The currency swap concluded by the National Bank of Ukraine with the National Bank of Poland and the right granted to Ukrainian banks to buy hryvnia in cash from foreign financial institutions for non-cash currency in the amount of up to EUR1 million per day (in equivalent) made it possible to launch such an exchange without major losses in Poland and 5 other countries, the NBU said.
“On March 25, the agreement that we concluded with the National Bank of Poland on the exchange of Ukrainian hryvnia for Polish zlotys by Ukrainian citizens in Poland began to work,” the National Bank of Ukraine noted on Facebook.
He clarified that in Poland, which accounted for over 2/3 of all refugees, Ukrainians can apply to separate branches of PKO Bank Polski. The limit for such an exchange is up to 10 thousand UAH in cash per person in banknotes with a face value of 100 to 1000 UAH. To exchange, you need to have a passport in the form of an ID-card or a valid international passport.
In Hungary, cash hryvnia is exchanged by OTP Bank: in its branches, Ukrainian citizens can exchange hryvnia for Hungarian forints within the limit of UAH 15,000. for one transaction.
In addition, the bank offers to open a forint account for Ukrainians aged 18 years and over (from 14 to 18 years of age, the presence of parents or legal guardians is required) in special branches of OTP Bank in Hungary that provide this service, if they have a valid passport or travel document.
In Moldova, to support citizens of Ukraine, OTP Bank will carry out foreign exchange transactions with Ukrainian currency in its branches located in the border regions of Moldova and some branches in Chisinau, on the basis of an internal or international passport of Ukraine. The hryvnia exchange limit is up to UAH 3,000 per client per day.
In Romania, the exchange of Ukrainian hryvnia for Romanian lei is carried out by Banca Comercială Română: 11 branches of this bank near the border with Ukraine are additionally supported by cash to help Ukrainians crossing the border of this country. Citizens of Ukraine can exchange hryvnias for up to 1,000 Romanian lei per person (at the official rate of almost UAH 6.5 thousand) with a valid passport.
In Slovakia, Tatra banka, a subsidiary of the Raiffeisen group, offers to exchange hryvnia for euros. The daily limit per person is EUR250. When exchanging money, citizens of Ukraine must provide a valid passport.
So far, the exchange takes place in Bratislava at the head office of the bank in the Tatracentrum shopping center, and additional exchange points should soon appear in Humenny and Michalovci. In addition, Ukrainians will be able to open an account at Tatra banka branches, to which cash hryvnia will be credited to a payment card in accordance with the euro exchange rate.
In Austria, you can exchange cash hryvnia for euros at Raiffeisen bank and Erste Bank Oesterreich branches if you have a passport. at Raiffeisen bank one person can exchange up to EUR500 per day, and at Erste Bank Oesterreich up to EUR300.
“At the same time, we continue to recommend to everyone who intends to evacuate abroad not to take cash hryvnia with them, but to deposit it into their bank accounts in Ukraine. After all, having a payment card, you can pay without cash and withdraw money from ATMs abroad,” – the National Bank noted and reminded that it did not introduce any restrictions on non-cash payments both within the country and abroad.
Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) has started accepting the first cargoes with technology and humanitarian aid from European colleagues, the company’s press service reported on Saturday.
According to the press service, the Belgian operator Fluxys provided equipment for centering during pipe welding, the Bulgarian Bulgartransgaz EAD – six tonnes of welding electrodes now in short supply in Ukraine for the repair of main pipelines, the German ONTRAS – humanitarian goods (mats, sleeping bags, etc.).
In addition, a scheme has been agreed with the German operator OGE (Open Grid Europe) for the emergency delivery of special equipment and repair kits for fireless tapping and connection of bypasses in case of damage.
Also, cargoes from six more GTS operators are already being formed for shipment.
In general, since the beginning of the Russian military aggression, GTSOU has received proposals for technical assistance from 15 GTS operators from 13 countries (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Italy, France, the UK).
“We are thankful to our international colleagues for the support, as well as the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, USAID for assistance in obtaining critical materials. Thanks to all of you, GTSOU continues to supply gas to Ukrainian consumers,” the company said.
The length of the main gas pipelines managed by GTSOU is 33,079 km, the number of compressor stations is 57, and the number of gas distribution stations is 1,395.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented 2,858 civilian casualties (2,788 a day before) in the country, including 1,104 (1,081) killed (from February 24 when the Russia invaded Ukraine to 24:00 midnight on March 25, 2022 (local time).
“OHCHR believes that the actual figures are considerably higher, especially in Government-controlled territory and especially in recent days, as the receipt of information from some locations where intense hostilities have been going on has been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration,” the UN said in the document.
According to him, this applies, for example, to Izium (Kharkiv region), and Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Severodonetsk and Rubizhne (Luhansk region), Trostianets (Sumy region), where there are allegations of hundreds of civilian casualties. These figures are being further corroborated and are not included in the above statistics.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multi-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the UN said in the report.
According to confirmed UN data, some 221 men, some 221 women, 30 boys and 15 girls killed, while the sex of 51 children and 620 adults has not yet been known.
Among the 1,754 injured, some 30 girls and 24 boys, as well as 70 children, whose sex is yet unknown.
Compared to the previous day, three children were killed, and four more children were wounded, according to the UN.
OHCHR said that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight March 26, there were 295 (285) dead and 681 (672) injured in government-controlled territory, and 59 (59) dead and 227 (224) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed “republics.”
In other regions of Ukraine under government control (Kyiv, as well as in Zhytomyr, Zaporizhia, Kyiv, Sumy, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy and Chernihiv regions), the UN recorded 750 (737) killed and 846 (811) wounded.
OHCHR notes the report of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine, according to which as of 8 a.m. (local time) 26 March, 136 (135) children had been killed and 199 (184) injured.
OHCHR also notes the report of the Head of the Investigative Department of the National Police of Kharkiv region, according to which as of 6 p.m. (local time) 25 March, 323 (306) civilians had been killed in the region, including 15 (15) children.
An increase in figures in this update compared with the previous update (as of 24:00 midnight on 24 March 2022 local time) should not be attributed to civilian casualties that occurred on 25 March only, as during the day OHCHR also corroborated casualties that occurred on previous days.
Ukraine welcomes the decision of European states to create a platform for joint gas purchases and is ready to provide its underground storage facilities to form a strategic resource reserve, Energy Minister German Haluschenko said.
“Ukraine has significant natural gas storage capacity – our underground storage facilities are the largest in Europe. In our Regional Energy Partnership initiative, RESP, we propose to use our underground gas storage facilities to create a strategic gas reserve for European countries,” he wrote on his Facebook on Saturday.
According to him, despite the full-scale military aggression by Russia, Ukraine continues to be a powerful and reliable partner of Europe in matters of energy security.
“Joint purchase of gas and its storage in Ukrainian gas storage facilities will allow us to get rid of the dictates of a terrorist state and ensure reliable energy supplies for the entire European continent,” the Minister of Energy said.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that in the conclusions of the European Council meeting, the initiative to create a platform for the joint purchase of gas, on which the European countries began work, is open to Ukraine.
As reported, the system of 12 underground storage facilities of Ukrtransgaz, 100% owned by NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine, with a total design capacity of 31 billion cubic meters, includes Bilche-Volytsko-Uherske UGS (17.05 billion cubic meters), Uherske (1.9 billion cubic meters), Dashavske (2.15 billion cubic meters), Oparske (1.92 billion cubic meters ), Bohorodchanske (2.3 billion cubic meters), Krasnopartyzanske (1.5 billion cubic meters), Solokivske (1.3 billion cubic meters), Olishevske (0.31 billion cubic meters), Proletarske (1 billion cubic meters), Kehychivske (0.7 billion cubic meters), Krasnopopivske (0.42 billion cubic meters) and Verhunske (0.4 billion cubic meters) located on the temporarily occupied territory.
Ukrainian athlete Olena Kostevych won golden medal at the European Shooting Championship in 10m Air Pistol Women in Norway.
“At the European Shooting Championship, Ukrainian athlete Olena Kostevych won gold! Thank you for the victory, thank you for the emotions, thank you that during the war we can still be proud of the results,” the press service of the Ministry of Youth and Sports said in a statement.
Dynamics of balance of payments of Ukraine (USD mln)
NBU
