U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Marisa Lago arrived in Kyiv on Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said.
“Welcome to Kyiv, Deputy Secretary of Commerce Lago! Today, we will meet with the business community, entrepreneurs, and government officials to discuss how the U.S. private sector can get involved in supporting Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the ambassador wrote on social media.
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo, links the statement to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau about his alleged criminal offense to the case of the company’s purchase of bulletproof vests at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“This is an old, dead case of bulletproof vests that the company purchased at the request of the National Guard in early March 2022. We found several hundred bulletproof vests of class 4 at a price of UAH 16.4 thousand including VAT. At that time, it was significantly lower than the prices at which others were buying,” Kudrytskyi said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv on Friday.
According to him, apart from Ukrenergo, there are no claims against anyone, and from time to time “nameless political analysts” revive the case: either by throwing it into the media space or by writing statements to have the NPC checked once again.
The company’s CEO added that he treats this as an attempt to create an information throw-in and believes that “the case has not had and will not have any prospects in law enforcement agencies or in courts.”
Kudrytskyi suggested that the reason for his discrediting as the head of the company may be the active involvement of Ukrenergo in international financing, which has exceeded EUR 1.5 billion since the beginning of the full-scale war.
“Alternatively, some people are not satisfied with the EUR 1.5 billion of financing we have attracted since the beginning of the war. Maybe there are other reasons. In my opinion, this is just white noise,” said the head of the system operator.
Answering Energoreforma’s question about the reaction of international partners to the information about a possible criminal offense, Kudrytskyi noted that there was none. “Western partners have not reacted in any way.
There is no need to make any judgments. Trust is determined not by words, but by facts, and our partners have entrusted us with EUR1.5 billion, which is several times or even ten times more than any other company,” he said.
At the same time, Kudrytskyi emphasized that each artificial media attack leads to additional difficulties in attracting much-needed additional financial resources for the power system.
“The people who do this pursue their own selfish interests and, most likely, corrupt interests, but ultimately harm the interests of the state,” summarized the CEO of Ukrenergo.
The High Anti-Corruption Court, by its ruling of July 17, 2024, ordered the authorized persons of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to enter information about a criminal offense into the Unified Register of Pre-trial Investigations (URPI) at the request of the person indicated in the ruling as person No. 6, dated June 28, 2024. The ruling states that the applicant raised the issue of possible criminal offenses committed by the Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo. The court notes that such a statement must be entered into the URPTI within 24 hours of its submission.
As reported, on June 26, the Security Service and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine announced that they had exposed the head of one of the departments of NPC Ukrenergo, who is no longer employed by the company, for corruption during the purchase of bulletproof vests.
According to the investigation, this purchase resulted in budget losses of over UAH 10 million. The issue of choosing a measure of restraint against the suspect is being decided.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, NPC Ukrenergo has attracted more than EUR 1.5 billion in international financing in the form of loans and grants, half of which was used to restore and reconstruct the grids. Another 24% was used to build passive protection, and 34% to maintain market liquidity. The largest amount of funding was provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) – EUR670 million. Another EUR324 million was received with the support of the German state development bank KfW, EUR224 million – from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and EUR136 million – from the European Investment Bank (EIB). July 18 NPC Ukrenergo and KfW agree on a EUR100 million grant. July 23 The EIB Group announces that it plans to allocate EUR86 million to Ukrenergo for the construction of drone shelters.
26 laboratories of the well-known medical chain Eskulab have suspended their work due to an internal conflict between the company’s co-owners. According to Serhiy Dyadyushko, one of the brand’s co-owners, his colleagues Denys Melnyk and Stanislav Luhovskyi, along with software administrator Igor Malinovsky, are committing illegal actions to gain full control over the company.
“Melnyk and Luhovskyi have repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the official cash accounting. Their actions are aimed at gaining control over Eskulab in order to gain full access to its financial flows, to further direct them into their own hands, outside the official accounting and without paying taxes,” says Sergiy Dyadyushko.
He also claims that other co-owners offered to spend a significant portion of the cash outside the cash register and distribute it without paying taxes.
“They offered to spend the lion’s share of the funds received outside the cash accounting and distribute them without paying taxes among the company’s members. I categorically disagreed with such proposals and repeatedly informed them of my rejection of illegal actions. In this regard, Melnyk and Luhovskyi launched a raider attack to exclude me from the company’s shareholders by depriving me of my share,” said Diadiushko.
According to Dyadyushko, the raider attack included the systematic convening of general meetings of participants in violation of the established procedure, which led to the artificial creation of preconditions for his exclusion from the company. Melnyk and Luhovskyi also involved employees of the Lviv Directorate of Ukrposhta to ensure that he did not receive notices of the meeting.
“I have appealed to law enforcement agencies and am preparing documents to go to court. Despite constant psychological pressure and threats, I was forced to agree to resign as director and sign a new version of the charter to prevent my exclusion from the company,” he said.
This situation led to a temporary paralyzation of 26 laboratories of the Eskulab network in Kyiv, which negatively affected the provision of medical services to the population.
“As of today, having gained control over Eskulab, as a result of consistent raider actions, Melnyk and Luhovskyi, as well as Malinowski, who administers the software (computer program) of the company on the basis of which the latter conducts its business activities, have blocked me as a participant and medical director of Eskulab access to the said program and jointly withdraw cash from the company without paying taxes monthly in the amount of about UAH 20,000,000 Such actions of these persons lead to the actual non-receipt of biological products by the state budget. Because of this, 26 biomaterial collection points in Kyiv are actually unable to carry out their activities,” emphasizes the co-owner of the company.
Sergiy Dyadyushko considers these actions to be nothing more than a raider attack aimed at depriving him of his share in Eskulab.
“They demanded that I either resign as a director or they would exclude me from the company’s shareholders. The case has now been referred to law enforcement agencies. We are also preparing documents to go to court to restore my legal rights,” Dyadyushko said.
Established in 2009, Eskulab is a leading medical laboratory in western Ukraine that provides a wide range of laboratory services to the public with four laboratories and more than 150 biological sampling points.
In 2023, Eskulab paid UAH 33.8 million in taxes, including UAH 14.97 million in unified social tax, UAH 1.33 million in military duty, and UAH 14.034 million in personal income tax. It is one of the ten largest taxpayers in Lviv region.
The co-founders of PE “PSML ‘Eskulab’ are Dyadyushko, who owns 43% of the company, Luhovskyi (43%) and Melnyk (14%). The co-founders of Eskulab Center LLC are Dyadyushko, Luhovskyi and Melnyk, who each own 20% of the company, and Ruslana Soltani, who owns 40%.
China intends to increase grain imports from Ukraine and will support the smooth operation of logistics channels, assured Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Wang Yi at a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
“In recent years, China has been Ukraine’s largest trading partner and largest exporter of agricultural products. The volume of bilateral trade has shown rapid growth in the first half of this year, demonstrating the space and potential for cooperation between the two countries,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s press service quoted him as saying.
The Chinese minister emphasized that both sides should fully realize the role of the cooperation mechanism and strengthen practical cooperation in various fields.
“China will continue to expand grain imports from Ukraine and jointly maintain uninterrupted logistics channels and international food security,” Wang Yi assured.
“Ukraine hopes to jointly implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen political mutual trust, intensify cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade and agriculture, and strengthen exchanges between local sister cities,” the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said.
Kuleba assured that Ukraine highly appreciates China’s positive and constructive role in ensuring peace and maintaining international order. Ukraine also attaches great importance to China’s opinion on the political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
Ukraine is willing and ready to engage in dialogue and negotiations with Russia. Of course, the negotiations should be reasonable and substantive, aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace,” the Ukrainian minister summarized.
Components of state budget expenditures in 2021-2024, UAH billion
Source: Open4Business.com.ua
Exports of goods from Ukraine in June 2024 decreased by 7% compared to a year earlier and amounted to $2.77 billion, the lowest figure since the beginning of this year, the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) reported on Tuesday.
According to the IER’s monitoring of foreign trade, exports of agricultural products decreased by 2% to $1.60 billion, but exports of its components developed differently: corn exports increased by 12% (21% in physical terms), while exports of wheat and oil decreased by 32% and 5%, respectively.
In June, exports of metallurgy products fell by over 9% y-o-y to $355 m. The IER believes that this likely reflected higher energy costs and a change in the structure of exports: exports of pig iron and certain types of rolled products decreased, while exports of semi-finished and other products increased.
In addition, exports of mineral products, primarily iron ore, increased by 33%, but were lower than in January-April 2024.
The IER emphasized that due to the resumption of exports from Odesa ports, the volume of iron ore exports in tons increased by 87% in June, although it was lower than in previous months due to a shortage of electricity.
Exports of mineral products grew by only 33%.
As for imports, they remained almost unchanged in June compared to May, but increased by 12% to $5.63 billion by the same period in 2023.
In terms of sectors, imports of machinery and equipment increased by almost 20% year-on-year in June 2024 (especially imports of drones, batteries, and generators), while imports of cars decreased slightly in dollar terms due to lower import prices.
Imports of energy products increased by 16% yoy due to higher imports of coke and coal, likely to meet the needs of the metallurgy sector, which increased steel production.
At the same time, imports of chemicals and food products decreased.
It is noted that the greatest impact was the growth of imports of “other goods” (primarily purchased for the needs of the Armed Forces) – under this category, goods worth $752 million were imported to Ukraine ($400 million in the previous months of the year).
As explained by the IER, the shortage of electricity led to an increase in its imports – from $6 million in June 2023 to $78 million in June 2024, as well as batteries – from $18 million a year earlier to $68 million in June 2024.
