Ambassador William B. Taylor has become U.S. Chargé d’Affaires a.i. in Ukraine, the United States Embassy informs. “The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv is pleased to welcome Ambassador William B. Taylor back to Ukraine as Chargé d’Affaires a.i. He will lead our team in this period of historic elections and transition,” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said.
Cattle numbers in Ukraine as of June 1, 2019 amounted to 3.74 million animals, which is 4% less than on the same date in 2018, the State Statistics Service has reported. At the same time, the number of cows by this date decreased by 4.3%, to 1.93 million animals.
According to the State Statistics Service, in January-May 2019 the number of pigs remained unchanged compared with the same date in 2018, being 6.3 million animals, sheep and goats fell by 2.5%, to 1.6 million animals compared to the same period of 2018.
The number of poultry in the country compared with June 1, 2018 increased by 4.8%, reaching 234.6 million birds.
Charges brought in a case opened into the embezzlement of state funds allocated for the construction of fortifications, also known as Project Wall, along the border with Russia have been forwarded to the Darnytsky District Court of Kyiv. “Charges have been filed against three officials of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, three directors of contractor firms and two intermediaries. A total of eight people will go on trial,” the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine said on its Facebook page.
These persons are suspected of embezzling Ukrainian budget money allocated for efforts to equip the Russian-Ukrainian state border, territories adjoining the zone of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the post said.
Investigators have established that Ukrainian State Border Guard Service officials, acting in complicity and with the help of companies, misappropriated UAH 16.688 million (over $630,000) worth of budget funds.
Project Wall includes the construction of fortifications along the Russian-Ukrainian state border and in territories adjoining the area of the anti-terrorist operation in Donbas.
In February 2019, Ukrainian State Border Guard Service spokesman Oleh Slobodian estimated the readiness of Project Wall at around 30% at that time.
The volume of crop receipts since early 2019 as of May 31, 2019 totaled UAH 6.5 billion, according to a posting on the Facebook page of state-owned enterprise (SOE) Agroregisters. According to the enterprise, a total of 991 crop receipts were registered in January-May 2019.
Since the start of the introduction of the project in Ukraine in 2015, a total of 1,842 crop receipts for UAH 12.9 billion were registered. Over 900 farmers with different land banks used the tool.
“In the first five months of 2019, farmers received more than UAH 6.5 billion from crop receipts, most of which was spent on spring field work. For comparison, the same figure for 2018 was almost 66% lower and amounted to UAH 2.2 billion,” the enterprise said.
Agroregisters said, with reference to the preliminary forecasts of the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, that the cost of the sowing campaign in 2019 was approximately UAH 134.2 billion, of which UAH 120 billion is provided by own funds of agro-industrial enterprises, and another UAH 15 billion are raised from external sources.
The Crop Receipts project in Ukraine is being implemented by International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, in partnership with the Swiss Confederation. The practical application of crop receipts began in 2014 in Poltava region. Soon other regions of the country joined this financial tool.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Paris on a one-day official visit. In accordance with the program, upon arrival, the head of the Ukrainian state will visit the world’s largest startup campus Station F opened by French President Emmanuel Macron on June 29, 2017.
At about 15:30 local time Zelensky is to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in the Elysee Palace. A joint press conference of the presidents is scheduled for 16:30.
Zelensky is also expected to visit the French Senate.
On Monday evening, the Ukrainian president will leave for Germany.
In addition to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Zelensky in Germany will also meet with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
