In an evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Ukrainian negotiating team will hold a preparatory meeting tomorrow to agree on the framework for future negotiations and all organizational details, and on Monday, February 2, will travel to the United Arab Emirates to participate in trilateral negotiations scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday of next week.
“There was a report from our negotiating team. An agreement has already been reached on a trilateral meeting at the appropriate level. This meeting will take place next week, as planned, on Wednesday and Thursday. In the Emirates, as last time,” Zelensky emphasized.
Zelensky added that a meeting is scheduled for Monday to agree on the framework for the talks and prepare for the negotiations, and the team will set off on Monday evening.
“Many leaders and different countries are with us in this process, supporting Ukraine, and we are coordinating on a daily basis. In February, we will be quite active in foreign policy, and starting tomorrow, we will have contacts and meetings,” the president said in a statement.
In 2025, Ukraine increased onion imports by 3.2% compared to 2024, to 23.16 thousand tons, and in monetary terms, imports grew by 18.1%, to $29.71 million, according to the State Customs Service.
The largest suppliers of onions to Ukraine at the end of the year were the Netherlands (34.22% of supplies in monetary terms), China (29.68%), and Egypt (12.89%).
The clearance of vehicles and goods at the Ukraine–Moldova border is temporarily not being carried out due to a failure of the central databases of the customs authorities of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine’s State Customs Service has reported.
“Please take this information into account when planning to cross the border! The resumption of clearance operations will be announced additionally,” the message posted on the Telegram channel on Saturday said.
As reported, according to First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, on January 31 at 10:42 a technological incident occurred, involving the simultaneous disconnection of the 400 kV line between the power systems of Romania and Moldova and the 750 kV line between the western and central parts of Ukraine.
The creation of agri-food hubs as a new format for international cooperation in the field of food security was discussed by Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture Denys Bashlyk and Director General of the DIHAD Sustainable Development Fund of the United Arab Emirates Organisation Khaled Al-Attar, according to the press service of the Ministry of Economy.
“Ukraine is already actively working to expand the Food from Ukraine initiative, namely to create food hubs in African countries. This is not just about exports—it is about building local infrastructure for food storage, processing, and distribution. We want to scale up this approach. Together, we can create a network of modern food hubs that will ensure stable food supplies to the regions that need it most, including the Middle East. This is a contribution to global food security and stability,” Bashlyk said during the talks.
The deputy minister stressed that food security and the construction of food hubs, particularly in the Middle East, could become a new strategic area of cooperation, and expressed confidence that the development of such cooperation would contribute to the formation of a new innovative agroecosystem and the deepening of economic and investment ties between countries.
The parties also focused on developing cooperation between the state and business at the B2B and B2G levels, as well as establishing partnerships between scientific institutions. Practical steps include organizing a Ukrainian pavilion at the DIHAD exhibition in the UAE, as well as holding a thematic round table dedicated to food humanitarian aid issues.
DIHAD Sustainable is a specialized platform and international initiative aimed at promoting sustainable practices in agriculture, food, water, forestry, and natural resource management. It brings together government institutions, international organizations, agribusinesses, scientific institutions, and civil society organizations to share knowledge, best practices, and technologies that promote the sustainable development of agricultural sectors in the context of climate change, economic challenges, and growing environmental safety requirements.
The average pension in Ukraine is currently UAH 6,544, according to the Pension Fund of Ukraine. The payment increased by 13% over the year. Every fifth Ukrainian pensioner receives an average pension of about 4,500 UAH. 63,000 pensioners receive payments below the subsistence level, and 261,000 receive payments at the level of UAH 2,361. In total, there are more than 10.1 million pensioners in Ukraine this year, and almost 73% of them receive an old-age pension.
There are currently 10.17 million pensioners in Ukraine. The vast majority – 73% of pensioners – receive old-age payments: 7.4 million Ukrainians. Another 1.5 million citizens (15%) live on a disability pension, about 700,000 or 7% receive a survivor’s benefit, and 5% or 500,000 have a long service pension. Social pensions and lifetime pensions for judges make up less than 1%.
The average pension in Ukraine is currently UAH 6,544. The payment increased by 13% over the year. However, not everyone has such pensions: more than a third of pensioners receive about UAH 3,250. It is worth noting that the share of such pensioners decreased from 44% to 35% over the year.
Another 15% of pensioners – more than 1.5 million people – receive payments of more than UAH 10,000, and the average pension in this group reaches UAH 16,000. Another 30% of Ukrainians on pensions live on an average of UAH 6,860, and one in five receives about UAH 4.5 thousand per month.
At the same time, 63 thousand pensioners receive a pension below the subsistence level, and 261 thousand Ukrainians live on this minimum: UAH 2,361.
Most pensioners live in Dnipropetrovs’k region – 867 thousand, followed by Kyiv (746 thousand), Kharkiv (687 thousand) and Lviv (665 thousand) regions. The lowest number of pensioners is registered in Kherson (202 thousand) and Chernivtsi (203 thousand) regions.
The amount of payments also differs: the highest average pensions are traditionally in the capital – almost UAH 9 thousand, the lowest – in Ternopil region: about UAH 5 thousand. Although pensions grew by 13% across the country, in some regions the growth was much more significant, such as Rivne (+24%) and Volyn (+20%).
The majority of pensioners – over 82% – receive payments through banks, most often through PrivatBank and Oschadbank. At the same time, pensions are not the only source of income for many: one in four pensioners in Ukraine continues to work.
There are 2.8 million such people, and their average pension is UAH 7,160. As of January 28, UAH 3,250 is about 63 euros at the NBU exchange rate.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/pensions-2025-12
Slovakia, Poland, and a number of European countries have agreed on a position to strengthen controls on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products entering the European market, Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč told reporters after a meeting of European Union agriculture ministers (Agrifish) in Brussels on Monday.
“I can say that at an informal joint lunch, we discussed strengthening controls on imports from third countries, which is a key issue for the Slovak Republic with regard to Ukraine. Of course, for many other countries, this is partly MERCOSUR, but we also have other agreements with third countries,” he said.
Takács noted that during the informal talks, the parties agreed on a common position on the introduction of regular monitoring, in particular audits “in these third countries,” and support for strengthening controls in terms of food safety.
“We have a big problem, for example, on the border with Ukraine, where we need to strengthen these checks in terms of food safety when importing from these third countries,” he added.
According to Takach, the Polish representative presented materials that clearly demonstrate the need to strengthen such measures.
“I am glad that his materials also mentioned that Poland will propose the creation of a special fund for compensation for imports from third countries if farmers or food producers suffer. I am very pleased that they have adopted this rhetoric and the idea that we have been talking about for almost two years – that it is necessary to create such a compensation fund,” the Slovak minister emphasized.
He noted that the import of agricultural products from third countries is a topical issue for many European countries, which are convinced of the need to increase the protection of their consumers and raise the standards of third countries and their products to meet European Union standards.
“When a farmer in Europe has to comply with certain standards—how much he can spray (agricultural crops), how much he can fertilize, what the production process should be—we must demand the same when importing from third countries. And the creation of a special compensation fund and regular monitoring (of agricultural products) on a monthly basis, rather than once every six months,” summarized the Slovak Minister of Agriculture.
As reported, on January 26, the EU Council on Agriculture was to consider the request of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria to strengthen the protection of the European market from agricultural imports from Ukraine. The initiating countries argue that the existing mechanisms of the free trade agreement are not sufficient to protect their farmers, especially in sectors such as sugar, meat, grain, and dairy production.
The main demands are the unification of production standards so that Ukrainian products comply with strict EU standards on pesticides and animal welfare, as well as the creation of a special compensation fund for farmers. Until these measures are implemented and stricter border controls are in place, these countries are calling on the European Union to refrain from further tariff liberalization for Ukraine.
