The European Parliament voted “yes” to a resolution calling on the institutions of the European Union to work towards granting Ukraine the status of an EU candidate, thus recognizing Ukraine’s European perspective.
The corresponding document was voted on Tuesday as part of an extraordinary meeting of the European Parliament. Some 676 voted, of which 637 gave their affirmative votes, 13 were against, and 26 abstained.
The European Parliament calls on the EU institutions to work towards granting Ukraine candidate status for the EU in accordance with Article 49 of the Treaty on European Union and on merit basis, and in the meantime continue to work towards its integration into the EU single market in accordance with the Association Agreement, the resolution says.
The Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air has canceled all flights to Ukraine until March 27, the relevant information is contained in the airline’s booking system. According to it, the first flights available for sale to the company’s destinations from/to Ukraine are on Sunday, March 27.
Ticket holders before this date received an offer from the company to exchange them for flights with a later date, return the money or put them on an annual deposit for the purchase of tickets in the future with a 20% surcharge.
As reported, Wizz Air has suspended flights to Ukraine since February 24, when a full-scale Russian invasion of the country began. In addition, until March 4, the airline also refrains from flights to the capital of Moldova, Chisinau, instead performing them to the Romanian airport Iasi.
Wizz Air also said that it is working on the evacuation of its aircraft and employees with families from Ukraine.
According to Interfax-Ukraine, about three aircraft of the company remained at the Kyiv airport, which did not have time to take off from Kyiv on the morning of February 24.
Ukraine’s power system is operating normally, the availability of the necessary energy resources is fully ensured, the Ministry of Energy reported on its website on Thursday.
According to the ministry, security measures have been strengthened at all facilities, and the stability of the operation of enterprises and grids in the energy sector is being systematically monitored.
“Today, the IPS of Ukraine [Integrated Power System of Ukraine] and the Burshtyn TPP Island are synchronized into one power system, which operates autonomously from Russia and Belarus in a single control unit with the power system of Moldova,” the ministry recalled.
According to the report, the Ministry of Energy is currently setting itself the key task of providing Ukrainians, and primarily the Ukrainian military, with electrical and thermal energy.
International business has expressed solidarity with Ukraine in the face of a possible aggravation of the foreign political situation and continues to work in the country, the International Council of Business Associations and Chambers in Ukraine (ICBAC), which unites the trade communities of nine countries and the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in a statement.
“We remain to work on the territory of Ukraine and, together with Ukrainian partners, we will work to strengthen the economic potential and resilience of Ukraine,” the press service of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, citing the ICBAC statement in a release.
ICBAC brings together companies from France, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Turkey, Canada, China, the UK and the United States.
“Representatives of nine countries expressed their solidarity with Ukraine in the face of possible negative consequences for its economy, which may arise as a result of the aggravation of the foreign policy situation. They intend to expand trade turnover, which reaches $50 billion,” the Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.
Italy plans to allocate EUR 110 million in financial assistance to support the population and economy of Ukraine in areas that will be agreed with the Ukrainian authorities, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Luigi Di Maio said during a briefing in the Senate of the Italian Parliament.
“We also intend to help the International Committee of the Red Cross in the humanitarian sphere,” he added, commenting on the results of his visit to Kyiv last week.
Based on the results of the work of metallurgical enterprises in January of this year, Ukraine increased steel production by 0.7% compared to the same period in 2021, being 13th in the ranking of 64 countries – the world’s main producers of this product, compiled by the World Manufacturers Association steel (Worldsteel).
According to Worldsteel data released on Tuesday, in January 2022, a decrease in steel production was recorded by January 2021 in most countries of the top ten, except for India, the United States, Russia and Iran.
The top ten steel-producing countries in January was as follows: China (81.685 million tonnes, a decrease of 11.2% compared to January 2021), India (10.781 million tonnes, an increase of 4.7%), Japan (7.758 million tonnes, 2.1% less), the United States (7.266 million tonnes, 4.2% more), Russian Federation (6.570 million tonnes, 3.3% more), South Korea (5.980 million tonnes, 1.1% less), Germany (3.259 million tonnes, 1.4% less), Turkey (3.161 million tonnes, 7.8% less), Brazil (2.883 million tonnes, 4.8% less) and Iran (2.8 million tonnes, 20.3% more).
This is followed by Taiwan (China, 2.040 million tonnes, an increase of 2.2%), Vietnam (1.875 million tonnes, a decrease of 4.1%), Ukraine (1.851 million tonnes, 0.7% more), Mexico (1.520 million tonnes, 2.5% less) and Italy (1.5 million tonnes, 20.8% less).
In general, in January of this year, steel production decreased by 6.1% compared to the same period last year, to 155.030 million tonnes.
