The international golf tournament “Diplomatic Golf for Good” was held at the Lisnyky Golf Club as part of the celebration of Ukraine’s Independence Day.
The sporting top event of the year – the annual international golf tournament “Diplomatic Golf for Good” was held at the new Lisnyky Golf Club, which was built during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The tournament was supported by Ukrainian Junior Golf Champion Ulyana Novozhilova and Lisnyky Golf Club.
This is the sixth traditional Independence Day tournament among foreign and Ukrainian diplomats, world-class athletes, and representatives of international and Ukrainian business.
Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, as well as government officials, business elite, world-class athletes and veterans joined the game.
The main goal of the event is to create a platform for informal communication between representatives of different countries, to promote friendship and sports partnership among the nations of the world.
“’Diplomatic Golf for Good’ is an event that goes beyond the field and helps promote a positive image of the country, expand business ties, and most importantly, implement joint ideas and projects. This is true cultural diplomacy in action,” emphasized Inna Kostyria, the founder of the golf tournament.
The event was also attended by Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and representatives of diplomatic missions: Italy, France, Vietnam, Brazil, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, Indonesia, Egypt, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan.
Initial registrations of new passenger cars in Ukraine in August increased by 40% compared to the same month in 2023, to more than 8.1 thousand units, Ukravtoprom reports.
“This is a record figure for sales of new passenger cars over the past 32 months,” the association said in a telegram on Monday.
The leadership continues to be held by Japanese Toyota with 1248 cars registered, followed by Renault (738 units), and BMW (633 units). The top five also includes Skoda (538 units) and Volkswagen (483 units).
Renault Duster retained the title of the month’s bestseller (691 units).
As reported, in August 2023, the initial registrations of passenger cars doubled compared to August 2022 – to 5.79 thousand units, and the top five were Toyota (1118 units), Volkswagen (611 units), Renault (501 units), BMW (433 units), and Skoda (394 units).
According to Ukravtoprom, a total of more than 47.3 thousand new passenger cars were registered in Ukraine in January-August, which is 24% more than in the same period in 2023.
As reported, the market for new passenger cars in July this year, amid information about the introduction of a 15% military tax on passenger car buyers provided for by the government bill, increased by 20% by July 2023 and by 24% by June this year to 6.4 thousand units, after the market turned negative in June 2024.
At the end of August, it became known that the revised draft law on raising tax rates no longer contains this provision.
According to Ukravtoprom, in 2023, the first registrations of new passenger cars in Ukraine increased by 60.6% compared to 2022, to almost 61 thousand units.
FDI McDonald’s Ukraine Ltd, which develops the McDonald’s fast food chain in Ukraine, opened its tenth restaurant in Odesa on Friday at 2a Simon Litman Street, the fourth project in cooperation with a gas station and the first in cooperation with OKKO filling station.
“With today’s opening in Odesa, the company (…) is gradually increasing the number of restaurants in large cities,” the company’s press service quoted Vitaliy Stefurak, McDonald’s Development Director in Ukraine, as saying.
The new McDonald’s is located in a residential area near the entrance to the city from the M-05 Kyiv-Odesa highway. The new McDonald’s in Odesa is the fourth restaurant of the chain to be located directly on the territory of a gas station and the first project implemented in cooperation with OKKO filling station. Earlier, McDonald’s opened two restaurants in cooperation with KLO and one restaurant in cooperation with WOG. Another restaurant is currently under construction in cooperation with OKKO in Mukachevo (Zakarpattia region).
This location became the 103rd operating restaurant of the chain in Ukraine out of 118. The first McDonald’s restaurant in Ukraine was opened on May 24, 1997 in Kyiv.
As reported, on September 20, 2022, McDonald’s began a phased opening of restaurants in Ukraine. By February 24 of the same year, the chain had 109 restaurants in 24 cities across the country. As of August 2024, 103 restaurants are operating, and the chain has 118 restaurants.
At the end of 2023, it increased its revenue by 3.9 times compared to the previous year, to UAH 12.9 billion, according to Opendatabot. According to the financial results for 2023, the company’s net profit amounted to UAH 1.29 billion, compared to a loss of UAH 2 billion in 2022. The number of employees in 2023 increased by 7% to 9,614. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the participant of FDI in McDonald’s Ukraine Ltd. is MCD Europe Limited (100%, London, UK).
Stanislav Sheikhetov, who owns 8.979% of the shares of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company (Dnipro), has reduced his stake to 0%, according to the insurer’s information posted in the NSSMC system. It is noted that Kariama LLC became the owner of 8.979% of the company’s shares.
As reported, Ingosstrakh Insurance Company was registered in 2004. It specialized in providing services in the field of risk insurance. The company’s general partner in the sale of insurance services was PrivatBank.
Earlier, the National Bank informed the insurer that the information on its ownership structure made it impossible to identify persons who have a significant influence on the company’s management or operations. It argued that none of the insurer’s shareholders owns 10% or more of the shares, and there is no information on persons who, independent of formal ownership, have the ability to exert an equivalent influence on the management or activities of Ingosstrakh. According to the regulator, this is one of the signs of non-transparency of the ownership structure of insurers.
Since the insurance company did not bring its ownership structure in line with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation, on March 23, 2023, the NBU revoked the licenses of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company to conduct financial services business, and on March 29, it removed the insurance company from the State Register of Financial Institutions.
Companies engaged in the supply of electronic services declared UAH 5.29 billion in VAT to be paid in the first half of 2024, which is UAH 1.43 billion, or 36% more than in the same period of 2023, according to Danylo Hetmantsev, chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy.
“The campaign for declaring VAT liabilities for the first half of 2014 by non-residents engaged in the supply of electronic services to individuals has recently ended. So we have a positive result. We have 122 taxpayers who have declared EUR56.9 million and USD68.4 million. This is the equivalent of UAH5.289 billion,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Friday.
Hetmantsev noted that in 6 months of 2014, 15 more taxpayers were involved in taxation, including Aylo Billing Limited and Aylo Freesited LTD (adult entertainment services), Bright market, LLC (global commerce platform), Aptoide, S.A. (store and platform for the distribution of gaming applications).
At the same time, the leaders among VAT payers for digital services have not changed: the top 5 include Google, Apple, Meta platforms, Valve Corporation, and ETSY. According to Getmantsev, they did not wait for the deadline and have already paid their declared VAT liabilities.
“The acquisitions of the second quarter of this year can be attributed to the growth of the e-services market in Ukraine, an increase in the number of market participants, and the voluntary fulfillment of taxpayers’ tax obligations,” the head of the Financial Committee concluded.
Ukraine and Montenegro have started consultations on the preparation of a bilateral security agreement, the press service of the Ukrainian head of state said.
“Ukraine and Montenegro held a meeting on the conclusion of a bilateral security agreement. The document will contribute to strengthening security in Europe and deepening cooperation between the two countries,” – said in a message on the President’s website on Friday.
It is noted that today’s consultations were held by the Deputy Head of the Office of the President Igor Zhovkva. “We appreciate Montenegro’s unwavering position and unwavering support for Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion. We share common values and look forward to Montenegro’s assistance on Ukraine’s path to NATO membership. Ukraine and Montenegro also aspire to EU membership and undoubtedly already contribute to the security and prosperity of Europe,” Zhovkva said, quoted by the press service.
Ukraine concludes bilateral security agreements in pursuance of the G7 Joint Declaration adopted last year on July 12 in Vilnius. Twenty-five agreements have already been signed with the countries that supported it.
