The European Union has allocated EUR2m for a new humanitarian demining program in Ukraine, under which Ukrainian cynologists with specially trained dogs will search for and clear unexploded ordnance, the press service of the EU Delegation in Ukraine has reported.
According to the report, the project is funded by the European Commission’s Foreign Policy Instruments Service (FPI) and is being implemented jointly with humanitarian mine action organizations APOPO, which specializes in the use of animals for demining, and Mines Advisory Group (MAG).
“The 16 Belgian Malinois will be the first technical reconnaissance dogs to be deployed in Ukraine. Together with their eight guides, all of whom are Ukrainians, they underwent extensive training in Cambodia for five months before returning to Ukraine,” the statement said.
The EU Delegation in Ukraine specified that many of the dog handlers had previously studied dog training at the Sumy National Agrarian University and were trained in manual demining.
The dogs will be used to complement the MAG’s manual and mechanized demining efforts in liberated Ukrainian territories, including in the Mykolaiv, Kherson and Kharkiv regions.
“We are pleased to be able to fund this initiative as part of the EU’s support to improve and scale up humanitarian mine action in Ukraine. We believe this innovative project can significantly accelerate the cleanup of contaminated land and its release for civilian use,” said FPI Director Peter M. Wagner.
Under certain conditions, teams of technical reconnaissance dogs can survey large tracts of land much faster than bomb squads, identifying explosive hazards and helping to confirm the safety of an area. If teams with dogs find a mine or unexploded ordnance, MAG deminers will be tasked to defuse the item, the EU Delegation to Ukraine explained.
MAG Ukraine Director John Cunliffe believes that dogs have the potential to significantly speed up the cleanup of certain types of terrain and contamination. “They can be a really important tool in combination with traditional manual and mechanized demining teams,” he added.
“The EU commitment will allow us to return supposedly contaminated land to the Ukrainian people much more quickly than would otherwise be the case. We will be recruiting and training new handlers in the coming months as we scale up our operations,” said APOPO Ukraine Program Manager Nick Gest.
The European Commission’s Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI) service implements the EU’s foreign policy. Humanitarian mine action is a key element of the support FPI has mobilized for Ukraine since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion. Its total funding to date amounts to EUR55 million.
APOPO is a global provider of mine detection animals that has developed effective mine clearance technology that is implemented in low-income countries. The organization protects people from the risk of landmines and other consequences of war. APOPO employs more than 450 people in 10 countries.
The Ukrainian restaurant chain Lviv Croissants has entered the US market, where it has invested $220 thousand together with a partner to open a bakery and produce frozen croissants in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.
“Lviv Croissants is now in America! The first Lviv Croissants bakery in the United States is located in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, and is already welcoming its first guests. Locals love quality healthy food, and we know how to cook it, so it’s a total match. We also know how to surprise with a variety of flavors, create a friendly atmosphere and a sense of a place where you can be yourself,” the company’s website says.
Lviv Croissants founder Andriy Galytsky told the Forbes Entrepreneurs Forum that the company had been preparing for two years to enter the US market, while it took about five months to prepare for European markets. This is the third expansion of the Ukrainian chain abroad after Poland and Slovakia.
The co-owner and CEO of the American restaurant is a local entrepreneur, Brett Larrabee, whom Galitsky met at a franchise exhibition in New York in 2018. Larrabee has 37 years of experience in restaurant franchising, including the development of the American brands Five Guys, Famous Daves BBQ, Little Caesars, Subway, and Pancheros, Forbes reports.
Lviv Croissants is a Ukrainian international franchise restaurant chain founded in 2015. It specializes in making croissants and has 177 locations in Ukraine, 11 in Poland and 1 in Slovakia. It is part of the Fast Food Franchising Group.
Fast Food Franchising Group LLC was founded in 2015 in Lviv.
The company’s net loss in 2023 amounted to UAH 598.3 thousand compared to UAH 483 thousand of net profit a year earlier. Last year’s revenue increased by 55.1% to UAH 6.939 million, debt increased 9.7 times to UAH 188.9 thousand, while assets decreased by 19% to UAH 1.89 million.
The beneficiaries of the company are PE Firm Infobud, which owns 50% of the shares, Yevhen and Andriy Galitsky (20% each), and Yuriy Zagrodsky (10%).
Ukrainian restaurant chain Lviv Croissants has entered the US market, where together with a partner it invested $220 thousand in opening a bakery and production of frozen croissants in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia.
“Lviv Croissants is now in America! The first Lviv Croissants bakery in the United States is located in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia and is already receiving its first guests. Locals love quality healthy food, and we know how to cook it, so it’s a total match. And we also know how to surprise with a variety of flavors, create a friendly atmosphere and a sense of place where you can be yourself,” the company’s website says.
Lviv Croissants founder Andriy Galitsky told Forbes Entrepreneurs Forum that the company spent two years preparing to enter the U.S. market, while it took about five months to prepare to enter the European markets. This is the third expansion of the Ukrainian chain abroad after Poland and Slovakia.
The co-owner and CEO of the American restaurant is local entrepreneur Brett Larrabee, whom Galitsky met at a franchising expo in New York in 2018. Larrabee has been working in restaurant franchising for 37 years, notably developing the American brands Five Guys, Famous Daves BBQ, Little Caesars, Subway and Pancheros, Forbes writes.
Lviv Croissants is a Ukrainian international franchise restaurant chain founded in 2015. It specializes in making croissants, has 177 establishments in Ukraine, 11 in Poland and 1 in Slovakia. It is a part of Fast Food Franchising Group.
Fast Food Franchising Group LLC was founded in 2015 in Lviv.
The company’s net loss in 2023 amounted to UAH 598.3 thousand, compared to UAH 483 thousand net profit a year earlier. Income for last year increased by 55.1%, to UAH 6.939 million, debt obligations – by 9.7 times, to UAH 188.9 thousand, while assets decreased by 19%, to UAH 1.89 million.
Beneficiaries of the company are PE Firma Infobud, which owns 50% of shares, Eugene and Andrei Galitsky (20% each), as well as Yuri Zagrodsky (10%).
bakery opening, frozen croissants, Lviv Croissants, restaurant chain, US MARKET
In January-July this year, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 5% compared to the same period last year, up to 6,772 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Friday, bauxite imports in monetary terms increased by 22.8% to $980 thousand during this period.
At the same time, imports were carried out mainly from Turkey (63.81% of supplies in monetary terms), China (28.64%) and Spain (7.54%).
Ukraine did not re-export bauxite in the same period of this year as in January-July 2023.
As reported, in 2022, Ukraine reduced imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms by 81.5% compared to the previous year – to 945.396 thousand tons. Imports of bauxite in monetary terms decreased by 79.6% to $48.166 million. Imports were mainly from Guinea (58.90% of supplies in monetary terms), Brazil (27.19%) and Ghana (7.48%).
In 2023, Ukraine imported 19,830 thousand tons of bauxite worth $2.360 million.
Bauxite is an aluminum ore used as a raw material to produce alumina, which is used to make aluminum. They are also used as fluxes in ferrous metallurgy.
Mykolaiv Alumina Plant (MAP) imports bauxite to Ukraine.
Geographic structure of Ukraine’s foreign trade (trade volume) in Jan-May 2024, mln USD
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
On Monday, benchmark crude oil prices rose for the fifth consecutive trading session due to fears of possible supply disruptions due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
“Tensions in the Middle East, which could escalate at any time and push prices up further, are providing support,” said Barbara Lambrecht, commodities analyst at Commerzbank. According to her, “geopolitical risks are likely to continue to have a significant impact on oil price trends” this week, MarketWatch reports.
In addition, last week’s US statistics were better than expected, which calmed concerns about a possible recession in the country’s economy, Trading Economics writes. They also confirmed traders’ confidence that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month. This may help to increase demand for fuel.
Quotations for October futures for Brent on the London ICE Futures exchange as of 8:01 a.m. amounted to $79.88 per barrel, which is $0.22 (0.3%) higher than the level at the close of the previous trading. On Friday, these contracts rose by $0.5 (0.6%) to $79.66 per barrel.
September futures for WTI in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) are up $0.36 (0.5%) to $77.2 per barrel in the morning. At the end of the previous session, the price of these contracts increased by $0.65 (0.9%) to $76.84 per barrel.
Last week, the price of Brent rose by 3.7%, and WTI by 4.5%. Thus, oil finished the first week of five in the black.
