Jarek Neverovic, former Lithuanian energy minister and chief advisor to the Lithuanian president on environment and infrastructure issues, has become chairman of the supervisory board of Energoatom, a source in the government told the Energoreforma Internet portal. Neverovic is an independent member of Energoatom’s National Assembly, which was formed back in June 2024, but has not been fully operational until now.
He has held various positions in his country’s government related to the operation of the electricity transmission system, management of investment funds and cooperation with national and multinational corporations.
According to Forbes.ua, citing its sources in Enerhoatom, another independent member of the National Assembly, Timothy Stone, refused to sign a contract, but is considering being an advisor.
As reported, Stone has experience as an independent director of the British Horizon Nuclear Power, a non-executive director of the European Investment Bank and heads the UK Nuclear Industry Association (NIA).
Prior to that, the fact that the supervisory board of Energoatom on Friday, January 17, elects its chairman and will begin full work, Energy Minister German Galushchenko said.
“The issue of corruption, I think, will be solved….. Today the chairman of the supervisory board (“Energoatom” – ER) is already being fully elected. Accordingly, there will be a functioning supervisory board that will monitor all decisions that will be made. From the point of view of corporate governance, I think this is the best way out,” he said during the ‘Hour of questions to the government’, which is broadcast by MP Oleksiy Honcharenko (European Solidarity faction).
The Cabinet of Ministers approved Timothy Stone (Timothy John Stone), Michael E. Kirst and Jarek Neverovic as independent members of the supervisory board of Energoatom by order No. 566 of June 21, 2024, and Timofey Milovanov and Vitaliy Petruk as representatives of the state.
Since then, the Supervisory Board has not fully started its work. Interfax-Ukraine sources specified that the independent members were not satisfied with the amount of remuneration.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the terms of contracts with members of the NAEK’s supervisory board by Order No. 1224 of November 26, 2024, without disclosing details.
In December of the same year, First Deputy Economy Minister Oleksiy Sobolev said that the government was waiting for a position on the contracts and readiness to continue work from the independent members of Energoatom’s supervisory board, whose first meeting has been open since July 17. According to him, the proposed conditions are in line with salaries in other major Ukrainian energy companies.
In early January 2025, Ukrainian MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Golos faction) suggested that international partners should be involved in the discussion of the disruption of the NAEK Energoatom supervisory board.
The EU ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Maternova, said in a reply to a letter of inquiry from the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on 14 January that the G7 ambassadors had urged Prime Minister Denys Shmygal to ensure the work of the supervisory board of the NAEK Enerhoatom as soon as possible. According to her, having a full-fledged council will be important for discussing significant new investments.
A small wet snow is expected on Sunday, January 19, in the east, at night and in the south-east of Ukraine, in the rest of the territory without precipitation.
According to Ukrhydrometcenter, at night and in the morning in the western regions in some places fog, on the roads icy. The wind is north-western, 7-12 m/s.
The temperature at night from 2° warm to 3° frost, in the Carpathians 2-7° frost; in the afternoon 1-6° warm, in the eastern and Sumy regions about 0°.
In Kiev on January 19 without precipitation. The wind is north-westerly, 7-12 m/s. The temperature at night is about 0°, during the day 3-5° warm.
According to the Central Geophysical Observatory named after Boris Sreznevsky, in Kiev for all the time of meteorological observations, the highest temperature on January 19 was 9.8 ° in 2007, the lowest -23.0 ° in 1942.
On Monday, January 20, in Ukraine without precipitation. At night in the western regions on the roads in places icy. The wind is north-western with a transition to southeastern, 5-10 m/s.
The temperature at night from 2° warm to 3° frost, on the Left Bank up to 5° frost; during the day 1-6° warm, in Transcarpathia, Prykarpattya and the south of the country up to 10°.
In Kiev on January 20, the wind is northwest with a transition to southeast, 5-10 m/s. The temperature at night is about 0° warm, during the day 3-5° warm.
The U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved a loan of up to $40 million for Astarta, Ukraine’s largest sugar producer, at the sub-council level.
“(The loan) will assist in the construction and operation of a soy protein processing plant with a projected annual capacity of about 100,000 tons and help Astarta make other investments,” DFC said on its website.
At the same time, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group announced at the end of November 2024 that it was considering a $40 million loan to Astarta and a parallel $40 million loan for the construction of a soy protein concentrate plant in Poltava region. The recipient of the funds is Astarta Agro Protein LLC, a subsidiary of Astarta Holding plc.
It was noted that IFC has already assisted the agricultural holding in conducting market research, preparing a business plan for the project, and assessing its commercial viability in order to interact with potential investors.
Initially, the IFC Board of Directors planned to consider this project on December 20, but then postponed it to February 28, 2025.
As reported, in 2024, Astarta began investing in the construction of a plant for processing soybean meal into soy protein concentrate with a capacity of 500 tons per day (about 100 thousand tons per year) in the Globinsky Industrial Complex (Poltava region). The agricultural holding will invest over EUR 76 million in equipment and technology and create 110 new jobs.
“Astarta and its structural unit Astarta Agro Protein signed the first investment agreement with the Ukrainian government to receive compensation from the state for significant investments. As part of the agreement, the government will provide the agricultural holding with a number of incentives, including exemptions from import duties on new equipment, import VAT on new equipment and income tax for up to 5 years.
IFC recalled that Astarta commissioned a soybean processing plant in Globyno in December 2013. In 2023, it processed 232 thousand tons of soybeans, 73% of which were grown by the agricultural holding, and produced 172 thousand tons of soybean meal. In the first half of 2024, the share of the plant’s own raw materials increased to 90%.
Soybean concentrate is produced by processing soybean meal with higher added value. It serves as a raw material for the production of animal feed.
In 2023, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR618.93 million.
Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Albania, Andriy Sibiga and Igli Hasani inaugurated the Embassy of Albania in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga said on Platform X on Friday evening.
On October 20, the embassies of Albania, Argentina, Palestine, Palestine, North Macedonia, Portugal and Montenegro were reportedly damaged as a result of enemy shelling in Kiev.
In February 2024, then Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said after talks with his Albanian counterpart Igli Hasani that Albania plans to open its embassy in Kiev in the near future.
TheRepublic of Albania recognized the independence of Ukraine on January 4, 1992. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on January 13, 1993.
In 2024, Sukha Balka mine (Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro region), a part of Aleksandr Yaroslavsky’s DCH Group, produced 917 thousand tonnes of commercial ore, down 1.5% from 931 thousand tonnes in 2023.
As Igor Piltek, Deputy General Director and Chief Engineer of the mine, said in an interview with the DCH Steel corporate newspaper on Thursday, crude ore production in 2024 amounted to one million tons, the volume of rock mass was about 7688 cubic meters, cutting operations amounted to 4,986 thousand meters, and well drilling amounted to 92,937 thousand meters.
Plans for 2025 include the extraction of 930 thousand tons of raw ore, 850 thousand tons of commercial ore, excavation of 8000 cubic meters of rock mass, 5200 meters of cutting operations, 91,773 thousand meters of drilling.
The Chief Engineer stated that in 2024, the company allocated UAH 43 million for equipment renewal.
According to him, the mine is implementing energy efficiency projects. At the same time, at the end of last year, the construction of a 2 MW solar power plant began at the Frunze mine, which is planned to be commissioned in the second quarter of 2025.
As reported, Sukha Balka mine produced almost 931 thousand tons of commercial ore in 2023, while in 2022 it produced 1.469 million tons (down 36.5%).
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.
Sukha Balka mine is one of the leading mining companies in Ukraine. It produces iron ore using an underground method. The mine includes Yubileynaya and Frunze mines. Frunze mine.
DCH Group acquired the mine from Evraz Group in May 2017.
In 2024, the Alo chain opened nine new stores, as well as reopened and renovated 54 outlets in 19 cities, its press service reports.
“In 2024, Allo continued to invest in store development. We are also accelerating our logistics and developing the work of delivery points. In 2025, we will continue to thoroughly analyze the efficiency of the retail space and work on its further optimization,” said Mykola Astapov, Allo’s Director of Development and Formats Nikolay Astapov, Director of Development and Formats at Allo, as quoted in the press release.
According to the report, new stores were opened in Kyiv, Lviv, Ternopil, Vinnytsia and Bakhmach. In total, as of the beginning of 2025, the chain has 292 Alo, Alo Max, Alo Express stores and Mi Store stores in 100 cities of Ukraine.
Allo was established in 1998. According to the Opendatabot resource, the company’s shareholders are PE Dniproinvest 2016 (95.19%), Dmytro Derevytskyi (3.6%), and Maksym Raskin (1.21%). Derevytskyi is listed as the ultimate beneficiary.
