Ukraine is the most mined country in the world, it may take 757 years to completely demine its territories if it is handled by 500 teams of specialists who are working in the country now, The Washington Post writes.
“According to a recent report by Slovakian think tank GLOBSEC, about 30% of Ukraine’s territory (more than 67,000 square kilometers) has been severely affected by munitions and will require time-consuming, expensive and dangerous demining operations,” the article says.
Referring to the GLOBSEC data, the publication notes that “Ukraine has become the largest mined territory in the world, surpassing Afghanistan and Syria”.
The Washington Post also writes that the international non-profit organization HALO Trust, which deals with mine clearance, based on information from open sources has tracked more than 2,300 incidents on the territory of Ukraine, during which munitions requiring clearance were found.
In addition, from the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 through July 2023, the United Nations has documented 298 civilian deaths from explosive remnants of war, including 22 children, and 632 civilian injuries.
“Ukraine’s contaminated territory is so large that some experts estimate that humanitarian cleanup will take the roughly 500 demining teams currently working 757 years,” The Washington Post summarized.
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/
The State Service of Ukraine on geodesy, cartography and cadastre in the course of analysis in the first half of the year of data of the State Land Cadastre revealed 493 agricultural land plots, which are owned by foreigners and stateless persons, but were not alienated in due time.
“According to the results of the analysis, the objects of agricultural land plots were identified, which are owned by foreigners and stateless persons, including citizens of the state recognized by Ukraine as an aggressor state or occupier state. Specialists have found that these plots have not been alienated by their owners within the period established by law, and therefore are subject to confiscation,” the State Geocadastre said in a statement.
It is specified that according to the results of conducted inspections 301 court proceedings on confiscation of 493 agricultural land plots with a total area of 716.65 hectares have been opened. 87 court decisions on confiscation of 138 agricultural land plots with a total area of 186.87 hectares have already been taken.
According to the current legislation, agricultural land inherited by foreigners and stateless persons must be alienated within a year. If such land plot was not alienated by the owner within a certain period of time, it is subject to confiscation by court decision, the State Geocadastre reminded.
Global cereal production will reach a new record in the 2023/2024 crop year thanks to strong corn harvests in the US and soybean harvests in Brazil, the International Grains Council (IGC) has forecast.
It estimates total cereal production of 2.297 billion tons in 2023/2024, compared with 2.259 billion tons in 2022/2023 and 2.295 billion tons in 2021-2022.
Wheat will produce 784 million tons, corn 1.22 billion tons, rice 527 million tons and soybeans 400 million tons, according to the IGC forecast.
“Cereal consumption could increase by 2 percent and also reach a record high, given rising demand for cereals in food, feed and industrial uses,” the organization said in its review.
IGC estimates that cereal consumption will reach 2.306 billion tons in the 2023/2024 crop year.
Kernel Agroholding, one of the largest in Ukraine, processed 650.4 thousand tons of sunflower seeds in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023 (April-June), a 4-fold increase compared to the same period last FY.
According to the company’s report, processing was down 13% quarter-on-quarter, reflecting the usual sunflower seed shortage near the end of the season, which forced three of the group’s six operating plants to temporarily stop processing oilseeds in May-June.
“Two processing plants owned by the Group remain inaccessible in the high-risk area of the Kharkiv region with regular shelling by Russian occupiers,” the report states.
Overall, in 2023 FG processing grew by 15% to 2.51 million tons.
According to the report, vegetable oil sales in April-June 2023 increased by 14% quarter-on-quarter to 312,700 tons, including 21,000 tons of bottled sunflower oil, and the growth was fivefold compared to the fourth quarter of last year.
“The group continues to prioritize vegetable oil and meal exports over grain exports, given the more attractive margins in the oilseed processing value chain compared to grain export operations,” it said.
For the entire 2023 FY, sales reached 1 million 132.7 thousand tons, exceeding the previous FY by 17%.
It is pointed out that Kernel’s silo loadings in the fourth quarter of FY 2023 were seasonally insignificant at 98,000 tons, 50% higher than the fourth quarter of last year. As a result, total intake during FY 2023 was 2.83 million tons, down 32% from FY 2022.
According to the report, the transshipment volume of export terminals in Ukraine in April-June 2023 decreased by 13% quarter-on-quarter to 933.1 thousand tons, while there was no transshipment in the same period last year.
Overall for FY 2023, Kernel terminals transshipped 4 million 437.7 thousand tons of goods, 39% less than a year earlier, which the company attributed to failures in the grain deal.
“Russia terminated the grain deal on July 18, 2023. Thus, the Group’s future ability to export goods through Ukrainian Black Sea ports is unclear,” the report states.
“Kernel” recalled that on July 19, its assets in the port of “Chernomorsk” were subjected to a massive missile attack from Russia. As a result, grain transshipment facilities and grain stored in the port were significantly damaged. According to initial estimates, it will take considerable time to return the assets to operation.
According to the report, the group’s grain exports from Ukraine in the fourth quarter of FY 2023 amounted to 755,000 tons, down 8% from the previous quarter but 6 times higher than in the fourth quarter of FY 2022.
On a year-on-year basis, Kernel’s grain export volumes more than halved year-on-year to 3 million 833.2 thousand tons, the document specifies.
“Kernel” before the war ranked first in the world in the production of sunflower oil (about 7% of world production) and its export (about 12%), and was the largest producer and seller of bottled sunflower oil in Ukraine. In addition, the company was engaged in the cultivation of other agro-products and their sales.
Kernel’s net profit for the first nine months of 2023FY increased by 36% to $437 mln, while revenues fell by 45% to $2.715 bln.
The State Service of Ukraine for Transport Safety (“Ukrtransbezopasnost”) warns bus carriers about the need to update the environmental class of buses.
“From August 1, if a passenger bus does not have the environmental class or the environmental class “EURO-1” specified, it will become impossible to apply for crossing the border “18-60″,” the agency said in a statement on Friday.
Ecological standard (or class) is the only established for all cars the norm of substances dangerous to the environment and contained in the exhaust gases of vehicles.
To date, the newest class is “EURO-6”.
Ireland’s Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline, will offer 1 million or 20% of tickets priced below EUR20 after resuming flights from/to Ukraine, the airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said.
“The Minister (Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov) asked us today and we gave him a commitment that out of the 5 million seats that will be offered in the first year, 20% or 1 million seats will be sold at less than EUR20,” O’Leary told Interfax-Ukraine.
He noted that the airline will be able to realize the goal if it has a low-cost base in Ukrainian airports and appropriate fee rates.
“We will need to have an inexpensive base in the airports. But this decision is up to the ministry. The minister (Kubrakov) asked if we will offer low rates and we said yes. Approximately 20% of seats will be sold at fares of EUR10, EUR14, EUR 19. This is one million passenger seats. We sell most of the tickets at EUR24, EUR29, EUR39. Now the only way to fill this number of seats is very low prices for air tickets”, – said the executive director of Ryanair.
He emphasized that Ukraine can have lower airfares than Poland, but must also ensure lower airport charges than in Poland.
As reported, Ryanair this week announced a commitment to resume flights to/from Ukraine at low fares within 8 weeks of the opening of Ukrainian airspace. The company plans to deploy up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAXs in Kiev, Lviv and Odessa at a cost of more than $3 billion. It was indicated that the airline is ready to operate up to 600 flights per week. In addition, Ryanair plans to open daily flights between Kiev, Lviv and Odessa as soon as the airports are ready for it.
It was noted that the airline plans to reach more than 5 million passenger seats per year in the first 12 months after the launch and intends to increase this number to 10 million passengers within five years.
