The Laws of Ukraine No. 3853-IX and No. 3854-IX of 16.07.2024, from 00:00 hrs. July 27, which provide for the introduction of exemption from duty and VAT on imports into Ukraine: power generating equipment, equipment for wind and solar generation, batteries (except for low capacity batteries), reports the State Customs Service of Ukraine on Friday.
The Service separately draws attention to the fact that such important goods for the population as: electric generators, inverters, lithium-ion batteries and charging stations on their basis, as well as solar panels for repair and/or replacement from damage and expansion of the capacity of existing solar power plants fall under preferential import to Ukraine.
Also in the department emphasize that the list of goods that are exempt from customs duties on imports includes equipment for the manufacture of means of countering technical intelligence and/or repair of mechanized demining machines, and such defense equipment as means of radio-electronic means of detection and countering unmanned aerial vehicles.
“The amendments provide for the period of martial law in Ukraine exemption from customs duties for goods imported for energy security, including those transported (forwarded) to the customs territory of Ukraine in international mail and express shipments, for free circulation and classified under the following codes according to the UKT FEA: 8406 (except 8406 10 00 00), 8410 (only hydraulic turbines and their parts), 8483 40 21 00, 8502 20 40 90, 8502 20 60 90, 8502 20 80 90, 8411 (except turboprop and turbojet engines and their parts), 8501 64 00 00 00 00, 8504 40 84 00 (except inverter welding machines), 8504 40 88 00 00 (except inverter welding machines), 8504 40 90 00 00 (except inverter welding machines), 8507 60 00 00 (except energy storage units of less than 300 watts AC and/or DC and individual lithium-ion cells of less than 200 Ah capacity), 8541 43 00 00 00, 8537 (except for 8537 10 98 10), 8503 00 99 00 (only for wind power electric generator sets), components for the organization of own production and repair in Ukraine of mechanized demining machines, classified in commodity positions 8427, 8430, 8479 under the UKT FEA, as well as for the manufacture by enterprises of Ukraine active means of countering technical intelligence, classified in commodity positions 8517, 8525, 8543 under the UKT FEA“, – specified in the State Customs Service”, – specified in the State Customs Service.
The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has set the transfer of 25-28% of shares in PrJSC Dickergoff Cement Ukraine to an independent investor as a condition for CRH to buy two Buzzi cement plants, the committee’s website reports.
As reported, in June 2023, the Italian cement producer Buzzi, listed by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption as an international war sponsor, through its subsidiary Dyckerhoff GmbH, reached an agreement to sell part of its Eastern European business to the Irish CRH group, including Ukrainian assets in the form of two cement plants – Volyn Cement (Zdolbuniv, Rivne region) and Pivden Cement (Vilshanske, Mykolaiv region).
The AMC has been considering CRH’s application for concentration since September 2023.
According to the published terms, CRH must, within nine months from the date of the announced concentration, sell or otherwise transfer shares (stakes) in the amount of 25% to 28% of the authorized capital to a third party not related to CRH UKRAINE B.V. with veto rights (to ensure blocking of key management decisions of the supreme management body of the holding company). It is expected that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will become such an investor, as in December 2023 CRH signed a mandate letter with the EBRD on the joint acquisition of the assets of the Italian company Buzzi in Ukraine.
In addition, CRH will also be obliged to report regularly to the AMCU for five years, in particular, on production volumes and selling prices in the domestic market.
It is expected that CRH will invest in the acquired plants, expanding and modernizing their production facilities, preserving jobs and improving working conditions for employees.
As reported, in 2023, the total volume of cement produced in Ukraine increased by 37% year-on-year to 7.4 million tons. In January-March 2024, the companies that are members of the Ukrcement association increased their cement production by 46.3% compared to the same period in 2023, up to 1 million 477.9 thousand tons of cement.
According to the Ukrcement Association, Ukraine’s cement production potential is currently 13.6 million tons of cement, while current financial and human resources suggest consumption of 12.5 million tons. He believes that despite the ability of Ukrainian enterprises to fully cover the market’s needs, it makes sense to plan to expand production.
According to Valeriy Korbut, director of Khmelnitskzalizobeton, one of Ukraine’s largest reinforced concrete plants, investments and modernization of enterprises always increase competition in the market. This, in turn, makes the product better and more affordable. That is why it is important to attract investments in the cement industry today to be ready for recovery.
Viktor Hushel, Commercial Director of Budindustriya-1, a concrete producer, states that, with a focus on recovery projects, it is necessary to invest in cement production right now.
CRH has been operating in Ukraine since 1999. Since November 2021, its cement enterprises in Ukraine have been operating under the Cemark brand: Podilskyi Cement JSC (Khmelnytskyi region), Cement LLC (Odesa), and Mykolaivcement PrJSC (Lviv region).
CRH’s separate business in Ukraine is the production of concrete and reinforced concrete products. PoliBeton Energo’s Bila Tserkva concrete goods plant is a specialized enterprise that produces power transmission towers. PoliBeton’s concrete hub in the north of Odesa was included in the CRH 2020.
Since 1999, the company has invested about $500 million in Ukraine. In particular, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, CRH has invested $80 million, including $34 million in the construction of a cement terminal in Kyiv region.
CRH is the world’s leading manufacturer of building materials. The company employs about 71,000 people at its 3,200 facilities in 28 countries. It is the largest building materials producer in North America and Europe. The company is also represented in Asia. CRH American depositary shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Marisa Lago arrived in Kyiv on Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said.
“Welcome to Kyiv, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Lago! Today, we will meet with the business community, entrepreneurs, and government officials to discuss how the U.S. private sector can get involved in supporting Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the ambassador wrote on social media.
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo, links the statement to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau about his alleged criminal offense to the case of the company’s purchase of bulletproof vests at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“This is an old, dead case of bulletproof vests that the company purchased at the request of the National Guard in early March 2022. We found several hundred bulletproof vests of class 4 at a price of UAH 16.4 thousand including VAT. At that time, it was significantly lower than the prices at which others were buying,” Kudrytskyi said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, apart from Ukrenergo, there are no claims against anyone, and from time to time “nameless political analysts” revive the case: either by throwing it into the media space or by writing statements to have the NPC checked once again.
The company’s CEO added that he treats this as an attempt to create an information throw-in and believes that “the case has not had and will not have any prospects in law enforcement agencies or in courts.”
Kudrytskyi suggested that the reason for his discrediting as the head of the company may be the active involvement of Ukrenergo in international financing, which has exceeded EUR 1.5 billion since the beginning of the full-scale war.
“Alternatively, some people are not satisfied with the EUR 1.5 billion of financing we have attracted since the beginning of the war. Maybe there are other reasons. In my opinion, this is just white noise,” said the head of the system operator.
Answering Energoreforma’s question about the reaction of international partners to the information about a possible criminal offense, Kudrytskyi noted that there was none. “Western partners have not reacted in any way.
There is no need to make any judgments. Trust is determined not by words, but by facts, and our partners have entrusted us with EUR1.5 billion, which is several times or even ten times more than any other company,” he said.
At the same time, Kudrytskyi emphasized that each artificial media attack leads to additional difficulties in attracting much-needed additional financial resources for the power system.
“The people who do this pursue their own selfish interests and, most likely, corrupt interests, but ultimately harm the interests of the state,” summarized the CEO of Ukrenergo.
The High Anti-Corruption Court, by its ruling of July 17, 2024, ordered the authorized persons of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to enter information about a criminal offense into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URPI) at the request of the person indicated in the ruling as person No. 6, dated June 28, 2024. The ruling states that the applicant raised the issue of possible criminal offenses committed by the Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo. The court notes that such a statement must be entered into the URPTI within 24 hours of its submission.
As reported, on June 26, the Security Service and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced that they had exposed the head of one of the departments of NPC Ukrenergo, who is no longer employed by the company, for corruption during the purchase of bulletproof vests.
According to the investigation, this purchase resulted in budget losses of over UAH 10 million. The issue of choosing a measure of restraint against the suspect is being decided.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, NPC Ukrenergo has attracted more than EUR 1.5 billion in international financing in the form of loans and grants, half of which was used to restore and reconstruct the grids. Another 24% was used to build passive protection, and 34% to maintain market liquidity. The largest amount of funding was provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) – EUR670 million. Another EUR324 million was received with the support of the German state development bank KfW, EUR224 million – from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and EUR136 million – from the European Investment Bank (EIB). July 18 NPC Ukrenergo and KfW agree on a EUR100 million grant. July 23 The EIB Group announces that it plans to allocate EUR86 million to Ukrenergo for the construction of drone shelters.
26 laboratories of the well-known medical chain Eskulab have suspended their work due to an internal conflict between the company’s co-owners. According to Serhiy Dyadyushko, one of the brand’s co-owners, his colleagues Denys Melnyk and Stanislav Luhovskyi, along with software administrator Igor Malinovsky, are committing illegal actions to gain full control over the company.
“Melnyk and Luhovskyi have repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the official cash accounting. Their actions are aimed at gaining control over Eskulab in order to gain full access to its financial flows, to further direct them into their own hands, outside the official accounting and without paying taxes,” says Sergiy Dyadyushko.
He also claims that other co-owners offered to spend a significant portion of the cash outside the cash register and distribute it without paying taxes.
“They offered to spend the lion’s share of the funds received outside the cash accounting and distribute them without paying taxes among the company’s members. I categorically disagreed with such proposals and repeatedly informed them of my rejection of illegal actions. In this regard, Melnyk and Luhovskyi launched a raider attack to exclude me from the company’s shareholders by depriving me of my share,” said Diadiushko.
According to Dyadyushko, the raider attack included the systematic convening of general meetings of participants in violation of the established procedure, which led to the artificial creation of preconditions for his exclusion from the company. Melnyk and Luhovskyi also involved employees of the Lviv Directorate of Ukrposhta to ensure that he did not receive notices of the meeting.
“I have appealed to law enforcement agencies and am preparing documents to go to court. Despite constant psychological pressure and threats, I was forced to agree to resign as director and sign a new version of the charter to prevent my exclusion from the company,” he said.
This situation led to a temporary paralyzation of 26 laboratories of the Eskulab network in Kyiv, which negatively affected the provision of medical services to the population.
“As of today, having gained control over Eskulab, as a result of consistent raider actions, Melnyk and Luhovskyi, as well as Malinowski, who administers the software (computer program) of the company on the basis of which the latter conducts its business activities, have blocked me as a participant and medical director of Eskulab access to the said program and jointly withdraw cash from the company without paying taxes monthly in the amount of about UAH 20,000,000 Such actions of these persons lead to the actual non-receipt of biological products by the state budget. Because of this, 26 biomaterial collection points in Kyiv are actually unable to carry out their activities,” emphasizes the co-owner of the company.
Sergiy Dyadyushko considers these actions to be nothing more than a raider attack aimed at depriving him of his share in Eskulab.
“They demanded that I either resign as a director or they would exclude me from the company’s shareholders. The case has now been referred to law enforcement agencies. We are also preparing documents to go to court to restore my legal rights,” Dyadyushko said.
Established in 2009, Eskulab is a leading medical laboratory in western Ukraine that provides a wide range of laboratory services to the public with four laboratories and more than 150 biological sampling points.
In 2023, Eskulab paid UAH 33.8 million in taxes, including UAH 14.97 million in unified social tax, UAH 1.33 million in military duty, and UAH 14.034 million in personal income tax. It is one of the ten largest taxpayers in Lviv region.
The co-founders of PE “PSML ‘Eskulab’ are Dyadyushko, who owns 43% of the company, Luhovskyi (43%) and Melnyk (14%). The co-founders of Eskulab Center LLC are Dyadyushko, Luhovskyi and Melnyk, who each own 20% of the company, and Ruslana Soltani, who owns 40%.
China intends to increase grain imports from Ukraine and will support the smooth operation of logistics channels, assured Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Wang Yi at a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“In recent years, China has been Ukraine’s largest trading partner and largest exporter of agricultural products. The volume of bilateral trade has shown rapid growth in the first half of this year, demonstrating the space and potential for cooperation between the two countries,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s press service quoted him as saying.
The Chinese minister emphasized that both sides should fully realize the role of the cooperation mechanism and strengthen practical cooperation in various fields.
“China will continue to expand grain imports from Ukraine and jointly maintain uninterrupted logistics channels and international food security,” Wang Yi assured.
“Ukraine hopes to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen political mutual trust, intensify cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade and agriculture, and strengthen exchanges between local sister cities,” the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said.
Kuleba assured that Ukraine highly appreciates China’s positive and constructive role in ensuring peace and maintaining international order. Ukraine also attaches great importance to China’s opinion on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
Ukraine is willing and ready to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia. Of course, the negotiations should be reasonable and substantive, aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace,” the Ukrainian minister summarized.
