IAEA experts are closely monitoring the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in connection with allegations of a sabotage threat, but during recent inspections no signs of mines were found there, Rafael Grossi, the agency’s director general, said Wednesday.
“I was in contact with experts from the permanent mission to the ZNPP today, just a few hours ago. We are aware of the allegations and statements from both sides. (…) We have not detected any signs of mines during recent inspections, but we remain extremely wary,” Grossi said at a briefing in Japan, commenting on reports of a sabotage threat at the ZNPP.
He added that “we cannot relax now,” and promised to report regularly on the situation at the plant.
According to Grossi, the IAEA has requested access to a number of other locations at the ZNPP. “IAEA experts have asked for additional access. This is needed to make sure there are no mines or explosives at the site,” the IAEA quoted the director general as saying.
“In particular, access is required to the roof over reactors 3 and 4, to the engine room and to some components of the nuclear power plant cooling system,” he added.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPF) on July 5 sold state-owned enterprise “Rivnetorf” at a price 4.3 times higher than the starting price – for 205 million UAH at an online privatization auction in the system Prozorro.
“During the auction the price of “Rivnetorf” increased 4.3 times – from the starting price of UAH 47,1 million to UAH 205 million. Twelve bidders competed in the auction,” the SPF website reported on Wednesday.
Under the terms of the auction, the winner has 20 working days to pay the cost of the lot. In addition to the winning bid, he must pay the VAT – 41 million UAH. If he refuses to pay, he will lose 9.4 million UAH guarantee fee.
“Only strategic and profitable assets should remain in state ownership. Peat is not strategic – its share in the energy balance is less than 0.3%,” explained in the SPF.
According to the report, as of March 31, 2023, accounts payable of Rivnetorfa amounted to UAH 6.9 mln, including UAH 1.8 mln on salaries.
The buyer of the plant must repay debts on wages and budget within six months. Also, he will not be able to fire workers on his own initiative during this period.
Gambling business in Ukraine in January-June 2023 paid 2.94 billion UAH of taxes, which is 14 times more than during the same period in 2022, said the first deputy head of the specialized parliamentary committee, head of the temporary investigative commission (TIC) on economic security Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
“Let me remind you: the first half of 2022 gambling business brought to the budget only 209 million UAH. And most of the operators were sitting on the “2%” benefit and were engaged in miscoding,” he wrote in the Telegram-channel on Wednesday
Zheleznyak specified that for June collected 562 million UAH, which is 100 million more than in March, when companies also paid income tax.
“There are still some particularly ‘smart’ ones in the market, especially with income tax, so there will be a continuation,” he added.
In addition, on Wednesday, Ukrainian online casino PIN-UP Ukraine reported paying 1.067 billion UAH to the budget in the first half of this year: in the first quarter – 524.7 million UAH, in the second quarter – 519.2 million UAH.
The company specified that this amount also includes 23.4 million UAH for the license to operate obtained by LLC “Ukr Game Technology” in 2021.
“We strive to become an example of business that contributes to the economic development of the country,” PIN-UP Ukraine COO Igor Zotko said in a statement.
Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) has addressed to the carriers with a request to increase transportation through Hungarian border crossing points (BCP), which are currently underutilized and have reserves for cargo transfer, Deputy Director of Commercial Work Department of the company Valery Tkachev said on Tuesday at the online meeting with Hungarian carriers.
According to him, in June a total of 1,789 cars were handled at Chop-Zakhon crossing point and they transported 95.8 thousand tons of cargo of different nomenclature: on average this crossing in both directions handles 59.6 cars per day (w/w), including 51 cars for export from Ukraine.
Comparing June indicators with May ones, Tkachev noted an increase of cargo flow at this gateway by 13 w/c, or 27.4%.
UZ representative reminded that during last four months the maximum level of cargo traffic through Chop-Zakhon was registered in March – 83 car/cargo.
Tkachev noted that to date the main nomenclature of the crossing “Chop-Zakhon” grain, which in June was transferred at 50.5 r/c.
According to his information, there are 4 carriers at this intersection. The biggest is Rail Cargo Hungary (RCH), which in June handled 904 cars at a rate of over 30 b/c. RCH’s largest nomenclature is grains (707 cars), apart from which 85 cars with containers and imported oil cargoes were handled.
MMV Magyar Maganvasut Zrt (MMV) handled 421 wagons at the Chop-Zahan BC in June at a rate of 14 v/c. Grain also accounted for the bulk of the cargo – 370 wagons, and oil cargo imports also accounted for a significant share.
Magyar Vasuti Aruszallito Kft. (MVA) handled 402 cars at 13.5 v/c, of which 377 were loaded with grain.
CD Cargo Hungary accounted for 62 cars of grain cargo in June
“As for Chop-Zakhon, we don’t see any queue on the wide gauge (1524 mm), the narrow gauge (1435 mm) is dealt with. That is, I personally do not see any problems with the transfer and with the work of “Chop-Zalkhan”,” – said Tkachev.
According to UZ in June in Batevo-Epereshkoe 3 731 carriages with 252,3 thousand tons of different nomenclature were processed. On average, 121 v/c was dispatched from Ukraine for export, while 3.5 v/c was received. In total, this joint handles 124.4 v/c.
“For Batevo-Epereshka, we see a significant slump and a drop in cargo work of 28.5 v/c, or 18.6%. If we look at the grain group, we transfer an average of 20.6 v/c through this crossing. Last month this figure was almost 26 v/c. We in March, for example, handled 94 grain v/c. Today, unfortunately, “Batevo-Epereshka” only about 21 c / c, “- said Tkachev.
According to his information, two carriers – MMV and RCH – work at this junction. MMV handled 19 v/c: in June 247 out of 565 cars most of them were used for oil.
In turn, RCH on “Batevo-Epereshka” in June handled 3166 cars with 215,2 thousand tons of various cargo types, including the ore – 1945 cars, grain – 531, coal – 205. Its average daily rate is about 105.5 v/c.
“There are only 385 cars moving in the Batevo-Epereshke direction, including 196 with ore, 30 with grain, 25 with cake and 26 with oil. The junction is underloaded, as “Chop-Zakhon”, so there is an opportunity to increase”, – added Tkachev.
He also noted that a total of two Hungarian crossing handle the largest volume of grain per day – more than 70 cars.
“This is more than all the joints of Poland (four BCPs), Romania and other countries. That is, today Hungary is the leader in handling grain cargoes,” – stated Tkachev.
The National Bank of Ukraine on July 3 included Brokertim LLC in the State register of insurance and reinsurance brokers “, according to the website of the regulator.
According to Internet resources, “Brokertim” LLC was registered in July 2018. Its owner is stated LLC “DTEK Service”, the ultimate beneficiary of which is Rinat Akhmetov.
The authorized capital of the company is 625.7 thousand UAH.
Ukrhazvydobuvannya (UGV) in June launched three more wells in the east of the country with the total production of 425 thousand cubic meters of gas per day.
“Ukrhazvydobuvannya, which is part of Naftogaz group, launched three high-efficiency wells with a total production rate of 425,000 cubic meters of gas per day. Two of them are new, the third got a new life after overhaul,” announced the company on Wednesday.
As Naftogaz head Alexei Chernyshov noted, the two new wells were drilled by UGV at the old field.
“This is a very good result, which was made possible by the development analysis and the use of the constructed 3D model. Such modern approaches made it possible to launch a total of 10 new wells in the field, the daily production of which exceeded 3 million cubic meters,” explained Chernyshov, quoted on Naftogaz’s website.
As the company informed, one more well, on which the overhaul was carried out, has been working at the field for almost 30 years. Prior to the repair work, gas production from it was insignificant, but after its transfer to the higher horizon, the well increased production tenfold.
“In the first half of 2023 our company has already put into operation 11 high-efficiency wells with an output of over 100 thousand cubic meters a day each. Four of them produce more than 300 thousand cubic meters per day. These are indicators which gradually draw us closer to our goals – increase of gas production”, Acting Director General of Ukrgazvydobuvannya Oleg Tolmachov said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukrhazvydobuvannya has set a goal to increase its own production of natural gas by 1 billion cubic meters in 2023, up to 13.5 billion cubic meters. In 2022, the company produced 12.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas (commercial), which is 3% less than in 2021.
Naftohaz Ukrayiny owns 100% of Ukrhazvydobuvannya shares.
