The Ukrainian Red Cross (URC) and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine conducted joint exercises in the Rivne region, the URC reported on Facebook on Saturday.
“Our cooperation with the State Emergency Service of Ukraine is an example of unity that saves lives. We are developing joint training platforms, strengthening the capacity of communities, and helping those who are the first to respond to emergencies. Today, the Ukrainian Red Cross is integrated into the territorial subsystems of the Unified State Civil Protection System in 20 regions. We have become part of the state response mechanism and plan to complete integration at the regional level by May 2026,” said Maxim Dotsenko, Director General of the Ukrainian Red Cross, at the opening of the exercises.
According to Vladimir Demchuk, Deputy Chairman of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, such exercises are not only a training of technical skills, but also a rehearsal of interaction between structures that act as a single team at a critical moment.
“We are grateful to the Ukrainian Red Cross for its support, equipment, training opportunities, and constant readiness to help,” Demchuk said.
During the exercises, rescuers and volunteers from the Ukrainian Red Cross rapid response teams from five regions practiced coordinating their response to emergencies.
Participants worked at four locations, practicing rescue operations for victims trapped under rubble, responding to the consequences of chemical and radiation incidents, extinguishing fires during road accidents, and decontaminating victims at a decontamination station.
In addition, the Ukrainian Red Cross and the State Emergency Service of Ukraine signed an agreement on the joint use of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine’s training ground in the Rivne region.
As part of the event, the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Rivne region received a modular house, which will serve as a space for training and coordinating actions during exercises. In addition, 95 sets of firefighting equipment were transferred to volunteer firefighting teams in the territorial communities of the Rivne region.
Moldovan President Maia Sandu signed a decree on Friday appointing economist and entrepreneur Alexander Munteanu as prime minister after her party won last month’s parliamentary elections.
The decree was published on the Moldovan president’s website.
“I wish him success in forming a government that will gain the trust of parliament and meet the most important expectations of citizens: protecting peace, preparing the country for EU accession, strengthening the economy, and improving people’s living standards,” the head of state said.
According to the document, “the designated candidate must present to parliament a team and a management program in order to obtain a vote of confidence and invest the new government of the Republic of Moldova.”
According to the Moldovan publication Point, Sandu signed the decree after consultations with the Action and Solidarity Party (PAS).
It is noted that Munteanu is an economist, professor, and entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in international investment.
According to open sources, Munteanu lived in Ukraine for 20 years. He is 61 years old. He calls himself “an American of Moldovan origin” and has not previously been involved in politics. He is a successful businessman, founder of the investment company 4i Capital Partners, operating in Moldova, Ukraine, and Belarus, and has experience working for companies such as WNISEF/Horizon Capital and Dragon Capital.
Moldova is a unitary parliamentary republic.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Working Group on Bribery has invited Ukraine to join the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and become a full member of the relevant Working Group.
According to Serhiy Ionushas, a member of the Ukrainian parliament and chair of the parliamentary committee on law enforcement, the basis for this process was bill No. 11443, which was prepared by the committee and adopted by the Verkhovna Rada.
“Cooperation between Ukraine and the OECD is important for our country, because accession to the Convention will allow us to expand international cooperation in the investigation of corruption offences. In addition, it will strengthen Ukraine’s reputation as a reliable partner and at the same time contribute to attracting investment to our country. It is noteworthy that our partners have noted Ukraine’s significant progress in the fight against corruption and the implementation of the necessary anti-corruption mechanisms,” the politician said.
According to him, this was made possible, in particular, thanks to the coordinated work of the committee members with representatives of the working group under the President of Ukraine, led by the head of the President’s Office, Andriy Yermak, during the drafting of bill No. 11443.
“We have made serious efforts to ensure that Ukraine becomes a full member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Working Group on Bribery. And now the Committee continues to work in this direction, introducing international standards into domestic legislation,” Ionushas emphasized.
A total of 38 leading economies are members of the OECD. The organization already provides Ukraine with expert support and analytics.
As reported, on December 4, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada voted in favor of bill No. 11443 on improving mechanisms for holding legal entities accountable for bribing foreign officials. As noted in the explanatory note to the document, the law ensures Ukraine’s fulfillment of its obligations to implement the OECD Council’s recommendation on further combating bribery of foreign officials in international business transactions and introducing an effective mechanism for holding legal entities accountable, which will comply with the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Officials in International Business Transactions.
In particular, the bill provides for the possibility of applying special confiscation on the basis of a court decision to apply criminal law measures to a legal entity. According to the draft law, additional (non-financial) criminal law measures may be applied to a legal entity in the form of a temporary restriction on the activities of the legal entity or a temporary restriction on the acquisition of rights and/or benefits.
The draft law also provides for an increase in the amount of fines imposed on legal entities as the main criminal law measure.
The Tourist Organization of Tivat recorded an increase in tourist traffic over the first nine months of 2025, the organization said at a press conference. According to TOT, 125,000 tourist arrivals were registered in Tivat over eight months, which is 4% more than in the same period of 2024. The total number of overnight stays reached 1.05 million, reports the Telegram channel “Serbian Economist.”
The most numerous guests were tourists from Serbia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Germany, and Israel, with a noticeable increase in the number of travelers from the United States, said TOT director Nina Lakičević.
According to TOT surveys, most tourists in Tivat are high-income visitors. Around 60% of visitors had returned to Tivat more than twice, while for one third of tourists it was their first visit, but the majority plan to come again.
The tourism sector remains a key driver of Montenegro’s economy, accounting for around 25% of the country’s GDP. In 2025 there has been recovery and growth after the difficult years of 2020–2021, with a gradual shift of focus from mass tourism to sustainable and high-end tourism.
According to Monstat and the Ministry of Tourism, Montenegro received more than 2.4 million tourists in January–September 2025, which is 6% more than a year earlier. The country is seeing growing investment in high-class hotels, yachting and gastronomic tourism (including projects in Porto Montenegro, Luštica Bay, and Budva).
Experts note that further growth will depend on modernization of infrastructure, transport accessibility, development of regional airports, and eco-certification of accommodation facilities.
Source – https://t.me/relocationrs
As of October 24, farmers harvested 37.560 million tons of grain and legumes from 8.400 million hectares, which is 73% of the area sown with these crops, according to the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture on its website.
Last year, on the same date, 45.1 million tons of grain were harvested from 9.7 million hectares, meaning that this year’s figures are 16.7% and 13.4% lower, respectively, mainly due to the later start of the corn harvest.
As noted by the Ministry of Economy, 7.71 million tons of corn have been harvested from 1.31 million hectares, while last year at approximately the same date, 15.4 million tons were harvested from 2.7 million hectares.
As for wheat, its harvest is slightly higher than last year’s – 22.80 million tons from 5.05 million hectares compared to 22.30 million tons from 4.9 million hectares, while barley is slightly lower – 5.37 million tons from 1.35 million hectares compared to 5.50 million tons from 1.41 million hectares.
This year’s pea harvest is significantly higher – 662,300 tons from 271,500 hectares compared to 465,300 tons from 212,200 hectares last year, while buckwheat and millet are still significantly lower – 83,300 tons versus 126,900 tons and 61,500 tons versus 159,500 tons, respectively.
The harvest of other cereals and legumes this year reached 876,700 tons from 317,600 hectares as of October 24, while last year it amounted to 1.1 million tons on the same date.
It is noted that among the leaders are, in particular, the Odesa region – 3.80 million tons from an area of 1.14 million hectares, Poltava – 2.86 million tons from 603.3 thousand hectares, Khmelnytskyi region – 2.55 million tons from 365,200 hectares, and Chernihiv region – 2.52 million tons from 407,700 hectares.
The harvest of wheat, barley, and peas has been completed, according to the Ministry of Economy.
As for oilseeds, the rapeseed harvest has already been completed, and it turned out to be only slightly less than last year’s – 3.32 million tons against 3.5 million tons from almost equal areas of about 1.3 million hectares.
However, the harvest of soybeans and sunflowers is still ongoing, and there is a significant lag: 3.50 million tons of soybeans have been harvested from 1.52 million hectares, compared to 5.6 million tons from 2.5 million hectares on the same date last year, while sunflower seeds – 7.84 million tons from 4.24 million hectares compared to 9.5 million tons from 4.6 million hectares.
In addition, sugar beet harvesting is also lagging behind: 5.64 million tons have been harvested from an area of 108,100 hectares, compared to 8.3 million tons from 170,600 hectares on the same date last year.
According to the Ministry of Economy, sunflowers have been harvested from 82% of the sown area, soybeans from 70%, and sugar beets from 55%.
In its Inflation Report published at the end of July, the National Bank of Ukraine lowered its forecast for this year’s grain harvest from 61.7 million tons to 57.9 million tons, and for oilseeds from 22 million tons to 21 million tons.
The NBU recalled that last year, the grain harvest in Ukraine fell to 56.2 million tons from 59.8 million tons in 2023, while oilseeds fell from 21.7 million tons to 20 million tons.
According to forecasts by Deputy Minister of Economy Taras Vysotsky, this year’s grain harvest will be around 56 million tons, the same as last year.
Export changes in % to previous period in 2024-2025
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
