The Swiss government has allocated CHF 58.7 million (EUR 60.6 million at the NBU exchange rate – IF-U) to continue supporting Ukraine in the field of digitalization and e-government over the next four years.
The decision was made by the Federal Council at a meeting on June 7, the Swiss government’s press service reports.
“Thus, Switzerland promotes democratic reforms in Ukraine through digitalization and at the same time increases the transparency of public services. Both areas are crucial for Ukraine’s recovery,” the statement said.
Switzerland will provide a total of 58.7 million Swiss francs in the period 2024-2028. The funding will come from the regular budget for international cooperation and will focus in particular on projects in regions directly affected by the war and important for the country’s future recovery. Some of the key areas will include health, education, and humanitarian demining.
It is noted that Switzerland will announce its support in the field of digitalization and e-government at the next Ukraine Recovery Conference, which will be held on June 11 and 12, 2024 in Berlin.
Forecast of dynamics of changes in ukrainian GDP in % for 2022-2025 in relation to previous period
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
At the request of the Ukrainian government, Japan has provided Ukraine with a series of vehicles, the Japanese Embassy reports.
“At the request of the Ukrainian government, the Ministry of Defense of Japan and the Japan Self-Defense Forces provided Ukraine with a series of vehicles under a decision made in May 2023. The batch of 101 vehicles arrived in Poland on June 5 and was then handed over to Ukraine,” the X social media post reads.
The embassy emphasized that Japan would continue to support Ukraine.
In turn, the Ministry of Defense in X expressed gratitude to Japan for its support and informed that the aid includes Toyota HMV and Mitsubishi Type 73 Kogata SUVs, as well as PC-065B tracked engineering vehicles.
Since the full-scale invasion, the Pokrovske community has become a real humanitarian hub, receiving various types of assistance from representatives of both Ukrainian organizations and international foundations on a daily basis. All of them are united by a common goal – to help civilians in confronting the enemy.
An equally important component of this cooperation is the openness to interaction of the Pokrovske MCA leaders, who work daily to “cover” all the needs of the community.
Recently, the town was visited by representatives of the Volunteer Coordination Headquarters (Kyiv), a charity organization that works closely with European countries on humanitarian aid.
“The winner is the one who destroys the enemy’s strategic plan. Therefore, all attention is focused on Donetsk region, because it is the “most important” region. Since 2022, we have been actively helping our defenders and the frontline communities of Donetsk Oblast, whose residents suffer from shelling every day,” said Oleksandr Kuzniak, the foundation’s chairman.
During the visit to Pokrovsk, the volunteer philanthropists met with the heads of the military administration, including Natalia Ivanio, deputy head of the Pokrovsk MVA, and discussed the needs of the community.
They brought power tools that will be useful for the city’s utility workers.
“We come to Donetsk region at least once a month. We form a truck with humanitarian cargo according to the needs that the military and community leaders send us. This is not the first time we have been in Pokrovsk, and we are working closely with Sergey Dobryak, who is always open to cooperation, especially in humanitarian issues. We plan to continue to support the Pokrovsk community, which is located in close proximity to the front line. It is extremely important today,” added Mr. Kuzniak.
In her turn, Natalia Ivanio, Deputy Head of the Pokrovske MVA, thanked the benefactors for their help and active social position.
Ukrainian agrarians have completed the spring sowing season, during which 7.2 million hectares were sown with oilseeds, and about 5.6 million hectares with cereals and legumes, which is 22.6% above the forecast, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.
According to the report, agrarians have sown more than 99% of the projected areas of spring cereals and legumes. They allocated 3.93 million hectares for corn, which amounted to 100.4% of the projected area, barley – 783 thousand hectares (95.7%), wheat – 252.7 thousand hectares (102.6%), oats – 163.7 thousand hectares (100.7%), peas – 162.5 thousand hectares (101.6%), buckwheat – 100.8 thousand hectares (80.7%), millet – 69.7 thousand hectares (81.8%).
5.19 million hectares (98%) have been allocated for sunflowers, 2.03 million hectares (102%) for soybeans.
Sugar beet is sown on 250.1 thousand hectares (97%).
As reported, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy in April forecasted the sown area of grain and leguminous crops in 2024 at the level of 10.6 million hectares, which is 395 thousand hectares lower than in 2023.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy expects gross production of grain and oilseeds in 2024 at the level of 74 million tons, of which about 52.4 million tons – grains, 21.7 million tons – oilseeds.
Agrarians in 2024 will be able to harvest 19.2 million tons of wheat (22.2 million tons were harvested in 2023), 4.9 million tons of barley (5.7 million tons), 26.7 million tons of corn (30.5 million tons), 5.2 million tons of soybeans (4.7 million tons), 12.4 million tons of sunflower (12.9 million tons), 4.1 million tons of rapeseed (4.7 million tons).
