Every fifth child in Ukraine has reported losing a close relative or friend since the start of Russia’s full-scale aggression three years ago, according to a survey published by UNICEF on Friday.
“For all these years, death and destruction have been a daily routine for every child in Ukraine. This level of violence causes enormous suffering for children and deprives them of a true childhood,” said UNICEF Executive Director Katharine Russell.
It is noted that the third year of the full-scale war in Ukraine has become even more deadly for children compared to 2023: the number of child casualties has increased by 50%. In total, more than 2,520 children have been killed or injured since February 2022. It is noted that the true number of victims is likely to be much higher, as these are only figures confirmed by the UN.
It is officially recorded that more than 1,600 educational institutions and almost 790 healthcare facilities have been damaged or destroyed over the past three years, UNICEF added.
“The war has caused irreparable losses to children and adolescents, affecting their development and well-being at key stages of their lives,” the Fund states.
He reminds that the experience of the first three years determines the health and learning of children throughout their lives, and in Ukraine, children born three years ago do not even know what peaceful life is. Parents report feeling physically and emotionally exhausted, which affects the lives of the entire family. The war has also made it harder for young children and their parents to access critical services.
“Adolescence is a particularly difficult period for children in Ukraine. Almost a third of adolescents reported feeling sad and hopeless, which prevent them from doing their usual activities. These feelings are much more prevalent among girls,” the publication says.
UNICEF points out that children’s mental health problems are exacerbated by forced seclusion. Many children spend hours in shelters, losing opportunities for socializing and learning. Almost 40% of children study only online or combine face-to-face and remote classes. The impact of the war on learning is very serious: the average level of educational loss is two years in reading and one year in math, according to the Foundation.
UNICEF reminds that it is working with partners across Ukraine to provide children in frontline areas with vital support, including access to health services, safe water, cash assistance, education and protection. In addition, the Foundation works with the government and partners to lay the foundation for Ukraine’s recovery and long-term development, and to promote social cohesion by strengthening systems that support children and their families. This includes strengthening child social protection, health and education systems so that they can provide children with timely and quality support, care and opportunity services.
It is also noted that there are currently 6.86 million Ukrainian refugees registered in the world, almost 1 million of whom live in Poland. For refugee children, access to schooling remains a challenge, as half of school-age children in refugee-hosting countries are not enrolled in local educational institutions, which affects their ability to learn and communicate with their peers, as well as develop basic skills critical to Ukraine’s recovery.
“All children without exception must be protected from the effects of war in accordance with international humanitarian and human rights law. What children in Ukraine need most of all is sustainable peace and the chance to realize their full potential,” Russell emphasized.
In 2025, Northern Mining and Processing Plant (Northern GOK, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro Oblast), a part of Metinvest Group, will allocate over UAH 62.5 million to upgrade and maintain equipment at Mining Transportation Shop No. 1.
According to the plant, it is implementing new approaches to ensure efficient operation. Thus, the year started with the efficient use of resources, plans to create a new fuel station and overhaul mining machines.
These measures will ensure the stability of the ore removal and overburden stripping process. Today, GTC-1 is operating at its maximum capacity of 37-38 dump trucks per shift, just like before the war. The main production task of the shop is to transport rock mass from the open pit to the receiving wells of the crushing plant. Every month, the unit transports 1.5 million cubic meters of rock mass.
Experts emphasize that one of the areas of work is to study the wear resistance of large tires and their runnability. Currently, GTZ-1 dump trucks run on Michelin tires (84,000 km) and Maxam tires (80,000 km). There is a prospect of a gradual transition to Bridgestone tires with better performance.
In addition, tire pressure monitoring further contributes to the increase in mileage. These and other steps will extend the service life of large tires to 95 thousand kilometers, which is at least a year of use under optimal conditions. Other measures include the resumption of in-house tire repairs.
One of the planned projects is the construction of an additional filling station at the minus 193 m horizon, where the intake well DF-3 is located. It is planned to arrange a refueling point for technological vehicles there, reducing the distance of the previous route by 3.3 km.
Last year, GTZ-1 specialists overhauled the running gear of three Cat D9 and Cat D10 bulldozers and a Liebherr bulldozer. Two dump trucks had their KTA-50 engines rebuilt. Another machine had its old engine replaced with a new one. In addition, six dump trucks’ loading platforms were repaired in-house.
“Implementation of the overhaul program is a key condition for reliable operation of machines in quarries, ensuring their maximum efficiency and extending the service life of the mechanisms. In total, in 2025, we plan to allocate over UAH 62.5 million to restore and maintain equipment. As a result, these measures will ensure the stability of the ore removal and overburden stripping process,” emphasized Sergey Tyrlych, head of the GTC-1 at YuGOK.
Yenakiieve GOK is part of Metinvest Group, whose main shareholders are System Capital Management (SCM, Donetsk) (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%). Metinvest Group’s management company is Metinvest Holding LLC.
In January 2025, Ukraine increased imports of lead and lead products by 4.3 times compared to the same period in 2024, to $580 thousand (in December – $1.193 million). At the same time, lead exports decreased by 26.3% to $643 thousand (December: $583 thousand).
Lead is currently mainly used in the production of lead-acid batteries for the automotive industry. In addition, lead is used to make bullets and some alloys.
Insurance company Euroins Ukraine (Kyiv) will increase its authorized capital to UAH 168.190 million by conducting an additional issue of shares in the amount of UAH 90.250 million.
According to the insurer’s information posted in the NSSMC system, this decision was made by the shareholders at a meeting on February 19.
According to the report, it is planned to place 9.025 billion shares with a nominal value of UAH 0.01, at a placement price of UAH 0.02.
It is also specified that the placement of shares may lead to a change in the owners of a significant stake, an increase in the shareholding of shareholders who already own 5% or more of the shares, namely: JSC Euroins Insurance Group (Bulgaria) – 92.728%, PrJSC European Travel Insurance – 5.745%.
The raised financial resources from the share placement are planned to be used in full to bring the company’s activities in line with the requirements of the Law of Ukraine “On Insurance” regarding solvency and investment activities. Namely, it is planned to place 70% of the funds received in the course of the issue in bank deposits, 20% in government bonds of Ukraine and other securities, and 10% in the centralized insurance reserve funds of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine.
Euroins Ukraine is a universal insurance company that has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 1992. It is a part of the Bulgarian insurance group Euroins, which is one of the largest independent insurance groups operating in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
In January 2025, imports of aluminum and aluminum products increased by 9.4% year-on-year to $36.658 million (in December – $36.943 million). In January, aluminum exports increased by 17.9% to $9.431 million, while in December this figure was $8.426 million.
Aluminum is widely used as a structural material. The main advantages of aluminum are its lightness, stampability, corrosion resistance, high thermal conductivity, and non-toxicity of its compounds. In particular, these properties have made aluminum extremely popular in the production of cookware, aluminum foil in the food industry, and packaging. The first three properties have made aluminum the main raw material in the aviation and aerospace industries (recently it has been replaced by composite materials, primarily carbon fiber). After the construction and production of packaging, such as aluminum cans and foil, the energy sector is the largest consumer of the metal.
The housing price index in Ukraine reached 112.7% in 2024, up from 114.5% in 2023 and 113% in 2022, the State Statistics Service (Ukrstat) reported.
According to it, in the primary market, housing prices rose by 15% in 2024, accelerating growth compared to 2023, when the figure was 12.8%. At the same time, one-bedroom apartments went up by 14.9%, two-bedroom apartments by 15.3%, and three-bedroom apartments by 14.8%.
At the same time, housing prices in the secondary market slowed down. Thus, the secondary market rose by 11.6% on average, which is 4 percentage points lower than in 2023. One-bedroom apartments in the secondary market went up by 11.5%, two-bedroom apartments by 11.9%, and three-bedroom apartments by 11.5%.
According to the agency, in the fourth quarter of 2024, the house price index fell to 113.1% compared to 116.1% in the fourth quarter of 2023. In particular, in October-December 2024, prices in the primary market increased by 15.8% compared to 14.6% in October-December 2023, while in the secondary market, the price growth rate slowed down to 11.9% compared to 17%, respectively.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, the housing price index increased by 0.6 percentage points to 103.5% compared to the third quarter. In particular, in the primary market, housing prices rose by an average of 4%: one-bedroom apartments – by 3.9%, two-bedroom apartments – by 4%, three-bedroom apartments – by 4.1%.
In the secondary market, housing prices rose by 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared to 2.5% in the third quarter. One-room apartments rose in price by 3.2%, two- and three-room apartments – by 3.3% and 3.4%, respectively.
The State Statistics Service noted that the figures exclude the temporarily occupied territories and parts of the territories where military operations are (were) underway.
