We would like to inform you about the status of Kyivstar network as of December 17, 2023. Voice communication services, including roaming, mobile data transfer, and Home Internet service are available to customers. The company has also restored virtual private network (VPN) services and started restoring access to M2M services for business customers. The company plans to launch SMS as soon as possible. The services are being restored gradually, in compliance with all security requirements. The company will inform about 100% service availability upon completion of all stabilization measures. In some localities, particularly in Kyiv, there are still local difficulties with the availability of Home Internet. The company has engaged all available staff, including those from other regions and oblasts, to restore the service as soon as possible. Also, for the period of stabilization measures, the mobile data service may operate at a reduced speed.
We remind you that if your SIM card is not registered in the network, you need to restart your phone or turn on and off the airplane mode. In addition, selecting the Kyivstar network in the phone settings helps. At the same time, the company informs that bonuses and compensations will be credited to subscribers who could not use communication services due to the hacker attack only after the network is fully stabilized and all services are launched. Please wait for official information from the company.
More than two thousand trucks are standing in line at three directions of the Ukrainian-Polish border due to the ongoing blockade organized by Polish carriers, the spokesman for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Andriy Demchenko, said on a national telethon on Sunday morning.
“Three directions remain blocked: Rava-Ruska – Hrebenne, Krakovets – Korchova, Shehyni-Medyka… As of this morning, there are about 2,150 trucks in the queues in these three directions heading to Ukraine in Poland. Most of them are in front of Shehynia-Medica. There is traffic, but it is not as intense as it was before November 6 or November 23, when the blocking of Shehynia began,” the spokesman said.
At the same time, Demchenko emphasized that the Yahodyn-Dorohusk direction, which was unblocked on December 11, is experiencing heavy traffic of freight transport.
“Over the past day, about 1,500 trucks crossed this direction in both directions. Most of them were heading towards Ukraine. This is a very high rate of border crossing. Because the same number of trucks, even less, crossed the border before the blockade,” said the spokesman.
Net sales of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine jumped to $862.5 million this week from $544.0 million a week earlier, the last time the NBU sold more in the first week of the transition to managed exchange rate flexibility in early October.
According to the central bank’s website, the hryvnia exchange rate on the interbank market weakened by almost 0.8%, or 28 kopecks, to 37.0211 UAH/$1 over the week, with the rate depreciating on Monday-Wednesday, while it was relatively stable on Thursday-Friday.
NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi explained the increase in demand for foreign currency and the exchange rate movement as a traditional seasonal factor at the end of the year. “Today we are witnessing the seasonality process that was already common in pre-war times, when the need for foreign currency increases at the end of the year. We are seeing the utilization of expenses that have been accumulating throughout the year. Usually, they are not realized in time,” he said during a press briefing on Thursday in Kyiv.
At the same time, compared to the fixed exchange rate of 36.5686 UAH/$1, which the National Bank maintained from the end of July 2022 to October 3 this year, the hryvnia is now only 1.2% cheaper.
This week, the exchange rate on the cash market repeated the movement on the interbank market, but not on such a large scale, which resulted in the hryvnia weakening by only about 17 kopecks to 37.55 UAH/$1, and the spread between the rates of the two markets narrowed again.
As reported, the National Bank’s net sales in November fell to $2.46 billion from $3.34 billion in October and $2.69 billion in September. However, the reduction in external financing to $2.04 billion led to a decrease in international reserves for the fourth consecutive month – by 0.5%, or $187.8 million, to $38 billion 785.2 million.
In total, since the beginning of this year, the NBU has purchased $217.9 million in the market, while selling $26 billion 958.7 million.
Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria will sign a joint agreement in January 2024 to counter the mine threat in the Black Sea, Turkish National Defense Minister Yashar Güler said, TRTHaber reported on Saturday, December 16.
“Within the framework of the Trilateral Initiative, launched under the leadership of our country against the mine threat in the Black Sea, on November 22-23, we held the third round of the meeting of the Task Force on Mine Action in the Black Sea, hosted by our ministry. We are also planning to hold a signing ceremony in Istanbul on January 11, 2024, with the participation of the defense ministers of the three countries,” said Yasar Güler.
The minister emphasized that Turkey responsibly and impartially implements the Montreux Straits Convention, which ensures balance in the Black Sea, and is determined to continue to do so.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Burbock said that Germany will send a EUR6.1 million humanitarian aid package to Ukraine, which includes generators and batteries, the German Foreign Ministry’s press service reports.
“With the winter protective umbrella that we are stretching over Ukraine, we are helping the population to survive the cold season. Not only in the form of air defense systems, but also generators, blankets, tents and batteries. Together with the German Federal Agency for Technical Assistance (THW), we are sending additional cargoes this winter for a total of EUR 6.1 million,” the press service quoted Burbock as saying in a statement published on the Foreign Ministry’s website on Friday.
At the same time, German Interior Minister Nancy Feser noted that another 500 power generators worth about EUR3.5 million would be transferred to Ukraine.
“THW is currently preparing to transport more than 500 additional power generators worth about EUR 3.5 million and has already delivered some of them to Ukraine. The goal is to help cities and towns, especially in areas close to the front line. To support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, THW has already purchased more than 1,300 powerful power generators (up to 1,250 kVA) and 20 batteries,” Feather said.
She noted that more than 800 power generators and 15 storage batteries have already been delivered to Ukraine, which are used at Ukrainian thermal power plants, pumping stations, large bakeries and hospitals, as well as for decentralized supply to the population.
Preparations are also underway to transport more than 900 heaters, 1,700 winter sleeping bags, winter clothing and a mobile field kitchen to Ukraine. In addition, two drinking water treatment plants will be transferred to the State Water Resources Administration in the near future to provide clean water to the population.
SAP (Germany), a software and cloud services developer, plans to invest EUR2 million in the localization of its products in Ukraine in 2024, the Ministry of Digital Transformation reported on Facebook.
“Since the beginning of 2022, the company (SAP) has been supporting Ukraine by providing services and software licenses free of charge – now it has decided to continue doing so until the end of the first quarter of 2024,” Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov wrote on Facebook on Friday.
According to the Ministry of Digital Transformation, the company’s technological support provided to Ukraine in 2023-2024 is estimated at EUR65 million.
Fedorov recalled that in 2023, the Defense Ministry introduced a system from SAP that helps manage some of the resources, in particular, it accelerated the processing of applications from brigades for the supply of items. As of today, 44 countries use SAP products in the defense sector, including 28 out of 31 NATO member states, the Deputy Prime Minister said.
According to him, SAP products also help in the field of medical procurement. “A cloud-based solution has been implemented in this area to quickly find and engage suppliers who can deliver critical goods. The company also helped to set up catalogs for searching and comparing prices for specific medical products, which made it possible to purchase them at lower prices,” Fedorov said.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation also reminded that SAP has recently launched an ERP solution for medium-sized businesses called GROW with SAP, and joining the SAP Business Network makes it easier for Ukrainian goods to enter international markets.
Earlier it was reported that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is implementing an automated defense resource management system based on System Analysis Program Development (SAP), which is one of the leading logistics systems in the world.
