Leaders of several more African Union countries will visit Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told African journalists in an interview.
“I am happy that the (African) delegation was here. Frankly speaking, I think we could expand such meetings. And I expected that more states could come to us. And indeed they are planning to. And we expect some more states to come, some more leaders. They will be in Ukraine,” the President said.
According to him, “it is important to communicate with these leaders, so that we look each other in the eyes, because it is important for them to see with their own eyes what is happening here and the consequences of the war. To listen, to hear. Not over the phone, not through the media, not through Lavrov.”
“When African leaders receive information about Ukraine through the Russian Foreign Ministry, it is wrong. We don’t have any mediation, we don’t have any dialog with the RF. We are at war with them. I would like you (Africans) to perceive information about Ukraine through yourselves, through your journalists,” he said.
The head of state also noted that he would like to be able to hold meetings with all the leaders of the African Union states and within the framework of the recent visit of the African delegation to Kiev he offered to hold such an extensive meeting on the territory of any of the African countries.
“We had several presidents sitting in our circle (as part of a previous meeting with a delegation from Africa). And we communicated about different things, about the consequences of this war, about the causes … We did not have enough time. We talked for 2.5 or 3 hours. And it was already quite a lot, but we lacked time and contacts,” – said Zelensky.
“And I believe, and I insisted on this very much, I really wanted to have the opportunity to meet with all the leaders. Why we suggested that it should be my meeting on the territory of any state of the African continent, where leaders can come? Because it is important that the society of your states can see us, can listen to us, can ask us, can get an answer. Not because of any media, but directly. And then they found the strength and courage to come to Ukraine and see what is happening here. To draw conclusions. This is very important,” he added.
During communication with journalists, the President also noted that the Ukrainian people deserve to trust in relations with the peoples of African states.
“And I would very much like to strengthen our relations, but it requires both sides to be ready for it,” summarized Zelensky.
Housing commissioning in Ukraine in 2019 increased 26.9% compared to 2018, to 11.029 million square meters. According to the service, the share of commissioning of houses built without permits for construction work and put in operation under temporary commissioning rules was 23.7% (2.622 million square meters).
According to the report, 6.807 million square meters of housing was commissioned in urban areas in 2019, and 4.223 million in rural areas. Some 53% of total volume of housing was commissioned in single-family houses, and 46.9% in houses with two and more apartments.
Over the period, 125,986 apartments were commissioned, including 87,823in urban areas and 38,163 in rural areas. Average area of apartments was 87.5 square meters.
Some 55.4% of housing was commissioned in Kyiv city and region, as well as Lviv, Odesa and Ivano-Frankivsk regions in 2019, in particular in Kyiv city – 1.114 million square meters.
Housing commissioning in Ukraine in January-March 2019 increased 32.3% compared with the same period in 2018, to 2.453 million square meters. According to the report, 1.394 million square meters of housing were commissioned in cities in the first quarter (56.8% of the total volume), while 1.06 million square meters in rural areas. At the same time, 61.7% of the total housing was commissioned in single-family houses, 38.3% in houses with two or more apartments.
In general, during the reporting period some 26,098 apartments were commissioned, including 16,900 apartments in cities and 9,200 apartments in villages.
The average area of apartments was 94 square meters, while the average area of apartments in single-family houses was 154.1 square meters, in houses with several apartments – some 57.8 square meters.
Some 51.7% of the total volume of housing was commissioned in Kyiv city and region, as well as in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Chernivtsi regions, in particular, 174,300 square meters (7.1%) in Kyiv.
Kyiv, Kharkiv and Rivne regions are leaders in the rating of Ukrainian regions, according to the social and economic development monitoring for 2017 drawn up by the Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry of Ukraine.
According to the study, Kyiv city (Mayor Vitali Klitschko) and Kharkiv region (Head of Regional Administration Yulia Svitlychna) retain their positions for the second year in a row.
Kyiv city was first in most figures. In Kharkiv region, the smallest unemployment rate in Ukraine – 6.1%, and the highest share of power generated from alternative sources, as well as the level of the introduction of energy saving technologies – 30.4% and 72% respectively.
Rivne region is third (Head of Regional Administration Oleksiy Muliarenko). The region climbed by three positions compared with 2016. Dnipropetrovsk region is fourth (Valentyn Reznichenko). The region climbed six positions up.
Chernivtsi region is fifth (Oleksandr Fyschuk).
Outsiders of the rating are Luhansk, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Chernihiv and Odesa regions.
The study is conducted under government resolution No. 856 dated October 21, 2015 on the approval of the rules of conducting monitoring and assessing results.
