Applications are now being accepted for the 16th International Cyprus Short Film Festival, which will take place October 10–16, 2026, in Limassol (Republic of Cyprus), according to the Ukrainian State Film Agency.
The State Film Agency noted that the festival aims to promote the art of cinema by screening short films from around the world, as well as to support the work of filmmakers and the development of contemporary cinematic language.
Short films in five categories are accepted for the international competition program: fiction, documentary, experimental, student, and animated. The duration of the films must not exceed 30 minutes.
Applications for participation can be submitted until May 2, 2026, via the online platforms ShortFilmDepot or FilmFreeway.
It is noted that the Cyprus International Short Film Festival is part of the European Film Academy’s network of partner festivals and, since 2019, has had the right to nominate one film for the European Film Academy Award.
International film festivals regularly open submissions for directors from various countries, giving young filmmakers the opportunity to present their work to the international professional community.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers has increased the number of deputy heads of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema to three.
The Ministry of Economy, Ecology, and Agriculture of Ukraine will resume accepting applications for grants for the development of horticulture, berry growing, viticulture, and greenhouse farming on February 2, 2026. Documents will be submitted through the Diya portal. The total budget for the program in 2026 is $465 million, according to the ministry’s press service.
“We are resuming one of the important programs to support farmers — grants for orchards and greenhouses. This is not short-term assistance, but an investment in the development of the agricultural sector, the creation of jobs in communities, and the improvement of production sustainability. (…) Our goal is to support producers, stimulate the creation of value-added products, and ensure the sustainable development of rural areas, especially in the context of war and post-war recovery,” emphasized Taras Vysotsky, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.
The Ministry of Economy specified that grants for orchards will be available for planting and developing plantations ranging from 1 to 25 hectares. The maximum amount of support is up to UAH 10 million per recipient, but no more than UAH 400,000 per hectare. Grants for greenhouses are provided for the construction of modular greenhouses with an area of 0.4 to 2.4 hectares. The size of the grant will depend on the area: 0.4-0.6 hectares – up to UAH 2 million, 0.8-1.2 hectares – up to UAH 3.5 million, 1.6-2.4 hectares – up to UAH 7 million.
For projects in frontline and deoccupied territories, the state may cover up to 80% of the project cost. The project must be implemented on land whose ownership or use rights have been confirmed for at least seven years.
The Agro-Region agricultural holding has created a mobile application for working with land lease agreements, according to a Facebook post by the holding’s press service.
The land department of Agro-Region noted that daily work with a large number of contracts required a solution that would reduce the time spent searching for and processing them.
“We had to ensure quick access to contracts in the field and synchronization with the ERP system. This became a key task during development. The application was created by the company’s internal specialists. During the work, we used artificial intelligence tools, in particular JetBrains AI Assistant. AI accelerated some of the processes, but the architectural solutions and logic were formed in accordance with business requirements. This allowed us to obtain a simple and reliable tool,” explained Vadym Yanchuk, CIO of the Agro-Region group of companies, whose words are quoted in the report.
The application allows you to work offline, conduct contract inventory, transfer and accept contracts between employees, automatically generate transfer acts in ERP, scan QR codes on contracts for instant access, search for contracts by name, cadastral number, or other parameters, according to the release.
“The application has become part of the digital transformation of the land department. Its implementation has reduced operational time costs, increased the accuracy of contract processing, and optimized interaction between departments,” the agricultural holding noted.
Agro-Region agricultural holding owns a land bank of 39,000 hectares in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Zhytomyr, and Khmelnytskyi regions. It specializes in crop production. It consists of 11 companies, which are united into four crop clusters. It has two elevators: Boryspil with a capacity of 73,000 tons and Myropil with a capacity of 52,000 tons.
Agro-Region’s annual harvest of grain and oilseeds is 200,000 tons.
In April 2021, the Swedish company Lobiu Sala AB, owned by former Ukrainian Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavičius, received permission from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine to purchase the Swedish company Agro Region Stockholm Holding, which manages the Agro-Region group of companies in Ukraine.
The International Register of Losses Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine has begun accepting applications for another category – damage or destruction of non-residential property, according to the website of the President of Ukraine.
“Each application submitted is not just a bureaucratic formality, but a contribution to restoring justice and a clear signal that no loss caused by Russian aggression will go unanswered,” said Iryna Mudra, deputy head of the Office of the President.
As noted, victims can file a claim for compensation for non-residential real estate destroyed or damaged after February 24, 2022. In particular, this refers to office premises, shops, warehouses, and production facilities. The relevant application can be submitted via the web portal or the Diya app.
In particular, the owner of the premises will be reimbursed for the full cost in case of destruction and the costs of repair or restoration in case of damage. At the moment, 10 categories have already been opened. In total, the Register will consist of 43 categories for compensation for material and moral damage.
“In addition to damage or destruction of non-residential real estate, this includes damage or destruction of housing, death of a close family member, forced displacement of citizens within the country due to Russian aggression, causing serious bodily injury as a result of the aggressor’s actions, cases of sexual violence committed by the occupiers, torture, cruel or degrading treatment, illegal detention, forced labor or service,” the ministry said.
The International Register of Losses is the first step towards an international compensation mechanism. The next step will be the creation of a Commission for the Examination of Applications, which will determine the specific amounts of compensation to be paid to victims. After that, a Compensation Fund will be set up to make the payments.
“A total of about 30,000 applications have already been submitted to the Register of Losses,” the head of state’s website said.
APPLICATION, COMPENSATION, destroyed non-residential property
The Kyivstar mobile communications operator has launched Network Expert application for analyzing the quality of the network operation, the operator reported on Wednesday.
Reports that subscribers will transmit through the application will help plan network expansion and installation of new equipment.
The application helps to check the quality of coverage of the mobile operator’s network, the quality of telephone calls, the speed of the mobile Internet, and the quality of service provided in roaming.
The Network Expert monitors the network status of the operator’s network and, in the event of difficulties, sends reports directly to the company’s technical experts. Also, subscribers can independently check and send information through the application, without the need to make calls to the Call Center, Kyivstar said.
The application is available for Android-smartphones.
Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian mobile operator. It provides communication and data services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G. As of the end of 2018, 26.4 million mobile subscribers and about 0.9 million fixed Internet clients used its services.
