The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine is in contact with international partners on countering cyberattacks and strengthening the cybersecurity system, measures are being taken to protect the websites of the Foreign Ministry and consulates abroad, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said.
On behalf of Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian diplomatic service has begun additional contacts with international partners to strengthen Ukraine’s ability to counter cyberattacks and develop cyber defense systems.
“A team of specialists from the Foreign Ministry, in cooperation with other involved departments, has already resumed the operation of the website of the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine: mfa.gov.ua,” Nikolenko wrote on his Facebook page.
He noted that as a result of the hacker attack, the content of the website was not damaged, no official information was leaked, and the internal IT systems of the Foreign Ministry are operating as normal.
“We are taking practical measures to strengthen the cyber defense of the Foreign Ministry and Ukrainian embassies and consulates abroad,” Nikolenko added.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed decree No.13/2022 on the appointment of a new Ambassador to the Republic of Lithuania.
“To appoint Petro Ivanovych Beshta as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Lithuania,” the president said in the document released on its website.
The trade turnover between Ukraine and Azerbaijan for the first time in seven years has reached an all-time high levels of almost $1 billion, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said. “The commodity turnover [between Ukraine and Azerbaijan] not only did not decrease, despite what is happening around the world and our states are no exception, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, for the first time in seven years, the trade turnover has reached an all-time high of almost $1 billion “, Zelensky said during a joint briefing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Kyiv on Thursday.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine and Azerbaijan set a goal to double the volume of joint trade by 2024, increase the amount of joint investments and projects, in particular, the participation of Azerbaijani companies in the Great Construction program, as well as mutual participation in the construction of new infrastructure in both states.
Also, according to the president, Ukraine counts on the active participation of Azerbaijani business in privatization in Ukraine.
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.
