Hungary’s low cost airline Wizz Air in January-October 2018 transported over 1.2 million passengers on flights from/to Ukraine, which is a 2.1-fold rise year-over-year. “During the first 10 months of 2018, the airline carried more than 1.2 million passengers on its low cost routes to/from Ukraine, which is 110% growth compared to last year and makes Wizz Air the largest low cost carrier in Ukraine,” the press service of the airline reported.
According to the press service, for 2019 Wizz Air announced four new routes: from Kyiv to Bremen, Billund and Riga, and also from Lviv to Copenhagen. The airline also confirmed its intention to deploy the fourth Airbus A320 at its base in Kyiv. As reported, Wizz Air offers flights on 41 routes to 12 countries from three Ukrainian cities – Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv.
China’s Sinohydro Corporation Limited plans to complete the reconstruction of 23 km of a bypass road around Zhytomyr with a total cost of EUR40 million in 2020, Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan has told reporters on the sidelines of the Conductors of Changes (Dyryhenty Zmin) conference in Kyiv. “The project is carried out at the expense of international financial organizations. The total investment is EUR40 million. Some 23 km of roads, several junctions, overpasses over railways will be built for them. It is assumed that construction will be completed in 2020,” the minister said.
He added that for the first time Ukrainians will receive a full-fledged concrete road of the first category, which will have four lanes.
As reported, in 2017 Ukravtodor and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed a contract for the work, the expected completion date of which is 2020. The reconstruction cost is more than EUR42 million. The work is financed by a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Ukraine has large resource potential and can become European Texas, U.S. Energy Secretary has said. Perry made the remarks during a meeting with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine and the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council.
“Ukraine is unique in the sense of where it finds itself in the world at this particular point in time. Not only can they be a major supplier from the standpoint of bringing LNG in through Poland in particular, and then supplying Europe from there. But the potential for exploration and production in Ukraine – this is quite a statement from me, but Ukraine would be the Texas of Europe. The formations that are here — the potential for the development of those is, I think it’s staggering. I remind people that a decade ago, they told us that we had found all the fuel — the fossil fuels — in the world. They called it peak oil, remember? The guy traveled the country giving a speech about peak oil. And those resources were always there. But innovation and technology allowed us to be able to access them. And today the United States is the number-one oil and gas producing country in the world. And that’s a stunning turnaround,” said Perry, who was Texas Governor from 2000 to 2015.
The U.S. Energy Secretary added that many U.S. companies are interested in cooperation with Ukraine.
More than 20% of Ukrainians polled have said that they are going to vote for Yuliya Tymoshenko, the leader of the All-Ukrainian Union Batkivschyna (Fatherland) party, in the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine in 2019, a poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Razumkov Center and the Sociological Group Rating shows. According to the result of the poll, 21% of those polled are ready to vote for Tymoshenko for the next president of Ukraine.
She is followed by showman Volodymyr Zelensky (11%), the incumbent president Petro Poroshenko (10%), and the leader of the Civic Position party Anatoliy Hrytsenko (10%).
Then comes one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform for Life Yury Boiko (9%), followed by the leader of the Radical Party Oleh Lyashko (8%), rockstars Svyatoslav Vakarchuk (6%), and MP Yevhen Murayev (5%).
The anti-rating is led by Poroshenko as more than a half of Ukrainians are not going to vote for him under any circumstances.
The poll was jointly conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the Razumkov Center and the Sociological Group Rating from October 19 to November 2, 2018. A total of 10,000 people aged from 18 and up were polled in all the regions of Ukraine except for Crimea and Russia-occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The statistical margin of error is no more than 1%.
The first international serial will be filmed in Kyiv with the involvement of a team of cinema makers of the world level together with a group from 1+1 Media, Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko has announced. “Dear friends, Kyiv is becoming a European movie set for cinema making. Well-known European and U.S. producers and scriptwriters together with a group from 1+1 Media will shoot the first international serial in our city,” Klitschko wrote in a post on Facebook on November 12.
He said the project is planned for distribution by one of the international streaming platforms.
“The shooting of the pilot episode is starting in Kyiv on November 13. Today a memorandum on such cooperation was signed at the Royal Norwegian embassy in Ukraine. I am thankful to H.E. Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Ukraine Ole Horpestad for supporting this project. On its part, our city will provide all the necessary support and assistance,” the mayor of Kyiv said.
The project will involve a team of U.S. and Norwegian scriptwriters and producers. The shooting will be done by Norwegian company Evil Doghouse Production together with Ukrainian company 1+1 Production. The serial named Jonathan Fort will tell the story of the life of a former boxer who gets a new and dangerous job at the Royal Norwegian embassy in Ukraine. About 80% of the storyline will be shot in Kyiv and Odesa.
“Today international stars shoot their clips in the Ukrainian capital, large international companies shoot their ads, and the world learns more about Kyiv. As a result, we get more tourists. And we continue to develop the tourist infrastructure in the capital by creating beautiful locations. Because all of this goes for the benefit of our city,” Klitschko said.
Energoatom has signed a memorandum of understanding in the field of nuclear energy with the world leader in production of diesel generator sets Wärtsilä, the press service of the operator of Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPP) has reported. The memorandum gives a start to the direct cooperation of Energoatom with the French division of the Finnish company Wärtsilä – Wärtsilä Franc. Before the start of the negotiation process, Energoatom tenders for the supply of sets of spare parts for the Z40 diesel generator running at Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP were exclusively attended by intermediaries. The signing of the document is also important against the background of Energoatom’s plans to extend the operating life of the existing NPP units and the construction of new units, the press service stressed.
According to the Director General of Nuclear Service Wärtsilä France, the company has already submitted a tender offer for the supply of spare parts for Wärtsilä equipment working at Yuzhnoukrainsk NPP.
“This is an open tender and we understand the need to fulfill all requirements and procedures. We hope that our plans will become a reality and we will participate in servicing Ukrainian NPPs in the next 20-30 years, as well as in the work of the energy sector of Ukraine as a whole,” he said.
At the same time, Energoatom plans not to limit itself to contracts solely for the purchase of equipment, but also “create joint lines of business, in particular, in matters of service, repair of spare parts.”
