The European Investment Bank (EIB) made two more EUR100 million payments to Ukraine this week, the bank said on its website.
With these two disbursements, we have provided EUR629 million of our initial support package of EUR668 million, and that’s not all. These funds will help cover urgent financial needs in the face of Russian aggression, the bank said.
As reported, on March 4, the EIB Board of Directors at an extraordinary meeting approved an emergency solidarity package for Ukraine in the amount of EUR2 billion, including the provision of EUR668 million in the form of immediate liquidity support to the Ukrainian authorities. As part of this package, the bank is also accelerating the allocation of additional commitments of EUR1.3 billion taken on infrastructure projects. In parallel, the bank is developing a multi-billion-dollar package for the EU’s Eastern and Southern Neighborhood, the EU Enlargement Region and Central Asia to mitigate the effects of the refugee crisis and help deal with the social and economic impacts caused by the war.
The European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union. Its owners are the member states of the European Union.
Sharp Group is suspending shipments to Russia due to the situation in Ukraine, the Japanese electronics manufacturer said.
“Sharp Group is currently suspending shipping into Russia with the conflict’s impact. We will continue to monitor the situation carefully and make adequate measures based on the spirit of our Sharp Group Charter of Corporate Behavior,” the company said.
A day earlier, Japanese information technology company NEC also announced that it has suspended new sales of products and services, as well as investment in Russia.
Japan, along with a number of other countries, imposed sanctions against Russia over the events in Ukraine, after which a number of Japanese companies announced the suspension of shipments to and production in Russia, including due to logistics problems. They include Panasonic, Hitachi, Yamaha Motor Co., Tadano Ltd. and Komatsu Ltd.
More than half (53%) of Ukrainians who worked before the war are currently unemployed, 22% work as usual, 21% work remotely or partially, and only 2% have found a new job, according to a nationwide survey “Adaptation of Ukrainians to the conditions of war”, conducted by the Rating sociological group on March 19.
As noted in the results of the study, most of all the loss of work affected the residents of the east of the country (74%), young people under 35 years old (60%) and those who left their city (66%).
The economic situation as a result of the war did not change only for 18% of citizens, for 52% it deteriorated significantly, for 28% it rather worsened.
Some 40% of respondents believe that their savings will last only a month. However, the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic taught Ukrainians how to save money and the percentage of those who increased their material security during the crisis grew: the Rating reminded that during the first quarantine in April 2020, 55% believed that they had enough savings just for a month.
In the course of the study, 1,000 respondents over the age of 18 were interviewed using the CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews) method in all regions, except for the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender, and type of settlement. The error of the representativeness of the study with a confidence probability of 0.95: no more than 3.1%.
The State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection has started to monitor prices daily for a number of socially important food products, medical products and fuel, according to the website of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on Wednesday.
“State supervision (control) during martial law in Ukraine will be carried out only to curb the rise in prices for socially significant products, guaranteeing their availability to the population and in the presence of a threat that has a significant negative impact on the rights, legitimate interests, life and health of a person,” the government said.
The list of food products for monitoring includes wheat flour, pasta, loaf, bread, buckwheat and oatmeal, pork, beef, poultry (chicken carcasses), milk, butter and sunflower oil, sour cream, chicken eggs, crystalline sugar, white cabbage, onions, beets, carrots, potatoes.
From non-food products, the list includes 96% ethanol, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial drugs, A-92 and A-95 gasoline, diesel fuel, liquefied gas for cars.
The Cabinet of Ministers in resolution No. 303 of March 13 stopped conducting state control and market supervision of prices for these goods, introduced in January of this year, however, the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection took up daily monitoring of prices for them from March 22.
“According to the data provided by the monitoring, since March 14, logistics has been established in many enterprises in almost all regions of Ukraine, which improved the situation with the assortment of goods, and also made it possible to reduce prices for the grocery group of goods, bakery products, some dairy clear products, as well as fuel,” the government said in a statement.
In addition, the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection called on businesses to prevent unreasonable price increases for goods with significant social significance for the population during martial law in Ukraine.
Some 44% of Ukrainians were forced to temporarily separate from their families during Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine, according to the results of a nationwide survey “Adaptation of Ukrainians to the Conditions of War,” conducted by the Rating sociological group on March 19.
Most of these are in the east of the country (54%), the least – in the west (39%). Among young people, 50% is the largest indicator by age.
Some 72% of citizens now constantly communicate with relatives and friends, 48% with friends, 38% with neighbors and 28% with work colleagues.
In addition to separation from the family, 19% of citizens left their city/village for the duration of the war (most of them left from the east). At the same time, the vast majority (93%) of them plan to return home after the war. Only 58% of those who left know that everything is in order with their housing, 10% know that their housing is damaged, and 9% are destroyed. The rest do not know what their housing is.
In the course of the study, 1,000 respondents over the age of 18 were interviewed using the CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews) method in all regions, except for the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea and Donbas. The sample is representative in terms of age, gender, and type of settlement. The margin of error of the representativeness of the study with a confidence probability of 0.95 does not exceeding 3.1%.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky will address the Japanese Parliament on Wednesday, Japanese Deputy Prime Minister of Defense Kono Taro said.
“Ukrainian President Zelensky will address Parliament today at 18:00 [11:00 Kyiv time],” Taro wrote on Twitter.
The Times of Israel reports that Zelensky “is set to virtually deliver an address to the Japanese parliament to rally international support for his country’s [Ukraine] fight against Russian invasion.”
“Zelensky’s speech, expected to be about 10 minutes, will be shown in a meeting room at the lower house – the more powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament which Prime Minister Fumio Kishida belongs to,” The Federal notes.
As reported, Zelensky made virtual appeals to the U.S. Congress, as well as to the parliaments of European countries, Canada and Israel.
