Due to the Russian cyberattack, all registration activities in Ukraine are unavailable, about 25 state registries have been suspended, and the consequences of the attack on the registries will become fully clear after the registry resumes its work, said Alexander Keyer, managing partner of RI Group law firm.
“As a result of the massive cyberattack, about 25 state registries have been suspended to some extent, which has practically paralyzed a significant part of the processes in various areas of business and citizens’ lives. Almost all activities requiring data from state registries have been put on hold, in particular, all registration activities are unavailable,” he explained to Interfax-Ukraine.
Mr. Keyer noted that the situation is primarily a problem “for real estate-related activities, as it is impossible to conduct transactions with real estate – no sale and purchase agreements, lease, gift, mortgage agreements, no pledges, seizure of property, prohibition on alienation of property, etc.”
“Businesses and citizens are forced to simply postpone these actions until the state registries are restored to proper operation,” he said.
Mr. Keyer clarified that all legal and notarial actions requiring access to state registries are not carried out until the registries are restored.
“Notaries have stopped performing most notarial acts related to the need to use the real estate/movable property registers, but continue to provide services that do not require verification of data from the registers, such as registration of wills and amendments thereto, certification of signatures, certification of copies of documents, etc.” he said.
At the same time, Keyer noted that businesses are currently unable to carry out registration activities in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, in particular, it is impossible to register a change of manager, members of legal entities, or change of authorized capital.
In addition, due to the cyberattack, the provision of registration services related to the change of ownership of vehicles, except for the initial registration of vehicles (new and imported from abroad), was suspended by the service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
“Both businesses and citizens have no choice but to postpone actions that are now impossible until the registries are up and running. There is currently no clear and verified information on the leakage and destruction of critical data from the registers. Therefore, the consequences of the attack on the registries will become fully clear after the registry is restored and will largely depend on how critical the damage to the registries is,” he said.
Keyer believes that, for example, after access to the State Register of Real Property Rights is restored, “it is quite likely that data will disappear from the register or that information on the owners of real estate, the seizure or pledge of these objects, etc. will change.”
“This situation creates certain opportunities for various types of fraudulent activities with real estate. In this regard, after restoring access to the registers, we strongly recommend that you thoroughly check the information in the registers and, in case of detection of disappearance, change or other actions with the information, immediately take appropriate measures to protect your violated rights and interests,” the lawyer emphasized.
As reported, on December 19, the Ministry of Justice announced a large-scale failure at the level of the network infrastructure serving state registries due to a cyberattack by the Russian Federation on state registries under the competence of the Ministry of Justice. According to Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, the time for priority restoration will be approximately two weeks. First of all, the State Register of Civil Status Acts, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, and the State Register of Real Property Rights and Encumbrances will be restored.
On December 20, Stefanyshyna said that all data in the registers would be restored, but it would take some time, and that no personal data leakage had been confirmed.
Sales of Apple Inc. smartphones will be high during the Christmas period and will reach a record high in fiscal year 2025, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives predicts.
Ives believes that hundreds of millions of people around the world will upgrade their iPhones to the latest model with built-in AI functions in the coming months. According to his estimates, almost 300 million iPhone owners have not updated their smartphones in the last four years or more.
According to the analyst’s forecast, sales of new iPhones in the current fiscal year, which will end in September, will reach a record 240 million units. The consensus forecast of experts surveyed by FactSet suggests that this figure will be 207.6 million iPhones, Market Watch writes.
“We believe that the success of iPhone 16 sales this holiday season will be the beginning of a revival in Apple’s growth over the next 12-18 months, given the current quarter,” Ives said in a note to clients.
The AI features of the new iPhones are not yet available in China and many other countries, but they may be launched in April, Ives said. At the same time, the company can name its new technology partner in China.
The expert estimates that almost 100 million iPhones in China may be updated this year.
Ives is confident that Apple will become the first company to exceed $4 trillion in capitalization, and he expects this to happen in early 2025. Currently, Apple’s market value is $3.86 trillion, up 32.6% since the beginning of this year. The company’s shares rose 0.1% in pre-market trading on Tuesday to $255.6.
Ives reiterated an “outperform” recommendation for Apple shares and a $300 price target.
On December 24, Zaporizhzhia utility Zapoprozhelektrotrans announced a tender for compulsory insurance of civil liability of owners of land vehicles, according to the Prozorro electronic public procurement system.
The expected cost of the services is UAH 423.3 thousand.
The tender proposal is not required to be secured.
The deadline for submitting bids is January 1.
As reported, the winner of a similar tender a year earlier was VUSO Insurance Company.
Ukraine has received $1 billion from Japan and the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
“The tranche was received under the guarantees of the governments of these countries under the World Bank’s DPL program,” Shmyhal wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to him, the funds will be used to strengthen the Ukrainian economy and finance priority expenditures in the social and humanitarian spheres.
About 2 million artillery shells will be produced in the EU in 2025, the newly appointed European Commissioner for Defense and Space, Andrius Kubilius, told Hromadske.
Answering a question about whether Europe has enough production capacity to increase military aid to Ukraine, the official noted that only 20-25% of weapons are produced in the EU, and the rest are bought abroad. According to Kubilius, increasing arms production in the EU requires orders from European governments, which are lacking, and without long-term contracts with arms manufacturers, Europe should not be expected to produce more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine in the coming years.
“Money from the EU budget cannot be used to purchase weapons for Ukraine. There are a number of restrictions on investment in the defense industry outside the EU. However, money from the European Peace Fund or frozen Russian assets can be used to purchase weapons,” the European Commissioner said.
At the same time, Kubilius explains, next year Ukraine will receive about EUR 30 billion from the EU and will decide how much of this amount to use for defense purposes. The EU is currently implementing a new mechanism to integrate the Ukrainian military-industrial complex into the European defense industry.
The final communiqué of the EU summit held on December 18-19 emphasizes that the European Council “plans to intensify its efforts to further support and develop Ukraine’s defense industry and deepen its cooperation with the EU defense industry.”
One of the largest grain market operators in Ukraine, Nibulon JV LLC, intends to focus on systematic demining of agricultural land and waterways in 2025, the agricultural holding’s press service reported on Facebook.
“First of all, we are going to work with the authorities to develop a new approach to creating arrays of plots for all stages of land clearance: from non-technical surveys to mechanized and manual demining. In addition, together with the demining community, we are working to improve mine action processes and increase the availability of technical inspection equipment, etc. All of this will make the demining process faster, more efficient and more accessible for Ukraine,” said Mykhailo Rizak, Director of Government Relations.
“Nibulon is also planning to expand the certification of its demining unit to a full cycle, including explosive ordnance disposal and underwater demining.
“We continue to invest in development and are ready to provide services to everyone,” said Rizak.
He emphasized that Nibulon is ready to continue demining Ukrainian agricultural land and waterways, but would like to receive the government support it has already earned.
“We draw the state’s attention to the fact that we have not yet received reimbursement for the demining projects we have already implemented,” he stated.
Nibulon JV LLC was established in 1991. Prior to the Russian military invasion, the grain trader had 27 transshipment terminals and crop reception complexes, capacity for simultaneous storage of 2.25 million tons of agricultural products, a fleet of 83 vessels (including 23 tugs), and owned the Mykolaiv Shipyard.
“Before the war, Nibulon cultivated 82 thousand hectares of land in 12 regions of Ukraine and exported agricultural products to more than 70 countries. In 2021, the grain trader exported the highest ever 5.64 million tons of agricultural products, reaching record volumes of supplies to foreign markets in August – 0.7 million tons, in the fourth quarter – 1.88 million tons, and in the second half of the year – 3.71 million tons.
Nibulon’s losses due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion in 2022 exceeded $416 million.
Currently, the grain trader is operating at 32% of capacity, has created a special unit to clear agricultural land of mines, and was forced to move its headquarters from Mykolaiv to Kyiv.
