Finnish President Alexander Stubb is likely to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting with US President Donald Trump, according to the Politico news website, citing unnamed diplomats and a source familiar with the matter.
“According to two European diplomats and a person familiar with the matter, there are plans to send at least one of Trump’s favorite interlocutors, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, along with Zelensky when he arrives in Washington on Monday for a meeting with Trump. The idea is that Stubb can help prevent any conflicts between Trump and Zelensky and convince the US president to include Europe in any further negotiations,” Politico writes.
“President Donald Trump’s friendly attitude toward Vladimir Putin on Friday has raised concerns among European leaders that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will not receive the same warm welcome. And they are taking steps to improve Kiev’s chances,” the publication notes.
As reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to discuss all the details of ending the war with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, August 18.
A significant queue of cars has formed at the Ukrainian-Hungarian border at the Luzhanka checkpoint (Zakarpattia region). According to eyewitnesses, motorists are forced to wait for many hours under the scorching sun, and traffic is moving extremely slowly — on average, three cars per hour.
People waiting in line complain about the unbearable conditions: lack of basic infrastructure, shortage of drinking water, and lengthy paperwork.
Many note that Ukrainian border guards are sluggish, which leads to a critical slowdown in traffic flow.
“We arrived at the border at 5:30 in the morning, we’ve been standing in the heat for eight hours, the line isn’t moving, this is mockery of citizens,” said a woman in line.
Eyewitnesses emphasize that this situation at the border is damaging Ukraine’s image and actually jeopardizing normal traffic with neighboring EU countries. “We’ve been standing here for over eight hours, the cars are barely moving, border guards are letting through a few cars an hour, and people aren’t being given any information,” one driver told local journalists.
Hundreds of cars periodically start honking en masse in protest against the inaction of border guards, but there is no response and no acceleration of the procedure for letting citizens through.
At the current pace of work at the checkpoint, people can spend a day or more at the border, which is unacceptable in the summer heat and with the high flow of volunteers, tourists, and transit passengers.
In this regard, an urgent response from the authorities is needed. The State Border Service and relevant ministries should immediately take measures to speed up the processing and ensure proper conditions for citizens. Otherwise, the Luzhanka checkpoint risks becoming a symbol of the inefficiency of the Ukrainian border control system.
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Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator, Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), which bought back its own Eurobonds worth nearly $7 million at the end of May following three offers to pay dividends, has announced a fourth similar tender at 85% of par value for a total of $3.945 million.
As stated in a notice on the Irish Stock Exchange, on August 1, the company made the fourth tranche of dividend payments in the amount of UAH 47.749 million, which is equivalent to the monthly ceiling for such payments set by the National Bank at EUR 1 million.
Applications for the fourth tender for the redemption of bonds will be accepted until August 28 inclusive, and settlements are scheduled for approximately September 4.
As reported, following the previous tender, where the redemption price was also 85% of the nominal value and the offer was limited to $4.67 million, Vodafone Ukraine received applications for $53.395 million and satisfied them in the amount of $5.208 million.
After the cancellation of the redeemed bonds, the total nominal value of the bonds remaining in circulation is $292.532 million.
The first two times, Vodafone Ukraine redeemed bonds for an amount equivalent to EUR1 million. The debut redemption was announced at a price of 99% of the nominal value, the second at 90% of the nominal value. The company did not announce the results of the second redemption on the exchange, while the scaling factor for the first redemption was 0.0040355668 and for the third redemption was 0.1315451889487317.
The buyback of Eurobonds is related to the fact that on April 24, 2025, VFU announced the payment of dividends to its shareholder in the amount of UAH 660.245 million ($15.9 million at the exchange rate specified in the announcement) for 2024. According to the restrictions of the National Bank, they will be paid in separate monthly dividend payments. Each such monthly dividend is expected to amount to the equivalent of EUR1 million in hryvnia.
The company emphasized that under the terms of the bond issue, in this case, it must offer all bondholders to submit an application for their sale for an amount equal to the amount of dividends paid outside Ukraine.
VFU previously recalled that a total of $300 million in bonds maturing in February 2027 with a nominal rate of 9.625% per annum were issued, of which the company currently holds $0.5 million in bonds.
As reported, VFU increased its revenue by 13.1% to UAH 24.44 billion in 2024, while reducing its net profit by 30.1% to UAH 3.54 billion.
In January-March 2025, revenue grew by 14% compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 6.59 billion, while net profit fell by 24%, to UAH 697 million.
In the first half of 2025, the state-owned joint-stock company Ukrposhta increased its revenue by 5.4% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 6 billion 505.0 million, reducing its net loss by 27.2% to UAH 311.8 million.
“In the first half of 2025, the volatility of external markets was exacerbated by the uncertainty of the tariff policy of the world’s largest economies and a significant decline in the hryvnia exchange rate against foreign currencies,” the report says.
According to the report, Ukrposhta ended the first half of the year with a negative capital of UAH 101.6 million, compared to UAH 210.2 million at the beginning of the year.
However, the company noted that in the first half of 2025, it managed to improve its financial performance compared to the same period last year.
According to the reporting in the NSSMC disclosure system, the company’s gross profit in the first half of 2025 increased by 9.9% to UAH 605.2 million, while operating losses increased by 12.8% to UAH 474.8 million due to an increase in administrative and other operating expenses.
National postal services accounted for the largest share of total revenue in the first half of the year, at UAH 3 billion 859.6 million, which is 7.6% more than in the same period last year. The delivery of parcels and small packages increased by 9.7% to UAH 2 billion 078.3 million, written correspondence by 9.8% to UAH 814.2 million, subscription processing and delivery of periodicals by 1% to UAH 142.9 million, while international postal exchange remained at UAH 613.9 million.
The company’s financial and related services grew by 0.4% to UAH 2.212 billion, in particular, pension payments and delivery decreased by 6.5% to UAH 1.3416 billion, postal transfers decreased by 5.8% to UAH 147.4 million, while payment acceptance increased by 20.1% to UAH 674.7 million.
Ukrposhta’s income from trade in own and commission goods increased by 14.3% in the first half of the year to UAH 431.6 million.
It is noted that investments in non-current assets in the reporting period decreased to UAH 195.1 million from UAH 312.1 million in the same period last year.
According to the report, the company’s long-term liabilities in the first half of the year increased from UAH 1.38 billion to UAH 2.59 billion, while short-term liabilities decreased from UAH 9.95 billion to UAH 8.57 billion.
It is noted that as of June 30, 2025, financing under the loan agreement with the EBRD was received in the amount of EUR 42.5 million, and EUR 14.81 million was repaid.
According to the report, as of June 30, 2025, the company violated financial covenants under the loan agreement with the EBRD, but at the company’s request, the bank waived the covenant requirement for 2025.
Ukrposhta emphasized that significant uncertainty in its activities remains in 2025. Thus, the management’s plans to bring the company to profitability in 2025 were affected by large-scale shelling of infrastructure facilities by the aggressor, which led to disruptions in operations, loss of facilities involved in revenue generation due to their destruction by the aggressor, and loss of territory.
Separately, Ukrposhta indicated that it plans to actively invest in the second half of the year and implement measures that will ensure positive financial results and sufficient cash flow to ensure uninterrupted operations even if risks materialize.
In particular, this includes the introduction of IT solutions with 3-in-1 devices to enable offline operation in rural areas, further integration with OLX, marketplaces, and typical customer CRM systems to ensure the availability of Ukrposhta services for small business customers; delivery quality is ensured at a level of at least 95% of the stated deadlines.
“A corresponding liquidity stress test shows that even if all risks materialize, the Company will be able to continue to meet its obligations to creditors and complete key investment projects in the foreseeable future,” the report says.
In addition, the Escher front-office system is being updated, which will speed up service delivery and enable payment by bank card.
The company also noted that it is in the final stages of transitioning to a new automated parcel sorting system, purchasing and delivering new vehicles to renew its fleet and reduce dependence on third-party transport, and deploying a new front-end system for mobile branches, while continuing to improve and refine its desktop solution.
According to the report, Ukrposhta is additionally focusing on preparing for work in conditions of prolonged blackouts in winter.
According to statistics from the State Customs Service, imports of trucks to Ukraine in July 2025 amounted to $85.07 million, which is 6% less than in June of this year.
According to the published data, most trucks were imported last month from Poland – $20.1 million (26.4% more), France – $14.4 million (5.4% less), and the US – $5.7 million (16.4% less).
In total, over the first seven months of this year, trucks worth $563.6 million were imported into Ukraine, including $117.5 million from Poland, $89.5 million from France, and $87 million from the US.
Imports of trucks from all other countries in January-July amounted to $269.5 million.
At the same time, according to statistics, Ukraine exported only $3.7 million worth of trucks in seven months, mainly to Turkey (53% of exports of such vehicles), Romania (42.6%), and Moldova (22%).
As reported, in 2024, imports of trucks to Ukraine increased by 30% compared to 2023, to $947.84 million, with the largest share coming from Poland (almost 20%).
