The Council of European Union has adopted two assistance measures under the European Peace Facility (EPF) that will allow the EU to further support the capabilities and resilience of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country, and protect the civilian population against the ongoing Russian military aggression.
“After having adopted three tranches of support totaling EUR 1.5 billion this year, a fourth tranche will add EUR 500 million to the resources already mobilised under the EPF for Ukraine, thereby bringing the total amount to EUR 2 billion, ” the press service of the EU Council said.
“The history of tomorrow is being written today, on the battlefields of Ukraine. With these EUR 500 million, the EU has allocated a total EUR 2 of billion to support EU member states’ supplies of military equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This support is just one part of European efforts to help Ukraine defend itself. The EU and its member states are determined to continue. We have done it since the beginning of the war and we will continue until the end,” Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said.
It is noted that the scope of the equipment to be provided in the new support package is in line with the current priorities as expressed by the Ukrainian government. In this light, the assistance measures consist of EUR 490 million for military equipment designed to deliver lethal force for defensive purposes, as well as EUR 10 million intended to cover the provision of equipment and supplies, such as personal protective equipment, first aid kits, and fuel.
Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and KfW Director for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia Olaf Zymelka have signed an agreement on a EUR150 million loan for 15 years for budgetary support, the Ministry of Finance reported.
“The funds raised will ensure stable financing of priority areas and will be used for social spending, education and healthcare,” Marchenko said.
The loan is provided as co-financing of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)’s Supplemental Financing of the Economic Recovery Development Policy Loan. The grace period with a deferral of repayment of the principal amount of the loan will be five years.
The Czech railway carrier ČD Cargo delivered the first train with 1,800 tonnes of corn from Ukraine to the German port of Brake for subsequent shipment to Egypt on a grain carrier ship.
Such a change in logistics routes is necessary to free up silos in Ukraine to receive a new crop, and to avoid starvation in North Africa and Asia that consume Ukrainian agricultural products, according to a posting on the website of the publication zdopravy.cz (the Czech Republic) on Tuesday.
“We see this as a help and at the same time a business opportunity. Due to the Russian invasion, Ukraine cannot export grain in the traditional way through the Black Sea ports. A new harvest is approaching, and the silos in Ukraine are still full. Therefore, it is necessary to decide how to get at least part of the stocks by rail across Europe,” Board Chairman of ČD Cargo Tomáš Tóth was quoted as saying.
The Czech railway carrier returned with a batch of corn from Ukraine, where it had previously delivered a batch of humanitarian aid and military equipment.
At the same time, railway exports from Ukraine are fraught with problems due to different gauges in the EU and Ukraine, as well as insufficient capacity of logistics routes.
“Firstly, these are different dimensions: carriers can either pick up wheeled carts or reload the cargo. However, transshipment options are limited. Another bottleneck is, respectively, border crossings. Their capacity is significantly limited, for example, in the Elbe valley between Děčín and Dresden. Unloading capacities in ports are also not unlimited,” the publication said.
Zdopravy.cz recalled that Ukraine is one of the main suppliers of grain and other crops to the world market. Due to the blockade of its seaports by Russian ships, wheat exports have stopped, the country needs to export about 20 million tonnes of grain to avoid starvation in the countries of North Africa and Asia, which traditionally purchase Ukrainian agricultural products.
Since the beginning of the war, Ukrzaliznytsia has transported more than 100,000 tonnes of humanitarian cargo by rail in passenger, freight cars and containers, Oleksandr Kamyshin, the head of the company’s board, said on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.
“Volunteers came to the first evacuation trains, which we used to transport our citizens from the east to the west, and brought humanitarian aid. Food, clothes, medicines. They loaded all this into passenger cars and the trains rushed back to the east,” he wrote.
Thus, in passenger cars, according to him, since the beginning of the war, transported more than 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid. There were days when 700 tonnes of humanitarian aid per day were transported in passenger cars.
“And then we brought humanitarian aid in freight wagons and containers. And our foreign partners have already joined here, first of all from Poland, and then from other countries. And as of today, we have already transported more than 5,000 freight wagons with humanitarian aid. Since the beginning of the war, we have transported over 100,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid by rail in passenger, freight wagons and containers,” Kamyshin said.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will cooperate with Microsoft on documenting the war crimes of the Russian Federation, and the Xbox game service will be officially launched in Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov said.
According to him, Ukrainian accounts will appear on Xbox, and the Ukrainian language will appear on the consoles.
“This was agreed in Davos at a meeting with Microsoft President Brad Smith. In addition, the Microsoft team plans to help the digital industry of Ukraine during the recovery,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
Fedorov noted that the Ministry of Digital Development has been cooperating with Microsoft for a long time, and they actively support Ukraine during the war: they became one of the first companies that suspended all new sales of products and services in Russia in early March and provided free cloud services for Ukraine until the end of 2022.
“Microsoft has supported and will continue to support Ukraine, it was very important to hear this from Brad Smith,” the minister added.
According to him, the company calculated that through their initiatives they provided Ukraine with digital support for $242 million. This includes financial grants, promotional campaigns, free access to the company’s products and services, and equipment.
The average retail prices for gasoline and diesel fuel in Ukraine increased by 22-30% from May 16 to May 23, according to the data of the A-95 consulting group (Kyiv).
Thus, the average retail prices for A-92 gasoline increased by UAH 8.93/liter – up to UAH 48.78/liter, A-95 – by UAH 10.72/liter, up to UAH 50.84/liter, premium A-95 – by UAH 9.85/liter, up to UAH 51.51/liter.
In addition, retail prices for diesel fuel increased by UAH 13.24/liter, up to UAH 56.49/liter, for liquefied gas by UAH 4.14/liter, up to UAH 39.24/liter.
As reported, by resolution No. 594 of May 17, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers suspended state regulation of fuel prices introduced a year ago in connection with quarantine, expecting that gasoline prices would not exceed UAH 52/liter, diesel fuel – UAH 58/liter.
The decision to cancel the maximum margin for gas stations was made so that market operators could saturate the Ukrainian oil market with the necessary resources in the face of their shortage after reorienting to supplies from the western border and Kremenchuk oil refinery bombed by Russia.
At the same time, the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection announced the start of inspections of gas stations based on consumer complaints about inflated prices, refusal to accept payments with cards and the absence of settlement documents.
