State Aviation Enterprise (SAE) “Ukraine” (Boryspil, Kyiv Oblast) announced on May 18 its intention to enter into a contract with PJSC “Ukrainian Fire and Insurance Company” for civil aviation risk insurance.
According to the Prozorro electronic public procurement system, the total expected cost of the services is 37.669 million UAH, while the bid submitted by the company—the sole tender participant—is 37.345 million UAH.
UPSK PJSC was registered in 1993. It specializes, in particular, in motor vehicle insurance, financial risk insurance, travel insurance, property insurance, cargo insurance, and baggage insurance. According to the company, Alexander Mikhailov owns 99.999% of the insurer’s shares. According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), the company ranks 16th among Ukraine’s non-life insurers in terms of premiums collected in 2025.
The Supervisory Board of PJSC “Insurance Company ”PZU Ukraine” (Kyiv), in connection with the need to expand its regional network, has decided to establish a customer service center and a regional office in Bila Tserkva, the company reported in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system.
Also, pursuant to the Supervisory Board’s decision of May 29, Regional Office No. 5 for corporate sales will be established in Lviv and Regional Office No. 4 for corporate sales in Dnipro.
At the same time, due to the need to optimize the structure and reduce administrative expenses, the supervisory board decided to close the customer service center in Zviahel and the regional office in Zhytomyr.
PZU Ukraine Insurance Company is backed by one of the largest insurance groups in Central and Eastern Europe—the PZU Group, which includes the parent company of PZU Ukraine Insurance Company—PZU S.A. According to the National Bank, PZU Ukraine ranks 10th in terms of premiums collected for 2025 among non-life insurers in Ukraine (47 companies).
In 2025, Spain granted citizenship to a record number of foreign residents—299,732 people—which is 18.7% more than the previous year. This was the highest figure since 2013, when the INE began compiling these statistics. In 2024, 252,476 foreigners received Spanish citizenship; in 2023, 240,208; and in 2022, 181,581.
The largest group of new Spanish citizens in 2025 were immigrants from Morocco—42,114 people. They were followed by citizens of Colombia—37,712, Venezuela—36,271, Honduras—20,745, Peru—15,920, Cuba—14,390, Ecuador—13,689, Argentina—11,291, the Dominican Republic—9,915, and Nicaragua—8,951
Thus, nine out of the ten largest groups of new Spanish citizens came from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. This reflects the specifics of Spanish legislation: for citizens of Ibero-American countries, as well as certain other categories, the residency requirement for applying for citizenship can be significantly shorter than the standard 10-year period.
In terms of the method of obtaining citizenship, the majority of cases involved naturalization through residency—253,836. Another 45,715 people obtained citizenship through an option applicable, in particular, to individuals who were under the parental authority of a Spanish citizen, or to those whose father or mother was Spanish and was born in Spain.
Women accounted for 55.4% of Spain’s new citizens, while men accounted for 44.6%. The largest age group was people aged 30 to 39, followed by those aged 40 to 49.
Regionally, the highest number of new citizens was registered in Catalonia—70,933—and the Community of Madrid—69,566. Together, these two regions accounted for 46.9% of all cases of Spanish citizenship acquisition in 2025. They were followed by the Valencian Community—32,388, Andalusia—27,538, the Basque Country—14,230—and the Canary Islands—13,366
Ukrainian citizens were also included in Spain’s naturalization statistics but do not belong to the largest groups of new citizens. According to a detailed INE table, 2,588 Ukrainian citizens obtained Spanish citizenship in 2024.
In 2023, there were 2,693 such cases, in 2022 – 3,206, in 2021 – 2,167, and in 2020 – 2,254.
The Ukrainian presence in Spain remains significant. According to data from Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration, as of December 31, 2025, there were 338,576 Ukrainian citizens in the country with valid residence permits. By March 31, 2026, that number had risen to 345,995 people.
The growth in the number of new Spanish citizens is occurring against the backdrop of an increase in the country’s foreign population and Madrid’s active migration policy. Spain remains one of the key destinations for migrants from Latin America, North Africa, and Eastern Europe, as well as one of the EU’s most popular markets for relocation, labor migration, and real estate purchases.
These statistics are important for the real estate market, as naturalization and long-term residency boost domestic demand for housing. Unlike traditional foreign investors, new citizens and long-term residents are more likely to purchase real estate not only for investment or vacation purposes, but also for permanent residence, work, family integration, and their children’s education.
For Ukrainians, Spain also remains a notable destination for residence, although the mass naturalization of Ukrainian citizens has not yet reached the scale seen among Latin American and Moroccan groups.
Austria’s residential real estate market has returned to growth after a prolonged period of price declines, according to data from Statistik Austria.
According to the statistical agency, prices for houses and apartments in Austria rose by an average of 2.6% in 2025, following declines of 2.6% in 2024 and 2.3% in 2023. Thus, the market showed positive annual growth for the first time in two years.
The recovery accelerated in the second half of 2025. In the fourth quarter, housing prices rose by 3.5% year-over-year and by 0.8% compared to the previous quarter. New housing prices increased by 3.1% over the year, while existing housing prices rose by 3.6%.
The return to growth is linked to the gradual stabilization of the mortgage market, reduced uncertainty following a period of high interest rates, and a decline in new construction supply. After a sharp rise in borrowing costs in 2022–2024, some buyers postponed their purchases, but demand began to gradually return in 2025.
However, the recovery remains uneven. According to Global Property Guide estimates, prices continued to decline in certain regions, particularly in expensive Alpine and metropolitan locations. In Vienna, the average property price in 2025 was estimated at approximately EUR 779,000, but the annual trend was negative—around -6.6%. In Tyrol, the decline was estimated at -13.7%, and in Salzburg at -9.1%. At the same time, Carinthia, Styria, and Upper Austria showed growth.
For investors, Austria remains one of the most stable markets in Europe, but returns require more precise calculation. High prices in Vienna, Salzburg, and Tyrol limit the potential for rapid growth, while more affordable regions may appear more attractive against the backdrop of recovering demand.
The reform of the prosecution bodies in Ukraine must move from political and personnel experiments to the restoration of professionalism, the depoliticization of the position of prosecutor general, real prosecutorial self-government, and a clear delimitation of powers between law enforcement agencies, the participants of the “Capital Region” discussion club believe.
“Over 34 years of Independence, Ukraine has seen 18 prosecutors general and acting prosecutors general. Every second or third of them declared reform as a main priority, but a deep institutional transformation has still not taken place,” political consultant and chairman of the board of the Institute of Ukrainian Politics Oleksiy Usachov said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Monday.
According to him, the history of the prosecutor’s office of independent Ukraine can be conditionally divided into several stages. The first was connected with the post-Soviet formation of the system, when the heads of prosecution bodies were mainly professional prosecutors who had passed through all levels of the service hierarchy. The next stage, according to Usachov, was characterized by the politicization of the position of prosecutor general, when the prosecutor’s office increasingly became an element of political struggle.
“The prosecutor general increasingly began to be defined by society as a political figure. This resulted in political scandals, processes around the prosecutor’s position, and the allocation of positions according to party affiliation rather than according to the level of integrity and professionalism,” he noted.
Usachov also pointed out that after the Revolution of Dignity, the reform of the prosecutor’s office took place under the significant influence of politicians and international partners, while the system saw the emergence of the practice of appointing people without sufficient prosecutorial experience to the highest positions.
“The system is unbalanced; it has more slogans and declarations than real practical actions. After attempts to disperse everyone and assemble everything anew, there have been no major positive results, since professional personnel were washed out of the prosecutor’s office, while many random and inexperienced people came instead. Proximity to the President’s Office, to the authorities, to the party of power remains the primary reason for a person’s presence in office. The leveling of open competitions and professionalism is the key shortcoming that is currently observed with regard to the prosecutor’s office,” the chairman of the board of the Institute of Ukrainian Politics emphasized.
For his part, lawyer and former Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine Oleksiy Bahanets stated that the current model of the prosecutor’s office has become the result of a long-term legislative narrowing of its functions.
“For me, this topic is painful, because I devoted 35 years to work in the prosecution bodies and passed through all service levels — from the district prosecutor’s office to the position of deputy prosecutor general. Therefore, I have something to compare it with: with the Soviet period, with the years of the formation of independence, and with the years of the first wave of the war in the east,” he emphasized.
Bahanets also clarified that the general supervision function of the prosecutor’s office was abolished with the adoption of the 1996 Constitution, but, according to him, subsequent legislative changes effectively deprived the prosecutor’s office of a number of important mechanisms of influence over legality.
“The new Criminal Procedure Code and the new law on the prosecutor’s office in fact became stages in the destruction of the system that had already been working. Under the pretext of bringing its activities in line with European standards, functions that allowed the prosecutor to really influence compliance with laws were eliminated or substantially narrowed,” Bahanets said.
He emphasized that in different European countries prosecutors’ offices have different scopes of powers, and therefore references to a single “European standard” in this area are incorrect.
“There is no single European standard for the prosecutor’s office. Prosecutors’ offices in different European countries exist with different functions. Therefore, not everything that is offered to us under the guise of European experience can be mechanically transferred into the Ukrainian legal system,” he stressed.
According to Bahanets, the prosecutor’s office has lost the ability to effectively represent the interests of socially vulnerable citizens in courts, while the representation of the state’s interests has been narrowed to exceptional cases.
“The prosecutor has in fact been blurred as a defender of the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens against lawlessness, primarily on the part of state authorities. And this was one of the components of the system of checks and balances,” he said.
The former deputy prosecutor general also criticized the state of procedural guidance in criminal proceedings. According to his assessment, today a prosecutor often does not have sufficient tools to influence an investigator or the head of a pre-trial investigation body.
“Today the prosecutor has been turned into a simple observer of lawlessness that sometimes takes place in law enforcement bodies. He does not have in his arsenal the proper powers to influence an investigator or the head of a pre-trial investigation body so that they comply with the law,” the lawyer said.
He also drew attention to the consequences of the re-certification of prosecutors in 2019-2020, as a result of which a significant number of dismissed employees were reinstated by courts, while considerable sums of compensation were paid from the state budget. According to him, when the process of certification and re-certification is discussed, one should recall not only slogans but also facts, since there are thousands of prosecutors reinstated by courts and funds that the state paid in connection with unlawful dismissals.
Separately, he expressed the opinion that the prosecutor general should not be perceived as a political position and proposed establishing a requirement for a candidate for this post to have mandatory significant experience working in prosecution bodies, including in managerial positions, as well as strengthening the role of prosecutorial self-government in the procedure for appointing and dismissing the head of the system.
The founder of the sociological company Active Group, Andriy Yeremenko, for his part, drew attention to the fact that society perceives the prosecutor’s office not in isolation, but as part of the broader law enforcement system and the authorities as a whole.
“An ordinary person does not distinguish where the Ministry of Internal Affairs is, where the prosecutor’s office is, where the courts are, and where NABU is. They see that something around them is bad and conclude that the entire law enforcement system is bad. Society wants to see professionals. From the citizens’ point of view, this is a person who has relevant experience and has not been caught in corruption. In the ideal image, experience in the body, involvement in the defense forces, consistency, and a career passed not from the street are important,” he emphasized.
At the same time, he stressed that even when the prosecutor’s office takes positive actions, it often loses the information battle, since society notices scandals better than the internal self-purification of the system.
“When someone in the prosecutor’s office is caught from the outside, it immediately becomes very noticeable and turns into a negative. But internal self-purification remains unnoticed. This is a problem of information work and transparency,” Yeremenko said.
He also emphasized the need for educational work regarding the powers of various state authorities.
“If society does not like the procedure for appointing the prosecutor general, this is a question for the Verkhovna Rada, which must amend the law. One cannot demand from the prosecutor’s office something that does not belong to its competence,” the sociologist noted.
Lawyer and member of parliament of the 4th, 5th and 6th convocations Valeriy Bondyk noted that the prosecutor’s office must remain a professional and independent element of the system of checks and balances.
“The prosecutor’s office in the state has always been a supervisory body, the state’s eye. The system of checks and balances works when there is an independent, strong, qualified and professional prosecutor’s office,” he added.
Bondyk recalled that the Criminal Procedure Code of 2012 was adopted after a broad discussion involving universities, scholars, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the judicial community. At the same time, according to him, certain norms, in particular regarding the mandatory registration of statements in the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations, now create a significant burden on the system.
“The legislator’s idea was understandable: to prevent the concealment of crimes and latent crime. But the practical implementation of this norm gave rise to other problems, because everything automatically gets into the register and a pre-trial investigation begins,” he noted.
He also drew attention to the consequences of the liquidation of the military prosecutor’s office and military courts, which, in his opinion, is especially noticeable under martial law.
“Wartime has shown that it was not necessary to reduce and liquidate military courts and a powerful military prosecutor’s office. There are military personnel, there are military laws, and now we see that these flaws are taking effect,” Bondyk stressed.
At the same time, he positively assessed the readiness of the current leadership of the prosecutor’s office to speak publicly about corruption cases within the system.
“To the credit of the current prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, he does not veil such cases. He honestly and openly says that there are problems, and that the internal inspection or anti-corruption bodies are dealing with them. This is a healthy trend — not to hide problems, but to bring them out so that they do not repeat themselves,” the lawyer said.
Oleksiy Usachov, summing up the discussion, noted that after his appointment Ruslan Kravchenko declared the right tasks regarding the continuation of prosecution reform, but society expects not only declarations, but also practical results.
“The political process in Ukraine is built in such a way that one can declare the best intentions and really want to change the situation, but it may not work out because of political obstacles, a lack of votes, funds, understanding, or personnel. We would not want the word ‘reforms’ to once again become an irritant for society,” he emphasized.
Among the key recommendations voiced as a result of the discussion, the participants named the depoliticization of the procedure for appointing the prosecutor general, ensuring the institutional autonomy of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the real independence of prosecutorial self-government, transparent disciplinary procedures, adequate remuneration for prosecutors, and constant integrity checks not only during competitions but also in the course of work.
Also among the necessary steps, according to the experts, are the institutional strengthening of the area of war crimes investigations, optimization of the staffing structure while improving the quality of work, a clear delimitation of the functions of the Security Service of Ukraine, NABU, the State Bureau of Investigation and other bodies, as well as the real implementation of ethical standards by prosecutors.
ANDRIY YEREMENKO, DISCUSSION, IHOR BONDARCHUK, KYIV REGION, OLEKSIY BAGANETS, OLEKSIY USACHOV, PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE, VALERIY BONDIK
From June 1 to 7, 2026, European countries will carry out Operation ROADPOL Two-Wheelers, aimed at intensifying enforcement against two-wheeled vehicles and micromobility devices.
According to ROADPOL’s 2026 plan, inspections will focus on riders of motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, and electric scooters. The organization notes that these road users are among the most vulnerable, and the popularity of two-wheeled vehicles and light electric mobility devices in Europe continues to grow.
During the checks, police will pay attention to the technical condition of vehicles, protective gear, visibility on the road, and driver behavior. In some countries, checks will also target speeding, dangerous maneuvers, cell phone use while driving, tire condition, unauthorized modifications, as well as alcohol and drugs.
Three main categories will be subject to increased scrutiny: motorcycles and mopeds, bicycles, as well as electric scooters and other light electric vehicles.
ROADPOL is conducting this operation for the second year in a row. In 2025, a pilot operation revealed a high level of violations: for example, in Belgium alone, police inspected 420 electric scooters, 611 mopeds, 5,216 bicycles, and 568 motorcycles, identifying 1,118 violations.
The goal of the campaign is not just to issue fines, but to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries on Europe’s roads.
