Ukrainian fintech startup Fintech Farm (co-founded by former PrivatBank top manager Dmytro Dubilet) has entered the Uzbekistan market with a new digital bank, Tezbank, created in partnership with local Hamkorbank.
This is the company’s fifth market, according to AIN.UA.
According to local media reports, Tezbank operates entirely online (without branches), offering mobile banking, cashback, and credit products; Hamkorbank is its licensing and back-office partner.
Context. Prior to Uzbekistan, Fintech Farm launched neobanks in Azerbaijan (Leobank), Kyrgyzstan (Simbank), India (Roarbank), and Vietnam (Liobank); the company previously closed a project in Nigeria. The startup declares plans to enter 2-3 new markets each year, considering Southeast and Central Asia and Morocco.
Fintech Farm was founded in 2020 by Dmitry Dubilet, Alexander Vityaz, and Nikolay Bezkrovny as a “serial producer” of neobanks on a single technology platform. In 2024, the company raised $32 million in investments (a round involving Bank of Georgia) for international expansion.
According to AIN.UA, Fintech Farm’s total customer base exceeds 2.5 million users; the company’s value at the beginning of 2024 is $100+ million.
Cherkasy Bus JSC may supply the National Police of Ukraine with 15 specialized Ataman D09216 buses for a total of ₴67.95 million, or ₴4.53 million per bus.
According to information in the Prozorro electronic public procurement system, the company was the only participant in the tender, offering buses at the expected purchase price.
The delivery date is December 15 of this year. Full payment is due within 90 banking days. The buses will be manufactured in 2025.
The contract is currently awaiting signature.
Cherkasy Bus is a regular supplier of such special buses to the National Police. In particular, in July last year, a contract was signed for the supply of 30 buses for UAH 124.07 million (or UAH 4.24 million per bus).
The Ataman D09216 special-purpose bus, built on Japanese Isuzu chassis, is 8.2 m long, equipped with a Euro 5 diesel engine, has 30 seats (plus the driver’s seat), and air conditioning in the driver’s and passenger compartments.
The bus is designed to transport National Police personnel without combat equipment (weapons, body armor, etc.).
Cherkasy Bus guarantees the readiness and availability of bus maintenance and repair services and has 35 service centers throughout Ukraine.
Founded in 1994, the Cherkasy Bus factory manufactures small and medium-sized Ataman buses, as well as other wheeled vehicles based on Japanese Isuzu components.
According to the company’s financial report on its website, in 2024, it reduced its net profit by a third to UAH 122.1 million, while its net income increased by 2.6% to UAH 1 billion 771 million.
As part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative, mining and metallurgical group Metinvest has handed over 33 vehicles – pickups and off-road vehicles – worth a total of UAH 25 million to a brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard.
According to a press release, the group continues to enhance the mobility of Ukrainian units on the front lines.
It is specified that the vehicles were purchased across Europe and are mainly high-clearance vehicles that have already proven themselves in combat conditions. Among those handed over are Mitsubishi L200, Volkswagen Amarok, VW Transporter, and other models. Some of the vehicles are equipped with additional protection and reinforced running gear.
The transfer of equipment took place taking into account the needs of the brigade: some of the vehicles are already on combat missions, while the rest are being retrofitted.
“For Metinvest and Steel Front, this is systematic work – we regularly provide the military with transport, electronic warfare equipment, shelters, drones, and other equipment. This batch of vehicles is another step in this support strategy,” commented Alexander Vodoviz, Head of the CEO’s Office at Metinvest.
In 2025, Ukrainian farmers will set a record in the history of independent Ukraine for imports of agricultural equipment, which will reach $1.5 billion, according to Mark Valery Barlet, director of the Marketing Communications agency.
“I think there will be a record in the history of independent Ukraine for imports of agricultural equipment. The effect of pent-up demand, which has lasted for the last five years, including 3.5 years of war in Ukraine, will kick in, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturers did not risk importing combine harvesters. This year, purchases of agricultural machinery will break all records,“ he said during the ”Hlib.ua” conference in Kyiv on Thursday.
According to him, agricultural producers were able to make such a breakthrough in purchases thanks to the long-term development strategy of their enterprises.
“Regardless of the bad weather we had – drought in some places, flooding in others – large companies operate in different regions, develop long-term strategies, and diversify their risks by developing different business areas,” said the marketing agency director.
According to the expert, Ukrainian farmers’ investments in agricultural machinery will reach $1.5 billion in 2025. Barlet estimates that such investments will pay off in at least 10 years.
On August 23–24, the new 3.5-hectare city park on the Dnipro embankment, next to the River Mall shopping center, will host the autumn cycle of Ethnofest “Harvest.” The program includes performances by the Hryhoriy Veryovka National Academic Choir and the ShchukaRiba band, lectures, and children’s areas.
The park is located in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv and is designed as a venue for leisure and cultural events. The first festival at the new location, Ethnofest “Vytoky,” has already taken place after the opening and attracted thousands of guests, according to the organizers.
The River Mall shopping and entertainment center opened in Kyiv in 2019, with a total area of about 140,000 square meters; the new park near the embankment was built with funding from the River Mall shopping and entertainment center.
Prisoners in frontline territories often only have remote access to lawyers and remain the most vulnerable in wartime, according to Barristers partners Oleksiy Shevchuk and Oleksandr Shadrin.
“Prisoners remain the most vulnerable people in this regard. They cannot leave the premises during an alarm and go to a shelter. Sometimes, being located near the front line or military facilities becomes critical, or, as in the case of the Kyiv SIZO, which is located near the Lukyanivska metro station,” the lawyers told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to the Ministry of Justice, following the tragic incident at the Bilenky correctional colony, the evacuation of the following penitentiary institutions has begun: the Zaporizhzhia pre-trial detention center, the Vilnianska correctional facility (No. 11), and the Kamyanska correctional colony (No. 101)..
“This information is partially confirmed by rumors among prisoners. In particular, one of Shadrin’s clients, who is being held in the Zaporizhzhia pre-trial detention center, reported plans to evacuate them to the Dniprovskyi pre-trial detention center,” the lawyers said.
According to their information, no transfers to the court of appeal are currently being carried out from the Zaporizhzhia pretrial detention center.
“In the best case scenario, there will be a video conference, if there is electricity and communication. If only the prisoner is relocated and the court remains in the same region as before, the question of ensuring/not ensuring personal participation in the court hearing (at least in the first instance) will inevitably arise,” the agency’s interlocutors noted.
Shevchuk and Shadrin pointed out that prisoners in frontline areas often only have remote access to lawyers.
“Many lawyers have been mobilized or have left for safer regions. Of course, this situation can lead to problems with the right to a fair (adversarial) trial, which includes the possibility of confidential communication with a lawyer without witnesses from the police or the Security Service of Ukraine,” the lawyers said.
In addition, they drew attention to the fact that with the start of the large-scale invasion, a number of correctional colonies and pre-trial detention centers were occupied along with prisoners and staff, who were subsequently accused of treason or collaboration.
“For example, a dog handler at one of the penitentiary institutions in Kherson received such a charge: 12 years’ imprisonment with the right to hold relevant positions for 10 years (the relevant entry was made in the Register of Court Decisions – IF-U). Often, after the occupation, prisoners are encouraged to join the armed forces of the aggressor country, and if they refuse, they are thrown grenades into their cells or shot,” the lawyers said.
In addition, Shevchuk and Shadrin reported that penitentiary institutions remain significantly underfunded and conditions of detention are largely inhumane, as confirmed by numerous ECHR rulings, in particular due to overcrowding.
“After the repeal of the ‘Savchenko law’ (adopted in 2015, the law provided that one day of pre-trial detention in a detention center before sentencing was counted as two days of imprisonment in a correctional colony), the problem of overcrowding in detention centers and correctional colonies arose again. This is facilitated by the criminalization of theft and other property crimes, which have become serious due to the new “under martial law” designation, which is applied automatically. This phenomenon is also facilitated by the growing number of military personnel and suspects of high treason – categories for which the legislature has allowed detention without alternative,“ the lawyers note.
”These circumstances are expected to be the subject of review by the ECHR again,” Shevchuk and Shadrin predict.
According to media reports, in 2014, control was lost over 28 penal institutions in the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea, where about 20,000 prisoners are being held. In 2022, another 12 institutions with more than 3,000 people came under the control of the occupiers.
According to the Ministry of Justice, since the start of the full-scale invasion, 10 penal institutions have been evacuated from the combat zones and 12 evacuation operations have been carried out, although the list of specific institutions has not been made public.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/news/general/1098389.html
