Romania has suspended flights with Ukraine, which is in the “yellow” lockdown zone, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said.
“As reported by the Digi24 Romanian television channel, the Romanian government has decided to suspend airline service with the countries of the ‘yellow’ lockdown zone, among which is Ukraine,” the State Border Service of Ukraine said in the statement on the Telegram channel on Friday.
According to the statement, an exception to the ban on flights to Romania was made for the member states of the European Union, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Foreign Minister of Romania Bogdan Aurescu have agreed to establish a joint working group on cooperation in the energy sector.
“We discussed in detail the ambitious potential projects in the energy sector, primarily those related to electricity, gas and hydrogen. We decided to create a working group on energy issues and look forward to when our colleagues from the ministries of energy of Ukraine and Romania and the involved business companies will start a detailed substantive conversation on the issues that I have mentioned,” Kuleba said at a joint press conference with Aurescu in Bucharest.
He also noted that he had discussed with his Romanian colleague how to launch the Isaccea-Orlivka ferry service at a maximum capacity.
“I am absolutely sure that we can, we have every opportunity to create and implement ambitious projects that will make Ukraine, Romania, and our region as a whole stronger. It would be an unacceptable mistake not to use the opportunities that we have, primarily in energy and infrastructure sectors. And so today we’ve really discussed how we can launch the Isaccea-Orlivka ferry line at a maximum capacity and eliminate certain problematic issues,” the Ukrainian minister added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba during a telephone conversation with Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu have agreed on the protection of Ukrainian citizens in Romania during traffic restrictions and uninterrupted transit of Ukrainian goods through Romanian territory, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said. “I appeal to you in every possible way to support the citizens of Ukraine who are in Romania at a time when the transport links were practically closed, and I confirm that you can count on our appropriate attitude towards the citizens of Romania in Ukraine during this difficult period,” the press service said on Wednesday, quoting Kuleba.
Aurescu confirmed that Romania has always supported the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as Ukraine’s integration into the EU and NATO. He also assured Ukraine of Romania’s support in international institutions and organizations, of which Romania is a member.
In addition, Kuleba drew the attention of the Romanian foreign minister to the inadmissibility of Russia’s attempts to ease sanctions against the backdrop of the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic.
“I would also like to draw your attention to the calls of Russia to ease sanctions under the pretext of a COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying economic instability in the world. These calls are inappropriate and unacceptable. It is very important that no one can use the current difficult situation to achieve political goals. The sanctions were introduced over the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and the COVID-19 pandemic has nothing to do with them,” the Ukrainian minister said.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Aurescu assured Kuleba that he agrees with this approach to the issue of keeping sanctions against the Russian Federation. He also invited the Foreign Minister of Ukraine to pay a visit to Romania.
Ukraine boosted its electricity exports by 4.9% in 2019, to 6.469 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection has told. Electricity supplies from the Burshtyn TPP energy island to Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania rose by 17.1%, to 4.448 billion kWh.
Exports to Poland fell 2.4%, to 1.377 billion kWh.
Exports to Moldova fell 32.6%, to 644 million kWh.
In July, Ukraine resumed commercial imports of electricity. The year’s total was 2.699 billion kWh, including 909.8 million kWh from Slovakia, 851.3 million kWh from Belarus, 630.1 million kWh from Hungary, 286.3 million kWh from Russia, and 21.1 million kWh from Romania.
Due to crossflows related to the parallel work of the united energy system in Ukraine and systems in bordering countries (accounted for under contracts signed by Energomarket), Ukraine imported 41.6 million kWh of energy from Russia and 1 million kWh from Belarus in 2019.
BUYERS, ELECTRICITY, HUNGARY, MOLDOVA, POLAND, ROMANIA, SLOVAKIA
A consortium of Vekto Sp. z o.o. (Poland) and Iridex Group Plastic s.r.l. (Romania) has been recognized the winner of an international tender to implement a project funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the government of Sweden for integrated reclamation of a landfill site in the village of Velyki Hrybovychi outside Lviv, Director of Lviv municipal enterprise Zelene Misto (“Green City”) Vadym Nozdrya said in Kyiv. Speaking at a presentation of a campaign to support the project, he specified that this decision had already been agreed with international lenders and the contract with the winner is expected to be signed by the end of this year, which will allow the contractor to begin work as early as at the beginning of 2020.
Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy emphasized that the city is extremely interested in the speedy implementation of the project, as today it is forced to spend UAH 300 million annually on garbage collection over the closure of the Hrybovychi landfill.
According to Nozdrya, work on technical rehabilitation in Hrybovychi has been ongoing since July 2019 and should be completed in 2021. During this time, the contractor must perform work on leveling and terracing the entire surface of the landfill, cover it with a technological protective screen and carry out the construction of utility systems.
Active preparations at the landfill are under way: the removal of contaminated soil from the landslide that occurred in 2016, along with the removal of lakes with filtrate water, he said. Hrybovychi landfill rehabilitation costs are estimated at EUR11.8 million, plus EUR1.8 million for work with filtrates. Zelene Misto is the commissioner of the work.
Ukraine in January-October 2019 increased electricity exports by 1.5% (by 77.1 million kWh) compared to the same period in 2018, to 5.127 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection has told the agency. Electricity supplies from the “energy island of Burshtyn TPP” to Hungary, Slovakia and Romania increased by 10.9% (by 339.2 million kWh), to 3.442 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Poland decreased by 2.5% (by 29.3 million kWh), to 1.132 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Moldova amounted to 552.7 million kWh, which is 29.6% less (232.8 million kWh) than in January-October 2018.
Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Belarus and Russia for January-October 2018 and 2019.
At the same time, Ukraine in July 2019 resumed commercial import of electricity, the total volume of which since the beginning of this year amounted to 1.538 million kWh. In particular, 573.9 million kWh were supplied from Slovakia, 644.9 million kWh from Belarus, and 191.5 million kWh from Hungary.
In addition, within technologically exchanged energy flows linked to synchronous operation of Ukrainian power grid with the power systems of neighbor countries 29.8 million kWh of electricity was imported from Russia and 0.8 million from Belarus.
