China has called on the international community to focus on real mediation to achieve peace in Ukraine instead of wasting time on discussions.
“Over the past seven days, the Ukrainian issue has been the subject of three Council meetings. While we are spending time and energy on further discussions of this issue in the Council, we should invest more time and energy in mediation and promoting peace talks,” said Chinese Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Geng Shuang during an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council initiated by Ukraine after a massive missile and drone strike by Russia on the night of July 31.
China stressed that the crisis in Ukraine is in a critical phase and called on all parties to make every effort to de-escalate and return to the political process. In particular, the Beijing representative outlined three key steps: prioritizing humanitarian needs and protecting civilians, immediate de-escalation on the battlefield to allow for meaningful negotiations, and an active role for the international community in creating conditions for dialogue.
The Chinese side stressed that it would continue to promote the settlement, guided by the four principles formulated by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
As reported, Ukraine initiated an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in response to the latest escalation of terror by Russia, which led to the death of people and destruction in Kyiv.
As of now, at least 31 civilians, including five children, are known to have been killed in the attack on Kyiv on July 31. Another 159 civilians, including 16 children, were wounded in the capital.
In January–June 2025, DTEK Energy allocated UAH 6.9 billion to preparations for the 2025/26 heating season.
“Key areas include repairs, restoration of thermal power plants, and support for Ukrainian coal mining,” the company said in a press release.
In particular, as noted by DTEK Energy, given the challenges of the war and the consequences of numerous massive attacks on energy infrastructure, the energy holding company is continuing its ongoing repair campaign at thermal power plants. In six months, about UAH 4 billion has already been allocated for this work, which is more than in the whole of 2024, making it possible to prepare generating capacities for winter and maintain the reliability of the power system.
At the same time, intensive preparations are underway at Ukrainian mines. The company’s own investments in coal production since the beginning of the year amounted to UAH 2.9 billion. As a result, in the first half of the year, DTEK Energy miners put seven new coal seams into operation, providing fuel for heat generation.
The company’s machine-building enterprises are also working to support the mines. In the first half of the year, they manufactured and repaired 1,707 pieces of mining equipment, including four new roadheaders, as well as 1.2 million spare parts and components.
“Our power engineers, repair workers, miners, and machine builders continue to work hard to provide Ukrainians with electricity, especially during summer peaks in consumption, and to lay a more reliable foundation for thermal power generation during the next heating season (…) We are continuing to repair and restore thermal power plants, investing in coal mining and providing mines with the necessary equipment,” said DTEK Energy CEO Alexander Fomenko.
According to the company, since the start of the full-scale war, the Russians have launched 205 strikes on DTEK Energy’s thermal power plants. Last year alone, there were 13 large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Since February 2022, 56 power plant workers have been injured and four people have been killed in attacks on DTEK Energy’s thermal power plants.
DTEK Energy provides a closed cycle of coal-fired power generation. As of January 2022, the company’s installed thermal power generation capacity was 13.3 GW. A complete production cycle has been established in coal mining: coal extraction and enrichment, machine building, and maintenance of mining equipment.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and Japanese Ambassador to Kyiv Masashi Nakagome discussed the upcoming Ukrainian-Japanese business forum scheduled for the fall, as well as preparations for the arrival of two Japanese business missions.
“Today I met with Japanese Ambassador Masashi Nakagome. On August 5, Ukraine will celebrate its National Day at Expo 2025 in Osaka. This special event will be an expression of our sincere gratitude to the international community for its continued support,“ she wrote on social media on Friday, noting that she thanked the ambassador for the invitation but would remain in Kyiv, ”where my team and I are finalizing our government’s action plan.”
According to Svyrydenko, at the meeting with the ambassador, “we discussed the upcoming Ukrainian-Japanese business forum scheduled for the fall, as well as preparations for the arrival of two Japanese business missions.” The prime minister noted that work on the investment agreement “is progressing well, and our goal is to sign it this fall.”
Svyrydenko also said that another important topic was Japan’s potential participation in the Cultural Resilience Alliance, an international initiative founded by Ukraine to support cultural recovery and resilience in times of war.
“We deeply value our partnership with Japan and look forward to strengthening our cooperation in the areas of investment, culture, and post-war recovery,” she emphasized.
The World Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka, Japan. It will last for six months in 2025: from April 13 to October 13. The theme of the exhibition is “Designing Future Societies for Our Lives,” with sub-themes of “Saving Lives,” “Expanding Life Chances,” and “Connecting Lives.”
The business confidence indicator in the Ukrainian construction market rose by 2.5 percentage points (pp) in the third quarter of 2025 compared to the second quarter, to “minus” 32.6%, according to the State Statistics Service (Gosstat).
According to a survey of construction companies conducted by the agency, the assessment of the shortage of current orders improved by 3.6 pp to minus 47%. Thus, 51% of the companies surveyed assessed their current order volume as insufficient, while 45% considered it normal for the season.
Fifty-four percent of respondents expect prices for their services to increase in the third quarter of this year. Only 2% of respondents predict a decrease in the cost of construction work, while 45% do not expect any changes in pricing policy.
According to the State Statistics Service, the companies participating in the survey have orders for an average of six months, which corresponds to the pre-war level at the beginning of 2022.
The statistics agency notes that in the third quarter of 2025, the negative impact on construction will be caused by labor shortages (55.2%), financial constraints (42.7%), insufficient demand (22.9%), and other factors (42.8%).
Twenty-nine percent of the companies surveyed expect a reduction in the number of employees in July-September, while 56% believe that their number will remain unchanged, and 15% predict an expansion of staff.
According to the State Statistics Service, 37% of respondents noted an increase in the volume of construction work completed in the last quarter, while 24% reported a decrease. The survey showed that 99% of Ukrainian construction companies find it difficult to predict the future development of the business situation.
Statistical data are provided without taking into account the territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation and parts of the territories where hostilities are (were) ongoing.
As of August 1, farmers harvested 15.47 million tons of early grains and legumes from 4 million 423.9 thousand hectares, which is 39% of the area sown with these crops, according to the Ministry of Economy.
Last year, as of August 2, 25.29 million tons of grain were harvested from 6 million 106.1 thousand hectares, which means that the current figures are 38.8% and 27.5% lower, respectively, and the average yield, which is 3.5 tons/ha, is 15.6% lower.
According to the Ministry of Economy, 11.36 million tons of wheat were harvested from 3 million 54.2 thousand hectares (last year – 19.44 million tons from 4 million 465.8 thousand hectares), barley – 3.57 million tons from 1 million 14.8 thousand hectares (4.82 million tons from 1 million 294.1 thousand hectares).
The average yield of these crops this year is 3.7 tons/ha and 3.5 tons/ha, respectively, which is 14.6% and 5.5% less than last year’s figures.
At the same time, this year’s pea harvest is already higher than last year’s – 0.49 million tons from 208,200 hectares compared to 0.45 million tons from 205,700 hectares, and the yield is 7.7% higher at 2.4 tons/hectare.
Other cereals and legumes were threshed on an area of 145,500 hectares, with a harvest of 50,400 tons.
It is noted that among the leaders are, in particular, the Odessa region with 0.09 million tons from 1 million 70.4 thousand hectares, the Kirovograd region with 1.93 million tons from 462.9 thousand hectares, and the Poltava region with 1.52 million tons from 344.7 thousand hectares.
Farmers in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions have begun threshing millet, harvesting 83 tons from an area of 1,200 hectares, the Ministry of Economy added.
According to its data, as of August 1, 1.76 million tons of rapeseed had already been harvested from an area of 781,900 hectares, while last year on August 2, 3.24 million tons were harvested from 1,195,500 hectares, and the average yield is 16.8% lower than last year’s on this date and amounts to 2.3 tons/hectare.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine, in its Inflation Report published on Friday night, lowered its forecast for this year’s grain harvest from 61.7 million tons to 57.9 million tons, and for oilseeds from 22 million tons to 21 million tons.
The NBU recalled that last year, the grain harvest in Ukraine fell to 56.2 million tons from 59.8 million tons in 2023, while oilseeds fell from 21.7 million tons to 20 million tons.
The Parallel fuel station network (TM Parallel) has grown to 76 fuel stations in eight regions, according to a press release issued by the company on Thursday.
“And we are not stopping there,” the release said, while in an interview with Delo at the end of April, the number of stations was 63.
The company noted that in the first half of 2025, it paid more than 724 million to budgets at all levels: 414 million UAH in excise tax, 278 million UAH in VAT, 13 million UAH in income tax, and 2.4 million UAH in military tax.
According to Alexander Dubinin, CEO and owner of Parallel, the company is continuing to implement a comprehensive program to upgrade its gas stations, which includes modernizing facilities, improving service quality, and making things more convenient for customers.
According to the release, Parallel gas stations operate in Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Poltava, and in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions controlled by Ukraine.
As reported, before the war, the Parallel network had 132 gas stations. As a result of the full-scale invasion, Parallel lost or suspended operations at most of its facilities.
In 2024, the company increased its tax payments by more than 2.5 times, to over UAH 1.7 billion,
and in early 2025, it resumed its partnership with FC Shakhtar, which lasted from 2008 to 2014, when the network, like the club, was owned by Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM. The partnership is set to last for 2.5 years and includes putting the Parallel logo on the team’s jerseys, advertising during home games, loyalty programs, and social media activity.
Parallel is a member of the Ukrainian Oil and Gas Association and one of the 10 largest fuel importers in Ukraine.
