Ukraine has imported power generators and generator equipment worth $60m over the last two weeks, First Deputy Economy Minister Denis Kudin said.
“The second item of imports for the last two weeks were generators and generator equipment. Second only to fuel. We’ve imported $60 million worth of such equipment in those two weeks, and judging by what we know from the companies, the volume of generators that are on the road waiting for delivery in the second half of December, January, February and March is just off the charts,” he said during a discussion at the Center for Economic Strategy on Thursday.
Kudin added that, according to his data, Lviv and Kyiv are compensating businesses for 75 percent of the cost of generators.
The Ukrainian bakery industry has applied for the provision of electricity generators from international partners, organized for representatives of the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the equipment can be delivered to Ukraine within one to two months.
At the same time, there is a shortage of generators all over the world, and the equipment purchased now can be delivered to Ukraine in January, Yuriy Duchenko, the First Vice President of the All-Ukrainian Association of Bakers and Director of Kyiv Khlib LLC (the Kyivkhlib brand), told Interfax-Ukraine.
“We have submitted applications to cover the needs for generators, the partners have responded, but this issue has not yet been resolved. We are promised them perhaps in a month, perhaps in two. Unfortunately, it is not known when the next shelling will take place and what it threatens us with. That is, this question the ministry is engaged in, but 99% of decisions need to be made independently and their decision falls on the shoulders of the producers,” the director specified.
According to him, the company has recently purchased 650 kW generators for its mill and bakery for more than EUR100,000 to ensure emergency operation, but he noted that such a solution does not allow powering the production for a long time. In addition, the electricity they produce costs 3-4 times more than electricity from the network.
“For bakeries, working on generators is an emergency mode. It is possible for half a day or a day. But it is impossible to ensure the constant operation of the enterprise on a generator. This also applies to technological issues, and such that generators need to be constantly maintained and refueled. It is very difficult now organize. But we have to provide it for emergencies,” Duchenko stressed.
According to him, the issue of selling bread and bakery products during planned and emergency power outages is not as acute as with other perishable products, and the main problem is the lack of communication and access to the Internet during a power outage.
“The main difficulty today arises in the fact that when the power goes out, the connection disappears. This is very critical. Even if we organize emergency operation of stores and production on generators, it is difficult to accept an order and ship products. It’s all tied up through computer networks. We had a case, that we made the products, but could neither print invoices nor contact the store,” the expert explained.
The European Union will send 40 generators to Ukraine as part of its support in addition to the already supplied 550, European Union diplomatic chief Josep Borrel said.
“Russia is trying to break Ukraine’s fighting spirit by striking at its energy infrastructure and using winter as a weapon of war against civilians. At the G7 meeting, we are coordinating our support; the EU is sending 40 generators in addition to the 550 already provided through the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations mechanism,” Borrel wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
As reported, the European Commission reported that 200 medium transformers and a large autotransformer from Lithuania, a medium autotransformer from Latvia and 40 heavy generators from the EC reserve located in Romania (rescEU) were prepared to be sent to Ukraine through the EU Emergency Response Coordination Center. According to the report, each of the generators can provide uninterrupted power to a small or medium-sized hospital.
The EC is also additionally working on a new rescEU energy hub in Poland to provide assistance from third parties and facilitate its coordinated delivery to Ukraine, including with G7 partners.
Germany will provide Ukraine with €56 million in financial aid and 350 generators to restore its energy infrastructure, the German government’s press service said after a conversation between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“President Zelensky briefed on the consequences of Russian airstrikes on civilian infrastructure, water and electricity supplies. The Chancellor condemned the ongoing shelling and assured Ukraine of further short-term support. So far, the federal government has provided short-term financial assistance to repair energy infrastructure of about 56 million euros, and Germany is providing more than 350 generators,” the chancellor said in a statement posted on his website Tuesday evening.
In addition, Scholz “confirmed Germany’s continued support for Ukraine, including air defense and long-term reconstruction.”
Demand in the Ukrainian countryside real estate market has increased significantly in autumn 2022, most actively looking for houses with a generator, basement and own well, follows from the analytics of the portal “OLX Real Estate”.
“Ukrainians this fall were more interested in renting suburban real estate than last year. Thus peak of inquiries coincided with the large-scale bombardment of infrastructure on October 10 and 17 (38 thousand and 37 thousand inquiries respectively), and also with the statements about the possible blackout on October 31 (32 thousand). Overall, interest in out-of-town rentals in mid-November 2022 was three times higher than in November 2021,” the portal reported.
The most popular regions for the rent of a country house were Zakarpattya, Chernigov and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. At the same time the most number of variants are offered in Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk and Odessa regions.
More than half of the houses for rent are located within the city limits (54%), up to 15 km from the city – 39% of ads, 20-50 km – 8%.
The most popular offers of country houses on site OLX are brick houses (77% of ads), insulated with mineral wool (52%) with individual gas heating (57%).
According to OLX, the number of ads with the proposal to rent a country house with a generator during the fall has increased six-fold – up to 1177. There are 3,034 ads with homes with a well, with a basement – 441, and their number in November decreased by 12% compared to September.
Meanwhile, demand for homes with a generator quadrupled in the fall to 10 potential renters per listing.
According to OLX, the average cost of renting a house with a generator in the Kiev region is 80.4 thousand UAH per month, in Odessa – 43.8 thousand UAH per month, Dnipropetrovsk – 35.9 thousand UAH per month, Ivano-Frankivsk – 32.9 thousand UAH per month, Transcarpathian – 26 thousand UAH per month. The cheapest house with a generator is in Lviv region – on average for 25 thousand UAH/month.
Houses with a basement are from 21.9 thousand UAH/month in Ivano-Frankovsk region to 58.5 thousand UAH/month in Transcarpathian region, houses with a well – from 8 thousand UAH/month in Odessa region to 45 thousand UAH/month in the Kiev region.
Germany will support Ukraine’s agricultural sector by the end of this year providing EUR 9 million to buy generators and help restore war-affected farms, while the countries are coordinating a joint EUR 5 million project to develop Ukrainian horticulture.
According to the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food on Friday, the German Minister of Agriculture Cem Ozdemir and the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture Mykola Solskyi have agreed on the financial aid.
According to the department, Solskyy said that the project is very relevant to Ukraine on the background of the government program, which provides an opportunity to receive a grant for the development of their own horticulture, berry growing and viticulture, and which enjoys great popularity among farmers. Thus, during the five months since its launch grants for more than 240 million UAH have been agreed upon.
In addition, the ministers discussed enhancing cooperation on the Grain from Ukraine food initiative, within the framework of which the United States through its Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide up to $20 million. Solskyy also thanked Germany for being one of the first countries that joined this humanitarian program and funded the transportation of a shipload of grain from Ukraine to Ethiopia.
“Many countries have indicated that they are willing to participate in this program. This is important because of several aspects. First, it is right from the point of view of humanitarian relations in the world. Secondly, Africa needs to know who really cares about it, and because of the actions of which country they are suffering. We are working to make sure that the grain corridor continues to work as long as possible so that we can get our food to where it is needed all the time. And, of course, we will be grateful for the continued support of our partners,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy quoted Solskyi as saying.
