An agreement was signed between Italy and UNESCO, according to which Italy will contribute EUR 500,000 to carry out priority restoration work in the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Odesa mayor’s office reported on Friday.
It is also reported that an Italian government delegation chaired by the Special Envoy for Restoring and Strengthening the Resilience of Ukraine, Davide La Cecilia, is in Odesa on an official visit.
In October 2023, Italy took patronage over the restoration of Odesa and began active cooperation with UNESCO on this matter. La Cecilia noted that with the beginning of Italy’s presidency of the G7, from January 1, 2024, the issue of the restoration of Ukraine was also included in the priorities of the G7.
UNESCO Coordinator in Ukraine Chiara Dezzi Bardeschi presented the main areas of cooperation, including the urgent stabilization of damaged monuments and the creation of a Master Plan for the management of cultural heritage sites. Also in the future – the development of recommendations and protocols for the protection and development of Odesa in accordance with the principles of sustainable development.
It is planned to sign a trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation on the restoration of Odesa (Italy – Ukraine – UNESCO), as well as separately between Italy and Ukraine, where areas of cooperation will be outlined.
Earlier it was reported that Odesa authorities warned about the danger of further destruction of the Transfiguration Cathedral, which suffered from a Russian missile attack on the city on July 23, 2023, and on the night of November 11 last year was flooded after heavy rain.
BAKU. Feb 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided loans totaling 156 million euros in 2023 for implementing two projects in Azerbaijan, the EBRD told Interfax.
The EBRD allocated loans totaling 86 million euros in 2022 to finance nine projects in Azerbaijan, meaning that the bank boosted the volume of financing 1.8-fold in 2023.
The EBRD allocated 310 million euros overall to finance 30 projects in the public and private sectors of Azerbaijan in 2019-2023.
As previously reported, the EBRD plans to allocate $750 million in 2023-2025 in order to implement projects in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan has been a member of the EBRD since 1992, during which time the EBRD has allocated 3.62 billion euros to finance 189 projects in the country. The bank’s current portfolio in the country totaled 897 million euros for 31 projects at the beginning of 2024, with 90% in infrastructure, 7% in industry and agriculture, and 3% in the financial sector.
Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation seized a batch of 335 boxes of smuggled cigarettes worth 12 million hryvnia, which tried to export to the EU in gasoline trucks, the press service of the GBI reports.
“Employees of the GBR in close cooperation with the State Border Service and the management of the State Customs Service conduct a complex operation to expose the smuggling of cigarettes to the EU. Joint efforts have exposed an illegal scheme of smuggling cigarettes from Ukraine to Romania, which had been operating since July 2023. Attackers were transporting to the EU large batches of tobacco products without excise stamps”, – stated in the message published in the Telegram channel on Saturday.
It is indicated that the supplier of cigarettes was one of the capital’s enterprises.
“Smuggling dealers hid the contraband in fuel tanks. Loaded with tobacco trucks passed the customs control point as empty, and returned to Ukraine with fuel”, – noted in the GBR.
On February 7, GBR officers detained one of the trucks, which was carrying 130 boxes of cigarettes in a tank, the total value of which exceeded UAH 4 million 550 thousand.
On Saturday, February 10, law enforcers found another similar truck, in which they tried to illegally export cigarettes from Ukraine for 12 million hryvnia.
“Attackers hoped that the first detention of smuggled cargo will put the vigilance of law enforcement officers to sleep and tried to smuggle a batch, three times larger than the previous one,” – emphasized in the message.
In total, about 335 boxes with excisable goods, the approximate value of which may be 12 million UAH, were found.
At the moment the question of notification of suspicion of the driver of the truck on the fact of smuggling of excisable goods (part 1 of article 201-4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The sanction of the article provides punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 6 years.
“Involvement of customs officials in the specified criminal transaction has not yet found confirmation. Further pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings to conduct the Bureau of economic security”, – indicate in the GBR.
Procedural guidance is carried out by Chernivtsi regional Prosecutor’s office.
On Sunday, February 11, in the southern part and most central regions of Ukraine without significant precipitation, in the rest of the territory of light rain, at night in northern regions with wet snow, in eastern regions moderate wet snow, reports Ukrhydrometcenter.
In most of the territory at night and in the morning fog; in the northern and eastern regions on the roads in places icy.
Wind south, southeast, 7-12 m/s.
The temperature at night 1-6° warm, in Transcarpathia, south of Odessa region and in Crimea 7-9° warm, in the east and north-east of the country about 0°; in the afternoon in northern and eastern regions 3-8° warm, in the rest of the territory 7-12°, in Transcarpathia, Prykarpattya, in Odessa region and in Crimea 11-16° warm.
In Kiev on Sunday, February 11, light rain, with wet snow at night. Fog at night and in the morning. The roads are icy in some places. The wind is southeast, 7-12 m/s. The temperature is 1-3° warm at night and about 5° warm in the afternoon.
According to the Central Geophysical Observatory named after Boris Sreznevsky. Boris Sreznevsky in Kiev on February 11, the highest temperature during the day was 8.8 in 1958, 1997, the lowest at night -25.0 in 1909.
On Monday, February 12, at night in the south-eastern regions, Transcarpathia and Carpathians, in the afternoon in the southern, eastern, in some places in the central and western regions of light rain, in the rest of the territory without significant precipitation. In the northern and eastern parts of the fog. In the northern and eastern regions there is ice on the roads.
Wind south, southeast to northwest, 5-10 m/s.
Temperatures at night 4-9°, in northern and eastern regions 1-6° warm; in the afternoon 10-15°, in western regions 4-9° warm. In the Carpathians rain with wet snow, the temperature at night and in the daytime 3-8° of heat.
In Kiev on Monday without significant precipitation. Fog in places, icy roads. The wind is south, 5-10 m/s. The temperature at night 4-6° of heat, during the day 11-13°.
A quarter of Ukrainian schoolchildren are pessimistic about the future of Ukraine and want to move abroad. This is evidenced by the results of the survey conducted by the sociological agency Vox Populi at the request of the charitable foundation savED within the framework of the project “Provision of educational services in the conditions of war in Ukraine” with the support of the Program “U-LEAD with Europe”.
“When asked how they generally feel about the future of Ukraine, the lowest optimism can be traced specifically among the apprenticeship population. A quarter of pupils and female pupils (24%) have pessimistic views, another 25% are neither optimistic nor pessimistic, while among 52% of optimistic pupils 31% are rather optimistic about the future of the state,” the research report states.
At the same time, among pupils 53% want to stay in Ukraine after school (although 23% of them want to live in a different locality than where they live now). A quarter of surveyed pupils (26%) want to move to live abroad.
Continuing education is a desired scenario for 77% of pupils. In particular, 35% of pupils would like to enter a leading university in Ukraine, 25% – another university or technical school/college in Ukraine, 18% – to go abroad. The latter are more numerous among urban pupils – 22% against 9% in villages. And only 6% plan to go straight to work, 4% – to military service, to take a “gap year” – 7%.
The research was conducted in two stages: a representative nationwide survey and the study of practical cases of communities on customizing access to education in communities located relatively close to the front line. The representative survey involved pupils and female pupils (age 14+), parents, teachers and pedagogues, representatives and representatives of administrations of educational institutions and local self-government bodies, who are competent to answer the question about the state of education in the community. A total of 1397 pupils and female pupils, 1288 parents, 1141 teachers, 146 representatives of school administrations, and 64 representatives and madams of local self-government bodies in all regions of Ukraine were interviewed.
As part of the study of cases (practices) of organizing access to education for children in communities, researchers and investigators selected 15 communities from Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, Kyiv, Mykolayiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Chernihiv Oblasts. In each community, 7-9 in-depth interviews were conducted with local authorities, parents and students, as well as teachers and educators. All communities whose experiences were studied during the research had or have destroyed educational infrastructure and have been or are being systematically shelled.
educational services in the context of war in Ukraine, moving to live abroad, Vox Populi
The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has amended Order No. 440 “On Approval of the Instruction on Accounting of Military Property in the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, according to which from now on military units will be able to keep accounting registers and auxiliary documents only in electronic form, the press service of the department reports.
“On average, a company commander now spends 50-80% of his working time on bureaucracy. Property accounting is one of the most voluminous bureaucratic processes. The order creates opportunities for automation,” the press service quotes Deputy Defense Minister for Digital Development, Digital Transformation and Digitalization Ekaterina Chernogorenko as saying.
The Ministry notes that in order to maintain accounting registers and auxiliary documents (property logs) only in electronic form, military units must use software that is accepted by the Ministry of Defense and admitted to pilot operation.
“For the transition to such programs, commanders or chiefs of military units that maintain their own military economy need to issue an order on their use,” the report said.
In the case of transition remains only electronic accounting, keep paper logs and duplicate information is prohibited.
accounting of military property, Military units in Ukraine, Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
