Spain will provide Ukraine with €1 billion in military aid in 2024 and another €5 billion within 3 years
As part of a bilateral security agreement, Spain will provide Ukraine with €1 billion in military aid in 2024 and €5 billion over three years, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
“…Under the agreement, Spain will provide Ukraine with €1 billion in military aid already this year and €5 billion over three years. The countries have also agreed to provide assistance in economic recovery, support Ukrainian reforms on the way to membership in the EU and NATO and the Formula for Peace, as well as strengthening sanctions against Russia,” the ministry said in a statement published in its Telegram channel on Monday.
As reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez signed in Madrid a bilateral agreement on cooperation in the field of security.
The article summarizes and analyzes the main macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine. In connection with the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of the Interests of Business Entities during Martial Law or a State of War”, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine suspends the publication of statistical information for the period of martial law, as well as for three months after its termination. The exception is the publication of information on the consumer price index, separate information on statistical indicators for 2021 and for the period January-February 2022. The article analyzes open data from the State Statistics Service, the National Bank, and think tanks.
Maksim Urakin, PhD in Economics, founder of the Experts Club think tank, presented an analysis of macroeconomic trends in Ukraine and the world based on official data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine, the NBU, the UN, the IMF, and the World Bank.
Macroeconomic indicators of Ukraine
Maksim Urakin cited the National Bank of Ukraine’s data on the improvement of the financial situation in 2023 compared to 2022 and the forecast for 2024.
“Optimistic forecasts for international financing, recovery of supply chains, seasonal business revival and growth in domestic demand, as well as slowing inflation, have contributed to positive expectations for economic stabilization in the near future. However, damaged energy infrastructure, rising logistics and labor costs, and a shortage of qualified personnel due to demographic factors remain constraining factors,” Urakin emphasized.
The expert noted that the risks to the economy also include a possible intensification of military operations in the summer and instability of international assistance.
“The baseline scenario for the macroeconomic situation in the country envisages further implementation of prudent monetary and fiscal policies with a focus on maintaining financial stability. Ukraine must consistently fulfill its obligations under cooperation programs with international partners, which will lead to an increase in the public debt to GDP ratio,” the economist said.
Global Economic Outlook
Maksim Urakin also analyzed the global economy, noting a slight improvement in the situation compared to the previous forecast.
“Global economic growth in 2024 may slightly exceed last year’s level, as countries such as India, China and the United States have picked up in recent months. However, the global economic recovery is still constrained by geopolitical conflicts, protectionist policies of major powers and persistent inflation,” the expert explained.
According to the expert, global GDP growth is likely to remain at 2.9% to 3.2% this year and will only slightly accelerate to 3.4% in 2025.
For Ukraine, the main challenges in the coming years will be the need to restore Ukraine after the war and manage the public debt.
Speaking about the war in the Middle East, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that official Kyiv supports the two-state policy.
“Regarding the war in the Middle East: we support the two-state policy,” Zelensky said at a press conference with the Spanish Prime Minister in Madrid.
The President of Ukraine also expressed his belief that the world today has enough power to stop “this bloodshed in the Middle East.”
Ukrainians have already lost more than 6.6 thousand phones in 4 months of 2024, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA). For comparison, more than 29 thousand phones were stolen and lost in Ukraine last year. Most often, people lose XIAOMI, SAMSUNG, and IPHONE.
More than 6.6 thousand phones have been stolen and lost in Ukraine since the beginning of 2024. The number of smartphone thefts and losses is decreasing year on year: it is 2.5 times less than in the same period in 2021 and 1.3 times less than last year.
A total of 29,015 stolen and lost phones were recorded in 2023. This is almost half – 46% – less than before the start of the full-scale war.
The largest number of stolen or lost mobile phones this year was recorded in Kyiv – 790 cases (11.9% of the total). Dnipropetrovs’k region is in second place with 582 cases (8.8%), and Zaporizhzhia region ranks third with 566 cases (8.6%).
For comparison, in 2023, Donetsk region was the leader in the number of stolen or lost phones.
The top most popular phones among thieves have remained unchanged over the past three years: XIAOMI, SAMSUNG, and IPHONE. Thus, this year, more than 2.2 thousand XIAOMI phones (33.8% of the total), more than 1.4 thousand SAMSUNG phones (21.6%), and a little less than a thousand IPHONE phones (14.2%) have already been stolen or lost.
We decided to compare which smartphone brands are the most popular among thieves and customers. So, according to the Comfy chain of home appliance and electronics stores, it turned out that the most popular phone brands among buyers for three years in a row are the same brands, but in a different order of popularity: IPHONE, SAMSUNG and XIAOMI/REDMI.
In the first trilateral meeting since 2019, the neighbors sought common ground on trade and cultural exchange while tiptoeing around thorny security issues.
The leaders of South Korea and Japan on Monday sought to restore economic cooperation with China, their largest trading partner, after years of deteriorating relations, but their trilateral talks were overshadowed by rising tensions between China and the United States, Seoul and Tokyo’s most important military ally.
The trilateral meeting, which was attended by South Korean President Yun Seok-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, the second highest-ranking official, was the first in four and a half years.
The talks focused mainly on areas where it is easier to find common ground, such as protecting supply chains, facilitating trade, and cooperating to address aging populations and emerging infectious diseases. The leaders tiptoed around sensitive regional security issues such as Taiwan and North Korea.
“The three countries agreed to expand practical cooperation so that their peoples can experience its benefits,” Mr. Yun said during a joint press conference with Messrs. Kishida and Lee, declaring 2025 and 2026 “years of cultural exchanges” between the three countries.
But in the hours before the meeting, North Korea helped to emphasize the major differences between the three neighbors. Pyongyang announced that it would launch a long-range rocket within nine days to put a military spy satellite into space. United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibit the country from launching such missiles because they use the same technology needed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles.
North Korea’s increasingly aggressive military posture is a concern for South Korea and Japan. The North has also expanded its arms trade with Russia in defiance of UN sanctions, supplying artillery shells and missiles for Moscow’s military operations in Ukraine, according to US and South Korean officials. In response, Moscow has been accused of providing energy and technological assistance that could contribute to North Korea’s missile program.
South Korea and Japan have called on China, North Korea’s biggest benefactor, to use its economic clout to help curb Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. Until now, Beijing has been reluctant to use this leverage, viewing North Korea as a buffer against the U.S. military on the Korean Peninsula.
On Monday, both Mr. Yun and Mr. Kishida sharply criticized the North Korean plan to launch the satellite. But Mr. Li, who serves under Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, did not condemn North Korea, but merely called on all sides to “exercise restraint” and work toward a “political settlement.”
As the press conference in Seoul was winding down, 20 South Korean warplanes conducted air drills south of the inter-Korean border as a warning of “immediate and strong” retaliation for North Korea’s provocation.
China, Japan and South Korea have agreed to hold a trilateral meeting every year since 2008 to discuss regional cooperation. But the plan has often been disrupted by diplomatic disputes, and most recently by the pandemic. Monday’s meeting in Seoul was the ninth such meeting and the first since December 2019.
During the years-long hiatus, strategic competition between Washington and Beijing has intensified, which has also deteriorated relations between China and the two US allies. China has flexed its military muscle and expanded its territorial ambitions in the South China and East China Seas, while the United States, Japan, and South Korea have increased the number of joint military exercises and strengthened missile defense and other security cooperation.
China’s ties with the two U.S. allies have become so strained in recent years that analysts say the revival of the trilateral summit is an achievement in itself. But common interests compelled Beijing and its two neighbors to revive it.
Mr. Yun said on Monday that the three countries had agreed to hold regular summit meetings.
East Asia’s neighboring countries, which together account for more than a fifth of global economic output, need regional stability and cooperation, especially in supply chains, to recover from the post-pandemic economic downturn. While Japan and South Korea consider the United States their most important ally, hosting 80,000 U.S. troops, their leaders face pressure at home from businesses competing for better access to China.
China is betting that it can appease Japan and South Korea by offering them greater access to its market and reducing Washington’s influence. To this end, China has agreed to resume negotiations on a free trade agreement between the three neighbors, emphasizing increased economic cooperation as a means of maintaining regional peace and stability.
He portrayed the United States as meddling in Asian affairs, pressuring Japan and South Korea to form a bloc to curb China’s development. Washington has built a wall of restrictions to deny Beijing access to the latest semiconductors and is calling on allies such as Japan and South Korea to cooperate.
On Monday, Mr. Li indirectly criticized Washington, calling for a “multipolar” world order and opposing any attempts to create “blocs” and “politicize” trade issues.
In recent years, Japan and South Korea have grown closer, improving relations that have long been strained by historical disputes. They have also expanded trilateral military cooperation with the United States to deter North Korea and China.
Japan and South Korea have called on China to address concerns about the difficulties of doing business in China. Mr. Kishida called for the speedy release of Japanese citizens detained in China on suspicion of espionage.
During bilateral talks on Sunday, South Korea and China agreed to establish new channels to discuss security and supply chain cooperation, said Kim Tae-hyo, deputy director of national security in Mr. Yoon’s office.
Mr. Yoon’s policy of bringing South Korea closer to the United States has coincided with a sharp drop in South Korean exports to China. According to government data, this year the United States overtook China as South Korea’s largest export market for the first time in two decades.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/27/world/asia/china-japan-korea-trilateral.html
Nearly 21,000 applications have been filed in Kyiv region over the year of the e-Restoration program’s operation, and almost 65% of the victims have already received assistance, the press service of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration reports.
“In total, almost 21 thousand applications have already been submitted in Kyiv region over the year of the program’s operation. As of now, almost 11.3 thousand positive decisions have been made within the first stage – providing monetary compensation for current and major repairs – totaling more than UAH 1 billion 415 million. Work is also underway to process applications for housing purchase certificates. We have already approved 1,769 applications worth almost UAH 5.7 billion. The third stage is the provision of monetary compensation for the construction of new housing to replace the destroyed one. As part of this stage, 460 applications have already been approved for a total amount of over UAH 1 billion 379 million,” said Mykola Boyko, First Deputy Head of the Kyiv Regional State Administration, at a briefing.
As reported, the eRestoration program was launched in Ukraine on May 10, 2023, under which owners of damaged housing began receiving compensation of up to UAH 200,000 for repairs. These funds can be used to purchase construction materials, pay for construction work and services of contractors who have the appropriate codes for their work and whose vendors have applied for participation in the program through the Diia portal. In December, payments for major repairs of damaged residential property were launched – up to a maximum of UAH 350 thousand for an apartment and UAH 500 thousand for a private house. Starting January 1, 2024, Ukrainians who have repaired their homes at their own expense will be eligible to receive compensation for damaged housing.
On August 1, 2023, Diia started accepting applications for compensation for housing destroyed by the war. Compensation will be paid to individual owners of housing that was destroyed due to hostilities after February 24, 2022, cannot be restored and is located in the unoccupied territory and not in the area of active hostilities. On December 27, 2023, Diia started issuing housing certificates.