SkyUp Airlines (Kyiv) will perform an irregular flight to Tashkent (Uzbekistan) on October 1, ticket prices start at UAH 9,031 one way.
According to the press service of the company, the PQ7979 aircraft will depart from Kyiv on October 1 at 04:10 and arrive in Tashkent at 11:20. Flight PQ7980 will return to Ukraine from Tashkent on the same day at 12:20 and arrive in Kyiv at 16:00.
Tickets can be purchased on the airline’s website in the All Flights – Special Flights section.
SkyUp notes that from October 1, to enter Uzbekistan, one needs to have a negative PCR test done no later than 72 hours before arriving in the country.
According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine’s data of September 25, Uzbekistan is included in the “green” zone, therefore, after entering Ukraine, self-isolation or taking a PCR test is not required.
Prices for apples in Ukraine are now the highest in the last three years, so the average wholesale prices for apples in Ukraine range within UAH 11-13/kg, the Ukrainian Horticultural Association has reported.
According to a report on the association’s website, the season of local apples is gaining momentum in Ukraine. Ukrainian producers are actively engaged in harvesting autumn varieties of apples, respectively, the supply on the market is increasing every day. Today, the average wholesale prices for apples in Ukraine fluctuate within the range of UAH 11-13/kg. For comparison, at the beginning of September, apple producers were selling their products at 15-20% higher prices.
“Today, prices for apples in Ukraine are the highest, at least in the last three years. In the same period of 2019, local apples were sold on average UAH 1-1.5 cheaper than today, and at the end of September 2018, Ukrainian gardeners were shipping dessert apples at an average of UAH 7-8 per kg,” the union noted.
The price situation that has developed today, according to the association, was significantly influenced by the record high prices for apples at the beginning of the season: in mid-July, Ukrainian gardeners sold the first consignments of apples for UAH 20-22/kg. Another factor that affected the price situation on the apple market is the delay in the apple season by an average of 7-10 days due to unfavorable weather conditions in the country.
“Also, we note that in April and May in Ukraine several waves of frosts were recorded at once, which affected the gross yield of early varieties. Of course, losses in the segment of apples are not as significant as in the segment of apricots and cherries, nevertheless, Ukrainian producers from the central and western regions reported that crop losses reach 20-30%,” the report says.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky ranks first in the rating of the most influential Ukrainian officials, other top five officials also include Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak, Chief Presidential Assistant Serhiy Shefir, as well as Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova.
The results of the research ‘Rating of Influence of Ukrainian Officials’ were announced by Lev Bondarenko, an analyst of the Ukrainian Politics Foundation /UP Foundation at the press conference held at Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, more than 50 experts took part in the research, the questionnaire was formed of 130 participants-officials and among the criteria assessed were influence of the position held by the officials, directly their activities and connections and their team effectiveness. The research was conducted using the questionnaire survey during September 2020.
Bondarenko said that top 30 ranks of the rating of influence of Ukrainian officials include mainly representatives of the President’s Office, the Cabinet of Ministers and other civil servants that in the public eye.
In turn, the Head of the UP Foundation, a historian, political expert Kost Bondarenko presented an analytical report related to the rating of influence of Ukrainian officials.
“A lot has changed during the year. A lot of people who were considered influential at that time resigned and new influential actors appeared, thus the power became less amorphous, more monolithic,” he said.
Bondarenko said among the external players that influence the situation in Ukraine are the U.S. Department of State, the G7, the IMF, Israel, George Soros and Russia.
“We looked close at people who influence the president and his entourage … Andriy Yermak is attempting to become the closest confidant of the president, while other team members oppose him … Today we should talk about financial and industrial groups, not about classical oligarchs. But still the representatives of the Ukrainian domestic capital influence very actively the situation in Ukraine, and are somewhat a weak counterweight to the offensive of multinational enterprises,” he said.
The average large-scale wholesale price of petrol and diesel fuel in Ukraine fell by 3.1%, to UAH 20,000 per tonne over the past week from September 21 to September 28.
The average large-scale wholesale price of A-92 fell by 1%, to UAH 24,040 per tonne, the price of A-95 petrol – by 1.1%, to UAH 25,070 per tonne and the price of diesel fuel fell by 1.2%, to UAH 19,320 per tonne.
Changes in large-scale wholesale prices of fuel in UAH per tonne (VAT included, 100% prepayment):
©Source: A-95 Consulting Company
Meanwhile, the average small-scale wholesale price of A-92 increased by 0.1%, to UAH 18.80 per liter; that of A-95 by 0.2%, to UAH 19.78 per liter. The price of diesel fuel fell by 0.8%, to UAH 16.45 per liter.
Changes in small-scale wholesale prices of fuel in UAH per liter (VAT included, 100% prepayment):
©Source: A-95 Consulting Company
The Level I Intensive Care Hospital and the Primary Health Care Center in Horishni Plavni has received two Renault Master ambulances – another consignment of aid from Ferrexpo mining company, whose main production assets are located in this city.
“The total cost of the vehicles is about UAH 3 million. This delivery was carried out as part of the large Ferrexpo assistance program to combat COVID-19,” the company said in a press release.
Mayor of the city Dmytro Bykov thanked for the systematic support provided by the Ferrexpo mining and processing plants (GOK).
“Unfortunately, the statistics of COVID-19 cases are not encouraging with good news, the situation is also complicated by seasonal outbreaks of other viral diseases. We do not stop assistance programs, studying the needs and systematically transferring the necessary equipment, transport, medicines and protective equipment to hospitals,” the director of the charitable foundation of Poltava GOK, Viacheslav Miniazev, said.
In March of this year, the Ferrexpo board of directors decided that the group’s enterprises, including Poltava, Yeristovo and Belanovo GOKs, will allocate $ 2.5 million in assistance to medical institutions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic in Poltava region, as well as within the framework of national programs throughout the territory Ukraine. It was noted that, first of all, the money will be used for the purchase of artificial lung ventilation devices, test systems for detecting coronavirus and other necessary equipment, and further distribution of assistance will be carried out in accordance with the priority needs of medical institutions.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) trades the shares of British-based Ferrexpo plc, which owns 100% of the shares of Swiss-based Ferrexpo AG, which, in turn, holds a 100% stake in Poltava GOK, 100% of Yeristovo GOK and 99.9% of Belanovo GOK. Kostiantyn Zhevaho via Fevamotinico S.a.r.l. owns 50.3% of Ferrexpo shares.
The program “Treatment of Ukrainian citizens abroad” in the long term should be reduced to isolated cases, economist at the CASE Ukraine analytical center, author of a study on the implementation of the program and identification of more effective ways of state financing Natalia Leschenko has said.
“The program needs to be abandoned in the short term, but it requires tight budget constraints and prioritization of referrals for treatment (for example, referral to treatment of children, patients who have a high chance of returning to normal life). In the long term, the program needs to be reduced to isolated cases,” she said during a presentation of the study results on Tuesday.
Leschenko also said that it is necessary to introduce an assessment of the quality of such treatment.
“What would ideally like to see is an assessment of the patient’s health outcomes after treatment. The comparison of these results with the reference ones established on the basis of scientific research and clinical evaluations. This requirement is in the legislation of other countries that treatment abroad should be paid for at the state expense, only if this treatment is proven to be effective. Examples include readmission rates, mortality, complications,” she said.
“Our proposal is, in principle, not to increase funding for the program. The governments of most countries adhere to the principle of limited funding, that is, payment of a percentage of treatment or full payment to a limited number of people,” the expert said.
As reported, under the budget program “Treatment of Ukrainian citizens abroad” in 2020, UAH 1.089 billion is provided.
