The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of the Republic of Turkey will tighten phytosanitary controls on the import, export, re-export, and transit of plants and plant products, including wheat, effective August 4, 2026, according to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (Derzhprodsposhchivsluzhba).
The tightening of requirements is related to Turkey’s adoption of a new Plant Quarantine Regulation, which repeals the previous Quarantine Regulation.
“Since wheat imported into the Republic of Turkey serves as a host plant for harmful organisms such as Tilletia barclayana, Tilletia indica, Tilletia caries, Tilletia controversa, and Tilletia laevis (Tilletia foetida), the Republic of Turkey has strengthened controls to detect these harmful organisms in wheat shipments,” the statement said.
If these pests are detected, Ukrainian exporters will be denied a phytosanitary certificate pursuant to Article 46 of Ukraine’s Law “On Plant Quarantine.”
On Monday, Ukraine is expected to see dry weather, though the western regions will experience moderate, and in some places heavy, rain during the day, along with thunderstorms; isolated areas may see hail and gusts of 15–20 m/s, according to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center.
The wind will be predominantly southwesterly, 7–12 m/s. Nighttime temperatures will range from 13–18°, daytime temperatures from 27–32°, and in the far west of the country from 21–26°.
In Kyiv on July 27, there will be no precipitation. Winds will be from the southwest at 7–12 m/s. Nighttime temperatures will range from 15–17°, and daytime temperatures from 30–32°.
According to data from the Boris Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory, the highest daytime temperature recorded in Kyiv on July 27 was 37.1° in 1909, and the lowest nighttime temperature was 7.8° in 1898.
On Tuesday, July 28, short-lived rains and thunderstorms are expected across Ukraine; in the central regions—and during the day also in the Sumy and Kharkiv regions—there will be heavy rains in some areas, with hail and squalls of 15–20 m/s in isolated areas (no precipitation is expected at night in the east of the country or during the day in most areas of the Right Bank).
The wind will be from the northwest at 7–12 m/s; during the day across Ukraine, except in the east, there will be gusts of 15–20 m/s in some places.
Nighttime temperatures will range from 13–18°, and 10–15° in the western regions; daytime temperatures will range from 21–26°, and 24–29° in the south and southeast of the country.
In Kyiv on July 28, it will be cloudy with some sunny intervals. At night, there will be brief rain and thunderstorms; during the day, no precipitation is expected.
The wind will be from the northwest at 7–12 m/s. Nighttime temperatures will range from 15–17°, and daytime temperatures from 22–24°.
According to “Serbian Economist”, Wizz Air will open an operational base at Pristina International Airport in November 2026, stationing one Airbus A321neo aircraft with a capacity of 239 passengers there. The company plans to launch three new routes from Pristina.
Wizz Air has been operating flights from Pristina since 2017. The opening of a full-fledged base means that the aircraft and crew will be permanently based at the airport.
The Belgrade base is under threat
At the same time, Wizz Air continues its dispute with Serbian aviation authorities over changes to the rules governing foreign carriers.
In March 2026, the Serbian Civil Aviation Directorate adopted amendments to the regulations governing the issuance of permits to foreign airlines for international commercial operations.
According to Wizz Air’s interpretation, the new rules will not allow EU-registered carriers to maintain their current model of basing aircraft and crews in Belgrade, under which work shifts and flight rotations begin and end in Serbia.
Wizz Air Communications Director András Rado stated in June that unless the rules are changed, the company will be forced to close its base at Belgrade Airport in November. He emphasized, however, that the carrier does not want to leave.
Serbia’s Civil Aviation Directorate rejected the accusations, stating that no carrier is prohibited from operating flights between Serbia and EU countries. According to the regulator, the amendments do not restrict the right to operate flights but rather clarify the rules, which are the same for all foreign airlines.
As of mid-July, no final decision had been reached.
The closure of the Belgrade base would not necessarily mean a complete halt to Wizz Air’s flights to Serbia. The company could theoretically continue some flights using aircraft based in other countries. However, such a model typically results in fewer destinations, less convenient schedules, and limited opportunities to increase flight frequency.
Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, declared in 2008, and officially considers it an autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija within the Republic of Serbia.
Passenger traffic across Ukraine’s western border increased by another 1.3% during the week of July 18–24—to 770,000—following a 3.5% increase the previous week; with the number of people entering the country exceeding the number leaving for the fourth consecutive week, according to daily statistics from the State Border Guard Service monitored by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to this data, while the number of outbound border crossings rose to 376,000 from 373,000 the previous week, the number of inbound crossings rose to 394,000 from 387,000.
The number of vehicles passing through border checkpoints decreased slightly this week—to 144,000 from 145,000 last week—as did the number of vehicles carrying humanitarian cargo—to 443 from 459.
The heaviest outbound traffic is recorded on Friday and Saturday (56,000–59,000 per day), and the heaviest inbound traffic on Saturday and Monday (60,000–67,000), while the lowest outbound traffic is on Monday–Tuesday (50,000 each day), and the lowest inbound traffic is on Tuesday–Thursday (45,000–49,000).
According to the State Border Guard Service, as of 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, the largest number of passenger cars—30—were waiting to cross the border with Poland at the “Ustyluh” border crossing point (BCP). There were small lines at the “Ugryniv” and “Shehyni” checkpoints—15 and 10 vehicles, respectively—while 5 buses had gathered at the “Krakovets” checkpoint.
At the border with Hungary, 10–15 vehicles were waiting to cross at the “Luzhanka,” “Vylok,” and “Tisa” checkpoints.
At the border with Slovakia, there was a line of 15 vehicles at the “Uzhhorod” checkpoint and 10 at the “Malyi Berezny” checkpoint. At the border with Romania, 10 vehicles had gathered at the “Porubne” checkpoint, while there were no lines at the border with Moldova.
Last year, passenger traffic across the border during this week was slightly lower—753,000—though the number of people entering the country was higher—384,000 compared to 369,000. The number of vehicles last year was also lower—138,000.
Last year, passenger traffic increased slightly in the following weeks and peaked at 778,000 people per week in the first half of August, after which it gradually decreased in the second half of the month and then dropped sharply in the first half of September—with the start of the new school year.
As previously reported, starting May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine—which had begun with the start of the war—turned into an inflow that lasted until September 23, 2022, totaling 409,000 people. However, starting in late September—possibly influenced by news of mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, followed by massive shelling of energy infrastructure—the number of people leaving exceeded the number of those entering. In total, from late September 2022 through the first anniversary of the full-scale war, this figure reached 223,000 people.
In the second year of the full-scale war, the number of border crossings out of Ukraine, according to the State Border Guard Service, exceeded the number of crossings into the country by 25,000; in the third year, by 187,000; in the fourth year, by 221,000; and since the start of the fifth year—by 139,000, of which 126,000 have occurred since the beginning of summer.
In its April inflation report, the National Bank maintained its estimate of last year’s migration from Ukraine at 0.2 million due to the deterioration of the security situation at the end of the year and the easing of exit rules for young people, but noted that in 2024 this figure will be less than 0.5 million. The NBU continues to forecast a net outflow of 0.2 million in 2026, while net returns, according to its forecast, will begin in 2027 and amount to about 0.1 million people, increasing to 0.5 million people in 2028.
According to UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of June 30, 2026, stood at 5.159 million, and globally at 5.687 million, compared to 5.213 million and 5.687 million, respectively, as of April 30.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data as of July 2026, there are 3.80 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), compared to 3.70 million as of January of this year and 3.34 million as of July 2025.
The number of registered marriages in Ukraine in the first half of this year rose by 15.9% compared to the same period last year—to 79,520—driven by increases in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv regions, the Ministry of Justice reported on its website.
According to the ministry’s data, at the same time, the number of divorces decreased by 4.1%—to 12,180, including those granted by court order—which fell by 9.3% to 460.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, the number of registered marriages in January–June of this year increased nearly 2.7-fold—to 15,550; in the Lviv region, it rose by 88.2%, to 8,910; and in Kyiv, it increased by 38.3%, to 19,930.
According to the Ministry of Justice, Kyiv and these two regions together accounted for 55.8% of all marriages, whereas in the first half of last year, they accounted for only 36.4%.
The largest decline in the number of registered marriages was recorded in the Donetsk region—a 2.4-fold decrease to 0.23 thousand.
In the Kherson region, the decline was 26.7%—to 0.16 thousand, which is the lowest figure among all regions.
In other regions, the number of registered marriages fell by between 24.6% (Chernihiv Oblast) and 12% (Ternopil Oblast).
As for divorces, Ternopil, Zakarpattia, and Chernihiv Oblasts saw an increase ranging from 16.6% to 11%, while the largest decrease in this figure—excluding the frontline regions of Kherson and Donetsk—occurred in Zhytomyr and Poltava regions, by 19.6% and 18.9%, respectively.
In the Donetsk and Kherson regions, the number of registered divorces fell by 43.4% and 60%—to 56 and 20, respectively—while in Kyiv, it rose by 1.2%—to 1,800.
demographics, divorce, marriage, MINISTRY OF JUSTICE, UKRAINE
