A group of U.S. Democratic lawmakers, including four senators and a member of the House of Representatives, will travel to Poland, India, Germany, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates to garner support for Ukraine.
“This strong congressional delegation will have the opportunity to meet with U.S. military leadership and troops in Poland in order to learn how the U.S. can continue to support Ukraine and our NATO allies against Russia’s unprovoked and unwarranted war,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement, according to The Hill.
“In addition, the delegation will meet with a number of key foreign leaders in Poland, UAE, India, Nepal, and Germany to strengthen ties during this period of heightened global tension,” the congressmen said.
Other senators making the trip with Kelly are Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Ed Markey (D-MA), along with Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), the lone House member.
GERMANY, INDIA, NEPAL, POLAND, SUPPORT, U.S. DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKERS, UAE, UKRAINE
The Kyivstar mobile network operator, on the initiative of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, cancels mobile Internet billing in popular video call applications for prepaid subscribers.
The press service of the operator said on Monday that in particular, megabytes will not be taken into account from the accounts of prepaid subscribers for using the following applications: Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet and Google Classroom.
“We will definitely win the war, but now we need to gradually return to a full life. Adaptation and support for children is perhaps the most important and responsible task not only for parents and teachers, but for the whole society. Therefore, Kyivstar immediately responded to the proposal of the Ministry of Education and Science make applications that will broadcast online lessons for free, so that learning, mastering a new specialty and working online are even more accessible to our customers,” Kyivstar’s B2C Director Tetiana Lukyniuk said.
The company also added that the Lets Learn without Borders! service is valid in most Kyivstar tariffs and allows using popular educational applications without additional billing. Among them are Wikipedia, Coursera, Prometheus, E-School, etc.
“Despite hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, educational institutions continue to provide training in regions where the security situation allows. In addition, a national Ukrainian timetable has been created, the National E-School is functioning, and Ukrainian TV channels broadcast lessons for grades 5-11 as part of the Lets Learn without Borders! service. To provide even better conditions for learning and working online, the Ministry of Education and Science initiated the free use of mobile applications through which access to the educational process is provided. I am grateful to all organizations and institutions for cooperation,” Minister of Education and Science Serhiy Shkarlet said.
According to the report, the Ministry of Education has applied to other mobile network operators with a similar request and is waiting for a positive decision.
In the capital, from Monday, the time for transporting passengers in the subway and in land transport will be increased, the press service of the Kiev City State Administration reports.
“From today, the Kyiv metro will carry passengers from 06:30 to 20:00, ground transport – from 7:00 to 21:00,” reads a message published on the telegram channel on Monday.
The administration also reminded that in Kyiv and the Kiev region, a curfew lasts every night from 22:00 to 05:00.
Spain soon intends to return the embassy to Kyiv, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday.
“Soon we will reopen the Spanish embassy in Kyiv,” he said in an interview with the Antena 3 TV channel.
In early April, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) applied to the Cabinet of Ministers with the next developments in order to increase business lending: to expand the portfolio guarantee program for large agricultural enterprises and large enterprises from strategic industries, as well as to increase the term of lending to farmers for the sowing season from six months to a year.
“And if businesses have additional proposals, we urge them to share them with the European Business Association (EBA), we will transfer them to the National Bank,” the EBA said on its website following a meeting with the National Bank this week, which was also attended by the American Chamber of Commerce.
As one of the meeting participants specified to the Interfax-Ukraine agency, among other NBU proposals to the government are the expansion of state support for credit lines, financial leasing, avalized bills, as well as an increase in portfolio guarantees from 80% to 100% of the amount of loans for “red” zones, where the fighting is taking place.
The NBU leadership also said at the meeting that the plans of banks for the second quarter include lending to Ukrainian enterprises for almost UAH 66 billion, including UAH 30 billion for the agricultural industry in the near future, of which UAH 5.8 billion has already been allocated.
The National Bank clarified that since the beginning of the war, the four largest banks have shown an increase in their loan portfolio by UAH 12.5 billion.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, the government has previously criticized the banking system for its unwillingness to take on lending risks, especially in the “red” zones, and proposes to solve this problem in state-owned banks by setting special kpi. In addition, the Ministry of Economy is discussing the idea of appointing a special deputy minister who would oversee this issue, and appointing the former head of the board of Ukreximbank Yevgeny Metsger to this position.
The questionnaire on accession to the European Union, which the head of the European Commission Ursula von del Leyen handed over to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during her visit to Kyiv on April 9, has been completed, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Igor Zhovkva said.
“As the president promised to the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, when she visited Ukraine on April 9, the Ukrainian side will fill out a questionnaire. A week has passed today. And today I can state that the document has been completed by the Ukrainian side,” Zhovkva said on the air of a nationwide telethon in Sunday.
According to him, after receiving the completed questionnaire, the European Commission will prepare a recommendation on Ukraine’s fulfillment of the Copenhagen criteria for joining the EU. Ukraine, in turn, expects to receive the status of a candidate country for EU accession as early as June this year.
“We expect that the recommendation will be positive, and then the ball will be on the side of the EU member states. In June there will be a meeting of the European Council, where we expect Ukraine to be granted the status of a candidate country for EU membership … Next, accession negotiations should begin. And, when we will hold such negotiations, it will be possible to talk about full-fledged membership of Ukraine in the EU,” he said.
“We are talking about an accelerated procedure. We cannot afford 10-15-20 years of such negotiations. Negotiations must be held quickly. Ukraine deserves it, and most EU member states support us in this,” Zhovkva added.
