President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has met with well-known British businessman Richard Branson, the press service of the President’s Office reports.
“The visit of British businessman Richard Branson to Ukraine is another reminder that the world and famous people continue to support us. We talked about maintaining the world’s attention to the war in Ukraine, as well as the prospects for cooperation in post-war reconstruction. Richard, thank you for the kind words about our people and willingness to help!” – wrote Zelensky in the telegram channel.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko and Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida have signed an agreement on twinning between the two cities, the press service of the Mayor of Kyiv has reported.
“Today, a memorandum of twinning between our cities was signed with the mayor of Madrid, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida. Madrid became the first Spanish sister city of Kyiv. This is a historic event for our cities and it happened during the historic NATO summit, which is taking place these days in Madrid,” Klitschko said.
He noted that when signing the agreement, several joint projects of Kyiv and Madrid were planned.
“I thank our Western partners, our Spanish partners for supporting Ukraine at this critical time for it. And I am convinced that our cooperation with Madrid will be effective and beneficial for our capitals. Today Madrid accepts refugees from Ukraine, provides humanitarian assistance to Kyiv and Ukraine. We also discussed many projects that we plan to jointly implement in the Ukrainian and Spanish capitals,” Klitschko summed up.
The VEON international telecommunications holding, which is the parent company of the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar, recorded a 10.8% increase in revenue in Ukraine in national currency over the first five months of 2022.
According to a VEON press release published by PRNewswire on June 29, 2022, EBITDA decreased by 0.2% in five months (in local currency).
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian telecommunications operator. It provides communication and data transmission services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G.
Kyivstar’s shareholder is the international group VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.). The group’s shares are listed on the NASDAQ (New York) stock exchange.
Uncertainty with the export of Ukrainian grain, leading to a global food crisis and rising food prices, can be resolved by buying last year’s and this year’s crops from Ukraine for a total of $30-35 billion through a specially created fund.
This will contribute to the development of exports from the country and its internal processing in the agro-industrial complex, as well as provide the Ukrainian agricultural sector with working capital and the opportunity to continue working under the conditions of the military invasion of the Russian Federation, MP of Ukraine Dmytro Solomchuk (the Servant of the People faction) wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.
“The easiest way, given the current situation, is to create the World Food Fund, collect $30-35 billion, and transfer it to Ukrainian farmers, buying last year’s and fresh products at world prices, minus logistics, on the terms of responsible storage,” he wrote.
“The world, in turn, thanks to this, will stabilize inflation, calm the beginnings of a food storm, will be motivated to organize comfortable exports, and Ukrainian farmers will receive funds for winter sowing, which will save the world in 2023, and the development of a processed industry to simplify logistics. And most importantly, the Russian Federation will stop manipulating food security,” the MP added.
As reported, on June 28, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved a draft agreement with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on the resumption of its office in the country, which will allow the organization, among other things, to purchase agricultural products from Ukrainian companies to carry out international humanitarian programs.
The average price of access to the interstate cross-section for the export of 100 MW of electricity to Romania as of June 30 at UAH 4,200/MWh became a record, and the auction itself for its redemption, held for the first time after the opening of exports by Europe, proves the ability of Ukraine to earn billions of hryvnias on this, Board Chairman of NPC Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytsky said.
“This is the first auction for access to the interstate cross-section after the synchronization of the Ukrainian and European energy systems, and record UAH 4,200 per MWh of access. In just one day, the state-owned company Ukrenergo earned UAH 10 million,” Kudrytsky wrote on his Facebook on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.
He suggested that if the export capacity was increased to 1,000 MW and auctions were held to buy access to interstate cross-sections at the same level, the state could earn up to UAH 100 million per day, or UAH 36 billion per year. Accordingly, 2,000 MW can bring the state about UAH 72 billion a year, the head of Ukrenergo said.
“This is the price of European rules and the transparency and competitiveness of the auction procedure, as opposed to the traditional desire to ‘steer,’ which can multiply UAH 72 billion by zero. And that is why Ukrenergo will always actively profess and defend these principles – a deviation from them will cost the state very dearly,” he stressed.
As reported, on June 30, the commercial export of the first 100 MW of electricity to Europe will start after the synchronization of the Ukrainian and European energy systems, agreed by ENTSO-E on June 27. At first, the resource will be supplied to Romania, then the directions to Slovakia and Hungary will be opened, but in general, the capacity for export is still 100 MW. In a month, Ukrenergo expects an increase in exports.
The holding company UFuture intends to invest $20 million in the creation of industrial parks in Lviv, Vinnitsa and Bucha, UFuture founder Vasily Khmelnitsky said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“I am considering plots for industrial parks, meeting with mayors. In Lvov and Vinnytsia, plots of 15 hectares, in Bucha – 20 hectares. In total (estimated investment) may be $ 20 million,” Khmelnitsky said.
In his opinion, these starting areas are too compact.
“Why is this not enough? What is 15 hectares? This is approximately 8-10 factories. And when you have built 10 factories and everything is fine there, then every year the place becomes even more attractive. An investor comes there who is satisfied with security and benefits, wants to build plant, and you already have nothing. Therefore, industrial parks need to be produced on areas of 100-200 hectares, but, unfortunately, there are not very many such sites, “Khmelnitsky said.
Regarding the sources of capital in the conditions of war, he said that he was counting on his own and credit resources.
“Today, almost nothing works for me, but I still have something, because I’m a rather big businessman. I met with a bank, which also has a difficult situation, we agreed that I would pay 50% on loans. “I’ll take some more loans from the bank. There are programs of 5, 10, 7%, this is set for economic growth, I think we need to give some soft loans,” Khmelnytsky said.
The full text of the interview with Vasily Khmelnytsky is published on the main page of the website of the Interfax-Ukraine agency
