Oleksiy Arestovych, non-staff advisor to the Head of the President’s Office on strategic communications in the field of national security and defense, announced the planned return of the post of special representative of the State Department of the United States for Ukraine, which was occupied by Kurt Walker in 2017-2019.
“There is strong support, so far informal, from Britain and the United States. The talk is about the fact that there will be a new United States special envoy for Donbas, that is, this post is institutionally returning. There are several statements by the French and German Foreign Ministries that Ukraine is making strong consistent steps on the implementation of agreements, and Russia is not doing this,” Arestovych told reporters after the press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency in Kyiv on Thursday.
He also said that the future administration of United States President-elect Joe Biden is already considering the possibility of introducing tougher sanctions against the Russian Federation. “In the future Biden administration, many people say informally that sanctions will be imposed on Russia, which do not constrain, but cripple, break. Many people say that for every death of our soldier, artillery fire should be opened,” Arestovych said.
In addition, he said that on December 10, a meeting will be held at the level of the heads of EU states, where sanctions against the Russian Federation will be automatically extended. “The point is that they may even be strengthened after this demarche, after Russia once again showed that it is a state that does not fulfill international agreements at the highest level. Putin actually signed these agreements in Paris, and who did not fulfill them? President Zelensky gave a year to fulfill them. Who is to blame? The Russians,” the advisor said.
Arestovych said that Russia accuses France and Germany, the participants of the Normandy format, of playing the role of mediator in an inappropriate way and playing along with Ukraine. “In fact, Russia wants to get out not only from Minsk, but also from the Normandy format now,” he said.
Metinvest B.V.’s revenue (the Netherlands), the parent company of the Metinvest mining and metallurgical group, in September 2020 increased by 8.8%, or $74 million, compared to the previous month – to $912 million from $838 million.
According to the published preliminary unaudited consolidated monthly results of the company’s financial statements on Thursday, the total EBITDA in September amounted to $244 million, which is $28 million higher than in August ($216 million), while EBITDA from participation in the joint venture was $37 million (in August – $48 million).
According to the report, the adjusted EBITDA of the metallurgical division of the group for September 2020 amounted to “plus” $115 million (in August, “plus” $91 million), including $1 million from participation in the joint venture ($7 million); EBITDA of the mining division – $134 million (in August – $134 million), including from the joint venture – $36 million ($41 million). The management company spent $4 million ($6 million).
Total revenue in September consisted of $727 million ($671 million in August) for the Metallurgical Division, $235 million ($258 million) for the mining division, and intragroup sales of $50 million ($91 million).
The total debt of the company in September decreased by$ 90 million compared to August – to $2.927 billion from $3.017 billion, while the volume of funds increased by $126 million – to $649 million from $523 million.
Funds used in investment activities amounted to $65 million, in financial activities – $94 million.
In November 2020, Donbasenergo PJSC transferred UAH 113.1 million of taxes and other mandatory payments to the state and local budgets, which is 3.2% (UAH 3.7 million) less than in November 2019.
According to the company’s press release, UAH 103.2 million of payments were transferred to the state and local budgets. Donbasenergo also paid UAH 9.9 million of excise tax, which is 3.2% from each UAH 1/kWh of electricity generated.
Electricity generation by the Slovianska TPP in November amounted to 327.948 kWh, in January-November – 2.9 million kWh, and supply – 296.282 kWh and 2.5 million kWh, respectively.
The venture capital company TA Ventures, which invests in innovative Internet projects in Ukraine, the USA and Europe, founder and Managing Director of which is Victoria Tigipko, plans to open a fund to support startups, co-founders of which are women.
“Next year we will create a small fund for women in startups, with the condition that at least one woman be a co-founder of a startup,” she said at a press conference on the first anniversary of the Ukrainian Startup Fund in Kyiv on Thursday.
Tigipko noted that if a woman is included in the top management of a startup, the team earns 2.5 times more. Citing Baker McKenzie, she said that if there are three more women in the management of a company than its competitors, the company earns 3% more.
According to Forbes, TA Ventures has 128 investments worth more than $60 million. The fund’s largest investment is $3.85 million.
National bank of Ukraine’s official rates as of 03/12/20
Source: National Bank of Ukraine
Official rates of banking metals from national bank as of December 03
Source: Central Bank
