The Directors Guild of America (DGA) recognized the documentary film “2000 Meters to Andriivka” by Ukrainian director and journalist Mstislav Chernov with its award, according to a post on the Facebook page of the Ukrainian State Film Agency on Sunday.
“The film chronicles the events of the war in Ukraine and focuses on the fighting during the Ukrainian counteroffensive. In the film, Mstislav Chernov and photographer Alexander Babenko follow Ukrainian soldiers, capturing the reality of life in the trenches, heavy fighting, and the personal stories of defenders on the front lines. The cameras convey the immediate experience of war — from tense combat episodes to personal moments,“ the statement said.
It is noted that this is Chernov’s second DGA award. The director previously received this award for the documentary film ”20 Days in Mariupol.”
“The Directors Guild of America Award is yet another confirmation of the international recognition of Ukrainian documentary cinema and the world community’s attention to the events of the war in Ukraine,” the State Film Agency noted.
Ukrposhta plans to launch parcel delivery agent points in cafes, shops, and other service locations at the end of the first quarter of 2026, the company’s CEO Ihor Smelyansky told Interfax-Ukraine.
“They sign a contract with us for parcel delivery, and we pay them for each delivery. In other words, this does not entail any capital expenditures or expensive repairs. After all, the most effective thing is to quickly expand the network so that it is convenient and profitable for our customers to receive parcels,” Smelyansky explained.
The CEO of Ukrposhta added that the project is currently in the testing phase, and residents of Kyiv can already receive parcels at nine pilot locations.
“Of course, we will monitor the quality to ensure that the quality of parcel delivery is maintained and that all the rules that must be followed are followed. And we will continue to attract new partners,” Smelyansky emphasized.
Separately, the company plans to install about 1,000 parcel machines in early 2026, as well as update its mobile app, which will allow customers to manage their parcels in a way that is convenient for them, including redirecting shipments to other branches or parcel machines.
Earlier, in a comment to the agency, Ukrposhta reported that in 2026 it plans a large-scale modernization of its network of branches throughout the country.
Currently, the company has more than 6,000 branches and 26,000 service points throughout Ukraine.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Ukrposhta received a net profit of UAH 257.9 million, which is 69.2% more than in the same period in 2024, due to additional income from the sale of the company’s property, which amounted to UAH 168 million.
The national postal operator increased its revenue in the fourth quarter by UAH 10.7 million compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 3 billion 601.6 million.
Logistical constraints related to the war are leading to a redistribution of corn imports to the European Union in favor of alternative suppliers, with Ukraine’s share in the 2025/26 season declining significantly, according to a review by S&P Global Commodity Insights (Platts).
According to S&P Global Market Intelligence Global Trade Analytics Suite (GTAS), corn imports to the EU in the 2024/25 marketing year amounted to 18.79 million tons, compared to 19.83 million tons in 2023/24, and GTAS forecasts an increase in imports to 21 million tons in 2025/26.
S&P notes that, on average over five years, Ukraine remained the dominant supplier of corn to the EU, supplying about 9.7 million tons per year (53.5% of imports), but in the 2025/26 marketing year (July-June), the structure of supplies changed: Brazil’s share grew to 40%, the US’s share rose to 28.3%, while Ukraine’s share fell to 22.4%.
Market participants reported delays in receiving contracted Ukrainian corn, which led buyers to switch more actively to Brazil and the US. Market participants cited the EU-Mercosur trade agenda as an additional factor in choosing the origin of products.
Spain, the Netherlands, and Italy remain among the largest corn importers in the EU. According to the European Commission, Spain imported 7.2 million tons in 2024/25 MY (7.6 million tons in 2023/24), the Netherlands imported 3.3 million tons (2.6 million tons), and Italy imported 2.8 million tons (2.1 million tons).
At the same time, Spain, as a price-sensitive market, has recently switched to more competitively priced American corn, while Ukrainian corn was relatively expensive amid high demand from Turkey, the review says.
Platts price benchmarks for February 3: feed corn ex-works Tarragona (Spain) – €213/t with loading between February 3 and March 5, Ukrainian corn – $223/t FOB POC (Odessa-Pivdenny-Chernomorsk ports) with loading between March 3 and 17, Brazilian corn – $210.81/t FOB Santos with loading in August.
Ukraine has received 300 generators as part of support from the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), Deputy Prime Minister for Recovery and Minister for Communities and Territories Development Oleksii Kuleba reported.
“The total capacity of the batch is 1.6 MW, the cost is more than EUR 417 thousand,” Kuleba wrote on Telegram.
According to him, the generators will be delivered to Kyiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Lviv. Priority will be given to hospitals, maternity hospitals, schools, kindergartens, and other social infrastructure facilities.
SECI (Southeast European Cooperative Initiative) is a regional cooperation format of Southeast European countries; in 1999, a relevant SECI cooperation agreement was signed on the prevention of and fight against transborder crime.
The operational center created within SECI (the SECI Center) has, since October 7, 2011, operated as SELEC (Southeast European Law Enforcement Center) — an international treaty-based organization that pools police and customs resources to counter transborder organized crime.
Participating countries (SELEC member states): Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey.
SELEC’s headquarters is located in Bucharest (the Palace of the Parliament of Romania).
Against the backdrop of an acute housing shortage and record low vacancy rates, the Zurich authorities are strengthening their approach to the “fair allocation” of affordable housing, including through restrictions on under-occupancy, so that large apartments are not occupied by single people.
This is not a general ban on the entire rental market, but primarily on the city’s housing stock (municipal, including subsidized, apartments), where strict minimum occupancy rules are already in place: “the number of rooms minus one” equals the minimum number of occupants. For example, a 4.5-room apartment must be occupied by at least three people, and if it remains underoccupied after a set period, the tenant must move out.
The background to the decision is the extremely low proportion of vacant housing. According to city data, as of June 1, 2025, there were 235 vacant apartments in Zurich, and the vacancy rate remained at 0.1%.
At the same time, the city is promoting its updated housing strategy, Programm Wohnen 2026, which confirms the goal of increasing the share of non-profit (gemeinnützig) rental housing to one-third by 2050. The documents indicate that the share of such apartments is currently around 27%, and that around 25,000 additional non-commercial apartments will be needed to achieve the goal.
The city’s housing fund is a separate financial instrument: a model worth CHF 300 million (CHF 100 million in property loans and CHF 200 million in framework loans) has been approved as a mechanism to support the creation of more affordable housing, with funds from the fund to be disbursed starting in 2025.
In a broader context, the city is also discussing the extension of similar principles (including verification of living conditions and minimum occupancy) to the segment of “affordable” apartments owned by private owners, if they are rented out under preferential rules.
Demand for short trips within one to two hours of the metropolis is steadily growing: 69% of Ukrainians need this type of recreation, Artur Lupashko, founder of Ribas Hotels Group, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“According to a survey of regular guests of Ribas Hotels, 69% of Ukrainians want to recharge their batteries without having to travel long distances. It is this demand that has generated interest in short suburban vacations,” he said.
According to Lupashko, most popular tourist destinations require significant travel time, which makes one- or two-day trips ineffective. In line with the latest trends, the most popular are complexes focused on short suburban vacations.
Overall, the demand for short-term vacations among city dwellers has a positive impact on the financial performance of such hotels. In particular, in January 2026, compared to January 2025, occupancy rates in Odessa hotels increased by 7%, and revenues by 25-28%.
In the Kyiv region, in the new cottage town of Mandra Petrichor (Makariv district), demand is increasing occupancy on weekdays and leading to 100% room reservations on weekends. That is why, after the opening of the first phase of Mandra Petrichor, where 20 A-frame cottages are available for booking, the launch of the second phase is planned for 2026. In general, the project envisages three conceptually different phases, focused on different types of recreation — for couples, families with children, and groups of friends.
Ribas Hotels Group is an international full-cycle management company and hotel business ecosystem founded in 2014 in Odesa. It brings together the entire process — from site selection, design, and construction to management, franchising, and investment. Ribas Hotels Group is the only hotel group that independently covers all stages of hotel project creation and development.
The company’s portfolio includes 56 projects under construction, launch, or management, including in Ukraine, Poland, Turkey, and Bali. The company develops 3-, 4-, and 5-star city and resort hotels under the Ribas Hotels, Ribas Rooms, WOL home + hotel, and Mandra Moments brands. The operator’s total room capacity is over a thousand rooms.
