UN Secretary General António Guterres has arrived in Ukraine on a visit.
“I arrived in Ukraine after visiting Moscow. We will continue our work to expand humanitarian assistance and ensure the evacuation of civilians from conflict zones. The sooner this war ends, the better for Ukraine, Russia and the world,” the Secretary General wrote on Twitter on Wednesday .
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expects proposals from local authorities for the post-war reconstruction of the regions.
“There was a meeting of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. We discussed a range of issues, including the rebuilding of our state. We are already working out all the details so that the post-war reconstruction project can be implemented quickly and as effectively as possible. I emphasized that we expect specific requests and proposals from local authorities, so that we can talk substantively with our partners, with international donors,” he said in a video message Wednesday night.
According to the president, “the communities must give all the information about the destroyed housing. “We discussed how and in what sequence to build, how to organize the redemption of finished housing. Our goal is not only to restore what was destroyed by the occupiers, but also to solve the long-standing problems that exist with the housing queues,” the president said.
Employees of the Austrian embassy in Ukraine returned to Kyiv last week, the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
“We are united with the people of Ukraine, who have become victims of unprecedented military aggression by Russia. As an important sign of our unwavering solidarity with Ukraine, our embassy staff returned to Kyiv last week. Thank you to our staff for your efforts and dedication!” the Foreign Ministry tweeted on Wednesday.
Representatives of the US Embassy in Ukraine are preparing to return and resume work in Kyiv.
“It’s great to be back! Today, members of the Embassy team traveled to Lviv to meet with key partners, including the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. This visit was the first step towards more regular travel in the near future. Preparations are underway to resume work in Kyiv as soon as possible,” it said. in a tweet from the US Embassy on Wednesday night.
About 40% of public catering establishments have already restored work in Kyiv and Kyiv region, while most of the operating cafes are in the Transcarpathian region – 86% of the pre-war number, follows from a study by Poster.
“In Kyiv, 40% of small and medium-sized establishments operate in comparison with the figure on February 23, in the Kyiv region – 41%. The number of open establishments began to grow rapidly after the north of Ukraine was completely liberated from the invaders in early April. For comparison, in At the end of March, only 18% of establishments worked in Kyiv, and 16% in the Kyiv region,” the company said.
According to the study, the most operating establishments are in Zakarpattia (86%), Chernivtsi (81%) and Lviv regions (79%).
The largest increase in open establishments in April compared to March was shown by Chernihiv (from 1% to 20%) and Sumy (from 16% to 49%) regions. In addition, the number of open cafes in the Zhytomyr region increased by 23% (up to 63%), by 21% – in the Volyn region (up to 77%), by 20% – in the Kirovohrad region (up to 78%).
At the same time, the least operating establishments are in the east of Ukraine: in the Kharkiv region – 9% of the pre-war number, in the Donetsk region – 5%, in the Luhansk region – 0%.
As reported, the Poster cafe and restaurant automation service permanently disconnected 10,000 customers in Russia and Belarus from its services.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Monday that the US embassy in Kyiv could resume work in the next “couple of weeks.”
“As for the embassy, next week our diplomats will return to Ukraine, then we will begin the process of considering the opening of the embassy itself in Kyiv,” Blinken told reporters in Poland after a visit to Ukraine.
“I think it will happen within a couple of weeks,” he added, broadcasting the briefing was led by NBC News.
The US Secretary of State pointed out that Washington is acting “carefully” on this issue, and ensuring the safety of American diplomatic personnel remains a priority.
