Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has arrived in Kyiv on a visit. This is the first visit of an Israeli high-ranking official to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion.
“I have come to say: Israel supports Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in difficult times,” Cohen wrote on his Twitter account.
During his visit, the Israeli foreign minister is scheduled to meet with President Vladimir Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba.
Cohen is expected to visit Bucha, Babi Yar and announce the reopening of the Israeli embassy in Kiev, which was closed due to the war.
Warsaw Metro will provide Kyiv Metropoliten with 60 subway cars.
This is stipulated in a letter of intent signed between the mayors of Kyiv and Warsaw, Vitali Klitschko and Rafal Trzaskowski, on Wednesday.
The document was signed during a visit to Kyiv by the mayors of four European capitals – members of the Pact of Free Cities – who arrived to reaffirm their support to the Ukrainian capital, the press service of Kyiv mayor said.
The mayors of Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, and Bratislava concluded the Pact of Free Cities in 2019. Kyiv joined the document on September 26, 2022.
Warsaw became a logistic center for transferring humanitarian aid to Kyiv from other European cities and countries, including 2,500 tonnes of food, hygiene items, medicines, as well as pipes and a generator for PJSC Kyivvodokanal, the press service said.
UAH 7.6 billion will be allocated for construction, reconstruction and capital repairs in 2023 according to the Program of economic and social development of Kyiv in 2021-2023, which is half as much as in 2022.
According to the press service of the department of economy and investment of the Kyiv City State Administration (KCSA), the relevant decision to amend the program adopted by the deputies of the Kiev City Council on Thursday.
According to the industry distribution the largest amount of the budget funds will be directed on the projects in the field of transport, transport infrastructure and road sector – 3,6 billion UAH, where about 1 billion UAH is the road fund. According to the program 2.7 billion UAH will be directed to housing and communal services, 792.2 million UAH to health care and 394.7 million UAH to education.
It is noted that in 2023 in the capital will continue reconstruction and building on the sections of the Kiev ring road, reconstruction Shulyavskogo overpass and development of the capital subway.
Much money in the sphere of housing and communal services is provided for large infrastructure projects, the implementation of which is important not only for Kiev, but also for the whole Kiev region. In particular, we are talking about reconstruction of Bortnytska aeration station and consolidation of sludge fields dikes near it, technical re-equipment of household waste landfill sites in Podgortsy village, reconstruction and technical re-equipment of “Energia” plant.
More than 101 million UAH will be directed to the reconstruction of sewage collectors and water supply facilities.
Funds will also be used to restore facilities after enemy’s rocket attacks. In particular, to repair CHP-5 and CHP-6, as well as to complete the restoration work started this year on the residential buildings on Glubochytska and Ostapa Vyshny streets.
Apartment buildings with established condominiums, housing and communal associations and private managing companies can get compensations of up to UAH 80 thousand for purchase of alternative energy sources, the head of the Kyiv council commission on housing and communal services and fuel and energy complex Alexander Brodsky said.
Brodsky said that the decision of the Kiev council “On some issues of preparation of the housing fund of Kiev for the passage of the winter period under martial law” came into force.
“This decision is aimed at supporting residential apartment buildings in Kiev, in which created condominiums, HCCs and for private management companies to purchase alternative (independent) energy sources (gasoline and diesel generators, uninterruptible power supplies, inverters, solar panels) to provide in-house systems, such as individual heating units, boiler rooms, duty lighting or recharge gadgets for co-owners,” Brodsky said on his Facebook page.
The deputy noted that a simple mechanism is provided: the house brings a bill of expenditure, an extract from the unified state register and submits an application to the chairman of the RGA.
“During the next two months, the city will reimburse 75% of the cost of such a source, but no more than 80 thousand hryvnia for one house. I hope that all participants will take advantage of this solution for the smooth operation of communications in their homes,” – wrote Brodsky.
Concerning houses that are still managed by former HMOs, in Brodsky’s words “each of the 10 management companies in districts has received 20 million UAH for the heating season, and by this decision we have achieved equality between houses of different management forms”.
The limited volume of gross absorption led to an increase in the level of vacant space by 3.5 percentage points (p.p.), to 21.2% over the third quarter of 2022 compared to the previous quarter, the press service of CBRE Ukraine told Interfax-Ukraine.
At the same time, as follows from a review of office real estate by CBRE Ukraine, in July-September the trend of the two previous quarters of limited rental activity continued. In the third quarter, this figure was only 12,000 square meters, which is 80% less than at the beginning of the year. Most of the transactions involved the extension or renegotiation of contracts and the reduction of existing office space.
“Subleasing is becoming more and more common, with tenants willing to sublease parts of their offices to optimize rent or operating costs due to low occupancy rates. Depending on the terms of the lease, subleasing is most often the solution if leases cannot be terminated. However, the volume of sublease agreements concluded remains low due to limited rental activity in the market,” Diana Kvitchuk, Head of Marketing and Research at CBRE Ukraine, is quoted in the message.
Net absorption has remained negative for three quarters in a row – over the third quarter, it is minus 74,000 square meters.
Analysts at CBRE Ukraine estimate that negative net absorption is likely to persist until the end of 2022, but is expected to slow down towards the end of the year.
In the third quarter, not a single new business center was put on the market, so the total supply of offices in Kyiv did not change and amounted to about 2.11 million square meters. About 23,500 square meters are planned for commissioning by the end of the year – in Unit.City B15 and Unit.City B6.
Low market activity led to rate cuts. The prime rental rate has decreased on average by 8-10%, from $25 to $22-23 per square meter/month since the beginning of the year. Rental rates in class A ranged from $18 to $26 (less by 7% of lower limit), in class B – from $7 to $17 (less by 22% of lower limit and less by 15% of upper limit).
“Requested rental rates are not indicative now, since the actual or effective terms of the agreements are often significantly lower than the declared ones and the difference can be from minus 20% to minus 50% of the declared ones,” Kvitchuk said.
In order to maintain occupancy and income streams, landlords continue to provide discounts, special lease terms or incentives, up to “free” rent, to attract new tenants or keep existing tenants looking to move, she said.
As a result of an enemy strike on critical infrastructure facilities, part of Kyiv has been de-energized, and there is no water supply in some areas, Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said.
“As a result of attacks on critical infrastructure, part of the capital has been de-energized. There is no water supply in some areas. All services are working. More details later,” Klitschko wrote on his telegram channel on Monday.
