The UK is handing over another batch of mobile power generators to Ukraine, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko and British Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on their Twitter pages on Wednesday.
“Thanks to mobile generators we will ensure a stable power supply to important facilities, despite yet more damages caused by Russian shellings,” Haluschenko wrote.
“More mobile generators heading to Ukraine. The UK is donating 570 generators to ensure hospitals, phone masts, shelters and water pumping stations can continue to operate in the face of continued Russian attack,” Kwasi Kwarteng said on Twitter.
The UK handed over the first part of the 570 generators – almost 200 – to Ukraine in April. They already serve as backup power sources for reliable power supply to various social and infrastructure facilities in case of damage to electrical equipment and networks
The cancellation by the UK of all duties and quotas on products from Ukraine to support it in the face of a military invasion by the Russian Federation may allow Ukrainian farmers to increase their presence in the UK markets of poultry meat, walnuts, honey, cranberries, blueberries and peas.
The list of high-margin agricultural products that Ukraine could supply to the UK at a time when the export of its traditional agricultural raw materials is blocked by the aggressor country of the Russian Federation was published on the website of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) on Wednesday evening.
According to the results of 2021, agricultural products worth $553 million were exported from Ukraine to the UK, including sunflower oil (31% of export earnings), rapeseed (28%) and corn (24%). However, the supply of traditional agricultural crops in 2022 is difficult due to the naval blockade of Ukraine by Russian warships, as a result of which the country can potentially increase the export of a number of other agricultural products by road.
Ukrainian farmers, in particular, can focus their export efforts on the supply of poultry meat to the UK. The volume of its export in 2021 was 2,600 tonnes. The share of Ukraine of UK imports is 1%. Main competitors: the Netherlands, Poland, and Belgium.
The export of walnuts without shells is also promising. The volume of its export in 2021 was 0700 tonnes. The share of Ukraine of UK imports is 6%. Main competitors: the United States, Germany, and China.
According to the UCAB, Ukrainian farmers can increase honey exports to the UK (800 tonnes were delivered in 2021). The share of Ukraine of UK imports is 1%. Main competitors: China, Poland, and Mexico.
The export of cranberries and blueberries is also promising (supplies in 2021 – 200 tonnes). The share of Ukraine of UK imports is 0.3%. Main competitors: Spain, Peru, and Chile.
Ukraine exported 4,900 tonnes of peas to the UK in 2021, which amounted to 12% of the UK market in 2021. At the same time, Russia is Ukraine’s main competitor in this market, which, taking into account the economic sanctions imposed against it, adds an advantage to Ukrainian suppliers.
“Now the railways and seaports of neighboring countries are heavily loaded due to the export of grain crops, the volumes of which we have the largest. Therefore, to increase export earnings, we should focus on the export of goods that have a higher price with less weight and thus export by road,” UCAB cites a promising export model from its analyst Svitlana Lytvyn.
BERRIES, HONEY, PEAS, POULTRY, UK, UKRAINIAN FARMERS, WALNUTS
The British authorities, in response to Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, on Tuesday distributed an updated sanctions list with technical changes in relation to 195 Russian individuals and legal entities included in it, there are no new defendants on the list.
According to the document, changes have been made, in particular, to the data of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Nikolai Evmenov and his deputies, who fell under sanctions in March, as well as to sanctioned members of the Federation Council and the State Duma.
Also, technical changes have been made to the data of the Deputy Ministers of Defense of the Russian Federation Alexander Fomin, Alexei Krivoruchko, Yuri Sadovenko, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, Timur Ivanov. The data of a number of other Russian military personnel has also been updated.
Ukraine has received two batches of mobile power generators in a total of 177 received from the UK to maintain the reliability of the country’s energy supply, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement.
“In total, the UK announced the transfer of more than 500 portable generators, which will be used by both public and commercial energy companies to provide sustainable power to social facilities, homes, businesses,” the ministry said.
The generators will become a backup source of power in the event of a power outage as a result of enemy shelling of electrical networks and equipment.
“One of our main tasks is to provide our citizens, businesses, the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a stable energy supply. At a time when the Russian invaders are destroying our power grids and critical energy infrastructure, these generators will become an additional guarantee of a reliable energy supply for Ukrainians,” Minister of Energy German Galushchenko stressed. .
As informed in the Ministry of Energy, in the near future, deliveries of the following batches of mobile power generators from the UK are expected.
The UK will increase economic and sanctions pressure on the Russian Federation, in particular, will affect its ability to use its energy resources, said British Prime Minister Boris Johnson
“It is necessary to provide all kinds of support to Ukraine and together with partners we will increase economic pressure, and we will intensify sanctions against Russia every week. We will not be limited to asset freezes or sanctions against oligarchs – we will also affect Russia’s ability to use its energy resources,” Johnson said at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday in Kyiv.
Ukraine’s spending on the development and procurement of weapons and military hardware in 2022 has been increased by UAH 67.57 billion with UK loans totaling 1.7 billion and aimed at bolstering capacities of the Ukrainian Navy.
The Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada adopted the respective bill by 342 votes on Tuesday.
The bill enlarges this year’s budget expenditures from UAH 1,525.930 trillion to UAH 1,593.5 trillion with the special fund’s growth to UAH 221.11 billion.
Meanwhile, the budget deficit ceiling was raised from UAH 188.8 billion to UAH 256.36 billion, including UAH 96.1 billion for the special fund.
In addition, the budget no longer has restrictions at the amount of 3% of the planned revenue for the provision of state guarantees, as well as restrictions at the amount of UAH 10 billion and UAH 20 billion, respectively, for the provision of portfolio guarantees and loan guarantees, in order to increase the national defense capacity.
The bill limits road fund expenditures. “The money will be primarily spent on repaying the state debt, defense, and the development and maintenance of roads,” the Servant of the People faction said in comment on the bill.
An explanatory note says that Ukraine will be implementing state investment projects to purchase two minesweepers from British suppliers, to deliver and service these minesweepers, to ensure the joint construction of eight missile craft, and to deliver and install weapons on the available ships. It is also planned to jointly build a frigate and to receive advisory and technical support for the construction of naval infrastructure, including the delivery of equipment.
At the end of January, the Verkhovna Rada ratified a framework intergovernmental agreement on loan funding of the development of the Ukrainian Navy. The agreement was signed in London on November 12, 2021, to envisage allocations for the construction of eight missile craft, the procurement of two minesweepers from the UK, and the opening of two naval bases in Ukraine.
