The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” will plant more than 5.5 thousand hectares of new forests in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, said Yuriy Bolokhovets, CEO of the state enterprise.
“We have started the largest planting of new forests in the history of Ukraine in the South. This fall, we will create more than 5.5 thousand hectares in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions! This figure is incredible. Every year, no more than 200-300 hectares of new forest were planted in the regions. The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has increased the planting area twenty times,” he wrote on Facebook.
The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” intends to plant mixed forests that are more resilient and resistant to climate change. For planting, the company has selected petiolate oak, maples, pines, ash, and shrubs. The company will supply more than 800 thousand seedlings with a closed root system to the region.
According to the company’s CEO, the area of forests in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions does not exceed 140 thousand hectares. They are mainly for recreational purposes, with only sanitary felling (firewood). The income from timber sales, particularly in the form of firewood, would not even be enough for southern forestry enterprises to pay their salaries. Forestry in the region was chronically subsidized: staff worked on a quarter and half-time basis, there were no fuel and lubricants, no cultivators.
Mr. Bolokhovets named the lack of qualified personnel as one of the main problems of the industry. The Southern Forestry Office currently has more than 400 vacancies: forest master, forester, assistant, etc.
The reform in the industry has enabled the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” to optimize its work and make a profit, which has made it possible to find investments for the development of the southern region.
“Local foresters finally received salaries, equipment, fuel, and planting material. We have started working with communities – in the last two months alone, 1.7 thousand hectares have been transferred for planting. Finally, we have money, equipment, and land,” said the CEO.
The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” intends to make the development program for the southern region a long-term one.
As reported, the state specialized economic enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe and the largest forest user in Ukraine. It is managed by the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. The company manages 6.6 million hectares of state forest land.
In 2016, Ukraine launched a forestry reform. It has already introduced the sale of unprocessed timber at electronic auctions. Since 2021, an interactive map of wood processing facilities has been operating in a test mode in a number of regions.
The industry has implemented the Forest in a Smartphone project, which contains a list of logging tickets for timber harvesting and allows you to check the legality of logging on the agency’s online map.
On June 1, 2023, Ukraine launched a pilot for the electronic issuance of logging tickets and certificates of origin of timber.
Benchmark oil prices continued to decline slightly during trading on Wednesday after they plummeted to their lowest levels since July 21 a day earlier.
Quotes for January futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 7:05 a.m. amounted to $81.58 per barrel, which is $0.03 (0.04%) below the price at the close of the previous session. On Tuesday, these contracts fell by $3.57 (4.2%) to $81.61 per barrel.
The price of December futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) in the morning fell by $0.21 (0.27%) to $77.16 per barrel. At the end of the previous session, it fell by $3.45 (4.3%) to $77.37 per barrel.
On Tuesday, the US Department of Energy downgraded its forecast for Brent prices for the current year to $83.99 per barrel from $84.09 per barrel, and for 2024 to $93.24 per barrel from $94.91 per barrel. The estimate for WTI for the next year has been downgraded by 1.8% compared to the October forecast – to $89.24 per barrel.
Among the factors that put pressure on oil prices, the agency notes a decline in global reserves, risks of supply disruptions, and the impact of voluntary production cuts by a number of OPEC+ countries.
In July-September 2023, Ukrainian mobile operator lifecell increased its net profit by 45.5% year-on-year to UAH 555.4 million.
According to the report of Turkcell’s parent company on its website on Tuesday, lifecell’s revenue in the third quarter of this year increased by 25.7% to UAH 2.98 billion, which is explained by price adjustments.
The operator’s EBITDA increased by 16.3% to UAH 1.65 billion, while the EBITDA margin decreased by 4.5 percentage points to 55.3%.
“lifecell achieved an EBITDA margin of 55.3%. The decline is due to increased costs for roaming, interconnection services and electricity costs,” Turkcell said in a press release.
The operator’s capital expenditures in the third quarter increased by 48.9% to UAH 952.1 million.
According to the report, lifecell’s active subscriber base amounted to 9.1 million in the third quarter, up from 8.6 million in the previous quarter and 8.2 million a year earlier. The total number of customers increased to 11.4 million from 11.1 million in the previous quarter and 10.1 million a year earlier.
At the same time, ARPU (average revenue per user per month) among active users increased by 19.2% year-on-year and by 0.9% quarter-on-quarter to UAH 113.7.
“The penetration of lifecell smartphones amounted to 84.3% at the end of the third quarter. As of the end of June, on average, about 97% of stores in the country were open daily,” the report said.
Turkcell added that lifecell’s current cash reserves are “more than sufficient” to support its operations.
Overall, in the first nine months of the year, lifecell’s revenue increased by 26% year-on-year to UAH 8 billion 571.8 million, EBITDA by 26.1% to UAH 4 billion 968.9 million, and net profit by 2.9 times to UAH 1 billion 68.6 million. The company also increased its capital investments by 51% to UAH 3 billion 035.7 million.
lifecell is the third largest mobile operator in Ukraine. Turkcell owns 100% of the shares in Lifecell LLC.
In the third quarter, lifecell’s revenue accounted for 75.9% of Turkcell International’s revenue and 8.4% of Turkcell’s total revenue. The Ukrainian operator accounted for 10.6% of consolidated EBITDA and 7.4% of consolidated profit of Turkcell.
“Shakhtar defeated Barcelona 1-0 and retained its chances of qualifying for the Champions League playoffs, Suspilne.Sport reported on Tuesday evening.
“Shakhtar won its second victory in this season’s Champions League. “The Miners beat Barcelona 1-0 in a nominally home match in Hamburg,” the report said.
It is noted that this is Shakhtar’s first victory over Barcelona in 15 years.
It is also emphasized that Shakhtar started the European season with a defeat against Porto (1-3) and a victory over Antwerp (3-2). And in the first game against Barcelona away from home, the Miners lost 1-2.
The United Nations (UN) is requesting $435 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine to help it get through the winter, the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine reports, citing the UN Office.
“In connection with the adjustment of the Humanitarian Response Plan, the UN asks partners to allocate $435 million in assistance to Ukraine. This is stated on the website of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA Ukraine),” the Ministry of Reintegration said in a statement on its Telegram channel on Tuesday.
The UN believes that these funds will make it possible to provide humanitarian assistance to more than 1.7 million people throughout Ukraine until March 2024.
As noted, the relevant Humanitarian Response Plan is being implemented in support of the efforts of the Government of Ukraine, as well as national, regional and local authorities. In the future, it will be supplemented by a regular program designed to meet the needs of more than 11 million Ukrainians.
The 2023-2024 response will focus on communities where active hostilities have taken place or are taking place, namely in Donetsk, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Cyprus-based International Distribution Systems Limited, the owner of Ukraine’s largest mineral water producer IDS Ukraine, has been subject to Ukrainian sanctions: asset freezes, prevention of capital outflows abroad, and a ban on increasing the authorized capital of related Ukrainian companies.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Decree No. 739 of November 7 on the implementation of the sanctions adopted by the National Security and Defense Council on the same day was published on the President’s website.
The decree imposes similar sanctions on eight more companies: four – Sogeral Foundation, Haberfield Limited, Slavisilla Holdings Limited, and Dendar Investment Fund Limited (all based in Cyprus) – for a period of 10 years, while IDS Limited and four others are subject to two-year sanctions.
The latter also include Alfa Finance Holdings Limited, Erasmony Limited, Rissa Investments Limited and CTF Holdings S.A.
Most of these companies are associated with Mikhail Fridman and other co-owners of the so-called Alfa Group, as evidenced, in particular, by the data disclosed earlier in Russia on the scheme of interaction between the participants of the management company Alfa Capital Management Company LLC, under whose control or significant influence this management company was. The list includes Peter Aven, German Khan, Andrei Kosogov, Alexei Kuzmichev and the former minority shareholder of Sense Bank, The Mark Foundation for Cancer Research. Friedman and his partners were previously included in the Ukrainian sanctions list.
As reported, the Ukrainian legislation adopted during the war allows the High Anti-Corruption Court to seize the assets of sanctioned persons to the state revenue.
