The presidents of Ukraine and the United States, Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump, held a productive meeting in Rome, Politico reports, citing a White House representative.
“President Trump and President Zelensky met privately today and had a very productive discussion,“ White House Communications Director Stephen Chung said.
“More details about the meeting will be provided later,” he said.
The presidents arrived in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis. Ukrainian presidential spokesman Sergei Nikiforov announced the meeting between Zelensky and Trump before the start of the funeral ceremony.
According to media reports, the US and Ukrainian presidents may continue talks after the funeral of Pope Francis.
As of April 25, Ukraine had exported 34.74 million tons of grains and legumes since the beginning of the 2024-2025 marketing year (July-June), of which 1.916 million tons were shipped since the beginning of the current month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing information from the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of April 25 last year, total shipments amounted to 40.289 million tons.
At the same time, since the beginning of the current season, 13.714 million tons of wheat (15.404 million tons in 2023/2024 MY) have been exported, 2.258 million tons of barley (2.178 million tons), 10.8 thousand tons of rye (1.2 thousand tons), and 18.252 million tons of corn (22.231 million tons). (1.2 thousand tons), and corn – 18.252 million tons (22.231 million tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of April 25 are estimated at 58 thousand tons (in 2023/24 MY – 85.7 thousand tons), including wheat flour – 53.8 thousand tons (81 thousand tons).
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) forecasts that gas imports will rise to $2.9 billion in 2025 due to Russia’s destruction of gas infrastructure, which will be partially financed by international partners.
“In the forecast period, production will gradually recover, but it will be insufficient to fully cover the domestic needs of the economy, including industry, housing and communal services, and households,” the National Bank said in its Inflation Report for April 2025.
The regulator expects gas procurement needs to gradually decline in 2026 to about $1.1 billion and fall to $0.4 billion in 2027.
“The continuing electricity deficit and losses in the gas production industry will hamper GDP recovery over the forecast horizon and increase the dependence of the energy and industrial sectors of the economy on imports, which will generate corresponding price risks that may be passed on to consumer prices,” the NBU added.
It is noted that significant risks of further destruction of energy infrastructure remain, and their realization could further dampen GDP growth and increase inflationary pressures. At the same time, the possibility of a faster recovery of the electricity or gas infrastructure or the introduction of new capacities remains a positive factor for the forecast.
As reported, during three years of full-scale invasion, Russia has carried out more than 30 massive complex attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities, causing billions of dollars in damage.
According to the former head of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator (OGTSU), Serhiy Makogon, given the volume of its own production, Ukraine will need to import 5.5-6.3 billion cubic meters of gas by the start of the heating season on November 1, 2025, which will require approximately $2.5-3 billion. According to his estimates, by the start of the next heating season, it is necessary to have at least 9 billion cubic meters of reserves (excluding buffer gas) in underground gas storage facilities, as this year’s experience has shown that starting the season with lower reserves is extremely risky, since by the end of the season reserves fell to approximately 0.68 billion cubic meters.
In turn, Dmitry Abramovich, a member of the board and commercial director of the Naftogaz group, said at the end of March that Ukraine needs to import 4.5-4.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas by November 1 this year.
Since the beginning of this year, Naftogaz has contracted 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas: 800 million cubic meters were urgently imported at the beginning of the year, 400 million cubic meters will arrive in the country in preparation for next winter, and another 300 million cubic meters of LNG were purchased by Naftogaz from Poland’s ORLEN. The company is also negotiating with the government and international financial institutions to attract EUR 1 billion in financing to purchase more than 2 billion cubic meters of gas.
According to Makogon, guaranteed gas import capacity is approximately 50 million cubic meters per day, so it will take three months to import 4.6 billion cubic meters of gas and four months to import 5.6-6.3 billion cubic meters, assuming 100% capacity utilization, which is commercially difficult to achieve.
Thus, he believes that in order to import the necessary volumes by November 1, it is necessary to start importing significant volumes of gas as early as May.
BAS Motor LLC (Kyiv), whose production facilities are located in Lutsk, may supply 24 school buses with two seats for students with limited mobility to the Volyn Regional State Administration for a total of almost UAH 92.4 million.
According to Prozorro, the company was the only bidder in the procurement procedure, offering the buses for UAH 92 million 399.9 thousand (UAH 3.85 million per bus) against the expected price of UAH 92 million 400 thousand.
According to the manufacturer, the Euro 5 environmental class buses were manufactured in 2025, with a localization rate of 49.02%. The number of seats is 17 (including two seats for students with reduced mobility).
As reported, the Volyn Regional State Administration has already purchased seven regular school buses from BAS Motor for UAH 24.85 million in 2025.
“BAS Motor produces small class Bogdan buses (including school buses) using a unit base and a Euro 5 eco-standard engine manufactured by Ashok Leyland (India).
The subvention from the state budget for the purchase of school buses in 2025 amounts to UAH 1.6 billion, including UAH 112.1 million allocated to Volyn region.
Buses are purchased on the basis of co-financing from local budgets through the Prozorro Market electronic catalog.
The minimum required level of localization in 2025 is 25%.
The World Bank will provide Ukraine with $70 million in grant funding to support the stability of the national energy system, according to a statement posted on Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal’s Telegram channel on Friday.
“The agreement was signed on Thursday in Washington with World Bank Managing Director Anna Bjerde,” the statement said.
The funds will be used to purchase energy storage systems for the company Ukrhydroenergo. This will allow the creation of electricity reserves and strengthen the country’s energy security.
“We thank the World Bank and all partners for their support to Ukraine’s energy sector, which has suffered significant damage as a result of Russian attacks,” Shmyhal wrote.
