The administration of US President Joe Biden is preparing a new aid package for Ukraine worth about $1 billion, which is to be approved by Biden after the Senate passes a new bill on foreign aid funding, CNN reported on April 23, citing its sources.
It is noted that the United States is likely to send Ukraine long-range ATACMS, or Army Tactical Missile Systems, for the first time as part of the new aid package.
According to CNN, earlier Senator Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed hope that the ATACMS missiles would be sent to Ukraine by the end of next week. “This should have happened six months ago. The next best time is right now,” Warner said.
The package is also expected to include ammunition, including air defense and artillery munitions, Bradley fighting vehicles and other weapons.
At a meeting on Tuesday, April 23, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted a decision that will help attract an additional EUR100 million from the Council of Europe Development Bank to restore Ukrainian healthcare, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“Another decision adds EUR15 million from the European Investment Bank as part of the financing of the bank guarantee program. This will improve the conditions for obtaining preferential loans for Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises,” he said, according to the government’s press service.
In addition, the European Commission has supported Ukraine’s plan under the Ukraine Facility program. According to the Prime Minister, EUR1.5 billion is expected to be received this week under this EU program.
NovaPay, a financial company of the Nova group of companies, has installed 2.8 thousand of its own POS terminals in 1.9 thousand Nova Poshta offices across Ukraine, except for the temporarily occupied territories, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Our goal is to provide all Nova Poshta branches with NovaPay POS terminals,” the release quotes NovaPay Chief Innovation Officer Oleksiy Ruban as saying.
According to him, the installation of its own POS terminals increases the speed and security of service, and also allows you to quickly resolve problematic issues in case of equipment failures and not to seek help from partner banks.
At the beginning of this year, Nova Poshta’s network in Ukraine consisted of 11.46 thousand branches and 15.59 thousand post offices in more than 10 thousand settlements throughout Ukraine.
As reported, NovaPay plans to install 10 thousand POS terminals in Ukraine by 2025.
NovaPay is an international financial service founded in 2001, part of the Nova group, which provides online and offline financial services at Nova Poshta offices. According to its website, the company employs about 13 thousand people in more than 3.6 thousand Nova Poshta offices across Ukraine. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, the company accounts for 35% of the total volume of domestic money transfers.
The total number of transactions through NovaPay in 2023 reached 354 million, which is 31% more than in the previous year, and their amount increased by 41% to UAH 235.5 billion.
Japan intends to increase its presence in the Ukrainian investment market, in particular, to expand business ties in the field of investment and trade, Japanese partners will open an office of the Japan External Trade Organization JETRO in Kyiv, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine reported following a meeting on April 23 between Deputy Minister and Trade Representative Taras Kachka and the Economic Mission of the Government of Japan.
“The governments of Ukraine and Japan are already preparing a draft updated Agreement on the Promotion and Protection of Investments, which will promote economic development and expand trade between the two countries. The agreement will, in particular, provide Japanese investors with reliable legal protection and guarantees for their investments, which is an important incentive for investment in the private sector and projects to restore Ukraine,” Kachka was quoted as saying in the release.
It is stated that Japan plans to provide EUR 160 million to support Ukraine’s economic recovery projects. Ukraine’s priorities include energy, housing, critical infrastructure, humanitarian demining, and business support.
The participants also discussed the participation of representatives of the Japanese government and Japanese business in the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2024) in Berlin on June 11-12 this year, as well as preparations for EXPO 2025 in Osaka and the Ministerial Meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The Danish government has decided to allocate additional EUR380m for the reconstruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure and construction of wind farms, Danish Business Minister Morten Bedskou said at a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.
According to the press service of the President, during the meeting, the Danish Minister of Entrepreneurship noted the opportunities for strengthening cooperation between the countries and informed about the decision of his government to allocate additional funding for the Ukrainian mechanism of the Danish Export and Investment Fund.
As noted, this mechanism fully covers the risks of Danish exporters and investors, as well as provides financing to Ukrainian private companies and state institutions.
For him, the Danish government will allocate almost EUR380 million more for the restoration of critical infrastructure and construction of wind farms.
At the meeting, Zelensky and Bedskou paid special attention to the prospects of expanding Danish business and attracting new investments in Ukraine.
In turn, the President of Ukraine emphasized the importance of the fact that the Minister of Entrepreneurship of Denmark during his visit to Kiev is accompanied by the heads of Danish companies – the largest investors in the economy of Ukraine.
“Your activity in the Ukrainian market is striking. With your investments you set an example for other partners and investors”, – emphasized Zelensky.
As reported, during the recent visit of the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska to Denmark, she asked Danish partners for additional funding for the Danish Export and Investment Fund, the funds from which come to help Ukraine.
DENMARK, INFRASTRUCTURE, Morten Bedskow, RECONSTRUCTION, UKRAINE
The upper house of the U.S. Congress (Senate) has passed a bill to provide aid to Ukraine. There were 79 votes in favor.
The law is to be signed by US President Joe Biden in the near future.
As reported, the bill approved on April 22 by the lower house of the US Congress (House of Representatives) provides for the allocation of almost $61 billion for purposes related to the support of Ukraine.
In addition to assistance to Ukraine, the package also includes $26 billion in aid to Israel, $8 billion to support US allies in the Indo-Pacific, as well as provisions for new sanctions against Russia, China, and Iran and the US President’s authority to use frozen Russian assets for the benefit of Ukraine.
April 23 President Zelenskyy has a phone conversation with US President Joseph Biden, during which Biden assures him that if the bill is approved by the Senate, he will immediately sign it into law.
The White House website confirms Biden’s words that his administration will quickly provide significant new security assistance packages for Ukraine in combat and air defense as soon as the Senate passes the supplemental national security package and he signs it into law.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made it clear that Ukraine would receive long-range ATACMS missiles as part of the US aid package. “And today’s result is that all the dots have been dotted in the ATACMS agreement for Ukraine. Thank you, Mr. President! Thank you, Congress! Thank you, America!” he said in a video message on Monday.
The provision of missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers has been a request of Kyiv for the past year, but the US administration has constantly postponed the issue. The missiles are provided for in a congressional resolution passed on Saturday, but it contains a reference to the administration’s ability to refuse to deliver them if it is in the national security interest.
