The total amount of funds transferred by OTP Bank to the Superhumans Center for Prosthetics and Rehabilitation amounted to almost UAH 27 million.
Recently, the Bank has completed a charity Christmas auction held in the OTP Bank UA app, which featured iconic lots from prominent personalities: Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Kyrylo Budanov, First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, billionaire philanthropist Howard Buffett, as well as famous athletes, actors, artists, etc. In total, there were 37 lots. The amount of money raised during the auction is UAH 5.8 million. Of this amount, UAH 2.9 million were direct donations from customers who made transfers in the app to help the Superhumans Center.
“This is the second major charity auction we have held to raise funds for prosthetics for Ukrainians. Our clients actively joined the initiative, and we are very grateful to them for that. We would also like to thank everyone who donated items for sale. Thanks to them and their willingness to support, Ukrainians who have been injured in the hostilities are receiving treatment and rehabilitation,” said Volodymyr Mudryi, CEO of OTP Bank.
“For the sake of help, we all united together: customers and employees of the bank, famous people and opinion leaders for a worthy cause. We are proud to be able to help Ukrainians, such as Vyacheslav, who worked as a freight forwarder before the full-scale war. Now Viacheslav is undergoing rehabilitation, getting used to using prosthetic legs and preparing for prosthetic arms,” emphasized Lesia Syrota, team leader of the OTP Bank Helps Ukraine charity project, Director of Retail Sales and Network Management Department of OTP Bank.
She said that the Bank had implemented a charity auction in the app for the first time, and the option of direct donations from customers was added for the first time. “In the future, we will offer no less interesting solutions to attract even more people to make contributions to support the Unconquered,” noted Ms. Syrota.
As a reminder, on the occasion of the Independence Day of Ukraine in 2023, OTP Bank also held a charity auction, during which it raised more than UAH 3 million. Another UAH 5 million was transferred by the Bank to create an educational center on the basis of the Superhumans Center to train prosthetists, who are sorely lacking in Ukraine.
In addition, OTP Bank transfers UAH 1 million or more to the Superhumans Center on a monthly basis. Thus, the total amount of assistance has already reached almost UAH 27 million.
For the first time in its history, Ukrnafta received million-dollar dividends in 2023 from the transportation and production company Naftotransservice and the security firm Security, in which it holds a 49.9% stake.
“The general meeting of shareholders of Naftotransservice LLC decided to pay dividends for 2020, 2021, 2022 – a total of about UAH 6.3 million. As for Security LLC, it is almost UAH 14 million for the same period plus for the first nine months of 2023,” the company said, citing Serhiy Koretsky, Ukrnafta’s CEO.
Thus, the total revenue exceeded UAH 20 million.
The next dividend payment for 2023 is expected in February 2024 from both companies.
“These are the first funds from the results of their operations since 2020,” the company emphasized.
“Ukrnafta is the largest oil company in Ukraine, which operates a national network of 537 filling stations, of which 456 are operational.
Ukrnafta’s largest shareholder is Naftogaz of Ukraine with a 50%+1 share. On November 5, 2022, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to transfer the corporate rights of the company owned by private owners, which is now managed by the Ministry of Defense, to the state.
The actual number of civil servants working in Ukraine is currently 159.9 thousand, the National Agency on Civil Service (NACS) has reported.
According to its report, in 2023, the number of civil servants decreased by 5,518 people, including 1,671 in the fourth quarter.
In addition, it is noted that 1,384 civil servants remain abroad after leaving on February 24, 2022.
At the same time, 4,138 civil servants are in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, of whom 774 are women.
It is noted that today the number of vacant civil service positions is 39.1 thousand.
Dnipro Metallurgical Plant (DMZ, formerly Dniprokoks), a part of DCH Steel of businessman Aleksandr Yaroslavsky’s DCH group, increased rolled metal output by 86.2% in 2023 compared to 2022, to 105.6 thousand tons, and coke output by 38.5%, to 292.7 thousand tons.
According to information in the corporate newspaper DCH Steel on Thursday, in December last year, the plant produced 5.2 thousand tons of rolled steel, reducing production by 35% compared to the previous month. Coke production decreased by 6% to 23.9 thousand tons in November 2023.
In 2022, the plant reduced rolled steel production by 74.2% compared to 2021, to 58.4 thousand tons, and coke production by 56.3%, to 211.3 thousand tons.
DMZ specializes in the production of steel, pig iron, rolled products and products made from them. On March 1, 2018, DCH Group signed an agreement to buy Dnipro Metallurgical Plant from Evraz.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided record financial assistance of EUR 2.1 billion in 2023, while in the coming years it plans to finance Ukraine in the amount of EUR 1.5 billion annually, according to a press release.
“Investments in Ukraine during the war are planned to continue at around €1.5 billion per year, while the capital increase makes it possible to double this amount when the time comes for recovery,” the EBRD said in a statement.
Last year, the EBRD’s executives decided to increase the Bank’s paid-in capital by EUR 4 billion to EUR 34 billion to provide further support to Ukraine.
The bank reminded that Ukraine was provided with EUR 2.1 billion last year and EUR 1.7 billion in 2022, which allowed the EBRD to fulfill its goal of investing up to EUR 3 billion in Ukraine in 2022-2023 in October last year.
It is noted that donor funding to support the real sector of the country’s economy during this period amounted to EUR1.6 billion. It is specified that more than EUR409 million of this amount was allocated in 2023 alone.
“Almost half of the donor resources were provided by the European Union. Significant contributions were also made by individual donors, including Canada, Norway, Spain, and the Netherlands,” the release reads.
Moreover, last year, the EBRD allocated EUR 1 billion in the private sector, including EUR 600 million in loans through partner financial institutions in Ukraine and EUR 400 million under its Trade Facilitation Program.
The EBRD currently identifies five priority areas for investment in Ukraine: energy security, critical infrastructure, food security, trade and private sector support.
In addition to financing, the bank continues to support reforms in Ukraine, the implementation of which will facilitate further private sector investment and Ukraine’s further progress towards EU membership. The EBRD reportedly continued to work with the government and other state agencies on issues related to European integration and fulfillment of EU requirements during the above-mentioned time.
The Bank is also assisting Ukraine in preparing for the effective use of the large amounts of funding that will be needed during the recovery phase, and the EBRD, together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank, is helping ministries and agencies to develop institutional capacity, as well as providing technical assistance to the State Agency for the Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine to establish an effective project office.
“Ukrposhta is creating its own network of cargo offices, with 41 bulky cargo acceptance points planned to open in regional centers in 2024, the company said on Thursday.
“Analyzing the requests of customers and partners and the demand for services, the company is implementing a project of cargo offices specializing in receiving and delivering shipments. This will help to avoid queues at branches that also accept payments for bills, including utility bills and pensions,” Ukrposhta said.
It is noted that Ukrposhta’s cargo offices will be able to ship international and domestic parcels weighing up to 30 kg with a maximum side of 200 cm. Cash on delivery and the purchase of packaging will also be available.
In addition, the cargo offices will have a front line for receiving small shipments and a ramp with the ability to drive five- and ten-ton trucks.
In the future, Ukrposhta is considering raising the weight criteria or working without weight restrictions.
The project has already reformatted 13 branches in Kharkiv, Odesa, Khmelnytsky and Chernivtsi. In addition, a new branch has been opened in Kharkiv at 118 Heroiv Kharkivu Avenue. In the future, Ukrposhta will focus on key cities in the country with a population of 80,000 or more when opening new freight branches, the company said.
Among other things, closed-type cargo offices will be located on the territory of corporate clients, in particular, ROZETKA, Yves Rocher and Epicenter.
“Customers want to receive high-quality service, so the market directs us where to move despite all the difficulties of wartime. “Ukrposhta is launching cargo offices that are maximally adapted to receive and deliver large volumes of shipments. Container exchange is envisaged to significantly accelerate logistics processes,” the statement quoted Yosyp Bornak, Ukrposhta’s deputy director general for network development, as saying.
“Ukrposhta provides postal financial and other services in stationary and mobile offices in more than 27 thousand settlements of Ukraine. Thanks to Ukrposhta’s cooperation with postal operators in other countries, Ukrainians have access to about 660 thousand offices abroad.
