On May 21, 2024, the first online auctions for the sale of confiscated apartments of collaborators, announced by the State Property Fund (SPFU), took place in the state electronic trading system Prozorro.Sale.
“The sale of property of one of the Russian oligarchs and a collaborator was held for the first time in the ProZorro.Sale system, which allows for the transparent and open sale of all assets related to the aggressor country. These are repeated auctions for the sale of apartments, where the cost of the objects is halved. Despite this, a total of 11 participants came to compete for the sanctioned property. The competition of the bidders allowed us to increase the starting price, and after the conclusion of the online auctions, the Fund for Liquidation of the Consequences of Armed Aggression will receive more than UAH 6.9 million,” commented Sergiy But, CEO of Prozorro.Sale.
The price of the apartment belonging to Mykhailo Shelkov started at almost UAH 3.8 million. Two bidders competed for it, and the highest bid was over UAH 4 million. The four-room apartment with an area of 175.5 square meters is located in a building with a closed territory in the Prymorskyi district of Odesa.
The SPFU put Volodymyr Saldo’s apartment up for auction with a starting price of almost UAH 1.9 million. As a result of competition from 9 bidders, its final price amounted to over UAH 2.9 million. The property, with an area of almost 130 square meters, is located near Arcadia Beach in Odesa.
The winners of the auctions have 20 business days to pay the price of the lots after the auction is completed. The sale and purchase agreement will be signed only after the funds have been transferred to the accounts of the Fund for Liquidation of the Consequences of Armed Aggression.
“The State Property Fund of Ukraine is currently processing 753 units of sanctioned property. These are apartments and houses, enterprises and factories, non-residential premises, cars and even parking lots. We are actively preparing each asset of Ukraine’s enemies for sale: we lift arrests, bring documentation in line, carry out registration actions, etc. We are doing everything to ensure that the assets of the sanctioned persons work for the restoration of Ukraine!” said Vitaliy Koval, Chairman of the State Property Fund.
On May 31, 2024, ProZorro.Sale will hold an auction for the sale of another sanctioned asset – the PentoPack plant confiscated from a Russian oligarch. You can take part in the auction by registering on one of the sites accredited in the ProZorro.Sale system.
As a reminder, the sanctioned property is sold by the State Property Fund at online auctions on ProZorro.Sale in accordance with the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 1233 of November 21, 2023.
A convoy of 20 cars donated by London under the Ulez program for the disposal of vehicles that do not meet emission standards has arrived in Ukraine, The Guardian reports.
“More than 100 cars have been donated to Ukraine under the Ulez program since it was authorized on March 15, of which about half have been delivered so far,” the newspaper writes on Tuesday.
It is reported that the British-Ukrainian organization (BUAID), which manages the scheme in conjunction with Transport for London (TfL), has sent 13 more vehicles to Ukraine for medical and humanitarian purposes.
ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) is an ultra-low emission zone that was introduced in London in 2020. The goal of the program is to reduce the level of harmful emissions into the city’s atmosphere, improve air quality for Londoners and visitors, and promote the transition to more environmentally friendly transportation.
In March of this year, the program began assembling cars for transfer to Ukraine. The vehicles are intended to support the humanitarian and medical needs of the country.
The Ulez zone was expanded by London Mayor Sadiq Khan in August 2023 and now covers the entire capital, making it the world’s largest pollution charge zone. People who drive a car in the zone that does not meet minimum emission standards must pay £12.50 per day.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/21/ulez-scrappage-scheme-vehicles-ukraine
Cygnet has completed sowing spring crops on 26.5 thousand hectares, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, Cygnet has allocated 16.2 thousand hectares for corn, 4.9 thousand hectares for soybeans and 1.0 thousand hectares for sunflowers in 2024. The area of sugar beet sowing was expanded to 4.4 thousand hectares. Another 2.2 thousand hectares are occupied by winter wheat.
“The sowing campaign started on March 30 with the sowing of sugar beets, and ended on May 16, when we finished sowing soybeans. We could have done it 10-14 days earlier, but the rains stopped us and delayed the sowing dates. In general, all worked well, there were no serious breakdowns of equipment. And if there were small ones – literally up to four hours of time and everything was repaired. And the productivity of work, despite the weather conditions, this year we had a very high, “- said Deputy General Director for crop production Alexander Shramko.
As reported, in 2023 Cygnet grew corn on 16 thousand hectares, sunflower – 3 thousand hectares, soybean – 1.7 thousand hectares, sugar beet – 4 thousand hectares, 2.5 thousand hectares were sown with winter wheat.
Cygnet cultivates about 29 thousand hectares in Zhytomyr and Vinnitsa regions, where it grows corn, soybean, winter wheat, sugar beet. The company’s assets include an elevator with a capacity of 60 thousand tons of one-time storage and a sugar factory with a processing capacity of up to 2.8 thousand tons of sugar beet per day (both in Zhytomyr region).
The company also has a dairy business (dairy herd – 605 cows), the products of which are sold to local processors.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=991228989673526&set=a.507543601375403
The growth of Ukraine’s real gross domestic product (GDP) in April 2024 slowed to 4.1% y-o-y due to Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system, compared to 4.8% in March, 5% in February and 5.2% in January, according to the Monthly Economic Monitor of the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER).
“Due to the intensification of shelling, a significant part of the maneuvering generation was damaged, which caused power outages for businesses and households. Restrictions on electricity supply will lead to a further decline in GDP growth,” commented Oleksandra Betliy, a leading researcher at the IER, quoted in the statement.
Earlier, the Experts Club and Maksim Urakin released a video analysis of how the GDP of the world’s countries has changed in recent years, more detailed video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=BsZmIUERHSBJrO_3
You can subscribe to the Experts Club YouTube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
Among the positive news, she highlighted the growth of exports and imports due to better logistics through both the Ukrainian sea corridor and road transport, although in April rail transportation decreased by 5% compared to March this year and by 29% by April 2023 to 15.2 million tons.
The IER clarified that the growth of real gross value added (GVA) in the manufacturing industry in April was 10%, while in the mining industry it was about 3%. Better logistics contributed to the revival of the performance of metallurgy and iron ore mining, it said.
According to the Institute, the growth rate of GVA in construction was high, partly due to the construction of fortifications, while the growth rate of trade slowed to 3% against the background of a higher statistical base.
The IER also pointed out that in April, both the tax and customs services exceeded their revenue targets, while the NBU transferred twice as much revenue to the budget.
As reported, after Ukraine’s GDP growth of 5.3% in 2023, the National Bank expects it to slow down this year to 3%, while the government expects it to slow down to 4.6%. According to the Ministry of Economy, GDP growth in January-March this year was 4.5%, while the NBU estimated it at 3.1%.
Earlier, Experts Club and Maksim Urakin released a video analysis of how the GDP of the world’s countries has changed in recent years, more detailed video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=BsZmIUERHSBJrO_3
You can subscribe to the Experts Club YouTube channel here – https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub
Cardholders of the international financial service NovaPay can receive salaries from any Ukrainian employer on their cards, the NovaPay press service said on Tuesday.
“You can do this in the application – create a paper or electronic application for receiving a salary on a NovaPay card and send it to the company’s accountant,” the company said in a statement.
It is noted that the application fills in the necessary fields, including information about the employer, while other personal data is automatically pulled into the application, after which it remains to form an electronic application and sign it using “Diya. Signature”.
Among the advantages of the NovaPay card, the company calls a 20% discount on Nova Poshta delivery services, transfers without restrictions up to UAH 50 thousand and the possibility of buying NovaPay bonds.
As reported, at the end of 2023, NovaPay was the first non-bank financial institution in Ukraine to receive an extended NBU license, which allowed it to open accounts and issue cards. In January-February of this year, the company increased the number of payment cards sixfold to 78 thousand, including a fivefold increase in the number of active cards to 43.8 thousand.
The total number of transfers and transactions through NovaPay in Q1 2014 increased by 18% and 24% to 96 million and 66.1 billion, respectively.
Founded in 2001, NovaPay is an international financial service that is part of the Nova group and provides online and offline financial services at Nova Poshta offices. According to its website, the company employs about 13 thousand people in more than 3.6 thousand Nova Poshta offices across Ukraine. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, the company accounts for 35% of the total volume of domestic money transfers.
Almost one billion euros have been raised for a global initiative to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense, the German Foreign Ministry said on the occasion of Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock’s 8th visit to Kyiv.
It is stated that the purpose of the foreign minister’s trip is to assure Ukrainians that Germany and Europe will continue to stand firmly on the side of Ukraine and will not stop their support.
“The global initiative to strengthen air defense, which the Foreign Minister recently launched together with Defense Minister Pistorius, should also be seen in this context. So far, almost a billion euros have been raised to provide additional support to Ukrainian air defense,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that the work continues. At the same time, the initiative also protects the security of EU countries from Russian aggression.
“Our support is based on a deep belief that Ukraine will win this war… Germany, along with many other countries from all over the world, is firmly on the side of Ukraine. This is something the people of Ukraine can count on in the long run,” Burbock said.
She is also convinced that Ukraine’s place is in the European Union.
“Ukraine’s accession to the EU is a necessary geopolitical consequence of Russia’s aggressive war in violation of international law. Ukraine has made impressive progress and is on the path of reforms, despite Russia’s destructiveness. Now it is important not to weaken our efforts – in judicial reform, the fight against corruption and media freedom,” the minister said.
Source: https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/service/laender/ukraine-node/reise-baerbock-ukraine/2657594