The U.S. oil field service company Halliburton Co. has announced an immediate suspension of future business in Russia in a statement published on the company website.
“The Company complies with sanctions that prohibit transactions and work, including for certain state-owned Russian customers. Halliburton will prioritize safety and reliability as we wind down our remaining operations in Russia,” the statement said.
Halliburton said it has no active joint ventures in Russia, while all shipments of specific sanctioned parts and products to Russia were halted several weeks ago.
“The war in Ukraine deeply saddens us. We have employees in both Ukraine and Russia, and the conflict greatly impacts our people, their families, and loved ones throughout the region. Since the start of this conflict, we prioritized employee safety and compliance with all relevant sanctions,” the statement quoted Halliburton Chairman, President and CEO Jeff Miller as saying.
Halliburton is the world’s second largest oil field service company and the largest U.S. supplier of oil industry equipment, which was cooperating with all major mineral developers of Russia, including Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Rosneft and Lukoil.
The Government of Ukraine has abolished the maximum level of the supply and marketing allowance and the trade margin of 10% for such products of significant social importance as buckwheat, granulated sugar, domestic pasta and butter with a fat content of 72.5%, while retaining the requirement to declare the change of prices.
The corresponding resolution No. 311 of March 18, was published, on the Cabinet of Ministers website on Saturday.
According to it, a 10% margin limit remains for such goods as wheat flour of the highest grade, pasteurized milk with a fat content of 2.5% (in a film), rye-wheat bread and a long loaf, chicken eggs of category C1, poultry (chicken carcass, a quarter of a chicken carcass) and refined sunflower oil. It will be valid until the end of April.
The Decree also clarified that the specified list of products of social importance concerns refined sunflower oil, and not sunflower oil in general, but at the same time, the concept of “poultry” was extended to “a quarter of a chicken carcass”, whereas previously it meant only “chicken carcass”.
In addition, the government has established that these products of significant social importance include domestically produced goods, except for goods labeled as organic products.
Another relief was the option for chains that set uniform prices for products in their stores to declare price changes once for all stores, and not in each one individually.
Smog over Kyiv on Saturday morning is the result of a burning landfill near Novi Petrivtsi and calm weather, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs, has said.
“Smog over Kyiv. Why did it appear: 1. The landfill near Novi Petrivtsi is burning down. 2. Windless weather. As soon as the wind appears, the smog will dissipate from the operation of thermal power plants and smoke from fires in the vicinity of Kyiv,” he wrote on Facebook.
Denysenko noted that in the Chornobyl zone, from the point of view of the fire situation, everything is calm.
In turn, Kyiv City State Administration noted that “there is a slight smoke in the capital.”
“This is due to changes in weather conditions, in particular the wind direction. According to experts, the air quality is in line with the standards. But please do not open windows and do not leave the house unnecessarily,” according to a message on the Telegram channel.
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron is carrying donations to Ukrainian refugees in Poland.
“I’m currently driving to Poland with two Chippy Larder [British non-profit food project] colleagues to make our delivery to the Red Cross. It’s going to be a long drive, but I’ll keep you updated along the way,” Cameron wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
The Meest international postal and logistics group with Ukrainian roots, through its subsidiary Meest China, has resumed the purchase and delivery of goods from China to Ukraine.
According to the company’s announcement on Wednesday, delivery to Ukraine of both postal items and commercial cargo is available.
Earlier, Meest resumed international delivery of parcels to the countries of the European Union: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.
At the same time, the company said on its website that due to the war on the territory of Ukraine [which Russia unleashed with its invasion on February 24] and the introduction of martial law in the country, the delivery time for international shipments to European countries may be extended and will depend on further development situations.
The global financial service PayPal has added the option to receive money transfers to bank cards of the state-owned PrivatBank (Kyiv), the bank’s press service reported on Friday.
According to the report, such a service will work for Ukrainians in Ukraine and abroad.
In addition, during the period of hostilities, the company is temporarily waiving its commission for customers who send funds to or receive funds in Ukrainian PayPal accounts.
“Clients of PrivatBank will be able to transfer funds from a PayPal wallet to Visa and MasterCard credit or debit cards without additional fees,” the bank’s press service said.
According to the statistics of the National Bank of Ukraine, as of January 1, 2022, in terms of total assets, PrivatBank ranked first (UAH 582.851 billion), and Oschadbank ranked second (UAH 249.938 billion) among 71 banks operating in the country.
