“Wheels down in Kyiv as we look to strengthen the U.S.-Ukrainian partnership. This will be an important opportunity to discuss continued Russian aggression and to underscore the need for maintaining both the pace of and focus on reforms with our Ukrainian partners,” Blinken said on his Twitter on Thursday night.
The plane landed at the Boryspil international airport at about 00:20 Kyiv time.
As reported, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky; Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba; Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal; other officials and representatives of Ukrainian civil society to reaffirm the U.S. unshakable support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine in the face of ongoing Russian aggression.
Conducting agricultural production in Ukraine in January-March this year became more expensive by 30.4%, while the total cost index in crop production increased by 25% compared to the first quarter of 2020, in animal breeding – by 42%.
According to the State Statistics Service, the price index for material and technical resources of industrial origin consumed by agriculture has grown by 25.4% since the beginning of the year compared to the same period in 2020.
According to the agency, in March 2021, the cost of agricultural production in Ukraine increased by 6.9% compared to March 2020, while in crop production by 7.4%, livestock – by 5.6%.
JSC Ukrzaliznytsia resumes the sale of railway tickets to Zhytomyr region due to its exit from the “red” zone of anti-epidemic measures, since May 5, passenger trains run throughout the country without restrictions, the press service of the company reports. “On May 5, Wednesday, from 24:01, Zhytomyr region, the last region with existing railway restrictions, leaves the ‘red’ zone of epidemic danger. Now restrictive anti-epidemic measures provided for the ‘yellow’ level, will be applied in the region” the message posted on the official website of Ukrzaliznytsia on Tuesday says.
This decision was made at an extraordinary meeting of the State Commission on Environmental Safety, Manmade Disaster and Emergency Response on May 4, on Tuesday.
“Now all trains in the country run in accordance with the schedule, there are no quarantine restrictions on railway traffic now,” the report said.
Some 116,000 foreign tourists visited the Ukrainian capital in the first quarter of 2021, Deputy Head of Kyiv City State Administration Maryna Khonda has said.
“Despite all the obstacles caused by the pandemic, foreign tourists still visit Kyiv. This year, most tourists, according to the State Border Guard Service, came to the Ukrainian capital from Belarus – 10,500 people. Also 8,900 people came from Israel and 8,300 from Turkey,” the press service of Kyiv City State Administration said, citing Khonda on Wednesday.
The official also said that the list of countries, where more tourists came from, included the United States, India, Germany, Great Britain, France and Georgia.
In addition to foreigners, according to preliminary estimates, the capital was visited by about 300,000 domestic tourists, and the tourist tax at the beginning of May amounted to UAH 11.670 million.
Belarusian Sea Shipping Company is planning to ship steel goods made by Belarus Steel Works (BSW) to Europe via Ukrainian and Serbian ports.
The shipping company is willing to organize “experimental shipments of metal goods to Europe via the ports of Odessa in Ukraine and Semderovo in Serbia with loading in Mozyr,” the Belarusian Transport Ministry said following a meeting between its head, Alexei Avramenko, and BSW management.
The ministry said the shipments would be a promising area for the shipping company’s development and make water transport more appealing or Belarusian industry in general.
OJSC Belarusian Sea Shipping Company was established in 2009 and carries export, import and transit cargo to and from CIS and non-CIS countries using river-sea ships.
Belarus is landlocked but most of its exports are carried out by sea, via the Baltic States. The shipping company had earlier been in favor of building a deep-water port on the Dnieper River in the Gomel region, 5 km from the border with Ukraine, then shipping cargo by sea from Odesa.
BSW produces steel, roll, tubular goods and hardware and exports to 66 countries.
BELARUSIAN SEA SHIPPING COMPANY, EUROPE, SERBIAN PORT, SHIP, STEEL
According to the results of January-March 2021, NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy received a net profit of UAH 12.6 billion, which is almost four times more than in the first quarter of last year (UAH 3.2 billion), said the Group’s Chief Financial Officer Peter van Driel. “We previously stated that we expect Naftogaz to be profitable in the first quarter. I am pleased to announce that net profit in the first quarter of 2021 is UAH 12.6 billion (unaudited preliminary result, which is subject to further verification),” he wrote on his Facebook page.
The business environment is showing clear signs of recovery with higher prices and greater demand than last year, he said.
“The expected result shows our resilience: profitability has improved for three quarters in a row. Our transformation efforts are paying off. The Naftogaz team has stepped up this quarter and showed an outstanding result! I want to thank everyone for their great contribution,” he said.
