The US has proposed a meeting between the national security advisors (NSA) of Ukraine, the US, and Russia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, expressing cautious optimism about the prospects for such a meeting.
“As for Umerov (Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, who is in the US, where he held talks with American and European partners on ending the war), he called me and said that America is now proposing a trilateral meeting of the NSA – America, Ukraine, Russia,” Zelensky said in comments to reporters on Saturday.
The president noted that he is not sure that this meeting will bring anything new, but pointed out that a similar meeting in Turkey resulted in the return of captured military personnel and civilians, so it is worth holding such meetings.
“I believe that this is not everything we wanted, but it is very important. I am very glad that we had exchanges. Our people, our military personnel, especially prisoners, have returned home. And civilians too. And that is why such steps must be taken. And if there can now be a meeting that will unblock the exchanges, or if the result of the trilateral NSA meeting could be an agreement on a trilateral meeting of leaders, and I have said this many times, there are complex issues that must be resolved by the leaders of the states. Therefore, if the results are exchanges or some other agreements, I cannot be against it, we will then support the proposal of the United States of America. Let’s see how it goes,” Zelensky said.
According to Serbian Economist, the first international Nikola Tesla Film Festival, dedicated to the life and legacy of Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla, will be held on January 7, 2026, in Las Vegas (USA) at the Palms Casino Resort.
According to the festival organizers, the goal of the event is to use film to show Tesla’s lasting influence on modern civilization—from electric power to wireless communications—while strengthening the cultural bridge between Serbia and the US.
According to their data, 120 applications have already been submitted from around the world, including the USA, Canada, Japan, India, European countries, Ukraine, Latin America, and Africa.
The program will include feature films and documentaries that explore the themes of science, innovation, and “visions of the future.” In addition to screenings, there will be cash prizes and a special prize—a Tesla statuette—as well as a separate award for projects created using artificial intelligence technologies, which, according to the organizers, will set a precedent for the US festival landscape.
The festival remains open to international submissions, with participation free for students to encourage young filmmakers to explore scientific and technological themes and the legacy of Nikola Tesla.
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The joint-stock company Odessa Port Plant (OPP, Yuzhny, Odessa region) will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on December 22, 2025, remotely, by means of a poll, according to a statement from the depositary institution.
OPZ is one of Ukraine’s largest chemical assets (ammonia and urea production), with a controlling stake of 99.5667% owned by the state. In 2025, it was put up for privatization through Prozorro.Sale with a starting price of UAH 4.488 billion, but the auction did not take place.
According to the FGI, as of September 30, 2025, the company employed 1,420 people, and its overdue accounts payable amounted to UAH 17.19 billion, including UAH 214.4 million in salary arrears and UAH 233.9 million in budget arrears.
In recent years, the plant has repeatedly stopped fertilizer production and has actually been operating in limited modes, shifting its focus to transshipment and related services. In particular, management reported that after an unsuccessful attempt to restart ammonia production in 2024, the company received revenue from grain transshipment, but at the end of June 2025, Russian strikes damaged the warehouses, leading to the suspension of these operations.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a proposal from the Ministry of Education and Science to implement a joint project with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to provide financial assistance to 1,500 educational institutions for the 2025/2026 academic year.
As reported by Taras Melnychuk, representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, on Telegram, the relevant decision was made at a government meeting on Friday.
It is noted that the purpose of the assistance is to ensure that educational institutions are prepared for the winter period and to increase their energy sustainability in frontline and other vulnerable regions.
The amount of financial assistance is set at UAH 420,000 per institution, provided to the founder as a lump sum for each recipient institution, with the number of recipient institutions per founder not exceeding nine.
The decision defines the main criteria for selecting institutions: status as a general secondary or preschool educational institution; location in certain frontline and other vulnerable areas; belonging to territorial communities that do not have an insurmountable level of security risk; organization of full-time or blended learning; absence of accommodation functions for students; not classified as specialized military lyceums; compliance with additional criteria established by UNICEF.
As reported, 700 schools received UAH 290,000 from UNICEF to prepare for winter and modernize school canteens in the 2024/2025 academic year.
The impact of mortgages on the housing market in Ukraine remains limited: less than 3% of housing is purchased on credit, with the share varying significantly by region, according to the NBU’s financial stability report for December 2025.
According to the regulator’s estimates, in the Kyiv region, the share of home purchases with mortgages is almost 9%, while in the central, southern, and eastern regions, new mortgages are “almost non-existent.” In the segment of new buildings up to three years old, mortgages are used significantly more often — the NBU indicates that every fifth apartment in this segment is purchased on credit, as the eOselya program is concentrated there.
The NBU draws attention to the low mortgage rates in complexes under construction and notes that about 44% of transactions are for ready-built housing from developers. At the same time, almost 300 complexes under construction have been accredited for sale through eOselya, but most of them have not yet sold any apartments with mortgages. The regulator expects mortgage lending to pick up after the state support mechanisms are updated and, at the same time, emphasizes the need for other steps, including the implementation of Directive 2014/17/EU on mortgage credit, the introduction of European property valuation standards, and increased transparency of real estate price data and control over construction financing.
In January-November of this year, Ukraine increased exports of processed pig iron in physical terms by 49% compared to the same period last year, to 1 million 734,104 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Friday, during the specified period, pig iron exports in monetary terms increased by 48.5% to $669.118 million.
At the same time, exports were mainly to the United States (74.77% of shipments in monetary terms), Italy (13.09%), and Turkey (4.13%).
In the first 11 months of this year, the country imported 39,000 tons worth $78,000 from Germany (51.95%) and Brazil (48.05%), while in January-November 2024, 25 tons of cast iron worth $60,000 were imported.
As reported, on March 12 of this year, in accordance with President Donald Trump’s decision, the US began imposing a 25% tariff on imports of Ukrainian steel products, except for cast iron.
In 2024, Ukraine reduced its exports of processed cast iron in physical terms by 3.4% compared to 2023, to 1 million 290.622 thousand tons, and in monetary terms by 6.1%, to $500.341 million. Exports were mainly to the US (72.64% of shipments in monetary terms), Turkey (8.03%), and Italy (7.30%).
For the whole of 2024, the country imported 38 tons of pig iron worth $90 thousand from Germany, while for the same period in 2023, it imported 154 tons of pig iron worth $156 thousand.
