National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom (NNGC) urged participants in the electricity market to fulfill their obligations under contracts for its purchase and sale.
“It is important to continue to fulfill obligations under electricity purchase and sale agreements and take a prudent approach to intentions to declare force majeure circumstances when they are fulfilled. We must be united like never before and support each other in this difficult time,” the NNGC said in a statement.
Energoatom is the operator of all four operating nuclear power plants in Ukraine. It operates 15 power units equipped with water-cooled power reactors with a total installed electrical capacity of 13,835 GW.
On February 24, 2022, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) transferred part of the profit before distribution in the amount of UAH 19 billion to the state budget of Ukraine to financially support the functioning of the state under martial law, according to the website of the central bank.
“The National Bank promptly transferred part of the profit before distribution at the end of 2021 to the state budget of Ukraine. This amount is UAH 19 billion. This is a step that our state, its Armed Forces and every Ukrainian needs,” Governor of the NBU Kyrylo Shevchenko said.
The decision to transfer part of the profits was made by the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
As reported, the National Bank opened a special multi-currency account to raise funds for the needs of the Ukrainian army in connection with the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, the armed aggression of the Russian Federation and the danger to the state independence of Ukraine, its territorial integrity.
Travel companies saw sales of vacation packages to destinations in Russia and abroad tumble 20-40% on the first day of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Russian tour operators association ATOR reported on Friday.
Tourists are also asking about the conditions for cancelling trips, but so far few have actually done so, ATOR said.
“Sales of tour packages are lagging behind the average figures last week by 20-40%. The figures vary depending on the company. A large portion of the drop in sales was for tours in Russia – at some companies in this segment it is as much as 40%. Tour operators believe that this is probably a short-term phenomenon that has more to do with the confusion with tourists’ departures from regions in southern Russia,” ATOR said.
The steepest drop has been in sales of trips in the next few weeks in March. Early bookings for summer holidays at resorts in Krasnodar Territory and Crimea declined far less, by only 10-20%, ATOR said.
“Tourists, as we see, believe that the crisis will be resolved by the end of spring. The drop in this segment is smaller than for earlier dates,” the association said.
Sales of vacations abroad also saw a smaller decline, of 15-20%, and also primarily for the coming weeks.
“Some tourists who planned to buy tours for upcoming dates prefer to hold off on booking. But requests continue to come in for the summer, including quite expensive ones. The decline here is not very noticeable. As always, it is the luxury segment that is the most stable,” ATOR said.
Travel agencies and tour operators said they are getting many questions from tourists about the possible size of penalties for trip cancellations, but there are few actual cancellations so far, partly because cancellation terms for upcoming dates usually stipulate penalties. There are also tourists asking about possible travel discounts being offered in connection with the crisis.
Taxi calling services Bolt and Uklon continue to work.
The Uber service has stopped working in Ukraine, the company said in its app.
“Uber rides are not available in this region at this time,” a message to passengers in Kyiv reads.
In Lviv, the application shows that there are no trips available.
In Kharkiv and Odesa, a message is also displayed stating that trips in the region are not available.
“Due to the growth of geopolitical tensions and recent events, we have decided to suspend the operation of the application. The safety of all application users is our top priority. We continue to monitor the circumstances and hope that this is a temporary situation,” the company said.
Uber has been operating in Ukraine since 2016 and is present in nine cities.
Mobile operators and Ukrtelecom agree to provide communication to Ukrainians, even if there are no funds on their accounts.
“We are doing everything possible to keep everyone in touch even with a zero balance,” the press service of Vodafone Ukraine said in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine.
Ukrtelecom reported that the decision not to disconnect subscribers for non-payment, as well as subscribers with a zero balance from the provision of services, was made by the operator this morning.
“Now we have more than 50,000 Internet service clients in dynamics, who could be affected by disconnection for non-payment. But we decided not to disconnect our subscribers,” Mykhailo Shuranov, director of corporate communications at Ukrtelecom, told the agency.
The lifecell press service also stated that they are ready to support their subscribers.
“In order for our subscribers to be able to contact their relatives and friends at any time, lifecell charges all its users a package of services at no additional charge. It contains 30 minutes for calls to any number in Ukraine and 5 GB of mobile internet. It can be used for 30 days,” the operator’s press service told the agency.
Therefore, the priority of lifecell is the continuity in the provision of mobile services.
As of 13:35 Thursday, the operator’s mobile network is operating normally. However, the operator warns that in conditions where millions of people simultaneously make calls, from time to time the connection may not occur the first time.
Kyivstar reported that calls in the operator’s network will be available to all subscribers of the subscription even without a paid package of services according to their tariff.
Kyivstar also abolishes the commission within the Extra Money service, thanks to which you can order additional funds to your account and return them later.
For subscribers of contract and corporate forms of service: the operator doubles the credit limits in their tariffs for up to two months. Subscribers who do not have the service of credit limits connected can order microcredit. For users of fixed services (Internet, telephony and data transmission), Kyivstar extends the bill payment term by 30 days.
In addition, Kyivstar will provide the Home Internet service free of charge: all customers whose service was disabled due to lack of funds on their account can use it again.
As previously reported, the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks of the State Service for Special Communications addressed operators with a recommendation not to disconnect from mobile communications and access to the Internet subscribers who do not have enough funds on their account or have a debt.
