Secret Service agents escorted former US President Donald Trump off the stage after he fell to the ground at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, CNN reported.
“There were loud pops before Trump fell. Agents then helped him up and there was blood on his face. He yelled back at the crowd and raised his fist. He was then taken to a vehicle and evacuated from the scene,” the report said.
Reporters who witnessed the incident said they heard “a series of loud explosions or loud pops” before Secret Service agents rushed toward Trump.
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the terms of privatization of a single property complex of the state enterprise Hotel Ukraina at an electronic auction with a starting price of 1 billion 47 million 637 thousand 152 UAH.
The Cabinet’s representative in the Verkhovna Rada Taras Melnychuk said in Telegram that the relevant decision was made at a government meeting on Friday.
As reported, in April, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine included in the list of objects of large privatization SE “Hotel “Ukraine”. In May, the action Commission determined the starting price of privatization of the hotel “Ukraine” 1 billion 47 million 637 thousand 152 UAH.
The capital’s hotel “Ukraine” is a state enterprise, which is under the jurisdiction of the State Property Fund. Hotel category “4 stars” on 14 floors has 363 rooms, six conference halls, rooms for negotiations. There is a parking lot for 80 cars and a shelter with a separate auditorium for 50 people. The total area of the building is 22.4 thousand square meters. The debt of the hotel by now amounts to more than UAH 45 mln.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to pay a visit to Veliobritain next week, The Guardian reports.
According to the publication, Zelensky will also make his first visit to Ireland on Saturday morning. He is scheduled to meet with Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris there.
Ireland, which has long maintained a policy of military neutrality but has provided non-lethal aid to Ukraine, is expected to offer more support. In particular, it will support Ukraine’s efforts to return some 20,000 children who were forcibly displaced to Russia and Belarus.
The Ukrainian president met with British Prime Minister-designate Keir Starmer at the NATO summit in Washington last week, but this will be his first opportunity to meet with a wider delegation from the Labor government, which will be keen to confirm further UK support.
The conference is reportedly the fourth meeting of the European Policy Community, a collective set up after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, which was the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron.
“It is designed to foster stronger ties between EU and non-EU leaders in an informal setting. Previous conferences have been held in Spain, Moldova and the Czech Republic,” it said.
In addition to the UK, non-EU countries invited include Norway, Iceland, Georgia, Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and Turkey, although Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, who has not attended previous summits, has not confirmed his participation.
PJSC Transnational Corporation Granit of the Kovalska Industrial and Construction Group owned by Oleksandr and Serhiy Pylypenko won the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources auction for the sale of a special permit for the extraction of granite from the Korosten-Shchorsivska-II area of the Korosten deposit (Zhytomyr region). NADRA.INFO reports citing data from the UBIZ.ua platform, accredited by Prozorro.Sale.
The auction took place on Friday, 12.07.2024 (NADRA.INFO announced the auction). The only competitor to TNK Granit was I.B.K. Development LLC owned by Oleksandr Lukianets, Oleh Volyntsev, and Vitaliy Zhukovsky.
The auction was the second repeat and started at UAH 5,898,024.89. This is twice less than the initial cost of the first auction (UAH 11,796,049.78), which did not take place on 06.06.2024, and a quarter less than the repeated auction on 06. 25.2024. It is worth noting that during previous attempts, TNK Granit could not buy the special permit because it was the only bidder (the procedure requires at least two bidders).
During today’s auction, the participants did not bid. The final bids (aka initial bids) are as follows:
The bidding is available here. If the winner refuses to buy the lot, it will forfeit UAH 11,796,049.78 of the guarantee fee.
TNK Granit has been developing the neighboring Korosten deposit since 2006. As we wrote earlier, open sources show that Kovalska’s group controls such mining facilities (some of which we wrote about here and here):
https://nadra.info/2024/07/kovalska-buys-a-second-special-permit-for-the-korosten-granite-deposit/
In January-June this year, Ukrainian companies increased imports of copper and copper products in value terms by 33.4% year-on-year to $75.101 million.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine on Tuesday, exports of copper and copper products increased by 5.4% to $41.555 million over the period under review.
In June, Ukraine imported copper worth $10.114 million and exported it worth $8.658 million.
In addition, in January-June 2024, Ukraine increased imports of nickel and products by 68.3% compared to the same period in 2023 to $12.954 million (in June – $1.880 million), aluminum and aluminum products by 24.1% to $208.745 million (in June – $36.852 million).
At the same time, it reduced imports of lead and lead products by 3.9% to $560 thousand (in June – $137 thousand), imports of tin and tin products increased by 19.5% to $1,350 million (in June – $330 thousand), and increased imports of zinc and zinc products by 37.4% to $28,340 million (in June – $5,110 million).
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products in the first six months of 2024 increased by 12.8% compared to the same period a year earlier to $54.175 million (in June – $10.383 million), lead and lead products decreased by 30.8% to $5.404 million (in June – $1.070 million), nickel and nickel products amounted to $422 thousand (in June – $180 thousand), while in January-June 2023 it was $125 thousand.
Zinc exports for the first six months of this year amounted to $98 thousand (in June – $14 thousand), while in January-June 2023 it was $72 thousand. Exports of tin and products amounted to $181 thousand (in June – $35 thousand) against $52 thousand in the same period a year earlier.
As reported, in 2023, Ukraine increased imports of copper and copper products by 2.2 times compared to 2022 – up to $140.795 million, while exports decreased by 20.1% to $72.078 million.
In addition, in 2023, Ukraine decreased imports of nickel and products by 74.2% compared to 2022, to $15.391 million, and increased imports of aluminum and aluminum products by 7.7%, to $366.463 million.
At the same time, it reduced imports of lead and lead products by 65.2% to $989 thousand, imports of tin and tin products by 23% to $2.728 million, but increased imports of zinc and zinc products by 18.8% to $45.966 million.
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products last year increased by 0.7% compared to 2022 to $97.616 million, lead and lead products increased by 23.5% to $14.778 million, and nickel and nickel products amounted to $532 thousand, while in 2022 it was $1.268 million.
In 2023, the company exported $130 thousand worth of zinc, compared to $1.331 million in 2022. Exports of tin and tin products amounted to $159 thousand against $424 thousand in 2022.
On Friday, the Ukrainian government approved the terms of privatization of United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), which has been given control of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VMMC, Dnipropetrovs’k region) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyr region), setting the starting price at UAH 3 billion 899.358 million.
“To take note of the starting price of the stake set by the advisor BDO Corporate Finance LLC in the amount of UAH 3,899,358,000 (three billion eight hundred and ninety-nine million three hundred and fifty-eight thousand),” the Cabinet of Ministers said in its resolution No. 643 of July 12 on its website.
It is specified that all 1 billion 944 million shares, which is 100% of the authorized capital, will be put up for sale.
Earlier, the State Property Fund pointed out that the sale of UMCC belongs to large-scale privatization, as it is the sale of state assets with a book value of more than UAH 250 million. Earlier, the SPF has already held auction commissions for the sale of the Ukraina Hotel, UMCC and the state share in the authorized capital of Lybid Investment Union LLC (Ocean Plaza shopping center). Auctions for the sale of these assets will be announced after the Cabinet of Ministers approves the starting prices and terms of sale. All auctions will be held in the state electronic system Prozorro.Sale. The proceeds from the privatization of state-owned enterprises will go to the state budget of Ukraine, and the proceeds from the privatization of nationalized assets will go to the fund for liquidation of the consequences of armed aggression.
The United Mining and Chemical Company began its actual operations in August 2014, when the Ukrainian government decided to transfer the property complexes of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipropetrovska oblast) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyrska oblast) to its management. On December 8, 2016, the state-owned enterprise was transformed into PJSC UMCC, and on December 26, 2018, it was transformed from PJSC to PrJSC.
UMCC used to sell its products to more than 30 countries. The main sales markets were the EU, China, Turkey, as well as the USA and African countries.
