There are no specific plans for a possible meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, as of yet, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press on Tuesday. “There are more questions than answers. There are no plans concerning a possible meeting with President Zelensky as of yet,” Peskov said.
It is possible to lower electricity prices for non-domestic consumers by 20%, presidential representative in the government Andriy Gerus said.
“It is necessary to consider three solutions that all together are to significantly reduce the price of electricity for non-domestic consumers,” he said at a briefing following the results of the conference with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky over functioning of a new model of electricity market and preparation for autumn-winter period in Kyiv on Monday.
According to him, it is necessary to review government’s resolution on charging National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom and PrJSC Ukrhydroenergo with the special duties, most of which to be commissioned to the latter.
“It will allow decreasing tariff of Ukrhydroenergo over three times. Now it is 32 kopecks/kWh, when it is expected to be 8-9 kopecks/kWh,” Gerus said.
Besides, he said that it was worth to raise a maximum night price by about 10%, and to lower a maximum day price by 15-20%.
“If all three measures are taken, [electricity price] for ending consumers, large, middle, small, budget establishments and organizations, will be almost 20% less,” the presidential representative said.
The President of Ukraine was informed of an extremely unpleasant incident in Uman, the Hasidic pilgrimage center, in which the city authorities were involved.
This was stated by the founder and head of the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce (New York), Duvi Honig.
“The Chamber of Commerce of Orthodox Jews sent a delegation here to call on President Zelensky to stop corruption in Uman, where land is being taken away from Jews. The local mayor and his deputy are demanding huge bribes in exchange for permission to build a memorial complex that includes a twenty-thousand-seat synagogue to accommodate everyone who comes to the city to meet Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year – Ed.) They demand 300 thousand dollars into their own pockets. We have all the documents, but they want to change the zoning and make a park on the land unless they receive these dollars. Today we met with President Zelensky after we had passed this information onto him two days ago, and the president said that he would personally deal with this matter. We are now sending him all the documents, but he has already sent a delegation from the President’s Office to Uman to deal with the situation on the spot, and this has already been done,” he said.
“We thank President Zelensky for his quick response and leadership. We were pleased to meet with him and we will help the people of Ukraine, the people of Kyiv and Uman, become a modern nation, rather than a third world country. People who come to Uman from the United States, Canada, Israel, Europe should live in normal conditions, have a normal spiritual center, because currently there is no proper infrastructure. And, of course, the mayor and his deputy must leave their posts. They must understand that it is impossible to blackmail and sabotage and use own society as a piggy bank,” Duvi Honig said.
Recall that for more than 10 years the Jewish religious community of Bratslav Hasidim has been fighting for the right to build a Jewish memorial complex in Uman – one of the largest Jewish spiritual centers in Ukraine.
The head of the orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce is Mr. Duvi Honig.
CORRUPTION, JCC, SCANDAL, UMAN
The Vodafone Ukraine mobile communications in April-June 2019 saw UAH 3.8 billion in revenue, which is 20.7% more than a year ago.
According to the financial report of the operator, its net profit for the period remained at the level of 2018 and amounted to UAH 511 million.
Operating Income Before Depreciation and Amortization (OIBDA) increased 13.8% and reached UAH 2 billion, OIBDA margin amounted to 51.7% (54.9% in the second quarter of 2018).
“The main reason for Vodafone’s revenue growth was the increase in the number of data users and the consumption of data services. The traffic volumes are growing due to the activity of 4G users: for example, the 4G client Vodafone used 7.7 gigabytes of traffic per month on average. This is twice as much than 3G clients use. The total volume of Internet traffic in the Vodafone network has doubled over the year,” the operator said in the report.
At the same time, the company said that according to the results of April-June, Vodafone Ukraine had the lowest ARPU (average revenue per user per month) in the market – UAH 61.
Income from trading activities in the second quarter increased thanks to the expansion of own retail. “Today Vodafone Retail is one of the largest retailers in the country. The company’s trading network today has about 240 own stores. Vodafone stores offer only certified products: smartphones, various gadgets, wearable electronics, routers, accessories. You can also connect any Vodafone services in the stores and get qualified advice from the company’s experts,” the company said in the press release devoted to the financial statements of the company.
In addition, according to the results of April-June, the number of Ukrainian settlements covered by 4G increased four times. Today, Vodafone network is available to 62% of Ukrainians and covers more than 4,000 settlements.
According to the results of the second quarter, the number of Vodafone Ukraine customers amounted to 19.6 million, while according to the results of the second quarter of last year, the operator had 20.3 million customers in Ukraine.
“Among the growth factors, launch of mobile number portability service in Ukraine can be noted. In May-June, 3,657 customers used the service to go to the Vodafone network with their number,” the company said.
Fozzy Group has opened a new supermarket Fora with an area of 1,500 square meters in the Cherry Mall trade and entertainment center (Vyshneve, Kyiv-Sviatoshynsky district of Kyiv region), expanding the network to 244 objects.
“One of the main anchor tenants, the modern Fora supermarket, has opened in the new Cherry Mall trade center. The operator is located on the ground floor of the shopping center on an area of about 1,500 square meters,” the press service of UTG, the exclusive agent for leasing retail space in Cherry Mall, said.
The assortment of the store includes 5,000 commodity items. In addition to six self-service cash desks, it has five regular cash desks and two express cash desks.
The retailer’s press service told the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the outlet is the largest one in the Fora chain. It became the 244th network object in Ukraine and the 221st one in Kyiv region.
According to UTG, the mall is completing internal repairs on leased space and is preparing for the grand opening of the mall. The total area of Cherry Mall will be 18,000 square meters, rental some 15,000 square meters, while 90% of the space has already been leased.
According to the company’s estimates, attendance at Cherry Mall in the first year will be about 15,000-18,000 people a day with the prospect of further growth to 20,000 people.
In the Office of the President of Ukraine, Advisor to the Head of State Mykhailo Fedorov had a meeting with the European Union assessment mission with the participation of the European Commission’s DG Connect representatives, the presidential press service has reported.
The purpose of the mission is to assess the readiness of Ukraine’s telecommunications sector to integrate with the EU Digital Single Market (DSM).
“The president’s team clearly understands that further acceleration of economic and social development is possible only in the case of digital transformation. We are willing to fulfill all the conditions quickly to become part of the EU initiative to create a single digital market. These are powerful digital and economic prospects for Ukraine,” Fedorov emphasized.
The DSM strategy is now being successfully implemented in Europe. According to European experts, a single digital market can bring EUR 415 billion annually to a united Europe and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
The strategy is based on the European values of fair and open competition, open and secure Internet that ensures a free flow of information.
Particular attention was paid to data protection, privacy and cybersecurity issues, including the issue of Internet management.
“The bill ‘On Electronic Communications’ is included in the list of priorities for consideration and approval. The deputies from the future Digital Transformation Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine are already actively working on it,” the Advisor to the President of Ukraine added.
Today, the DSM is regarded as Europe’s main asset aimed at adapting European society and business environment to new conditions of doing business in the international arena. Europeans want to ensure an effective development of different sectors of the economy that use digital technologies to innovate so that they remain competitive globally.
The representatives of the EU mission emphasized the need to ensure the independence and capability of the regulator in the telecommunications sector.
