Sowing season in Ukraine due to cold weather is shifted to the end of March – beginning of April, this will allow farmers to better prepare for going into the field and accumulate additional resources, however, despite the favorable temporary backlash, sowing season 2022 will be the most difficult in history of Ukraine due to the military invasion of the Russian Federation.
The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leschenko wrote about the shift in the sowing season to the end of March – the first decade of April on his Telegram channel on Wednesday, citing the latest data from the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center.
“Temperature marks are still negative at night, and in the north and east they reach -12-10°C. Why is this good news? The weather gives us the opportunity to accumulate resources, organize work and at the same time meet the optimal agrometeorological deadlines. Our task is to make the most of this additional time, attract internal and external assistance and optimally prepare for going into the field,” the minister said.
He said that winter crops are still in a state of winter dormancy, so frosts, despite the relatively warm February, should not harm them.
“The amount of moisture in the top layer of soil leaves much to be desired and, most likely, it is not worth waiting until March 20. Well, let this be our biggest problem,” Leschenko said.
The Minister recalled that the upcoming sowing campaign-2022 could become the most difficult and important in the time of independent Ukraine. Its significance is no longer measured by the categories of “yield” and “price”, while it is about the survival of the country.
Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal says that the new tax system will start working this week. “In close cooperation with the president, MPs, we will completely reform the economic model of Ukraine… Within a few hours after the laws come into force, the Cabinet of Ministers will adopt all the necessary by-laws to make the new tax system work this week,” Shmyhal said in his address Tuesday afternoon.
Thus, among the changes adopted by the Verkhovna Rada during martial law for medium and large businesses, the opportunity to use the single tax option will be significantly expanded.
In particular, enterprises with a turnover of up to UAH 10 billion will be able to switch to paying a social single tax, and all other restrictions on the number of workers and types of activities (except for excisable goods and gambling business) will be lifted.
Instead of VAT and income tax, entrepreneurs will pay only 2% of their turnover.
The draft law also contains many other positive innovations, including: individual entrepreneurs of the 1st and 2nd groups will pay a single tax on a voluntary basis, as well as individual entrepreneurs will not pay social single tax for their mobilized employees, as well as for martial law period individual entrepreneurs will not pay social single tax if they do not receive income.
In addition, the amendments provide that: sanctions for violation of the cash register law will not be applied until the end of martial law; from February 24 until the end of the year, payers on whose territories hostilities are being conducted are exempted from payment for land; VAT will not be paid for goods destroyed during the war, as well as for goods, transferred for defense needs; the excise tax on fuel will be abolished, and the VAT rate on these items will be reduced from 20% to 7%.
According to the prime minister, the government will make a decision today to ban inspections of businesses, except for those related to the safety and health of citizens.
“At the same time, the requirements for obtaining permits for a significant part of entrepreneurial activity will be abolished,” the prime minister said.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will take part in talks in Moscow on Wednesday and will visit Ukraine on Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
“Today, the Turkish Foreign Minister will leave for Moscow, where he will hold talks tomorrow, and on Thursday he will leave for Ukraine,” the Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan as saying.
The G7 countries and the UN are ready to provide Ukraine with full support in increasing the export of Ukrainian agricultural products via new logistics routes, bypassing its ports blocked by the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Roman Leschenko said on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.
They are also ready to help in the sowing campaign, the supply of food and fuel, Leschenko wrote about the results of the online meeting of the ministers of agricultural policy of the G7 countries, the EU Commissioner for Agricultural Policy, as well as representatives of the UN World Food Program and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
“We discussed the situation with food and sowing in Ukraine. I am grateful to the partners for their sincere understanding and for their support in expanding the markets for Ukrainian agricultural products through new logistics routes, supporting fuel and lubricants in the sowing campaign in Ukraine and supplying food kits for Ukrainians into the war zone,” the minister said.
He said that the meeting participants expressed their full support for Ukraine in these issues, and expressed hope for a quick joint solution of all challenges facing Ukraine.
The delegations of Ukraine and the aggressor country resumed negotiations after a technical pause taken a day earlier, Ukrayinska Pravda writes, citing a member of the delegation, head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada David Arakhamia.
“Negotiations are already underway,” Arakhamia said in a comment to the publication on Tuesday.
At the same time, members of the Ukrainian delegation have so far refrained from making any other comments.
As reported, on March 14, a technical pause was taken in the negotiations between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations on ending the war for additional work in working subgroups and clarification of individual definitions. Later, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Ukrainian delegation worked well, and that the negotiations themselves would continue on March 15.
Russia’s military offensive against Ukraine forced 2.952 million people to leave the country in 19 incomplete days of the war in search of safety, protection and assistance, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said as of 13:00 (Kyiv time) on March 14.
The Office said the Ukrainian-Polish border accounted for 60.7% of all refugees.
According to the UNHCR, the number of refugees from Ukraine to Poland since February 24, when Russia started the war, has reached 1.791 million.
Romania received 453,430 people, of which 250,800 people were in transit through Moldova, the department said.
According to it, some 263,890 people arrived in Hungary, some 213,000 in Slovakia, some 86,380 in Moldova.
According to the UNHCR, the flow of refugees from Ukraine to Russia amounted to 142,990, to Belarus (data for March 13) some 1,230.
“As the situation continues to evolve, about 4 million people may leave Ukraine,” the UNHCR said.
According to its estimation two days ago, there are now at least 1.85 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine and another 12.65 million directly affected by the war.
UNHCR said that by the middle of 2021 there were 53,470 Ukrainian refugees in the world who applied for the appropriate status, of which 36,490 were in Europe.
As of the middle of 2020, the UNHCR estimated the Ukrainian diaspora in the world at 6.1 million, including 5 million in Europe.
The organization said the right to free movement within the Schengen area means that there are very few border controls in the European Union, so arrivals in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia only reflect border crossings in these countries, however, according to the UN, a large number of people moved to other countries.
In addition, UNHCR does not take into account persons from border countries who leave Ukraine and return home.
