Denmark has become the first donor to the Energy Community’s Fund to rebuild war-torn energy infrastructure in Ukraine, Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko has said.
“Sincerely thanks to the first donor, Denmark, for responding to Ukraine’s call for urgent support to the energy sector in these difficult times of war,” Haluschenko was quoted as saying by the press service of the Ministry of Energy in a release on the website on Monday.
The amount of funds sent by Denmark was not specified in the message.
At the same time, the minister called on other countries and international partners to become donors to the Fund, noting that Ukrainian power engineers every day, despite enemy shelling, again and again resume electricity and gas supply.
Director of the Energy Community Secretariat Artur Lorkowski, for his part, assured that the corresponding funds would be sent to Ukraine as soon as possible.
“The Secretariat, together with the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, will work quickly so that all contributions paid are directed to meet the most important needs of the Ukrainian energy sector,” Lorkowski said, cited by the press service of the Ministry of Energy.
As reported, in early April 2022, the Energy Community created a Fund to rebuild war-torn energy infrastructure in Ukraine, the donors of which should be mainly EU member states, as well as international companies and corporations.
The German company Rheinmetall has applied to the German federal government with another application for the export of 88 Type 1A5 Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Welt reports citing documents provided by the manufacturer.
According to the publication, the application was filed at the end of last week. Delivery can be carried out in a few weeks, if German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gives the appropriate decision.
In addition, Rheinmetall for the supply of 100 Marder armored personnel carriers, and from the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann group for the supply of 100 PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers, were previously sent for approval.
It is noted that the decision on deliveries is approved by the Federal Security Council, which is headed by the Chancellor. So far, Scholz has not agreed to direct deliveries of heavy weapons to Ukraine.
The cost of used Leopard 1A5 tanks, which can be delivered to Ukraine, is about 115 million euros. Together with the Marder infantry fighting vehicle and self-propelled howitzers, the volume of assistance to Ukraine with heavy weapons could amount to more than 2 billion Euros.
About 40% of public catering establishments have already restored work in Kyiv and Kyiv region, while most of the operating cafes are in the Transcarpathian region – 86% of the pre-war number, follows from a study by Poster.
“In Kyiv, 40% of small and medium-sized establishments operate in comparison with the figure on February 23, in the Kyiv region – 41%. The number of open establishments began to grow rapidly after the north of Ukraine was completely liberated from the invaders in early April. For comparison, in At the end of March, only 18% of establishments worked in Kyiv, and 16% in the Kyiv region,” the company said.
According to the study, the most operating establishments are in Zakarpattia (86%), Chernivtsi (81%) and Lviv regions (79%).
The largest increase in open establishments in April compared to March was shown by Chernihiv (from 1% to 20%) and Sumy (from 16% to 49%) regions. In addition, the number of open cafes in the Zhytomyr region increased by 23% (up to 63%), by 21% – in the Volyn region (up to 77%), by 20% – in the Kirovohrad region (up to 78%).
At the same time, the least operating establishments are in the east of Ukraine: in the Kharkiv region – 9% of the pre-war number, in the Donetsk region – 5%, in the Luhansk region – 0%.
As reported, the Poster cafe and restaurant automation service permanently disconnected 10,000 customers in Russia and Belarus from its services.
All tariffs on goods coming to Britain from Ukraine under an existing free trade deal will be axed to help the Ukrainian economy, the British government announced on Monday.
London said tariffs would be reduced to zero and all quotas removed following a direct request from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, saying the move would provide a boost for Ukrainian businesses involved in key exports such as barley, honey, tinned tomatoes and poultry.
“We stand unwaveringly with Ukraine in this ongoing fight and will work to ensure Ukraine survives and thrives as a free and sovereign nation,” said British International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
Britain said currently the average tariff on Ukrainian imports was about 22%. It said the planned change had been offered on a non-reciprocal basis, but Kyiv was likely to match the British action
Mobile operator lifecell records an increase in demand for eSIM during the war in Ukraine: since February 24, it has increased five times on average, and on some days subscribers ordered 20 times more digital SIM cards than before the outbreak of hostilities , the press service of the company said on Monday.
“From March 4 to March 7, the operator observed a peak in demand for eSIM – 25 times more subscribers joined the lifecell network using digital SIM cards than in the same period before the war. And the traffic from the Kherson region in the lifecell online store during this period exceeded the usual level of 44 times,” the report says.
This, the company notes, is due to the fact that lifecell remained the only operator that provided communication services in Kherson and the region during this period. Consistently high rates of digital SIM usage in March remained in the Kherson region and Kyiv.
In addition, the number of eSIM users during the war increased in Lviv and the Lviv region by almost six times compared to pre-war times.
Outside of Ukraine, the demand for eSIM has increased sevenfold. Most people bought a digital SIM card in Poland and Germany.
The number of buyers of domestic government bonds (OVGZ) among the population and businesses increased to 1.7 thousand last week from 1.5 thousand a week earlier.
As reported on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Monday, citing data from the depository, the purchase amounted to about UAH 0.3 billion, $24 million and EUR3.2 million, compared to about UAH 0.3 billion, $1.4 million, respectively. and EUR0.1 million the week before last.
“As of April 25, more than 9.1 thousand citizens and business representatives of Ukraine became owners of military government bonds in the amount of about UAH 5.8 billion, $36 million and EUR25.2 million,” the National Bank said.
The regulator recalled that since the placement of military government bonds on March 1 at 20 primary auctions, the Ministry of Finance was able to attract about UAH 36.6 billion, $93.8 million and EUR176.5 million to the state budget.
“The largest portfolio of military government bonds is still concentrated among primary dealer banks,” the NBU specified.
According to him, the volume of investments by non-residents has remained stable over the past few weeks – more than UAH 50 million.
As reported, the total volume of issuance of military bonds is up to UAH 400 billion. They can be bought by the National Bank, which has already purchased these securities under a separate procedure for UAH 60 billion, including UAH 20 billion last week and the week before last.
The nominal rate on hryvnia government bonds is 10-11% per annum, on dollars – 3.7%, on euros – 2.5%. The term of circulation is up to 15 months.
