Britain’s King Charles III received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday, July 18, the British royal family said.
“Today the King received Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after a meeting of the European Political Community at Blenheim Palace. At the meeting 46 European leaders discussed a number of international challenges, opportunities and our shared values,” – said in a message in social network X.
In turn, the President of Ukraine thanked the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Charles IIІІ for the audience, emphasizing that the United Kingdom remains one of the closest and most important allies of Ukraine.
“We appreciate all the support given to the Ukrainian people,” Zelensky wrote in his Telegram channel.
Ukrainian president condemns Hungarian prime minister’s unilateral ‘peace mission’ to Moscow
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has taken aim at the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, accusing him of betraying fellow European leaders after Orbán’s recent “peace mission” to Moscow.
The Ukrainian president kicked off the European Political Community summit at Blenheim Palace on Thursday with an emotional speech in which he made veiled but repeated references to Orbán’s recent attempts to get close to Moscow.
Zelenskiy was addressing a room packed full of European leaders and defence ministers, who have gathered in Oxfordshire at a pivotal moment for the war in Ukraine.
He told the session: “We have maintained unity in Europe by acting together, which means that Putin has missed his primary targets … This is our advantage, but it remains an advantage only as long as we are united.”
Referring to Putin, he said: “He may try to approach you, or go to some of your partners individually, trying to tempt or pressure you to blackmail you so that one of you betrays the rest. We keep our unity.”
In an apparent reference to Orbán’s recent visit to meet Putin in Moscow, he added: “If someone in Europe tries to resolve issues behind our backs, or even at the expense of someone else, if someone wants to make some trips to the capital of war to talk – and perhaps promise something against our common interests or at the expense of Ukraine or other countries – then why should we consider such a person?
“The EU can also address all their issues without this one individual.”
Orbán has regularly been a thorn in the side of European leaders attempting to maintain unity in their support for Ukraine. Earlier this year he blocked a €50bn (£42bn) support package for Kyiv for more than a month while he negotiated additional conditions.
This month, the Hungarian leader travelled to Moscow for what he called a “peace mission”, holding a joint press conference with Putin in which the Russian leader told Kyiv to give up more land, pull back its troops and drop its efforts to join Nato.
Orbán then held talks with the former US president Donald Trump, after which he wrote to European leaders telling them Trump had “well-founded plans” for peace should he return to the White House after November’s presidential election. Trump has since underlined his desire to back out of foreign conflicts by choosing the isolationist JD Vance as his running mate.
Orbán’s actions on the world stage have caused alarm in European capitals, with Zelenskiy’s invitation to Blenheim Palace designed in part as a show of unified support for Ukraine.
Hours before the Ukrainian president spoke, Ursula von der Leyen issued a similar message in a speech to MEPs. The president of the European Commission said: “Two weeks ago, a European prime minister went to Moscow. This peace mission was nothing but an appeasement mission.”
Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, made a strong statement of support as he introduced Zelenskiy on Thursday. “Every day Ukraine fights to protect not just the Ukrainian people, but the European people – a continent where our belief in freedom, democracy and the rule of law was hard won, that wants to live in peace,” he said.
“President Zelenskiy, in your struggle to uphold those values, we salute you. Once again, have no doubt, we will stand with you for as long as it takes.”
Zelenskiy also used his speech to European leaders to urge them to provide air defences for Ukraine and not to place limits on their use. The UK has provided Ukraine with Storm Shadow missiles, but is not allowing Zelenskiy to use them against Russian territory.
“We should not fear these capabilities,” the Ukrainian president said. “The more effective our air defences, the more helpless Putin will be. The fewer restrictions we have on the use of effective weapons, the more Russia will seek peace.”
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for the period of martial law has exempted from VAT operations on the supply of components for vehicles (including special and specialized), as well as fuel and lubricants for security and defense forces, said the Cabinet’s representative in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk following a government meeting on Thursday.
The government’s decision is enshrined through amendments to the government resolution from March 2, 2022 N178 “Some issues of imposition of value added tax at a zero rate during martial law”.
“It is established that until the termination or abolition of martial law, operations on the supply of goods (spare parts, batteries, car tires, coolants, components, additional equipment, etc.) for vehicles (including special, specialized vehicles), as well as fuel and lubricants … are subject to value added tax at a zero rate,” Melnychuk wrote in Telegram.
“Poninkivska Cardboard and Paper Mill-Ukraine (PCPF-Ukraine, Khmelnytsky region), a major Ukrainian corrugated cardboard producer, increased its corrugated packaging output by 20.5% in January-June 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, to 46.9 million square meters.
According to Ukrpapir Association statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine, the company continues to be one of the top three producers of corrugated packaging after Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill and Trypillia Packaging Plant.
In the first half of the year, the company also increased its production of containerboard by 3.8% to 37.5 thousand tons, and produced more paper by 73.4% to 0.53 thousand tons.
In monetary terms, in January-June, PCPF-Ukraine produced products worth UAH 1 billion 289 million (+14.9%).
As reported with reference to the data collected by the association from the main enterprises of the industry, the production of paper and cardboard in Ukraine in the first half of 2-24 increased by 5.7% compared to the same period in 2023 – up to 290 thousand tons, cardboard boxes – by 19.4%, to 283.3 million square meters.
Poninkivska Paper Mill (formerly Poninkiv Cardboard and Paper Mill), once the largest producer of school notebooks, now has one main production line – paper and cardboard, producing mainly corrugated cardboard and corrugated packaging, as well as wrapping and waste paper.
The plant is part of the United Cardboard Company-Ukraine (UCC, Lutsk) owned by businessman Mykola Lobov, whose production assets include, among others, Lutsk KPF-Ukraine (Volyn region), which produced 31.7 thousand tons of various cardboard (11.5% more) and 23.4 million square meters of corrugated boxes in six months (according to UkrPapir).
As reported, in 2023, PCPF-Ukraine produced products worth almost UAH 2 billion 450 million, up 3% year-on-year. Net profit increased 2.7 times to UAH 27 million.
A vessel with 1,000 tons of wheat flour for Palestine arrived from Turkey to Jordan as part of the presidential program Grain from Ukraine, the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, said on his Telegram channel.
“President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Grain from Ukraine initiative in cooperation with the WFP sent the first of three shipments to Palestine, which will provide food aid to more than 100,000 families caught in the middle of the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” he wrote, noting that this shipment was the first to be delivered to Palestine under this initiative.
Yermak emphasized that Ukraine continued to provide vital assistance to innocent civilians suffering from food shortages and at risk of starvation.
“Ukraine has always been and will continue to be a donor of food security for the whole world. Over the course of the program’s existence, Ukraine has supplied essential foodstuffs to many countries, including Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen. Food security is one of the important points of the Formula for Peace, and I call on all countries to join our collective efforts to achieve it,” he wrote.
According to Yermak, other ships are also scheduled to depart in the coming months. “In total, Ukraine plans to deliver more than 7,000 tons of wheat flour to Gaza under the initiative with the support of donors, including Norway, Austria, Estonia, France and Iceland,” the head of the Presidential Office said.
In January-June this year, DTEK Energy machine builders manufactured and repaired 757 units of mining equipment, including 8 new tunnelling and shearers.
“Machine builders also provided miners with 542,000 spare parts and components,” the energy holding said in a press release on Thursday.
According to the company, such volumes of the required equipment make it possible to continue laying a stronger foundation for the thermal generation to go through the next heating season.
“There are only a few months left before the autumn-winter period. We are strengthening the energy front, which suffers from constant enemy attacks, from all sides. Power engineers are working 24/7 to restore the destroyed and damaged capacities of thermal power plants. Miners are working to meet the fuel needs of thermal power plants. And machine builders are working to ensure that the latter have everything they need,” said DTEK Energy CEO Ildar Saleev, as quoted in the press release.
As reported, in 2023, the company’s investments in Ukrainian coal mining amounted to about UAH 7 billion, which is almost twice as much as in 2022.
“DTEK Energy provides a closed cycle of electricity generation from coal. As of January 2022, the company’s installed capacity in thermal generation amounted to 13.3 GW. The company has established a full production cycle in coal mining: coal mining and enrichment, mechanical engineering, and maintenance of mine equipment.
Currently, most of DTEK Group’s thermal generation facilities have been destroyed as a result of Russian attacks.
