Ukraine plans to complete the sowing campaign this year on June 5-10, good weather in May allowed to catch up the lag in April, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotsky said on the air of a single telethon on Saturday.
“If you look in general, we see that 85%, even closer to 90% of the plan set at 13 million hectares have already been implemented, that is, literally in early June, 5-10 June, the sowing season will be completely completed,” he said.
Vysotsky specified that sowing of early spring crops, such as spring wheat, barley, peas, oats, has already been completed, as well as sowing of sugar beet in the amount greater than last year.
“Sugar will be produced more than enough,” said the first deputy head of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
According to him, sowing of late crops – sunflower, soybean and also, partially, corn – is still going on.
“This year the share of oilseeds, namely soybeans, sunflower and rapeseed has increased. It is connected, first of all, with expensive logistics, respectively, the change of crop rotation for the crops, which have a higher price per ton, per unit of the proceeds,” – explained Vysotsky.
He clarified that at present the sowing season in some places lags behind the average statistical forecast up to one and a half to two weeks, but so far it is not critical.
The first deputy minister said that the first two decades of June will be critical. “Preliminarily colleagues from the Hydrometeorological Center say that such short, but quite intense rains should still fall in this period … We hope that for the growing season the next two decades it will still rain all over Ukraine”, – said Vysotsky.
Friday, May 26, at the Ukrainian Investment Forum in Copenhagen, it was announced the launch of a Danish investment fund social program for Ukraine totaling DKK 1 billion, which is about $133 million, the press service of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine reported.
“Denmark is one of the leaders in financial assistance to Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion the total military support amounted to $1.4 billion and the total humanitarian aid, including macrofinancial assistance – $212 million. The Ukrainian government highly appreciates Danish support and looks forward to deepening bilateral cooperation and further involving Danish businesses in the reconstruction projects in Ukraine. Thus, special investment fund, created for Ukraine, will finance projects with the use of the best Danish technologies and innovative solutions and will be available for both public and private sectors”, – noted the First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko.
As Deputy Minister of Economy Alexander Griban noted, the main cooperation between Ukraine and Denmark is establishment of mutually beneficial relations, when Ukrainian companies not only import Danish products, but also localize the production of such products in Ukraine.
“We are interested in Danish technologies and we see big prospect in application and localization of Danish companies in Ukraine in priority branches. In particular, these are renewable energy, construction materials, technologies of municipal economy renovation as well as defense and dual-purpose technologies”, he said.
In addition, the forum announced funding approval of two pilot projects in the field of agriculture and agro-processing. The question is about the affected companies of the southern region – “Nibulon”, which will receive a credit of 25 mln Euros, and “Agrofusion” – 15 mln Euros. Also, loans will be granted to agricultural companies located near the front line in Mykolayiv, which will restore the destroyed production facilities, buying equipment from Danish exporters.
According to Griban, the Danish fund will not only provide financial guarantees, but will also directly carry out lending, which puts it on a separate level of financial institutions that have opened their programs for Ukraine. Also, the Danish government plans to significantly increase the limits and expand the financial assistance program for Ukraine.
“We don’t have to wait for the war to stop. We would like to attract Danish business in the early stages of Ukraine’s recovery. We must act and support the Ukrainian economy,” stressed Morten Bedskov, Minister of Entrepreneurship of Denmark.
The YouTube channel of the Kiev analytical center “Club of Experts” has released a new video in which the founder of the project, PhD in Economics Maksim Urakin and the editor-in-chief of the “Ukraine in Arabic” portal Mohammad Farajallah forecast the results of the upcoming second round of presidential elections in Turkey and also analyzed possible developments after the end of the vote.
According to the experts, the incumbent president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has much more chances to win than his rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, the leader of the united opposition. This prediction is due both to the behavior of the top politicians themselves before and after the first round of elections, as well as the position of third-place winner Sinan Ogan, who has already expressed his support for Erdoğan with 5 percent of the vote.
“Erdoğan conducted his election campaign well by not engaging in open polemics with the opposition on earthquake relief, democracy development and the economic situation. Instead, he focused voters’ attention on the themes of security and the “dignity of the nation” as well as Islamic identity. In addition, the increase in wages and the cancellation of utility bills on the eve of the election also played a role “- says Mohammad Farajallah.
According to the expert, these actions also helped Erdoğan win over nationalist forces, whose single candidate, Sinan Oğan, openly supported the incumbent president on the eve of the second round.
“The opposition, on the contrary, started to behave rather nervously after the first round, which was mainly reflected in Kemal Kilicdaroglu’s aggressive rhetoric with regard to the Syrian refugees who received Turkish passports under the social programs initiated by Erdogan,” he stressed.
In his turn, Maksim Urakin noted that Turkish voters were generally disappointed by Kylicdaroglu’s rhetoric as they expected concrete programs of economic and political actions from the opposition alliance after the elections.
“No specifics were heard from the opposition regarding social support for youth, the older generation, support for entrepreneurs and normalization of the situation in the economy,” says Maxim Urakin.
In his opinion, expectations of Kılıçdaroğlu’s victory already in the first round were somewhat “overheated” by a number of opinion polls, which predicted this candidate a serious advantage over Erdoğan (up to 5-7%), but were subsequently not confirmed at the elections themselves.
At the same time, according to experts, there is still a serious split among Turks with regard to the policy of the current president, and Erdoğan, if he wins the elections, will have to work hard to consolidate society within a single national consensus.
See more in the video on the Club of Experts channel at the link:
Subscribe to the Club of Experts channel here:
ELECTIONS, ERDOĞAN, EXPERTS_CLUB, MOHAMMAD_FORPJALLAH, TURKEY
An earthquake with a magnitude of 2.7 was recorded in the Poltava region on May 26 at 21:38, the epicenter was in the Reshitilovsky district, the website of the Main Special Control Center of the National System of Seismic Observations reported.
“In the Poltava region recorded an earthquake with a magnitude of 2.7. The epicenter of the earthquake is located in Reshitilovsky district, Poltava region, to the west of Poltava, at a depth of 7 km. According to the classification of earthquakes is classified as barely perceptible. Fluctuations can be felt only by individuals who are in a quiet state inside, especially on the upper floors”, – stated in the message.
It is noted that similar in strength earthquakes in the Poltava region have been previously recorded, in particular, the last of them was on January 14, 2023 with a magnitude of 2.7, and on October 3, 2022 with a magnitude of 3.4.
“Ukrzaliznytsia” introduces a new schedule of trains for the summer season-2023 from June 10, according to the Odessa City Council.
“In the new schedule, railroad workers have provided for a new train #148/147 Kiev – Odessa, which will run through Cherkassy,” the Odessa City Council said in a message in the Telegram channel on Saturday.
In addition, the following Ukrzaliznytsia trains extended the route:
№105/106 Odessa – Kiev – Odessa optionally will follow to and from Sumy station, which will allow Sumy residents to reach the seaside city by a direct flight with a convenient time of arrival in Odessa;
№53/54 Odessa – Dnipro – Odessa will optionally be able to run to and from Zaporizhzhia according to the new schedule.
Ukraine has received about 90,000 tons of in-kind aid, such as equipment and medicines, through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism since the start of the Russian invasion, DW reported.
“This is by far the most complex, the most extensive and the longest operation under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in the history of its existence,” said European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič, quoted by the newspaper.
He said assistance was provided with food, medicine, vehicles, generators, transformers and equipment to repair power grids and other critical infrastructure.
“We even delivered items such as sunflower seeds and equipment to protect cultural monuments,” Lenarcic said.
In addition, more than two thousand patients and wounded from Ukraine have been treated in more than 20 EU countries, the commissioner added.
Ukraine officially joined the EU Civil Protection Mechanism on April 20, 2023. Within the framework of this mechanism, the EU states and other countries cooperate in preparedness and response to crises and disasters.
Thanks to the Mechanism, Ukraine has received assistance before, just like any other country in the world following a request. As a member of the Mechanism, Ukraine will have access to expert exchanges, training programs and exercises, and will be able to provide assistance to countries in crisis.
