The Swedish Parliament has approved the transfer of an additional military aid package worth a total of 3.25 billion Swedish kronor (about 270 million euros) to Ukraine, the Riksdag press service reported.
“Parliament approved the donation of additional defense equipment to Ukraine. The authorization will give the government the right to decide on the donation to Ukraine of defense equipment in the form of spare parts and readiness goods worth no more than SEK 1.1 billion, as well as ammunition, demining equipment and vehicles worth no more than SEK 2.15 billion,” the statement said.
Parliament also decided to authorize the government to sell a limited number of missiles for Rb 99 (AMRAAM) fighter jets to the US. The US has launched a buy-back program for old AMRAAM variants in exchange for the same countries purchasing new AMRAAM missiles. The purpose of the program is to transfer the repurchased missiles to Ukraine to quickly strengthen the Ukrainian air defense system.
Ukrainian developers welcome the increase in financing of the state program “єOsela”, expect an increase in demand for housing purchase in autumn.
“The forecast regarding the program is more than positive. There have never been such affordable conditions for purchasing housing in Ukraine. If the financing of the program will be kept at least at the same level as today, then in the fall we will get some kind of consumer boom”, – told the agency “Interfax-Ukraine” marketing director of Alliance Novobud Irina Mikhalova.
According to her, at the beginning of August under the program “єOsela” at 3%, the company has concluded 12 deals, 11 of which are for the purchase of ready-made housing, one contract – for housing under construction. At the same time under the extended program (at 7%) so far there have been no deals, but the number of applications considered by banks has increased significantly.
“Almost every fourth client is a person who wants to arrange an apartment under the program “єOsela”, – said Mikhalova.
The increase in requests since the beginning of August is also stated in the group “Kovalskaya”.
“Contracts under the program at 3% were signed at the first allocated funds. At the beginning of August we observed an increase in requests. The terms of the program are very interesting for people who need housing. Now the success of the program is directly related to the volume of its financing”, – commented in the press office of the developer.
At the same time, the obstacle to participation in the program for Ukrainians can be the initial payment, which often makes up to a third of the cost of the apartment, says the commercial director of the group of companies DIM Elena Ryzhova.
“So far we do not have mass practice on this program for a number of reasons. Firstly, the lack of financing, which caused applicants to wait two to four months for funds. Secondly, restrictions on the program, which first concerned the majority of categories of citizens, and now – the lot itself and the advance payment. Often the bank asks for the same 30%. People find it psychologically difficult, so many prefer alternative financial programs from developers”, – explained the expert.
As reported, in August, the government and PJSC “Ukrainian Financial Housing Company” significantly increased the financing of the program “єOsela”, thanks to which the monthly issuance of loans will increase from 0.7-0.8 billion UAH to 2 billion UAH, and preferential mortgage until the end of the year will be able to get at least 10 thousand families.
At the same time, developers are cautious about further prospects for financing the program.
“We have already seen the situation with the limitation of financing of the program at the beginning of the year. And it caused a wave of dissatisfaction among the participants. The borrower applied, got approval, chose an apartment, and the transaction did not take place because there were no funds. This is a bad precedent. Whether we will avoid similar situations in the future, it is difficult to say yet,” said Anna Laevskaya, commercial director of Intergal-Bud.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status for citizens of Ukraine until April 19, 2025, due to Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion.
“Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced an 18-month extension of Ukraine’s Temporary Protected Status (TPS), from October 20, 2023, to April 19, 2025, due to the ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Ukraine that prevent safe return,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on its website Friday.
The program will also be expanded to allow Ukrainians who were living in the U.S. as of Aug. 16, 2023, to apply for temporary protection.
In addition, students from Ukraine who study in the U.S. and are in the country on an F-1 visa will be able to apply for work authorization and workload reduction without losing their visa for the duration of temporary protection.
Reportedly, approximately 26,000 Ukrainians now enjoy temporary protection in the U.S., and another 166,700 may be eligible. “Current beneficiaries who wish to extend their temporary protected status must re-register in a timely manner during the 60-day re-registration period from August 21, 2023 to October 20, 2023,” the report said.
“Russia’s ongoing military incursion into Ukraine and the resulting humanitarian crisis require the United States to continue to provide security and protection to Ukrainians who may not be able to return to their country,” said U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who is quoted in the report.
Bitcoin is losing more than 4% in trading on Friday amid a general investor withdrawal from risky assets amid traders’ concerns that global central bank rates will be held at higher-than-expected levels for longer than expected.
Bitcoin’s exchange rate fell 4.1 percent to $26474, according to Kraken data as of 12:55 p.m. Q4.
The cryptocurrency, which traded around $29,000 the day before, began to fall sharply in price amid rising US Treasuries yields, which reduced the attractiveness of investing in high-risk assets.
This triggered a massive liquidation of bitcoin positions on cryptocurrency exchanges. The bitcoin exchange rate fell by more than $2,000 within minutes during trading on Thursday, from $28400 to less than $26,000, Market Watch noted.
The volume of bitcoin positions closed in the past 24 hours exceeded $1 billion, according to Coinglass.
Experts note that the sharp drop in the cryptocurrency’s rate coincided with the release of an article in The Wall Street Journal about the sale of bitcoins by Elon Musk’s company SpaceX. The article stated that SpaceX wrote down the value of the $373 million worth of bitcoins it owned in 2021 and 2022 and sold the cryptocurrency. WSJ did not specify exactly when SpaceX sold the bitcoins.
The temporarily occupied enterprise with foreign investment in the form of Zaporizhzhia Iron Ore Plant (ZZHRK) ended 2022 with a net loss of UAH 371.605 million, while in 2021 it made a net profit of UAH 5 billion 193.310 million.
According to the draft decision of the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders scheduled for September 28, 2023, it is proposed to cover the losses for 2022 at the expense of future periods’ profits.
At the meeting, the shareholders also intend to approve the reports for 2022 and appoint the audit firm KPMG Audit to provide services for the statutory audit of the financial statements of the CJSC “ZZHRK” for 2022.
As reported, an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting held on July 15, 2022, left undistributed net profit for 2021 in the amount of UAH 5 billion 193.310 million. One shareholder was registered to participate in the meeting with a total number of ordinary voting shares of 57430967, or 51.169770% of the voting shares.
The administration of ZZHRK had previously announced that it had lost control over the company’s operations in the temporarily uncontrolled territory of Ukraine. At the same time, it was explained that with the outbreak of active hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, the administration of ZZHRK, in order to comply with industrial safety, implemented a number of measures to temporarily suspend the production process on February 26, 2022, from the day the Russian troops occupied part of the territory of Zaporizhzhia region. And since June 15, 2022, the economic activity and management of production processes at ZZHRK have been impossible due to illegal actions of third parties.
The administration of ZZRK filed a corresponding application with the SBU and law enforcement agencies. It was also noted that information about individuals who cooperate with the occupiers of the aggressor country and assist them in committing illegal actions against the enterprise and its property was transferred to the SBU and other law enforcement agencies to respond to the fact of the seizure of the enterprise and collaboration in accordance with the criminal legislation of Ukraine.
ZZHRK develops the Pivdenno-Belozerskoye and Pereverzevskoye iron ore deposits and produces commercial sinter and open-hearth iron ore. The company sells its products to steelmakers in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland, as well as to Zaporizhstal in Ukraine.
According to the NDU data for the first quarter of 2023, the main shareholders of the company are the Slovak company Minerfin, a.s. – 51.1698%, Zaporizhstal – 29.5193%, Czech KSK Consulting, a.s. – 19,0632%.
Agrarians of all regions of Ukraine have harvested early grain and leguminous crops on the area of 6185.1 thousand hectares, having threshed 27 million 259 thousand tons of grain at a yield of 44.1 c/ha, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.
According to the report, the leaders in grain harvesting are the farmers of Zaporizhzhya region, who threshed 96% of the area, the largest threshing remains in Odessa region – 3.2 million tons. Harvesting of early grain crops is fully completed in Poltava, Vinnitsa and Odessa regions.
To date, Ukraine has harvested barley on 1398 thousand hectares, which is 94% of the planned, of which 5.567 million tons were threshed; wheat from 4.384 million hectares (94%) harvested 20.818 million tons; peas from 152.2 thousand hectares (101%) received 379.1 thousand tons.
Agrarians of Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Odessa and Ternopil regions have started harvesting millet, which was threshed 379.1 thousand tons from the area of 152.2 thousand hectares, which is 3% of the plan.
Dnipropetrovsk region threshed 0.1 thousand tons of buckwheat from 0.08 thousand hectares, which is 5% of all areas under this crop in the country.
In addition, 492.1 thousand tons of other grain and leguminous crops were threshed from 249 thousand hectares.
Agrarians of 13 regions have completed the harvest of rapeseed. It was threshed from the area of 1370.7 thousand hectares (92% of the planned area), from which 3944.1 thousand tons of winter rape was harvested.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy in connection with the revision of the forecast for the harvest of all crops monitors information on their yields. Thus, for barley this week it amounted to 39.8 c/ha against 38.8 c/ha a week earlier, wheat – 47.5 c/ha (46.2 c/ha), peas – 24.9 c/ha (24.6 c/ha), winter rape – 28.8 c/ha (28.1 c/ha), millet – 12.1 c/ha (6.9 c/ha). Data on buckwheat at 11.3 c/ha corresponds to last week’s figures.
As reported, winter wheat sowing this season amounted to 4166 thousand hectares (-834 thousand hectares to the previous season), winter barley – 536 thousand hectares (-255 thousand hectares), rapeseed – 1374 thousand hectares (+110 thousand hectares).
According to the adjusted forecast of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in 2023 agrarians will be able to harvest grain in the following volumes: wheat – 20.9 million tons, barley – 5.8 million tons and corn – 28.1 million tons. Gross production of oilseeds will reach 20.3 million tons, in particular, sunflower – 12 million tons, rapeseed – 4 million tons, soybeans – 4.2 million tons. The sugar beet harvest is forecasted at 13.7 million tons.
