U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will announce more than $1 billion in new aid for Ukraine during his visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, September 6, CNN reports, citing a senior State Department official.
According to CNN, the US Secretary of State arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday to meet with key Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The TV channel also notes that Blinken’s visit is an opportunity for the United States and Ukraine to unite ahead of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) later this month, a senior State Department official traveling with Blinken told reporters.
“The Ukrainians have an important mission in New York – to continue to explain to their allies and partners around the world what’s going on and their continued need for support. And it is important for us to continue to lead this global effort to support them. Being able to consult and agree before we get to New York is very, very important,” the official said.
According to media reports, Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday morning after an overnight train ride from Poland. This is his third visit to the Ukrainian capital since Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Ukraine may file a lawsuit against Brussels and European Union member states at the World Trade Organization (WTO) if they do not lift restrictions on the export of its agricultural products after September 15, Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, told Politico.
“With full respect and gratitude to Poland, if any bans are imposed after September 15, Ukraine will file a lawsuit against Poland and the EU at the World Trade Organization,” he said.
Ukraine’s trade representative insists that these restrictions violate the Free Trade Agreement, which has been in place between Ukraine and the EU since 2014.
“We do not intend to take immediate retaliatory measures, given the spirit of friendship and solidarity between Ukraine and the EU,” Kachka explained, adding that a systemic threat to Ukrainian interests would force Ukraine to take the case to the WTO.
In addition, Kachka told the newspaper that there is no evidence of price deviations or a significant increase in grain supplies to justify the extension of import restrictions. Kyiv has engaged in “constructive cooperation” with the European Commission, five EU member states, and Moldova, a key transit hub for Ukrainian exports to the EU.
“We have received significant support for ensuring better transit of goods through the territory of neighboring member states, including Poland and Hungary. In the last two months, we have made significant progress in cooperation with Romania on the transportation of goods from Ukraine,” Kachka said.
As reported, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Ihor Zhovkva said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that if Brussels fails to take action against Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Romania, which violate the trade agreement, Kyiv “reserves the choice of legal mechanisms for response.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry noted that Kyiv reserves the right to initiate arbitration proceedings under the Association Agreement with the EU or to apply to the WTO.
Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-eu-wto-poland-hungary-grain-curbs/
Population structure of Ukraine as of 06.06.2023 (estimated data)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
In January-June 2023, Ukrainian Insurance Group Insurance Company (Kyiv) collected UAH 752.166 million in net premiums, which is 1.64% less than in the same period a year earlier, and UAH 1.466 billion in gross premiums (+10.85%), according to the website of the rating agency Standard-Rating, which affirmed the company’s financial strength rating/credit rating at uaAA+ for the reporting period.
At the same time, the insurance company’s revenues from individuals increased by 14.30% to UAH 965.065 million, and from reinsurers – by 2.65 times, to UAH 4.910 million. In the first half of 2023, the share of individuals in the company’s gross premiums amounted to 65.84%, and the share of reinsurers – 0.33%.
Insurance payments sent to reinsurers in the first half of 2023 increased by 27.96% to UAH 713.715 million compared to the same period in 2022. The participation ratio of reinsurance companies in insurance premiums increased by 6.51 p.p. to 48.69%.
The volume of insurance payments and reimbursements made by USG in the first half of 2023 amounted to UAH 702.471 million, which is more than twice the volume of payments and reimbursements in the first half of 2022, and the claims ratio increased to 47.92%.
According to the results of the first six months of 2023, the company received a negative financial result from operating activities in the amount of UAH 98.056 million, the insurer’s net loss amounted to UAH 20.288 million (net profit of UAH 73.8 million for 6 months of 2022).
The agency notes that the financial results were affected, among other things, by a significant increase in insurance payments and reimbursements, as well as expenses for the formation of reserves.
As of June 30, 2023, the insurer’s assets increased by 8.89% to UAH 3.743 billion, equity decreased by 3.15% to UAH 623.51 million, liabilities increased by 11.66% to UAH 3.120 billion, cash and cash equivalents decreased by 20.77% to UAH 1.161 billion.
As of July 1, 2023, the insurer made financial investments in the amount of UAH 641.657 million, consisting of government bonds, government bonds and deposits with banks with high credit ratings. The availability of such investments has a positive impact on the provision of USG with liquid assets, which cover 57.78% of the insurer’s liabilities.
As reported, the controlling shareholder of USG Insurance Group is Vienna Insurance Group, an international insurance group headquartered in Austria, represented by 50 companies in 30 countries and a leader in the insurance market of Central and Eastern Europe.
Olympic champion Sergei Bubka said he has nothing to do with any business in the occupied territories.
“Since 2014, I have not been in the occupied territory. I was born on Ukrainian soil. I have always represented Ukraine around the world with great pride. I have always fought for Ukraine. But now a campaign to destroy my reputation has been launched against me,” he said in a video distributed on Wednesday.
“I, like every Ukrainian, made my choice from the very beginning – to be with Ukraine and to do everything possible in the fight against Russian aggression. Since 2014, I have not been in the occupied territories. I haven’t visited my relatives and I couldn’t even be at my mom’s funeral. I have nothing to do with any business in the occupied territories. My job is to support Ukrainian athletes and Ukrainian sport at the international level,” Bubka said.
“I will do everything so that the current generation of Ukrainian athletes will be able to realize their Olympic dream – to perform at the Olympic Games in Paris next year,” he stressed, adding, “To those who are trying to blacken my name, I would like to say: To fight for Ukraine in sports has always been an honor for me. To fight for the state interests of my country is the highest honor for me.”
Earlier, an investigation by Bihus.info was published, in which journalists suggest that the firm “Firm Montblanc” LLC, owned by Sergey and Vasyl Bubkas, is listed in the Russian registers.
The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine has announced a change in the rules for importing and accounting for humanitarian aid starting December 1.
“On September 5, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a resolution “Some issues of humanitarian aid entry and accounting under martial law”. According to the resolution, the rules for importing and accounting for humanitarian aid are being changed, and information about it will be digitized in an automated system,” the ministry’s press service said.
It is noted that among the main changes is the introduction of an accessible electronic tool for accounting for humanitarian aid.
In particular, using the web platform “Automated System for Registration of Humanitarian Aid,” organizations intending to import humanitarian aid will be able to register, log in to the site, form and submit a declaration, which will be sent to customs through information exchange.
“The system will automatically assign a unique code to the declaration. This code will be used by customs officers to let the cargo through,” the agency emphasized.
This preserves the declarative principle of importing humanitarian aid under martial law, and simplifies the process of importing such goods.
It also stipulates that organizations importing humanitarian aid will submit public reports after its distribution.
“After the organization has imported the aid, it will have to describe it in the system before distributing it. Then, the data will have to be entered: when and where (without specifying personal data of individuals) the cargo was distributed, whether there are any leftovers and what they are. Such a mechanism will show the path of humanitarian aid from the donor through the recipient to the recipients and guarantee the transparency of the process,” the ministry added.
In addition, the adopted resolution cancels letters of guarantee, which means that humanitarian aid for the military will be imported without additional bureaucratic burden.
According to the report, the system will be launched on December 1, 2023.
