Issues related to Ukraine and Russia’s actions continue to be in the focus of the United States administration, regardless of where its employees are, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
“That remains front and center in what we’re doing and indeed what I continue to do even as we’re heading to Australia,” Blinken told reporters accompanying him to Canberra aboard the plane.
“I’ve been on the phone during a chunk of this trip talking to various counterparts with some focus on Russia-Ukraine. I spent some time talking to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan as well,” he said.
“And this is part of, as we’ve tabulated, with foreign counterparts something like 200-plus engagements just in recent weeks – phone calls, video conferences, in-person meetings, where we have been working to coordinate all of our partners in standing up to this Russian aggression directed toward Ukraine,” Blinken said.
“We have been engaged in a two-track strategy where we have, on the one hand, been pursuing diplomacy, but at the same time building up strong deterrence to dissuade Russia from taking aggressive action,” the US Secretary of State said.
Ukrainian banks in 2021 reduced the number of structural units by 6.3%, or by 449 branches, to 6,685.
According to data on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), in 2021 Oschadbank closed 235 branches (reducing their number to 1,602), PrivatBank – 220 (to 1,497), UkrSibbank – 21 (to 251), Alfa Bank – 17 (to 201), Pivdenny Bank – 10 (to 87), Ukreximbank – 9 (to 53), Ukrgasbank – 8 (268), PIB – 7 (19), Sberbank – 5 (85), Raiffeisen Bank Aval – 4 (to 392).
At the same time, in 2020 banks opened 84 branches, including Accordbank – 28 branches, expanding its regional network to 107 branches, FUIB – 24 (up to 248), Crystalbank – 12 (up to 36), A-Bank – 7 (up to 239), Alliance Bank, CIB and Ukrbudinvestbank – 5 each (up to 30, 43 and 53, respectively).
According to the data of the National Bank, as of January 1, 2022 Oschadbank remains the leader in terms of the number of branches (1,602), the second place is occupied by PrivatBank (1,497), the third is Raiffeisen Bank Aval (392), the fourth is Ukrgasbank (268) and the fifth – UkrSibbank (251).
As in the first half of the year, Prominvestbank (PIB), Albank, Credit Europe and Familny banks, BTA Bank, ING Bank Ukraine, Citibank, Trust-Capital Bank, the Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD), CreditWest Bank, Deutsche Bank DBU, SEB Corporate Bank, Alpari Bank, Avangard Bank and Portal Bank, according to the regulator’s data, operate with one open branch.
Cherkasy Azot, part of Dmytro Firtash’s Group DF nitrogen business and primarily engaged in production of chemical fertilizers, has launched a project to launch the production of AdBlue, a special additive for diesel engines used to reduce NO (nitrogen oxide) emissions.
“We are entering a growing, marginal, but very competitive market. Completion of all preparatory work for the launch of the project is expected in the first half of 2022,” the company’s CEO, Vitaliy Skliarov, said in a release.
According to the report, the expected production volume of the reagent is 10,000 tonnes per year.
At the moment, Azot has carried out preparatory work for the installation of equipment. The production of the reagent will be organized on the basis of workshop K-4, where crystalline caprolactam was previously produced.
The volume of investments will be announced after the launch of the project and will include all the necessary certification procedures.
Skliarov added that negotiations are underway with the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), which developed this technology, to conduct an audit and issue a license to use the AdBlue brand. According to him, the sale of these products is planned both in the domestic and foreign markets, it is possible to increase the capacity.
According to Group DF estimates, the volume of the market for AdBlue and its analogues in Ukraine is about 35,000-45,000 tonnes per year, while today more than 60% of the Ukrainian market is occupied by imports, and Cherkasy Azot will be able to gradually replace imported products.
“AdBlue is, in fact, an aqueous solution of urea, respectively, its largest producers worldwide are nitrogen plants. It is logical that in Ukraine we will have a price advantage over competitors … We will also have a price advantage in the European market,” Skliarov said.
Half of Ukrainian adults have been vaccinated against coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“Some 50% of the adult population has already been vaccinated against COVID-19. Every second Ukrainian has received at least one dose of the vaccine. We must increase this figure,” he said at a government meeting on Wednesday.
An article by Managing Editor of the Belgian edition New Europe Nicholas Waller with accusations against First Deputy Governor of the board of the NBU Kateryna Rozhkova and Commercial Industrial Bank (CIB, СomInBank) of alleged money laundering is a dirty provocation, Chairperson of the Board of ComInBank Tetiana Putintseva has said.
“Neither Kateryna Rozhkova, nor anyone else, with the exception of Mr. Stefan Paul Pinter, are shareholders or other beneficiaries of the bank. To understand this, there is no need to conduct any investigations. It is enough to look at the relevant registers and draw conclusions,” she said in response to an inquiry from Interfax-Ukraine.
The head of the board said that Pinter is the sole shareholder of ComInBank and a well-known British investor. “This is not just official information, but also a legal fact that anyone can check. The transparency of the origin of the capital of JSC CIB was repeatedly checked by the National Bank of Ukraine both in 2016, when buying the bank, and in the future,” Putintseva said.
According to her, Waller, the author of the article, did not contact the bank either verbally or in writing. “We, unlike the customers of this dirty provocation, operate exclusively with facts, not artificially created insinuations. But whoever it was, he did not achieve his goal,” the head of the board said.
Putintseva said that the bank complies with all NBU standards, has a high credit rating and continues to develop successfully without feeling any threat, since it operates within the framework of the current legislation.
She added that the bank will explain its position to the public and protect its reputation within the legal framework.
“If Nicholas Waller is really interested in the truth, we will be happy to provide him with all the open information about our bank. Unfortunately, he has not yet had such a desire,” the head of the board said.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2021, СomInBank bank ranked 29th in terms of assets (UAH 6.991 billion) among 72 operating banks.
