According to the results of screening of the main rivers of Ukraine: Dnieper, Dniester, Siversky Donets, the state of water in the country is not worse than its neighbors in Europe, Deputy Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine Mykhailo Khorev said in a Sunday interview with Dim TV.
“There’s really nothing to be afraid of yet. We can’t say that our condition is much worse than our neighbors in Europe […] We fix, say, metals, but we don’t actually have mercury in the water, very well. And in European rivers there is such a problem, and they are actively fighting it. The Slovaks who did our screening were satisfied with the result. They said that in general your rivers are in a much better condition than everyone thinks about them,” the deputy minister said.
Khorev also said that there were traces of COVID pharmaceuticals in the water. Pills and injections used by Ukrainians are excreted from the body and sooner or later fall into the water.
He said that “the same thing is happening in Europe, there are good modernized cleansing facilities, but there are also old ones. Even the leading countries – Germany and France – have not reached good water state.”
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has appointed Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Iryna Stavchuk as Deputy Head of the Ministry for European Integration, government spokesman in the Verkhovna Rada Vasily Mokan said.
According to the statement, the relevant decision was made at a government meeting on Wednesday.
In addition, the government appointed Deputy Head of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Oleksandr Krasnolutsky as Deputy Head of the Ecology Ministry.
The State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre said on its website that Krasnolutsky served as Deputy Head of the department since February 20, 2019
The Ministry of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine will be divided into two relevant departments, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said.
“The separation of the ministry and the creation of the post of the profile minister of ecology are on the agenda,” he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine, emphasizing that the previous merger of the ministries did not produce the expected effect.
“It was strange for me when I got to the first meetings of the Cabinet of Ministers, when the minister of energy first reported on the state of affairs in the nuclear energy industry, then the coal industry, and then on the Red Book plants and catch of bloodworms. Since then, I have been a supporter of the idea that a professional ecologist should be involved in ecology, to whom it is close and who lives with it,” Shmyhal said.
As reported, in August 2019, the Verkhovna Rada supported the candidatures for the posts of members of the new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. By this decision, the Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine was appointed. Prior to this, the government had two separate ministries: the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Ecology.
The Ministry of Energy and Environment Protection is creating Ukrvuhillia state-owned enterprise. Corresponding order No. 13 of January 14, 2020 was posted on the website of the department. The document also approves the charter of the enterprise, and obliges the HR department to take measures regarding the appointment of the head of the enterprise.
The ministry said the decision to create Ukrvuhillia was made with the aim of eliminating the shortcomings of the current system of selling coal mined by state-owned coal mining enterprises, conducting a unified state policy regarding the extraction, processing and sale of coal, optimizing the structure of the procurement market, in particular imports, and creating a single platform for a rapid response to the problems of the coal industry.
The main idea of creating the enterprise is to ensure the proper and transparent functioning of the coal market, to protect Ukrainian producers from the influence of uncontrolled imports, as well as to sustainably meet the needs of domestic consumers in scarce grades of coal.
Ukraine’s new Cabinet of Ministers may not include a Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food. A source of Interfax-Ukraine with knowledge of the situation confirmed this information.
According to the source, the ministry’s liquidation was discussed for about a month.
The European Business Association (EBA) stated its concern about the possibility of liquidating the ministry and attaching parts of it to other ministries or agencies, as did specialized agricultural associations, such as the Ukrainian Grain Association, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, the Ukrainian Agrarian Forum, the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation and others.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure considers it necessary to invest in the construction and repair of runways at regional airports, Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Volodymyr Omelyan has said on the air of Channel Five. “A lot of airlines are ready to enter Ukrainian regional airports, but there are no conditions for that. There are no runways, there are no terminals that would accelerate servicing, while this is one of the key issues for low cost air carriers. Therefore we must invest in the runways as a state to get a highly competitive market and business for the state as well,” he said.
According to Omelyan, the development of airports will ensure a quick return on investment. Earlier, the minister said that the reconstruction of the airport in Odesa is to be completed in 2019. It is also planned to additionally allocate UAH 1.17 billion for the construction of a runway at Odesa airport. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, the construction of a new runway will allow Odesa airport to accept heavier aircraft, including Boeing-767, which, in turn, can double passenger traffic.
