Poland will expand the “Eastern Shield” fortification system from the border with Russia and Belarus also to the Ukrainian border, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, Polskie Radio reported.
“Everything we are doing here and will also do on the border with Belarus and Ukraine is aimed at deterring and discouraging the alleged aggressor, so this is really an investment in peace. We will spend billions of zlotys on this, but now the whole of Europe is watching with great pleasure and will support this investment and our activities if necessary. Our activity also concerns border security with Ukraine – for other reasons, but we want Poles to feel safer along the entire length of the eastern border,” Tusk said during a visit to the first constructed section of the fortifications.
He emphasized that the construction of the Eastern Shield will make the Warmian-Masurian, Podlaskie, Lubelskie and Podkarpackie voivodships, which are in Poland’s border regions, safer.
“The better the Polish border is guarded, the less accessible it is to those who would have bad intentions,” the prime minister pointed out.
Tusk assured that countries in the Baltic region will cooperate with Poland to ensure that this infrastructure is effective not only in Polish sections, but also along the entire border, “above all with Russia and Belarus.”
“Eastern Shield” is a program prepared by the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff of the Polish Army, which involves the construction of various types of fortifications, relief barriers and military infrastructure on Poland’s borders with Russia and Belarus – a total distance of about 800 km. It is also planned to build appropriate intelligence and threat detection systems, forward bases, logistics hubs, warehouses and deploy anti-drone systems.
As of September 30, 2024, 4 million 197.37 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, had temporary protection status in the EU, compared to 4 million 163.66 thousand citizens a month earlier, Eurostat reports.
“Compared to the end of August 2024, the largest absolute increase in the number of recipients was observed in Germany (+7,005; +0.6%), Poland (+4,645; +0.5%) and Spain (+3,170; +1.5%),” the agency said.
It noted that the number of beneficiaries decreased in France (-570; -0.9%) and Italy (-10; -0.0%).
Thus, in September, the growth in the number of refugees from Ukraine with temporary protection status slowed to 33.7 thousand from 39.8 thousand in August.
According to Eurostat, despite Germany’s deprivation of almost 237,000 people of this status in July, it still remains the country with the largest number of them in the EU and the world – 1,129,34 thousand at the end of September, or 26.9% of the total number of beneficiaries in the EU.
The top three also includes Poland – 979.84 thousand, or 23.3%, and the Czech Republic – 378.48 thousand, or 9.0%.
Spain (218.30 thousand), Romania (172.41 thousand), and Italy (166.79 thousand) follow with a significant lag.
At the same time, Eurostat clarified that the data for Spain, Greece and Cyprus take into account some people whose temporary protection status is no longer valid.
According to the agency, compared to the population of each EU member state, the largest number of temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people in September 2024 was observed in the Czech Republic (34.7), Lithuania (28.1) and Poland (26.8), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.3.
It is also said that as of September 30, 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98.3% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women accounted for almost half (45.0%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for almost a third (32.3%), while adult men accounted for slightly more than a fifth (22.7%) of the total. A year earlier, the share of women was 46.5%, children 33.7% and adult men 19.9%.
At the end of September 2024, there were also more than 100 thousand people with temporary protection status in Slovakia – 126.97 thousand, the Netherlands – 119.01 thousand, and Ireland – 107.93 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Belgium – 84.54 thousand, Austria – 81.91 thousand, Lithuania – 81.07 thousand, Norway – 76.11 thousand, Finland – 67.27 thousand, Switzerland – 66.63 thousand, Bulgaria – 64.32 thousand, Portugal – 63.66 thousand and France – 60.10 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat).
This is followed by Latvia – 46.99 thousand people, Sweden – 44.63 thousand, Hungary – 37.99 thousand, Denmark – 36.93 thousand, Estonia – 34.24 thousand, Greece – 31.78 thousand, Croatia – 25.40 thousand, Cyprus – 21.68 thousand, Iceland – 3.92 thousand, Luxembourg – 3.82 thousand, Malta – 2.16 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.66 thousand.
Eurostat clarified that all the above data relate to the granting of temporary protection on the basis of EU Council Decision 2022/382 of March 4, 2022, which establishes the existence of a massive influx of displaced persons from Ukraine due to Russia’s military invasion and entails the introduction of temporary protection. On June 25, 2024, the European Council decided to extend temporary protection for these persons from March 4, 2025 to March 4, 2026.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of October 15 this year was estimated at 6.192 million, and 6.752 million in the world as a whole, which is 38 thousand and 27 thousand more than as of September 24 this year.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data as of August this year, there were 3.669 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), which is 121 thousand more than in April this year.
According to regional authorities cited by the UN, between August 1 and October 3, more than 120,000 people left Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, including 19,500 who fled active hostilities. In Sumy region, the authorities estimate that 36,000 people, including 6,000 children, have been evacuated.
As noted by Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev in early March last year, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP. In its macroeconomic forecast for this year, the Ministry of Economy has included 1.5 million people returning to Ukraine.
At the same time, the National Bank, in its October inflation report, again downgraded its forecast for the outflow from Ukraine this year from 0.4 million to 0.5 million. In absolute terms, the number of migrants staying abroad is expected to increase to 6.8 million this year.
In the new report, the National Bank confirmed its expectation that Ukrainians will start returning home in 2026, but lowered its forecast for net inflows in 2026 to 0.2 million from 0.4 million.
According to EastFruit analysts, wholesale prices for apples of “Gala” variety in Ukraine, Moldova and Poland are at record levels for this time for the last years. It is the most popular apple variety among exporters, as well as an increasingly popular apple variety among consumers, competing more and more successfully with the “Golden Delicious” variety.
While usually prices for Gala apple vary significantly in these three neighboring exporting countries, this season by mid-October prices in Moldova, Poland and Ukraine are almost identical, ranging from $0.51 to $0.53 per kg for a standard quality apple suitable for domestic fresh market sales.
As for the premium export quality apple, the prices are significantly higher. “The margin for the ‘premiumness’ of the apple is higher than usual in Eastern European countries this season. This is not only due to a general decrease in apple supply, but also to quality problems due to completely atypical weather conditions during the apple growing season,” says Andriy Yarmak, an economist in FAO’s investment department.
Read also: Prices for apples in Ukraine set new records
In less than a month, prices for “Gala” in Ukraine rose by 36%. In Moldova, the rise in apple prices began later, but over the past three weeks, prices have strengthened by 11% at once. In Poland, prices for the same variety increased by 6% in two weeks, although before that they tended to decrease from the incredibly high levels from which the season started and were much higher than in Ukraine and Poland.
According to traders, the main reason for the rise in apple prices is the reluctance of producers to rush their sales. Even in Ukraine, where Russian invaders attack civilian infrastructure, including the country’s energy facilities, on a daily basis, farmers are trying to keep their apples for longer, hoping for even higher price levels.
It should be noted that the increase in apple prices at this time of year is atypical for Eastern European countries, as apple supply is usually maximized and farmers are in a hurry to sell off the part of the produce that cannot be stored for a long period of time. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that in the winter-spring period, the prices for apple of popular varieties will unpleasantly surprise consumers.
The development company Creator-Bud has announced the construction of the WOL.100 apartment hotel in Katowice (Poland), with the international management company Ribas Hotels Group responsible for the integrated management of apartments and services, the hotel operator’s press service reports.
WOL.100 apartment hotel with 71 apartments will be located in the center of Katowice (100a Mykołowska Street), with completion of construction and renovation works scheduled for Q4 2025.
“WOL.100 is a modern apartment hotel that provides flexible and mobile living. It fits perfectly into the growing market of Katowice, meeting the needs of tourists, business travelers and those looking for quality mixed-use space. The growing tourist flow, business attraction, development of various industries and high demand for complexes of this format make the hotel an ideal solution for the city,” Dmytro Struk, Development Director of Creator-Bud, was quoted in the release.
As of 2023, about 4.8 thousand rooms in hotels of various categories were registered in Katowice. According to Statistic Poland, the city is visited by about 1.2 million tourists annually, and the average length of stay is two nights. The demand for rooms exceeds the current supply by 37%, indicating high demand and expansion of the room stock.
The WOL concept – home+hotel – provides comfortable conditions for living, working and relaxing in one place, regardless of the length of stay, whether it is 7 days or several months. The infrastructure of WOL.100 in Katowice includes a coffee shop, lobby and reception, gym, rooftop and coworking space on the top floor.
“The biggest competitive advantage of WOL.100 is that it is the first hotel in our chain, and the second in Ukraine, which guarantees investors a minimum yield of 17 euros per square meter in the first two years. Moreover, due to the capitalization of the project, the stable forecasted European market and the recognition of the object, this amount has the potential to grow,” says Artur Lupashko, CEO and founder of Ribas Hotels Group.
The following forms of investment are offered to investors: hotel purchase, investment in apartments, the cost starts from EUR3.8 thousand per square meter.
Founded in 2006, Creator-Bud is a vertically integrated full-cycle holding company with branches in Kyiv, Lviv and Ternopil. According to the LUN new buildings portal, the company has commissioned 36 buildings in 18 residential complexes, and 28 buildings in 14 residential complexes are under construction.
Ribas Hotels Group is an international management company established in 2014 in Odesa, whose flagship service is the operational management of hotel and restaurant complexes. The company also provides services in concept development, design, support of all stages of project implementation, consulting, and franchising for developers.
The company has 28 city, beach, and ski hotels under the Ribas, Ribas Hotels, Ribas Rooms, WOL home + hotel, and Mandra Glamping brands under integrated management and exclusive booking. The operator’s total room capacity is over 1000 rooms. In total, the portfolio includes 55 projects, including those under design and construction.
The company is currently developing facilities in Poland, Moldova, and Indonesia.
On the border with Poland, at the Ustyluh-Zosin checkpoint, the passage of persons and vehicles is temporarily suspended due to a malfunction of the database on the Polish side, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports.
“At night, the Border Guard of the Republic of Poland reported a malfunction in the database. In this regard, registration and passage is not carried out,” the State Border Guard Service said in a statement on Telegram.
The State Border Guard Service informs that measures are currently being taken to eliminate the malfunction.
“We ask citizens and carriers, if possible, to choose other checkpoints to cross the border,” it concludes.
World central banks in July, according to preliminary estimates of the World Gold Council (WGC), increased the amount of gold in their gold reserves by 37.1 tons.
The largest buyers were Poland (14.3 tons), Uzbekistan (9.6 tons) and India (5.4 tons). Jordan (4.3 tons), Turkey (3.8 tons), Qatar (2.3 tons), Czech Republic (1.6 tons), Egypt and Malta (0.1 tons each) also increased their reserves
Kazakhstan (3.9 tons) and Mongolia (0.7 tons) sold gold.
“Central banks have remained committed to hoarding gold in recent months. While the overall level of demand cooled slightly as the gold price continued to rise to new highs, it nevertheless remained positive,” WGC analyst Krishan Gopaul said in a review.
