President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky watched online the launch of the Ukrainian Sich-2-30 satellite into orbit, which took place from the launch site at Cape Canaveral in Florida (U.S.), the press service of the head of state reported.
“I believe that this is the beginning of a new phase of the space program of our state. Thanks to the Ukrainian satellite Sich-2-30, we will receive information not only from our partners, but also our own. This is very important,” the President said.
Together with Volodymyr Zelensky, the launch was observed by Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov, First Vice President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Volodymyr Horbulin, Head of the National Space Control and Testing Center Volodymyr Prysiazhny.
This spacecraft is a modified version of the Sich-2 satellite. It was delivered into Earth orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The last launch of a Ukrainian satellite took place more than ten years ago.
Chief designer and head of the design bureau of spacecraft, measurement systems and telecommunications at Yuzhne Design Bureau Kostiantyn Bilousov said that Sich-2-30 will provide Ukraine with access to information that it has not had for the past ten years.
According to him, the satellite is designed to receive digital images of the surface of our planet, which can be used in land use, agriculture and forestry, cartography, to control water resources and monitor emergencies and natural disasters in the field of security and defense when illegal activities are detected.
The Ukrainian satellite is also designed to monitor the main parameters of neutral and charged particles of the Earth’s ionosphere and measure the dose of accumulative radiation from cosmic radiation.
After launch, the satellite will be involved in the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation Program.
Head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine Volodymyr Taftai said that a lot of work had been done to fulfill Zelensky’s assignment regarding the launch of this satellite.
“We have not launched our satellites for more than eleven years. And this is actually a new era in the launch of Ukrainian-made satellites. I really hope that this is the first of eight satellites that will be manufactured as part of a strategic program that is awaiting approval by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,” he said.
The spacecraft was developed and manufactured by SE Yangel Yuzhnoye (Pivdenne) Design Bureau together with the Ukrainian enterprises “Khartron-Arkos LTD” (Kharkiv), “NPP “Khartron-Yukom” (Zaporizhia), “Protection and automation of objects NIIRV” (Kharkiv), CB “Arsenal” (Kyiv), State Research Enterprise “Konex” (Lviv), Lviv Center of the Space Research Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, SE “Kyivprylad”.
Ukraine in 2021 left the list of the most vulnerable and less stable countries according to the Berlin company Scope due to its ability to continue accumulating foreign exchange reserves, improving the balance of payments and reducing payments over the past year, member of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Viktor Koziuk has said.
“Berlin-based company Scope calculates the External Vulnerability and Resilience rankings. Last year Ukraine was in the most risky oval on the chart. It was among the countries that are most vulnerable and less resilient. This year Ukraine has left this oval. This creates a certain margin of safety,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to him, a certain improvement on the side of the external sector speaks of restrained optimism associated with vulnerability to external shocks.
“At the same time, Ukraine remains in the 80th place in terms of external vulnerability. That is, the probability that we have dropped out of this oval forever is not 100%. We need to work so that we do not return there,” the expert added.
Turkey, Armenia, Belarus and Georgia are in the list of the most vulnerable countries in 2021.
Ukraine and India have significant potential for cooperation in the military-technical sphere, in matters of energy security and overcoming the energy crisis, as well as combating the COVID-19 pandemic, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov said at a meeting with Ambassador of India to Ukraine Partha Satpathy.
According to the NSDC press service on Wednesday, Danilov also named the joint efforts in the field of climate change and environmental protection as priority areas of bilateral cooperation. “We are on the verge of great shifts in bilateral cooperation,” the NSDC secretary said.
The parties discussed the prospects for practical cooperation, in particular, in the field of security, agriculture, pharmaceutical and titanium industries and others, and also noted the importance of developing scientific and technical cooperation.
The meeting took place on the occasion of completion of a diplomatic term of Ambassador Satpathy in Ukraine.
Ukraine is fully included in the “yellow zone” of epidemic danger, however, the growth in the incidence of coronavirus (COVID-19) is expected to resume from the middle of January, experts from Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) said.
“We at KSE expect further unloading of the medical system in the next one to two weeks, and after that, from about the middle of January, we expect an increase in COVID-19 incidence,” Head of the KSE Center for Health Economics Yuriy Hanychenko said at a weekly online briefing on Wednesday.
KSE experts do not expect Ukraine to enter the “green zone” of epidemic danger in the first quarter of 2022.
However, speaking about forecasts for 2022, Hanychenko said that Ukraine needs to reduce the incidence rate by two to three times in order to reach the “green level” of epidemic danger.
Analyst at the KSE Center for Health Economics Kateryna Kuzminova, in turn, said that over the past week, the death rate from COVID-19 in the country has decreased by 25%.
“Since the death rate is a deferred indicator and mortality trends are following the number of new cases and hospitalizations with a lag of several weeks, we expect a continuation of the decline in the coming weeks,” she said.
Commenting on the vaccination situation, KSE experts said that over the past week the rate of vaccination has decreased by 25%, but it is expected that they will be able to be compensated by the introduction of booster and additional doses of the vaccine.
Ukraine is approaching the WHO target of vaccination of 40% of the population by the end of 2021, more than 40% of the population in 20 of 25 regions of Ukraine received one dose of the vaccine, according to KSE. The highest level of vaccination is observed in Kyiv and Kyiv region (respectively 72% and 58%), the lowest in Zakarpattia (32%).
On the 30th anniversary of the official recognition of Ukraine as an independent and sovereign state, the U.S. Embassy said that relations between the countries are now stronger than ever.
“Today, we celebrate 30 years since the United States officially recognized Ukraine as an independent and sovereign state. The U.S-Ukraine relationship now stands stronger than ever as we work in partnership to ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and forge Ukraine’s prosperous, democratic, and Euro-Atlantic future,” the embassy said on Facebook on December 25.
The total amount of investments in new projects of industrial parks in Ukraine is UAH 884 million, Chairman of the Economic Affairs Parliamentary Committee Dmytro Natalukha has said.
“In less than three months, the creation of 24 industrial parks has started in Ukraine. Somewhere they are already being built, somewhere the documentation is being prepared, somewhere the city authorities have already allocated land, and somewhere the design is underway. In 13 regions of Ukraine. The total declared investment in these 24 projects is UAH 884 million. The area of these parks is 557 hectares,” he said during the third Forum of Industrial Parks held in Kyiv on Thursday.
According to him, up to 28,000 jobs can be created in these parks.
Natalukha noted that bills No. 5688 and No. 5689, establishing tax and customs incentives for participants of industrial parks, can be adopted at the first reading by the end of the year.
Currently, 52 industrial parks are already included in the register of industrial parks, management companies have been selected in 25 of them, but only eight have participants (15 participants in total).
