More than three quarters – 77.8% – of participants in the annual meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (AmCham) expect a ceasefire in 2025.
In a short survey of more than 230 respondents, more than two-thirds – 67.9% – expect US President-elect Donald Trump to visit Kyiv next year, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
Almost two-thirds – 62.7% – expect international flights to resume in 2025.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is planning to move its largest service center to a furniture shopping center that may be owned by foreigners with business in Russia. This is stated in the material of Channel 5.
The journalists write that from January 1, 2025, the management of the MIA’s CSC plans to relocate the largest modern service center in Ukraine, which was opened only in 2021.
At the same time, the premises where the move is planned is located on the Velyka Kiltseva Road, where another MIA Service Center No. 8047 (110-A Velyka Kiltseva) is already 500 meters away.
“The new premises leased by the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be located at 110 Velyka Kiltseva Street, where the Araks furniture center chain is currently located. That is, a “duplicate” is actually being created,” the article says.
According to open registers, the company from which the MIA’s CMC plans to lease the premises may be affiliated with the Russian Federation. In particular, the owner of the website of the Araks furniture center chain, araks.ua, is Fiesta LLC (EDRPOU code 32792074). As of 02/23/2022, Fiesta LLC had owners from the Russian Federation. As of 02/23/2022, Fiesta LLC also registered the ARAX trademark, which, according to OpenData, had owners from the Russian Federation.
As noted in the article, the Register of Property Rights shows that the premises are currently mortgaged. The mortgagor is the aforementioned Fiesta LLC, and the mortgagee is the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, registered in Greece.
In June 2023, Fiesta LLC changed its founders’ information. Thus, the founder Mezhlumyan Ararat Hrantovich, who was the CEO of Rentservice LLC, located in Moscow, was removed. At the same time, Artem Hrayrovych Chirkinian, who is allegedly a German citizen, remains among the founders, although he is listed in Russian registers as a person with the Russian TIN 772860730022, who is the founder of a number of Russian companies, in particular, he was the founder of LLC “Primavera”.
“The ultimate beneficial owner of Fiesta LLC, Chirkinian Hrayr Volodymyrovych, with whom the MIA concludes an agreement for the lease of the MIA’s data center, also has a Russian TIN 771583890710, which was issued by the Moscow Tax Inspectorate. None of the owners of Fiesta LLC, according to open sources, has Ukrainian citizenship,” the investigators point out.
Biosphere Corporation, one of the market leaders in the production and distribution of household goods, plans to open a production facility in Uzbekistan next year to produce recycled garbage bags rather than virgin polymers and actively promote its products in this and neighboring Central Asian markets, according to Andriy Zdesenko, the corporation’s founder and CEO.
“This will load our Polygreen plant in Fastiv, which currently has a 20% capacity reserve. And it will allow us to build another plant in Ukraine that will produce pellets and send them to Uzbekistan to produce garbage bags, which we will then supply to neighboring countries,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“And then sponge sponges, foil-film, slider bags – the whole range that is necessary for development,” Zdesenko added.
He clarified that Uzbekistan has protected its market by banning the export of garbage bags of a certain thickness and thus stimulated the launch of domestic production. In addition, the cost of logistics to the region, for example, to Kazakhstan, has tripled due to the war, and delivery times have increased from three weeks to two months.
“Therefore, if we want to be in the market of Uzbekistan, where I think there will be 40 million people in five years, we need to produce there,” said the Biosphere CEO.
He also emphasized that there are about 100 million people around Uzbekistan, including Afghanistan, whose market is actively developing, and there are many trade hubs in the region where business is very active.
Biosphere Corporation has been operating in Ukraine for over 25 years. The product portfolio includes more than 1 thousand items under 16 own brands (Freken BOK, Faynyi Bonus, Vortex, Likit, Smile, Smile Baby, Superfresh, Bambik, Novita, Lady Cotton, Alufix, PRO service, GoWipes, Chysta Peremoha, Pany Blisk and PoketMon). The corporation is the official distributor of such international brands as TORK, Selpak and Fantom.
The corporation’s capacities in Ukraine are represented by three plants with a total production area of 35 thousand square meters in Dnipropetrovska, Kyivska and Khmelnytska regions, as well as logistics complexes with an area of 30 thousand square meters. Together with the French Groupe Lemoine, Biosphere also owns a plant in Estonia for the production of cotton products with an area of 8.5 thousand square meters.
At the end of 2023, the company opened a new FOOD business line with its own Cupsoul production, represented by such tea brands as Graff, Ritz Barton, and others.
Kyivstar, the largest mobile operator in Ukraine, is raising its tariffs by 25% on average, providing subscribers with more services and bonuses.
“Kyivstar always strives to provide high-quality communication, stable Internet and additional services that meet the modern needs of our subscribers. That is why the company has revised the terms of some tariff plans for contract subscribers and will revise some more subscription tariffs by the end of the year. On average, the price will change by 25% of the tariff cost,” Kyivstar’s press service said in response to a request from Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Subscribers will receive more benefits and services in the tariff: additional minutes for calls to other networks, additional gigabytes of mobile Internet, and the ability to connect additional unlimited services, the press service said.
The tariff plans LOVE UA Light Contract 2023, VASH Region, VASH Optimum, Smart Max, VASH Premium, VASH Premium+ have already changed. Additionally, the plans have promotional superpowers: unlimited internet, unlimited calls and unlimited SMS, which can be activated until June 30, 2025 inclusive.
The tariff plans are also closed: “VASH Vybir, Smart, Kyivstar 4G, Bezlim, Kyivstar 4G Extra+ 2018, LOVE UA Magnet Contract 2023. The company has offered other tariffs to users of these plans that are closer to their consumer needs, the press service said.
The choice of tariffs to be changed depends on many factors. In particular, they take into account the growth in service consumption, as well as the fact that the price of some tariffs has remained unchanged for a long time, the press service said. Kyivstar also periodically unifies its tariff plans to optimize service processes and ensure the efficiency of operations, closing them to new connections.
The company emphasized that subscribers can choose a different tariff that best suits their needs and capabilities. This can be done in the Tariffs section on the company’s website, in the My Kyivstar app or in any Kyivstar branded store.
The last time before the current increase, the company raised tariffs for some subscribers in April-May 2024. This never happens at the same time for all customers: indexation is carried out in parts and for different groups of subscribers, the Kyivstar press service noted.
It is reported that some tariff plans have not changed for more than a year, and for a number of others there have been no changes since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia.
The decision to change the cost of services was influenced by the growth of consumption, the economic situation and the cost of providing the network with alternative sources of electricity, the press service says, emphasizing that the changes are a necessary step and a reasonable response of the company.
According to the State Statistics Service, the cost of telecommunications services has increased by an average of 4.3% since the beginning of the year, while electricity prices have risen by 63.6%, utilities by 18.6%, and food by 10.8%, the press service said.
Kyivstar recalled that it had purchased almost 2.5 thousand generators and 145 thousand lithium batteries to ensure uninterrupted operation of the grid during outages. The company’s expenses have increased as the equipment needs to be maintained and refueled. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Kyivstar has already used 3 million liters of fuel for generators. The company has formed separate units to handle the equipment and pays salaries to employees who refuel the generators every day, starting at 5 am.
“The tariff revision will allow the company to continue investing in improving the network and providing stable communication for our subscribers. Thanks to these changes, we will be able to work even harder on energy sustainability, maintaining uninterrupted network operation, developing 4G and building new base stations across the country to make our services even more affordable and better,” Kyivstar’s press service said.
The company could not predict how the situation will develop in 2025, noting that “there are no exact dates or a list of tariffs that may change.”
“We are always guided by the principles of transparency and inform subscribers in advance if such changes are planned,” the mobile operator’s press service emphasized.
Number of unemployed in Ukraine and job opportunities, 2023-2024
Open4Business.com.ua
On December 6, 2024, from 03:00 to 06:00, the power supply will be cut off at the Mayaky-Udobne-Palanka checkpoint for the purpose of technical works.
All passage operations for citizens and vehicles will be suspended during this period of time.
