Business news from Ukraine

Ukraine should simplify bureaucracy in work of charitable foundations and volunteers – opinion

Ukraine needs to simplify the bureaucracy in the work and accounting of charitable foundations and volunteers, said Artem Honcharenko, president of the Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine Foundation, a volunteer.

“I am in favor of simplifying the procedure for transferring charitable aid to recipients, simplifying the bureaucracy in the work of charitable foundations and volunteers. I know from my own experience how much time is spent on paperwork and bureaucracy. For example, a person who is at “zero” on the frontline has to write us an application, according to which we have to collect everything and give him or her a certificate to sign that he or she has received our help. I have an example when a person for whom we were collecting aid died while we were filling out all the paperwork,” he said during a roundtable discussion at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Thursday.

Goncharenko noted that one way to simplify the processing of aid provided by charities and volunteers is to fill out and submit documents online.

“We need to simplify the procedure. I am speaking here on behalf of all the foundations, I think they support me in this: we need to simplify this system or allow us to fill it out online. Then people will be able to fill it out, and we will be able to ship them the aid,” he said.

Honcharenko also emphasized the need to regulate the issue of VAT taxation of goods purchased and delivered by charitable foundations and volunteers.

“We need to remove VAT from these goods. When we imported the first mobile hospital, it cost EUR 230 thousand, and the VAT amounted to another EUR 50 thousand,” he said.

In his turn, Serhiy Petkov, Doctor of Law, military officer, emphasized the need to use online tools in the process of receiving social assistance and payments, in particular for veterans and military personnel.

At the same time, he noted that in Ukraine, “for some reason, issues are resolved at the level of bylaws, and this should not be the case in a democratic state governed by the rule of law, legislation should be codified.”

“All these bylaws, various resolutions, instructions, letters, explanations, etc. should become a thing of the past, we need to move away from manual control and move to a normal democratic legal life so that everything happens in accordance with the law,” he said.

For his part, Doctor of Law, professor, volunteer Ihor Kopotun noted that there is no need to develop a separate regulatory framework for social protection of military personnel and veterans.

“I think we don’t need to invent anything. Today, the social protection of servicemen or any person must meet the requirements of the current legislation, the social protection provided by the laws. Everyone should be equal before the law, and the laws that have already been adopted today should be implemented,” he said.

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Second scientific and practical seminar on vintage drinks was held in “Experts Club”

On Saturday, November 7, on the basis of the analytical center “Experts Club” with the assistance of the public association “Ukrsadvinprom” and the charitable foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine”, the second scientific and practical seminar-tasting of vintage drinks aged from 20 to 80 years was held. The seminar was attended by representatives of the Ukrainian wine industry, retail, media, and other experts.

At the seminar, Igor Magalyas, an expert collector of vintage alcoholic beverages, introduced the participants to the most popular varieties of Ukrainian and European vintage wines, brandy and other drinks aged up to 80 years. Ukrainian products were presented at the conference by such brands as Sherry Massandra 1983 and Black Doctor 2007. Of the foreign alcoholic brands, Curasao liqueur from the 1950s, the rare sherry brandy Hispano from 1870 and another Spanish drink Ponche Rives from 1978 received the highest ratings from the participants. In total, the participants of the seminar evaluated 15 different vintage drinks.

According to Igor Magalyas, all products presented at the seminar are in the budget price segment and their cost does not exceed the cost of modern branded alcohol on the shelves of Ukrainian supermarkets.
“Most of the drinks presented here were purchased by collectors in Europe at auctions or at sales of private collections. At the same time, they have a number of taste and quality advantages over more modern drinks that can be freely bought at retail outlets, even if it is the same brand,” he said.

According to the expert, the fact is that in the 80-90s of the last century, the automation of alcohol production, introduced in order to increase the volume of products sold, had a negative impact on the quality of wine and distilled drinks.

“In particular, in my opinion, the ability of the same brandies to improve their palatability as they age after bottling was practically lost. In other words, if we open a bottle of good brandy from 1970 today, then such a drink will have a much richer flavor bouquet than if we opened a bottle of the same brandy 30 years later, but, say, 2020 bottling,” Igor explained Magalyas.

The organizer of the seminar Maxim Urakin, in turn, emphasized the importance of developing the vintage drinks market in Ukraine and popularizing the culture of drinking them.

“Each bottle of such wine or brandy has its own history; it is a rather rare, almost unique product, but at the same time it is quite affordable and popular in Europe. If we add up the age of drinks at today’s tasting, we get an impressive figure of more than 700 years of the total age of drinks, which also makes our event unique,” ​​he stressed.

Vintage (milezim) – in winemaking means the year of ripening of the harvest of a certain grape variety from which wine, brandy, cognac or other drink based on it is produced. This indicator is important in determining the characteristics of the drink, since weather and climate conditions change every season, which can both positively and negatively affect the organoleptic characteristics of drinks of the same brand.

“Experts Club” is an analytical center engaged in research in the field of economics, sociology and other scientific disciplines. In particular, with the assistance of the Club of Experts, several events were held last year to promote domestic winemaking products.

Public Union “Ukrsadvinprom” acted as a partner of the seminar and tasting. “Ukrsadvinprom” unites about 200 producers of fruits, berries, nuts and grapes, enterprises engaged in the processing of fruits and berries, wine production, as well as scientific institutions for the introduction of new scientific approaches to production.

Charitable Foundation “Reconstruction and Development of Ukraine” carries out extensive volunteer activities. In particular, with the support of the rector of KNUCA (KNUBA) Petr Kulikov, the fund will soon hand over a modern mobile hospital. The head of the fund is Artem Goncharenko.

Organizers will send part of the proceeds from the event to purchase a mobile hospital.

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Charity squash tournament will be held in Kyiv

On August 27-28, the charity squash tournament “Zenit Ukraine Open 2022” will be held on the courts of the capital’s fitness center “SPORT LIFE”.

For two days, awards will be drawn in 5 categories among men and women. Players from Romania, USA, Moldova, Lithuania, as well as athletes from Kyiv, Lvov, Kharkov, Dnipro, Khmelnitsky, Poltava, Kherson and Odessa will take part in the competition.

The start of the tournament is scheduled for 10-00 on Saturday, August 28 in the complex “SPORT LIFE” at st. Marshal Konev, 8. The solemn ceremony of awarding the winners will be held on August 29 at 16-00 in the restaurant “OZERO”.

According to the co-organizer of the tournament Maksim Urakin, the tournament is held in Kyiv for the first time due to security reasons.

“For the last 11 years, the tournament has been held in Odessa, and we know it under the name Zenit Black Sea Open. Now, due to the war, we were forced to change traditions and move the venue to Kyiv. At the same time, we plan to return to Odessa courts next year” – Maksim Urakin explained.
According to another organizer, Dmitry Shcherbakov, holding international competitions in Kyiv is now important not only to support Ukrainian sports, but also for the country as a whole.

“We are grateful to all the athletes who responded to the call to participate in the tournament at such a difficult time. This means that Ukrainian sport is alive and winning,” he stressed.

According to the organizers, the funds raised at the tournament will be directed to charity and assistance to Ukraine.

“Zenit Open” is the most famous and largest international squash tournament in the history of independent Ukraine. The scale of the championship is evidenced by the number of countries and participants, as well as a large number of organizations involved in the preparation and holding of the competition.

The main fitness partner of the event is the national network of fitness clubs No. 1 “SPORT LIFE”;

The main organizer of the tournament is “All-Ukrainian Association of Squash Players”;

The main information partner of the tournament is the news agency “Interfax Ukraine”;

The official sponsors were the company “MAXEVENTS” and the analytical center “Club of Experts”;

Partner – Public Association “UKRSADVINPROM”;

Prize fund partners – Eye and VICTOR;

Prizes and gifts from the leading companies Tecnifibre and Reima;

The official water of the tournament is “KRAYNA”;

Official beer of the tournament from TERMOPUB;

Tea Partner – At Market;

Official hotel of the tournament – “FAVOR”;

Party partner restaurant – “OZERO”.

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Filatov Institute receives devices and medicines from Shelter Ukraine charitable initiative

The Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy named after V.P. Filatov (Odesa) received medical devices and medicines as part of the Shelter Ukraine charitable initiative, which is being implemented by SiLab Ukraine, Valores Foundation, Teple Misto charitable organization, Vplyv charitable organization in cooperation with Razom For Ukraine.

The clinic told the Interfax-Ukraine agency thanks to this initiative, the institute, in particular, was able to obtain suture materials, medical devices and medicines.

The received medical devices and consumables are used, among other things, in corneal transplantation operations, said Halyna Drozhzhina, the head of the department of pathology and microsurgery of the cornea of the eye.

“Such interventions are almost always the patient’s last chance not to lose sight, and they can only be done with such tools,” she stressed.

She pointed out that during the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of the war, “people hesitated and turned to ophthalmologists at the wrong time.”

“The number of patients in need of such interventions has increased. Therefore, such assistance is extremely necessary for us, it will help prevent vision loss in dozens of patients from different parts of Ukraine,” she said.

The clinic stressed that during the war, the institute, like in peacetime, continues to provide highly specialized ophthalmological care to patients from all over Ukraine, including citizens who were evacuated from the zone of active hostilities.

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Wisconsin Ukrainians Inc. jointly with Experts Club and Nasha Lepta charity project hand over humanitarian aid for children of Kyiv region

According to Experts Club founder Maksim Urakin, the humanitarian situation that has developed in Ukraine now requires more effective interaction between volunteers and the diaspora in the United States.

“We need to develop ties with organizations such as Wisconsin Ukrainians, inform them about the requests for humanitarian supplies we have today and that will also be in the near future. This will allow us to provide more effective assistance to our people affected by the war,” he explained.

The Nasha Lepta project provides assistance to families of internally displaced persons, families with many children, children with cerebral palsy and autism, as well as children with serious illnesses and disabilities. It is created on the basis of the community of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The project website is http://nasha-lepta.com.ua/

The Experts Club is an analytical center that conducts research in the field of economics, sociology, healthy nutrition and other areas, as well as conducts educational activities. The YouTube channel of the project: https://www.youtube.com/c/Клубэкспертов.

Wisconsin Ukrainians Inc. is a Wisconsin-based non-profit humanitarian organization. Through the efforts of the organization, more than 61 tonnes of humanitarian and medical supplies were delivered to Ukraine for Ukrainian defenders and the population.

The organization website: https://www.wisconsinukrainians.org/

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