Germany has handed over a new military aid package to Ukraine, which includes 10 Leopard 1A5 tanks and 20 MG3 machine guns for tanks and armored vehicles.
According to the report published on the website of the German government, the new aid package also includes 1,305 155 mm caliber shells, 2,064 155 mm caliber smoke shells, 1 bridge system and 12 trailers, 4 vehicles for border protection, 10 ground radar stations, 16 Zetros trucks, as well as 100,000 first aid kits.
In addition to the tanks, Germany transferred 20 MG3 machine guns for Leopard 2 tanks, Marder BMPs and Dachs engineer tanks to Ukraine.
In another video on the YouTube channel of the Kiev analytical center “Club of Experts”, the anesthesiologist of the medical group Adonis, Mariana Bolyuk, spoke about the main types of medical assistance in Ukraine, and also analyzed the specifics of the first pre-medical aid, including the algorithms of basic life support.
“Medical assistance in Ukraine at the moment, according to current legislation, is divided into emergency, primary, secondary (specialized), tertiary (highly specialized), palliative, medical rehabilitation,” Mariana Bolyuk pointed out.
The doctor emphasized that first aid is the implementation of basic medical measures to save lives, reduce human suffering in an emergency, and prevent possible complications.
“We, medical professionals, provide this assistance professionally, but it is important to remember that the ambulance may not always arrive on time at the scene. Therefore, knowing how to provide first aid to the victim before the arrival of the rescue services may be crucial to save his life,” Bolyuk emphasized.
She also spoke about the algorithm of basic actions that should be adhered to when providing first aid:
In turn, the founder of the Club of Experts, Maxim Urakin, emphasized that according to the UN, the total number of dead and injured as a result of war among the civilian population has already reached 25,671 people, of which 9,287 people died.
“It should be noted that the real number of victims may be significantly higher, as many cases of death or injury have not yet been confirmed, and information from some areas where hostilities continue comes with a delay,” Maxim Urakin stressed.
In the expert’s opinion, journalists and media workers are among the main risk groups, as their professional activity is associated with the possibility of getting into an emergency.
“For this reason, in June, the ‘Club of Experts’ introduced an initiative to train media representatives in the basics of providing primary medical aid. And the first seminar-practical training has already taken place,” Urakin concluded.
Watch more in detail in the video on the YouTube channel “Club of Experts”:
You can subscribe to the Club of Experts channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
CLUB_EXPERTS, FIRST_AID, MEDICAL_AID, MEDICINE, URAKIN, АДОНИС, БОЛЮК
The profit of state-owned Ukreximbank for the first half of 2023 amounted to UAH 1.976 billion, while the same period of 2022 the bank ended with a net loss of UAH 2.537 billion.
“June’s net profit of UAH 440 million allowed Ukreximbank to complete the first half of 2023 with a profit of UAH 1.976 billion. For the same period of 2021, the Bank earned for the state UAH 1.1 billion,” the bank reported on Friday.
It is indicated that interest income generated by the working loan portfolio of the bank takes the main part in the structure of income.
In addition, the bank managed to settle NPL for UAH 670 million, the release said.
Ukrexim said that in the second half of 2023 it intends to increase lending to the economy, offering long-term resources under MFI programs, including grant and compensation components, as well as to support cities and communities in the restoration of infrastructure
“Ukreximbank will continue to fulfill its specialized role in Ukraine’s banking system – strengthening exports, improving the efficiency of imports, financing strategic sectors of the economy,” the state bank stressed.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of June 1, 2023, Ukreximbank ranked 3rd in terms of assets (UAH 274.04 billion) among 65 banks operating in the country. As of July 1, the network of the state bank has 48 branches across the country.
The USAID Economic Support for Ukraine Project has purchased 50 modern hopper cars, each of which can carry up to 70 tons of grain, for the needs of one of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, JV Nibulon LLC (Mykolayiv), the company’s press service reported.
According to the press release, the wagons are manufactured at the experimental mechanical plant “Karpaty” (Lviv region). The first 10 wagons have already been delivered, loaded with grain and are being prepared for further transportation of agro-products through Izmail.
“In conditions when the Russian Federation is blocking the sea routes of agro-products export from Ukraine, and 12 river ports “Nibulon”, located on the Southern Bug and Dnieper, are blocked, we must do everything possible to save jobs in the river ports, left without water and cut off from the river stations from the nearest logistics. Loading on railcars for further exports through the ports of the Odessa region is now possible thanks to the USAID Economic Support for Ukraine project, under which new modern railcars were purchased,” said Mikhail Rizak, Director of Government Relations and Sustainability at Nibulon.
He expressed hope for further support of donors in terms of providing wagons for each blocked port and emphasized the importance of resuming these transportations.
According to his information, before the blockade, more than 15 million tons of Ukrainian agricultural products were transported through the Dnieper and Southern Bug, 4 million tons of which were grains.
JV Nibulon LLC was established in 1991. Before the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and complexes for receiving agricultural crops, capacity for one-time storage of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugboats), and owned the Nikolaev shipyard.
“Nibulon” before the war cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries.
The grain trader exported the maximum 5.64 million tons of agricultural products in 2021, reaching record shipments to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses from the full-scale military invasion of the Russian Federation reached $400 mln. Currently, the grain trader is operating at 30% of its capacity, has created a special unit for demining agricultural land and has started production of the first vessel for demining international waterways at its shipyards in Mykolayiv.
The grain trader recently raised EUR27m from the Danish Export Investment Fund (EIFO) to increase the capacity of the Bessarabsky branch in Izmail, where an elevator and a flour mill will be built.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is launching a EUR20 mln risk-sharing facility for the Ukrainian subsidiaries of Hungary’s OTP Bank: OTP Bank and OTP Leasing, to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially those operating in the agribusiness sector or owned by women.
“IFC assumes half of the risk on a combined EUR40 million portfolio covering key segments of the Ukrainian economy,” the corporation said in a press release on Friday.
It is specified that these will be the first risk-sharing arrangements in Ukraine under the IFC Small Loan Guarantee Program, which is supported by the European Commission and which will help save jobs, provide essential goods and services, restore supply chains, as well as generate export revenues and budget revenues.
IFC recalls that in 2021, SMEs accounted for 99.97% of all enterprises in Ukraine, generated about 60% of gross domestic product (GDP) and employed more than 7 million people. SMEs suffered significant losses in the second half of 2022, and now only 6% of them are doing business at the same levels as before Russia’s full-scale invasion.
“A strong private sector is key to Ukraine’s economic revival. Expanding access to finance for businesses is critical to counteract the macroeconomic instability and supply chain disruptions that are now severely hampering economic activity in the country,” IFC Vice President for Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean Alfonso Garcia Mora was quoted as saying in the release.
He added that IFC aims to ensure access to credit and stimulate innovation as a key prerequisite for Ukraine’s recovery.
As reported, initially IFC from the World Bank Group considered the project of providing partial risk coverage of new financing for Ukrainian OTP Bank and OTP Leasing for EUR60 mln – EUR30 mln for each financial institution, estimating its possible participation in risk coverage up to EUR30 mln.
OTP Bank was the eighth among 65 Ukrainian banks in terms of total assets (103.33 billion UAH) at the beginning of June this year. The Bank has 75 branches in Ukraine.
“OTP Leasing is the largest leasing company in Ukraine with the share of about 45% according to the results of the first quarter of this year. The CEO of OTP Leasing Andrey Pavlushin reported earlier that in the first half of 2023 the company financed Ukrainian clients for UAH 2.2 billion, which is 3-4% more than the indicator of the first half of 2022.
Antonov State Enterprise has once again become 100% owner of the German company Antonov Logistic Salis – a company created to service air cargo transportation under the program of NATO countries, having achieved the exclusion of Belgian Cargo Air Solutions, which previously owned 49% of shares, from the number of shareholders.
“Our company since yesterday is the sole shareholder of the German subsidiary Antonov Logistic Salis. Now all dividends from its activities will go to the accounts of Antonov. The point in this process has been reached,” Acting Director General Yevgeny Gavrilov was quoted in the SE’s statement on Thursday.
It is specified that the case of SE Antonov and Cargo Air Solutions was considered in German courts, including the High Land Court of Dresden, where the company managed to prove the fact of falsification of the minutes of the shareholders’ meeting, which served as the basis for exclusion of Cargo Air Solutions from the list of shareholders.
“We have corrected the mistake of the former management of Antonov SE, whose actions authorized the sale of shares to an unknown company established less than a month before the purchase of shares. This fact was written about in the media back in 2021. In June 2023, Antonov SE at the company’s shareholders’ meeting made a decision to exclude Cargo Air Solutions from the list of shareholders,” the release said with reference to Olga Abramova, Antonov’s director for legal affairs and corporatization.
According to her, the Belgian company tried to block this decision in the courts, but to no avail.
The SE recalled that the first Antonov Logistic Salis contract under the program with NATO was signed in 2019 for three years. Last June, it was extended until the end of 2026.
Antonov SE provides air transportation for NATO and EU countries for emergency cargo delivery in crisis situations. Two An-124-100 Ruslan aircraft may be used. They should be in stand-by mode at Leipzig airport (Germany), and on additional call Antonov provides three more airplanes.
