On Thursday, July 20, a new package of anti-Russian sanctions came into force, targeting entities and individuals associated with the Russian military-industrial complex, as well as cultural figures who have voiced support for Russian aggression against Ukraine, according to the press service of the Canadian government.
“Canada imposes sanctions against 21 organizations associated with the Russian military-industrial complex, including financial and telecommunications companies,” the statement said.
The list included such companies as MTS, Megafon, Tele2, Tinkoff Bank, Yandex Pay, Beeline, the payment system “Mir” and others.
In addition, sanctions were imposed against 20 individuals associated with the Russian military-industrial complex, including important military figures who were active in Africa and Ukraine, and individuals associated with the Russian nuclear sector.
Separately, a sanctions list was released, including 19 individuals who use their art (music, acting, film) to propagandize the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as individuals from Russia’s cultural and educational sector, including museum directors, who are involved in the damage or total destruction of cultural property. in Ukraine.
They included Ivan Okhlobystin, Nikita Mikhalkov, Phillip Kirkorov, Iosif Prigozhin and others.
In addition, Canada imposed sanctions against four organizations involved in the Kremlin’s efforts to “Russify” Ukrainian culture. This number included the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Besogon LLC and Readovka.ru LLC.
Abnormally hot weather in a number of European countries has started to gradually subside, but it has been replaced by storms in some regions, the EFE agency reports.
For example, a strong storm with hail the size of a tennis ball hit northeastern Italy after the temperature records recorded earlier this week. The bad weather affected the Veneto region, where more than 100 people were affected. The hail also damaged vineyards that grow a type of grape used for Prosecco.
Residents of Croatia and Slovenia also faced the stormy weather. More than 10 people were injured.
Meanwhile, in Greece, the heat wave is not subsiding. Against the background of 40-degree temperatures, firefighters are fighting natural fires near Athens. The operation involves airplanes and helicopters, including those from other European countries. Temperatures are expected to exceed 45 degrees Celsius by the end of the week. The country’s culture ministry has decided to close all archaeological sites to the public, including the Acropolis of Athens, until July 23.
“The hard times are clearly not over yet. We are experiencing a new heat wave and a possible increase in winds, so extreme vigilance and preparedness is required over the next few days,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.
The island of Rhodes declared a state of emergency on Thursday, with locals in some mountainous areas being evacuated.
The heat wave continues to intensify on the other mainland. In the U.S., extremely high temperatures are recorded for this time of year. The increased level of danger is announced in many states, in total, such a warning affected a third of the population of the country. In Las Vegas in the coming days expect a record high of 47 degrees Celsius.
The cooperation between the Kyiv Boxing Federation and the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture opens up new opportunities for the comprehensive development of students. This partnership is a model of how the academic and sports worlds can come together to achieve a common goal. This opinion was expressed by Oleksandr Nehoda, President of the Kyiv Boxing Federation, and Petro Kulikov, Rector of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency in Kyiv on Thursday.
According to Oleksandr Nehoda, the state’s support of Ukrainian athletes at international competitions is insufficient.
“The state and the Ministry (of Youth and Sports – ed.) allocate funds, and there is also support for young athletes through universities, but this is usually not enough. When we were preparing to participate in the European Games, the funding for meals per day per athlete was 410 hryvnias. With such funds, it is impossible to follow a specialized sports diet. Therefore, we (Kyiv Boxing Federation – ed.) had to purchase a significant part of the food on our own. The same applies to other supplies for the athletes,” Nehoda emphasized.
According to the KFB President, the problem of financing high-quality training of athletes requires a systematic approach from both the state and private sponsors and patrons.
In his turn, the rector of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Petro Kulikov, emphasized that his university has created a unique system of support for youth sports and healthy lifestyles, and is improving its sports infrastructure.
“In recent years, KNUBA has hosted several major boxing tournaments among youth and juniors. In addition, we have developed a unique system of cooperation with the Kyiv Boxing Federation and provide premises and training facilities for both accommodation and training of young athletes. To this end, when we opened the stadium, we also opened a hotel with 50 beds to accommodate athletes from different regions of Ukraine,” he said.
Mr. Kulikov also emphasized that cooperation with sports federations should be one of the main areas of development for Ukrainian universities. This is due to both the need to popularize sports and healthy lifestyles among young people and the need to create a strong training base for Ukrainian athletes to participate in international competitions.
“Thanks to our cooperation with federations, sports such as football, basketball and boxing have begun to reach students on a large scale. My fellow rectors and I are doing our best to develop sports in our educational institutions, hold competitions and build sports facilities even in this difficult time,” the rector summarized.
Oleksandr Nehoda added that thanks to Kulikov’s initiative and the existing infrastructure, KNUBA managed to keep many promising boxers in Ukraine, including the Ukrainian youth champion Bohdan Gorgol, who won all his fights ahead of schedule.
“During all of our recent tournaments, we have been proving to both juniors and their parents that the educational and sports facilities created at KNUBA allow not only boxing, but also high-quality higher education, as KNUBA provides preferential admission to students of our boxing school. So, this year 15 of our boys and girls became students. In addition, it is interesting that the leaders of the Kyiv team today are largely from other regions of Ukraine, who, thanks to the KNUBA facilities, can both study and develop in boxing,” Nehoda emphasized.
In his opinion, the development of student boxing is of utmost importance, as this sport is the foundation of both Olympic and professional boxing.
BOXING, KNUBA, KYIV BOXING FEDERATION, SPORTS, ОЛЕКСАНДР_НЕГОДА, ПЕТРО_КУЛІКОВ
“Chateau Chizay Wine Company” (Beregovo, Transcarpathian region) has launched a new cognac and grape drink production plant in Beregovsky district of Transcarpathian region, said the first deputy head of the regional military administration (OVA) Miroslav Biletsky.
“The launch of such an enterprise during the war is a powerful signal for everyone around. For Zakarpattians – despite objective circumstances – new jobs are opening in the region, for investors – our region is working and developing despite everything. This is important for the economy of the region, because the enterprise will regularly pay taxes and fill the budget. After all, this is another tourist and image bait, which will attract connoisseurs of quality Ukrainian product to Transcarpathia”, – he wrote in Facebook.
It is indicated that the production capacity of the enterprise will consist of an alcohol storage facility with a capacity of 600 thousand liters, distillation department – 1800 liters per day. For aging of strong drinks 60 oak barrels have been installed, and there are plans to increase them up to 300. The raw material base will be the vineyard, for which 2 hectares have been allocated.
The new plant has become a part of the winemaking complex of the enterprise, covering three vineyards, primary and secondary grape processing facilities, wine storage, laboratory and offices.
“The highlight of the new drink is that it will be aged in barrels from under wines, including the well-known far beyond the borders of Transcarpathia “Rose of Carpathians”, – added Biletsky.
Winery complex “Chateau Chizai” was founded in 1995 in the tract Chizai, near the town of Beregovo in Transcarpathia. The winery has its own raw material base – 272 hectares of vineyards, annually produces 1.3 million bottles of wine from their harvest and stores in its own cellar 250 barrels of original Transcarpathian wines.
In 2022, the net profit of LLC “Chateau Chizay” decreased to UAH 4.31 million from UAH 69.78 million a year earlier, the revenue of the company – to UAH 4.31 million from UAH 6.92 million.
The ultimate beneficiary of the company is a US citizen Gutman Hugo, who owns 100% of shares.
The European Union has fully exempted imports of agricultural products from Moldova from duties and quotas, extending and expanding the current temporary preferential treatment.
“The extension and expansion of the (preferential) measures aims to further expand the existing trade flows from Moldova to the EU, and this will support the Moldovan economy,” said Hector Gomez Hernandez – Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism of Spain, which holds the presidency of the Council of the EU until the end of the year.
He emphasized that Thursday’s EU Council decision is particularly important given the ongoing military actions in Ukraine, as well as the fact that Moldova was granted EU candidate status a year ago.
Trade between the EU and Moldova is mostly liberalized under the 2014 Association Agreement. Duties were imposed on imports of only seven products to the EU: plums, table grapes, apples, tomatoes, garlic, cherries and grape juice. Introduced a year ago and valid until July 24, the preferential regime provides duty-free quotas for these products. The current decision suspends all remaining tariff rate quotas (TRQs) for one year.
The preferential treatment of imports from Moldova of the said products will entail a loss of EU customs revenues, but it will amount to about 0.3 million euros per year, so its impact on the Union budget will be “very limited,” the press release said.
The measures are expected to help Moldova further reorient its exports to the EU. Overall, its volume is set to increase from €1.8 billion in 2021 to €2.6 billion in 2022.
Ireland’s Ryanair, Europe’s largest budget airline, announced a commitment to resume flights to/from Ukraine at low fares within 8 weeks of the opening of Ukrainian airspace and plans to deploy up to 30 new Boeing 737 MAXs to Kiev, Lviv and Odessa at a cost of over $3 billion.
“Ryanair was Ukraine’s second largest airline until Russia’s illegal invasion in February 2022. As soon as the skies over Ukraine are reopened to commercial aviation, Ryanair will return to Ukraine, connecting Ukraine’s main airports to more than 20 EU capitals,” a Ryanair press release quoted the airline’s chief executive Michael O’Leary as saying following his visit to Kiev on Thursday.
It is indicated that after the end of hostilities and as soon as the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announces the safety of flights from/to Ukraine, the airline is ready to operate up to 600 flights per week. In addition, Ryanair plans to open daily flights between Kiev, Lviv and Odessa as soon as the airports are ready.
Executive Director of Ryanair reminded that before the war, the airline served airports in Kharkiv and Kherson and intends to return to them as soon as their infrastructure is restored after the end of hostilities.
It is noted that the airline plans to reach more than 5 million passenger seats on its flights from/to Ukraine in the first 12 months of operation and intends to grow that number to 10 million seats within five years.
“The fastest way to reshape and rebuild the Ukrainian economy is through low-cost air travel. Ryanair intends to invest heavily in Ukraine, leading the aviation recovery. In particular, (the airline) will invest up to $3 billion by deploying up to 30 new Boeing MAX airplanes at Ukraine’s three main airports in Kiev, Lviv and Odessa,” said O’Leary.
Ryanair also recalled that it has employed hundreds of Ukrainian pilots, cabin crew and IT specialists and is ready to create thousands of new jobs for Ukrainians in aviation immediately after the end of the war.
“Ukraine is a country of 40 million people, many of whom have been scattered across Europe as a result of Russia’s illegal invasion. We look forward to reuniting these families, with Ryanair’s affordable fares, as soon as it is safe to do so. Ryanair’s low fares will be critical to Ukraine’s economic recovery,” O’Leary said.
During his visit to Kiev on Thursday, he met with Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov, as well as representatives of airports in Kiev, Lviv and Odessa.
Kubrakov emphasized that maintaining the performance of aviation infrastructure and the professional qualifications of personnel remains a vital task in war conditions.
“Meanwhile, the resumption of flights will be possible as soon as the security situation allows. However, we are already working on solutions and investment plans that will allow us to get airplanes in the air quickly,” he said, expressing gratitude for specific proposals and solutions from Ryanair, “Ukraine’s faithful partner.”
Boryspil Airport CEO Oleksiy Dubrevskiy, who was recently approved by the government in this position, added that the visit of Ryanair’s top management to Boryspil Airport is a strong signal that Europe’s largest airline sees huge potential in the Ukrainian air transportation market.
“I firmly believe that Boryspil airport will remain the main air gateway for our citizens to return to Ukraine and will continue to play a leading role in the recovery of the Ukrainian economy,” Dubrevskyy said.
Three weeks before the full-scale invasion, O’Leary announced plans for a major expansion into Ukraine “if Russia does not attack” ahead of the Open Skies agreement with the EU coming into force. It was about the deployment of 15-20 airplanes in the country in five airports of the country.
In addition, Ryanair had time to announce 13 new routes from Ukraine in the summer schedule of 2022, under which the airline planned to fly from Ukraine on a total of 90 routes.
As reported, Ukraine completely closed its airspace to civilian aircraft on February 24, 2022.
In April this year, O’Leary said Ryanair was ready to quickly resume operations in Ukraine when it was safe to fly again, having opened 30 routes and built several bases in a year. “We could be flying there (to Ukraine) in about two weeks. We are actively looking for ways and looking for where we can get back to Ukraine,” O’Leary said at the time. He specified that the company employs about 60 Ukrainian pilots and about 80 crew members, who are mostly stationed at Ryanair bases in Poland waiting for the market to open.
