The European Union has taken the decisions necessary to provide Ukraine with the second tranche of macro-financial assistance in the amount of EUR 600 million, which Kyiv will receive on May 20.
This was announced on Thursday in Brussels by representative of the European Commission Dana Spinant.
Yesterday, the decision was made to allocate the second part of the urgent macro-financial assistance program for Ukraine and to borrow funds from the capital market. This second part in the amount of EUR 600 million and the allocation of this amount is expected by May 20, she said.
Lithuania has resided more than 50,000 Ukrainians who were forced to leave the country due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, a third of them have already been employed, Ukrainian Ambassador to Lithuania Petro Beshta has said.
“Lithuania received Ukrainian citizens, now temporarily displaced persons, in an amount that corresponds to 1.8% of the total population. This is a very large figure for a state like Lithuania, but they continue to accept Ukrainians and provide everything necessary. More than 50,000” Beshta said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center on Thursday.
He specified that the total population of Lithuania is 2.7 million people.
According to Beshta, a third of Ukrainians who arrived in Lithuania have already been employed.
“As of now, one third of the adult population of Ukrainians who can work has already been employed. They receive an average salary of about EUR 900. Another third are looking for this job. And the other third, probably, has not yet decided, because there is also a psychological barrier for Ukrainians, and everyone is talking about it – Lithuanians and Ukrainians: that our people are not always ready to look at their stay in Lithuania so long-term, to look for work, because each of us, we all believe that the war will end quickly and they will return home soon,” he said.
The ambassador also noted that 500 Ukrainians in Lithuania have already told the authorities about their plans to return to Ukraine.
“We cannot accurately verify whether they returned and in what condition, but this trend is already emerging,” Beshta stressed.
After Canada cancels import duties on Ukrainian goods for a year, Canadian potash fertilizers may become the main ones in the Ukrainian market and thereby replace Belarusian ones, which have not been imported to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression.
The possible role of Canada in the Ukrainian market of potash fertilizers was reported by the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) on Facebook on Thursday.
The report states that Canada is the world’s largest producer and exporter of potash fertilizers. This country produces about 12 million tonnes of such fertilizers, thus occupying 24% of world production. At the same time, in 2021, Ukraine imported 287,500 tonnes of potash fertilizers, of which 69% came from Belarus, while its own production in the country is practically not developed.
“Therefore, Ukrainian farmers need to look for alternative suppliers, and Canada may become one of them. The abolition of import duties may become an additional factor, as it will increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian agricultural products in the Canadian market. Ukraine will be able to purchase potash fertilizers in Canada, in turn, sending its agricultural products, which are in abundance in the Ukrainian market, by the same transport,” the association said in the statement.
Canada imported 2.8 million tonnes of corn, 1.2 million tonnes of sunflower meal, and 0.5 million tonnes of soybeans in 2021, according to UCAB. It is these positions that Ukraine can supply to the Canadian market through the seaports of the Baltic countries.
The association recalled that before aggression of the Russian Federation, Ukraine had insignificant volumes of export deliveries of agricultural products to Canada, which was due not only to the significant territorial remoteness of this country, but also to the rather high development of the Canadian agro-industrial complex. Thus, during 2021, agricultural products worth $29.3 million were delivered to Canada, of which 49% of export revenue was formed by apple juice, 18% by sunflower oil and 11% by soybeans.
However, with the beginning of military aggression of the Russian Federation with the assistance of Belarus and the blockade of Ukrainian seaports by Russian warships, a number of countries canceled import duties on Ukrainian goods to help the Ukrainian economy. These factors may have an impact on Ukrainian foreign economic activity, including the increase in trade between Ukraine and Canada.
As reported, Canada, following the UK and the EU, would cancel all duties on imports of goods from Ukraine, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on May 8 after meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
Biopharma covers demand of the domestic market for blood products by 100%, it can resume their export, Oksana Muliarchuk, director of the company’s plasma center network, has said.
“The need for blood products is now 100% closed, we are closing the need for all hospitals, including military ones,” she told Interfax-Ukraine.
Muliarchuk explained that the need for such drugs has decreased since the beginning of the war, in particular due to the fact that a significant part of cancer patients who need such drugs have gone abroad.
At the same time, she noted that the Ministry of Health constantly monitors the availability of stocks of blood products in warehouses.
In addition, according to Maliarchuk, Biopharma began to restore the work of its plasma centers. So, for two months since the beginning of the war, plasma centers in Cherkasy and Sumy had been operating, which prepared only blood components, and in early May, the company resumed the work of plasma collection centers in Cherkasy and Kamianske, and is launching the center in Sumy.
“Unfortunately, we have centers where we cannot resume work yet. For example, in Kharkiv we cannot resume work due to hostilities. In Kyiv, the work of a plasma center has not been resumed for technical reasons – we are waiting for the opportunity to equip a bomb shelter in the building where it is located,” she said.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers provided for the possibility of lifting a ban on the export of blood products until martial law is lifted on the basis of a reasonable submission from the Ministry of Health, subject to meeting the needs of the healthcare system in such drugs.
Earlier, the biopharmaceutical company Biopharma (Kyiv) announced plans to invest $20-23 million in the development of a network of plasma centers by 2025, build plasma centers and blood centers in every regional center of Ukraine.
Quotes of interbank currency market of Ukraine (UAH for $1, in 01.03.2022-31.03.2022)
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (MFA) strongly condemns the Russian Federation’s actions in disposing of grain that was illegally seized from Ukrainian farmers.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the Russian Federation’s actions in disposing of grain that was illegally seized from Ukrainian farmers. Russian occupants are stealing Ukrainian grain and either consuming it themselves or attempting to sell it on international markets. The plunder of food supplies from the territory of an independent sovereign state is one of the aspects of looting,” the MFA said in a comment posted on the website on Wednesday.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine warned consumer countries that grain consignments exported by Russia could contain stolen grain obtained as a result of Russian occupation authorities’ plundering. Any country that knowingly purchases stolen grain is considered to be complicit in the crime.”
According to existing information, the occupants have already seized at least 400-500 thousand tons of grain worth more than $100 million, according to the Ukrainian government. It is known that “almost all grain-laden ships departing from Sevastopol transport stolen Ukrainian commodities.”
“The criminal seizure, export and consumption of Ukrainian is another example of Russia’s destructive acts, which, in particular, contravene the fundamental principles of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – achieving food security for all and overcoming hunger,” the ministry emphasizes.
In addition, “the aggressor state’s policy puts into doubt the relevance of its participation in FAO and other international organizations.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands that Russia stop illicit grain stealing, unblock Ukrainian ports, restore freedom of navigation, and allow trade ships to pass.
“We urge the international community to strengthen economic sanctions against Russia in order to stop its military aggression against Ukraine, to avert a humanitarian disaster and the world’s food security crisis,” the ministry said.
