Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and U.S. President Joseph Biden will discuss the course of hostilities and further measures aimed at supporting Ukraine during a meeting in Kiev on Monday, February 20, the press service of the Office of the President reported.
As specified, Zelensky met with Biden at the Mariinsky Palace. After introducing the members of the Ukrainian and American delegations, the presidents of Ukraine and the United States talked in a face-to-face format.
Zelensky noted that Biden’s visit was an extremely important signal of support for Ukraine and Ukrainians, and stressed that Biden personally and the entire American society have been with Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war unleashed by Russia.
“The first phone call of support for Ukraine was from the White House. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you also for the bipartisan support, for the support from Congress,” he said.
The president of Ukraine said he would talk to the U.S. president about the situation on the front lines and also about the Ukrainian people, who are going through a very difficult time.
“What we have to do to stop the war, to have success in this war, to make Ukraine even stronger and how to win this year,” he said.
For his part, Biden noted the importance of his presence in Ukraine today, which demonstrates U.S. support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
“I think it would be critical to leave no doubt that the U.S. supports Ukraine in its war against brutal aggression,” he said.
The U.S. president described his intention to discuss how the United States and allies can effectively help Ukraine fight for freedom and independence. He also conveyed greetings from members of Congress. According to Biden, they were very impressed by Zelensky’s recent speech to Congress.
He also said he was glad to visit Kiev again.
“A lot has changed since the last trip. Terrible things have happened, the invasion, but at the same time, the Ukrainians have shown themselves in a way that very few nations have ever shown themselves in their defense. And they helped us understand the importance of democracy,” Biden stressed.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will pay an official visit to Kiev on Tuesday, February 21, during which he will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, il Fatto Quotidiano reported.
“The visit was announced and postponed several times. But Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wants to demonstrate unconditional support for Ukraine (by Rome – IFU) outside of Italy,” the report says.
It notes that during his visit Meloni is likely to announce a new military aid package for Ukraine.
Reuters, in its turn, wrote that Meloni will go on a visit to Kiev on Monday, February 20.
Kyiv has restored in full operation of ground electric transport after a 56-day break due to a power supply shortage as a result of Russian strikes on the energy system, the Kyiv city military administration has said.
“Today, all electric transport in the capital has returned to its routes. There are now 286 vehicles on 46 trolleybus routes and 195 vehicles on 32 tram routes,” the KGVA said in a statement on its telegram channel on Friday.
“We have overcome a severe transport crisis. The restoration of stable life in Ukraine’s capital is another small but important step towards our future Victory,” said CGVA chief Sergey Popko, who was quoted in the report.
“The effective work of the city authorities, power engineers and repair crews has practically restored the stability of Kiev’s energy infrastructure. This has allowed the city to gradually return to the resumption of urban ground electric transport,” the statement said. According to KGVA, individual tram and trolleybus lines have alternately been launched in recent days.
On December 23, 2022, because of power shortage, work of ground electric transport of capital (trams and trolley buses) has been stopped. Buses operated on the routes of ground electric transport.
In total, the capital lived without electric transport for 56 days.
One of Europe’s largest bus operators FlixBus announced the launch of a new international line from Ukraine starting February 14: Kiev – Berlin – Hamburg – Bremen and extension of the existing one from Warsaw-Lublin to Odessa, the company’s press service said Thursday.
“Today we are taking the next step in developing lines from Ukraine to Germany and Poland. Warsaw, Berlin and Hamburg are top destinations for travelers. Demand proves that Ukrainians care about these destinations,” commented FlixBus director for Ukraine, Poland and the Baltics Michal Lehmann.
He noted that in spite of the war, the company has doubled the size of the route network from Ukraine during the year and plans to open new lines if it sees that people need transportation services.
According to the message tickets for flights N3206 Kyiv – Zhytomyr – Rivne – Lviv – Berlin – Hamburg – Bremen and N3242 Odessa – Uman – Vinnitsa – Khmelnytskyi- Lviv – Lublin – Warsaw are available at the site, in mobile application FlixBus and at partner agencies.
The route Odessa-Warsaw is presented on the current line, on which the bus departed from Vinnitsa. Given the high demand in the south of the country, it was decided to extend the line to include Uman and Odessa. Flights are daily. The bus will be on the road for about a day.
From Kiev to Germany the buses will go three times a week: on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. From Bremen to Ukraine the bus departs on Monday, Thursday and Sunday. Travel time is about 30 hours, including stops and border crossing time.
As reported, after the start of a full-scale war, FlixBus launched 8 new routes from Ukraine to Europe. The company already has 16 lines from Ukraine to six European countries: Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Austria.
FlixBus, which develops bus transportation in Europe and the U.S., was founded in 2013. It operates on a partnership model with regional bus carriers that provide their buses and route documents.
In June 2019, FlixBus announced the opening of a representative office in Ukraine, in July 2020 the company launched domestic flights in the country.
Another temperature record was recorded in Kiev – for the first time in 143 years of observations, the average daily air temperature was +7.3 ° C, according to the website of the weather station of the Central Geophysical Observatory named after Boris Sreznevsky on Thursday.
“In Kiev, January 18, for the first time in 143 years of observations, the average daily air temperature was +7.3 ° C, which is 1.6 ° C above the record temperature value for the day in 1993. Climatic norm was exceeded by 9.8 ° C, which corresponds to the weather at the beginning of April”, – said meteorologists.
As noted in the report, the maximum temperature in the capital rose to +10.2 ° C, exceeding the previous record for 2007 by 0.8 ° C. The minimum temperature in Kiev did not fall below 3.7°C. The previous record was in 1990 and was 3,4°C.
Hryvnia median price per sq.m. in new buildings rose by 38% in Kiev and by 33% – in the capital region for the year, according to a study of the portal of new buildings LUN. In the capital in January-2022 the median price rose from 34.7 thousand UAH / sq.m. to 48.2 thousand UAH / sq.m. in January-2023, in the region – from 20.9 thousand UAH / sq.m. to 28 thousand UAH / sq.m.
According to the LUN portal, in January-2023 in Odessa the median price of objects under construction increased by 48% – from 25.2 thousand UAH / sq. m. to 38.4 thousand UAH / sq. m, in the Odessa region by 68% – from 18.8 thousand UAH / sq. m. to 30.7 thousand UAH / sq. m.
The record price increase is in Lviv, where the median price for the year increased by 80% – from 25.5 thousand UAH / sq. m. to 46.7 thousand UAH / sq. m. In Lviv region real estate rose in price by 66% – from 17 thousand UAH / sq. m. to 28.9 thousand UAH / sq. m.
