The Swiss Federal Council at a meeting on Wednesday approved the Agreement between Switzerland and Ukraine on cooperation in the reconstruction of Ukraine, according to the Swiss government portal.
“This State Treaty provides a legal basis for enhanced cooperation with the Swiss private sector in the reconstruction of Ukraine. The State Treaty will be signed at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025 in Rome. The text of the agreement will then be submitted for consultation and approval by the Parliament,” the report says.
It is reported that back in the summer of 2024, the Federal Council developed a number of measures to strengthen the participation of the Swiss private sector, complementing humanitarian aid and traditional international cooperation projects in Ukraine. “Right now, cooperation with the private sector is limited to Swiss companies that are already registered in Ukraine. Strengthening cooperation with Swiss companies that are not yet operating in Ukraine requires a new legal framework. The Federal Council is creating it through an intergovernmental agreement approved today,” the statement explained.
The agreement will allow Ukraine to buy goods and services from Swiss companies for reconstruction projects in the form of non-refundable financial assistance. The support will be provided mainly in sectors that are a priority for Ukraine, in which Swiss international cooperation is already active in Ukraine and in which Switzerland is competitive. These include energy, transport and mobility, mechanical engineering, construction, water resources and disaster protection and preparedness. The intergovernmental agreement stipulates that Ukraine will play a key role in defining the projects: it will identify its reconstruction needs and provide a list of necessary goods and services from Switzerland. These will be procured in accordance with Swiss public procurement law.
“The Federal Council delegate from Ukraine, Jacques Gerber, will sign the State Contract together with Yulia Sviridenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy of Ukraine, on the margins of the Fourth Ukraine Recovery Conference to be held in Rome on July 10 and 11, 2025. This high-level conference series was founded in Lugano in 2022 after the outbreak of the war against Ukraine and focuses on the rapid recovery and long-term reconstruction of Ukraine. After signing the State Treaty, the Federal Council will conduct a consultation process and submit a document to the Federal Assembly to approve the agreement,” the statement said.
The Federal Council adopted the program for Ukraine for 2025-28 on February 12, 2025. It marks the beginning of a twelve-year process of federal support for reconstruction, reforms and sustainable development in Ukraine. For this purpose, CHF1.5 billion ($1.86 billion) has been allocated from the international cooperation budget until 2028, a third of which will be allocated to increase Swiss private sector involvement in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
The Federal Council is Switzerland’s highest executive body. All seven of its members constitute the federal government and act as Switzerland’s collective head of state.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that US President Donald Trump has expressed his readiness to come to Turkey to work on peace with Ukraine if Putin comes, TRT Global reports.
“The Turkish president revealed details of his conversation with US leader Donald Trump, saying that he is ready to come to participate in peace talks. “If Russian President Vladimir Putin comes to Istanbul or Ankara for a settlement, I will also come to Istanbul or Ankara,” Erdogan quoted Trump as saying to reporters on board the plane after returning from the Netherlands.
The Turkish leader emphasized his country’s readiness to take decisive steps for a peaceful settlement: “If we need to dig a well with a needle to find a solution, we will do it.”
Erdogan spoke about his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a dinner with the King of the Netherlands on June 24, where the support of Ukraine’s allies and the outcome of the war were the main topics of discussion.
US President Donald Trump, in a post on his Truth Social media page, has called for the termination of state broadcaster Voice of America (VOA), which he says is the “mouthpiece of the Democrats”.
“Why would a Republican want the Democrats’ ‘mouthpiece,’ the Voice of America (VOA), to continue to exist? It’s a complete, leftist disaster – no Republican should vote for its survival. KILL HIM!“,” Trump wrote.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has reportedly sent out layoff notices to more than 600 employees of Voice of America, The New York Times reported.
The layoffs will reduce the news organization’s workforce to fewer than 200 people, about one-seventh of its workforce at the beginning of 2025.
The Liski branch of Ukrzaliznytsia has announced a tender on the zakupivli.pro platform for the purchase of 20-foot containers in the amount of 1020 units of Open Top and 500 units of Pallet type. Pallet, according to the procurement platform.
According to the trading platform, the estimated purchase price is more than UAH 469 million excluding VAT.
The auction will be held on June 27.
The Open Top container type has an open roof covered with an awning. They are used to transport bulky or heavy goods that cannot be easily loaded or unloaded using standard methods.
Pallet Wide containers are designed for sea transportation. They make it possible to transport pallets.
On Tuesday, June 24, Horodyshche-Pustovarivska Agrarian Company LLC (GOPAK), a member of the Hals Agro agricultural holding, exported biomethane of its own production for the first time, the industry publication ExPro reported.
According to the publication, the company exported almost 73,000 cubic meters of biomethane stored in Ukrainian underground storage facilities via the gas transportation system through Hungary. The buyer was German Uniper.
Thus, Hals Agro became the third exporter of biomethane, joining VitAgro and MHP.
“Hals Agro is a Ukrainian holding company specializing in grain and sugar production, turkey farming, and meat production. It also produces electricity from renewable energy sources and has four biogas complexes in
Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. The total design capacity is 14.7 MW of green electricity generation.
“Since 2021, Hals Agro has launched two biomethane projects, and in 2023 launched the production of the first industrial biomethane at the Lynovytske Biogas Complex.
Ashroholding has a biomethane plant in Chernihiv region with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters per year. In November 2024, it started pumping biomethane into Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities.
As of June 25, Ukraine exported 40.314 mln tonnes of grains and pulses since the beginning of 2024-2025 marketing year (July-June), of which 1.942 mln tonnes were shipped since the beginning of the month, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported, citing the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of June 28 last year, the total shipments were estimated at 50.553 million tons, including 3.621 million tons in June.
At the same time, since the beginning of the current season, Ukraine has exported 15.641 mln tonnes of wheat (18.3 mln tonnes in 2023/24 MY), 2.318 mln tonnes of barley (2.477 mln tonnes), 10.8 thsd tonnes of rye (1.6 thsd tonnes), and 21.759 mln tonnes of corn (29.233 mln tonnes).
The total export of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of June 25 is estimated at 69.7 thsd tonnes (in 2023/24 MY – 97.8 thsd tonnes), including 65.2 thsd tonnes of wheat (92.4 thsd tonnes).
