register, is UAH 186.4 million, while that of Best Logistics Group was UAH 1 million. Volodymyr Fenyk is listed as a beneficiary through the corporate venture investment fund Magistrate Invest.
According to Nova Poshta’s report for the first half of 2024, its debt to banks as of the middle of this year amounted to UAH 3.4 billion, including UAH 489.2 million to a subsidiary of a French bank, UAH 1 billion 474.6 million to an Austrian bank, UAH 420.3 million to a Hungarian bank, and UAH 4.4 million to a German bank, as well as two loans from a Ukrainian bank worth UAH 747.7 million.
In the first half of 2024, Nova Poshta LLC increased its unconsolidated net income by 20.1% to UAH 20.12 billion, but the company’s net profit decreased by 38.1% to UAH 1.49 billion.
On August 20, the Operator of the Gas Transportation System of Ukraine LLC announced a tender for voluntary liability insurance of members of the supervisory board, CEO, and members of the directorate. According to the electronic public procurement system Prozorro, the expected cost of purchasing the services is UAH 1.6 million.
According to the system, the last day for submission of tender offers is September 2.
tender insurance, Ukraine's gas transportation system operator
Change in prices of food raw materials from Ukraine (forecast up to 2025), %
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
