Partners news

Thursday, September 2

ICU launches Ukraine’s first mobile application for online trade-in government bonds. It allows the user to buy and sell government domestic loan bonds in real-time from all mobile devices. The ICU Investment Group says this is the first such mobile application on the Ukrainian market....

Chinese becomes the sixth language of Ukraine’s official website. The official website of Ukraine, ukraine.ua, has launched its sixth language version – in Chinese. It follows the recent addition of Arabic.

Ukraine is proud of its successes at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. At the end of September 1, Ukrainian athletes had won 81 medals: 20 gold, 37 silver and 24 bronze

Editor’s Note: Despite the apprehension foreshadowing his visit to Washington, President Zelensky will return with results that in the complex circumstances are close to optimal. The Biden administration, preoccupie...

Wednesday, September 1

President Zelensky is in Washington on a working visit at the invitation of U.S. President Joe Biden which will last until 5 September. The Ukrainian side hopes to conclude agreements in the defense, energy, space, and trade sectors and...

Energoatom and Westinghouse have signed a cooperation agreement. One of the first fruits of President Zelenskiy’s visit to the US is a memorandum signed by Ukraine’s National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom and Westinghouse on the construction of...

Ukrzaliznytsia has won a ruling to reduce the debt of Russian Sberbank by $15.6 million. The Eastern Commercial Court of Appeal in Kharkiv has agreed to reduce one of the state-owned company’s debts to the Russian bank Sberbank from $56.1 million to $40.55 million. Ukrzaliznytsia accrued ...

Turkish Akkon Line Begins Container Service to Ukraine. Turkey’s Akkon Lines are launching a new container service from Turkey to Ukraine. An agreement between DP World TIS Pivdennyi and Akkon Shipping was signed on August 26. The first arrival at DP World...

Editors Note: Presidents and Biden are due to meet today in Washington and the outcome is eagerly awaited. One of the controversial topics is the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project which Kyiv still hopes Washington mig...

Tuesday, August 31

The Biden-Zelensky summit has been postponed by a day to September 1st due to the US president’s preoccupation with overseeing responses to the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and Hurricane Ida which has just hit Louisiana. “This visit will affirm the United S...

Media note concerns and expectations surrounding Biden-Zelenskiy summit. Typically, The Financial Times writes “Afghanistan withdrawal heightens Zelensky’s fears of dwindling support from Washington,” and that the Ukrainian president “will be desperate for military and eco...

Leading US businessman explains what’s at stake. Writing in the Atlantic Council’s UkraineAlert, Richard Deitz, the founder and President of VR Capital Group says: “ Ukraine needs critical economic and military support from the United States,” and t...

Ukraine terminating contract with India’s Serum Institute for COVID-19 vaccine supply. According to the Health Minister Viktor Liashko, it is a political decision because “the Institute has not fulfilled its obligations under the contract.” He said it had not supplied 1.5 million doses ...

Ukraine has joined the Advisory Center on WTO Law (ACWL), the Ukrainian Economy Ministry reports. On August 28 it officially became a member of this international organization and can use its services. which include obtaining free legal advice on World Trade...

H&M is coming to Lviv. Swedish fashion retailer H&M plans to open its first store in Lviv in the Victoria Gardens shopping mall in autumn 2021. The H&M chain in Ukraine already has seven retail outlets: five in Kyiv...

Editor’s Note: While attention is understandably focused on the imminent Biden-Zelensky summit, noteworthy things have been happening in Ukraine. The Ukrainian President has enacted a decision to break the hold of o...

Monday, August 30

Attention focused on the Biden-Zelenskiy meeting. President Zelenskiy is beginning a long-awaited official visit to the US and is due to meet President Joe Biden in Washington on September 1. There is much riding on their meeting. For Kyiv, security ...

Despite hiccups, US is signaling continuing strong support for Ukraine. Forceful statements affirming enduring US commitment to Ukraine have emerged in recent days from Biden’s team, most notably at the recent Crimea Platform launch in Kyiv from Secretary of Energy Jennif...

On the eve of Zelenskiy’s visit, Biden makes a symbolic gesture. Despite being preoccupied with the crisis in Afghanistan and the Covid 19 pandemic at home, on August 27 President Biden designated an additional $60 million for Ukraine’s defense needs.

Ukrainian-Moldovian relations strengthened. Both the President and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal took part in Moldova’s celebrations of the 30th anniversary of its independence in Chisinau on August 27 and held bilateral talks on enhancing relat...

Ukraine to receive 22 more Airbus helicopters from France. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced that that by the end of 2021, Ukraine will receive 22 French helicopters under a contract signed in 2018 with French company Airbus Helicopters SAS. In t...

US lifts temporary ban on poultry imports from Ukraine. The Department of Agriculture (DA) announced this on Aug.23 after the country was certified as free of bird flu. The ban was imposed on Jan. 30, 2020.

Health Minister says about 9M doses of COVID-19 vaccine are available in the country. In total, 18.5 million doses have been delivered the beginning of the vaccination campaign. Viktor Liashko urged people to be vaccinated as the onset of colder we...

Kyiv Investment Forum to focus on smart development of Kyiv region. According to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, this year’s Forum will be held on September 10 and will be dedicated to the smart development of Kyiv region and its creative transformation. The city is hopi...

Editor’s Note: The moment of truth is almost upon us. How will Biden and Zelenskiy get on at their summit and what will it produce? The US is preoccupied with many other pressing issues, but for Ukraine this meeting...

Friday, August 27

Finance Minister said that the National Bank’s decision “strange.” Responding to the NBU’s decision to postpone the increase in the risk weight of government bonds in foreign currency to 100% for only six months, Marchenko expressed his surprise and said discussions ...

More headaches for Igor Kolomoisky. A US court has ordered the oligarch to pay $1.1 million in civil penalties for damage caused to the local environment by the Warren Steel Holdings, one of at least 22 U.S. properties owned by Kolomois...

Another European low-cost airline will start flying to Ukraine in September. The German Eurowings, a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group, will begin operating flights on the Dusseldorf – Kyiv route from Sept.1, 2021, three times a week: on Mondays, Wednesdays...

Editor’s Note: Glad to say that subscriptions to UBN are growing as is interest in it. We rely on sponsorship to keep the business news coming to you each day and to develop the product. If you would like to expand ...

Thursday, August 26

Naftogaz CEO says there should be one rule for all. Commenting on the decision of the German court, Yuriy Vitrenko wrote: “Our strategy is to play by the same rules that the West lives by, and it pays off. Gazprom lost the Stockholm arbitration. ...

Deutsche Bahn to help Ukrainian Railways improve its performance. Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) and Deutsche Bahn Engineering & Consulting have signed an agreement which seeks to improve the development of passenger railway transportation, optimize purchas...

UK initiates international fund to support citizens of Ukraine’s east. The British Embassy in Kyiv reports that he UK together with Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, and the US is launching a new Partnership for a Resilient Ukraine to support Ukraine mitigate Russia’s destabi...

Poland is the latest country to provide Ukraine with vaccines against Covid 19. Poland has just delivered 650,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to Ukraine and other medical supplies to combat the pandemic. According to Poland’s president Andrzej Duda, its value a...

Vodafone Ukraine plans to enter fixed-line market through the acquisition of two companies – Farlep-Invest (operating under the brand name Vega) and Cable TV-Finance. According to Olga Ustinova, CEO of Vodafone Ukraine, it plans “to provide converged...

Editor’s Note: Yesterday’s decision of the German court concerning Nord Stream 2 might not actually scupper this controversial scheme, but it will undoubtedly delay it and generate more discussion within the EU. It ...

Wednesday, August 25

The Naftogaz CEO is confident Nord Stream 2 will not become operational for some time. Despite its technical readiness, the pipeline will not be able to operate commercially until certification procedures are met, Yuriy Vitrenko, Naftogaz of Ukraine’s CEO, believes. He is convinced that...

Ukraine celebrates its 30th anniversary of independence. On August 24, the country celebrated three decades of independence with a lavish display of national pride, history, culture, and military might in Kyiv before many of the foreign dignitaries who had ...

Editor’s Note: Ukraine has just turned 30 and received a wonderful present from the IMF. It should be a welcome boost at a time of continuing war and protracted difficult democratic transformation and pandemic. Will...

Friday, August 20

Through 2035, Ukraine is rebuilding its Navy – naval bases, corvettes and small submarines, President Zelenskiy told Ukrainian journalists from Crimea yesterday. “The first will be built in Berdyansk,” he said, referring to Naval Base East. The EU, UK and US are supporting this project, he s...

As part of a part of a £1.25 billion UK-Ukraine agreement to upgrade Ukraine’s navy, Britain will transfer to Ukraine two Sandown-class minehunting ships, reports the Royal Navy. “Once further work is completed on the two vessels, they’ll be transferred to the Ukrainian Navy,” the sta...

British warship builder Babcock International is to help rebuild Ukraine’s shipyards, train navy personnel and build fast attack boats , according to a Defense News report on a memorandum signed recently in Odesa. Babcock chief executive David Lockwood said in Odesa that the program includes the “enhancement of capabilities on existi...

Next year, the US will start transferring Mark VI high-speed combat boats to Ukraine next year, President Zelensky says. “In Pivdennyi Port, an infrastructure for basing patrol boats is formed, the management of the division of ships was deployed, and two boats of Island type are based,” he said...

Ukraine yesterday bought the RSS James Clark Ross, a British polar supply and research vessel, for its only Antarctic outpost, the Akademik Vernadskiy station. The $5.3 million contract with the British Antarctic Survey provides Kyiv with its first icebreaker in the polar region in decades, acc...

The 31-year-old vessel is to arrive in Odesa in September. Carrying several dozen scientists and more than 20 crew members, the ship is expected to go to Vernadskiy at the end of this year – the Antarctic summer. The icebreaker operates normally in an ice lay...

Belgium is to transfer the Belgica, a 35-year-old maritime research vessel, to Ukraine free of charge. With Belgian and EU aid, the re-flagged vessel is to start this fall to monitor Black Sea fish stocks and hydrogen sulfide levels.

Monday’s Crimea Platform will draw 44 foreign delegations, including 14 heads of state and government . Meeting in Kyiv, this inaugural summit is designed increase pressure on Russia, to prevent human rights violations, and to restore Ukraine’s sovereignty over the peninsula. Presidents will participa...

President Zelenskiy’s meeting with US President Biden will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 31, one day later than planned, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters yesterday. Although Zelenskiy will have a one-on-one meeting with Biden, it will be difficult to meet members of Congress as the visit was scheduled durin...

President Zelenskiy will seek to attract US investors to Ukraine’s titanium industry during his visit at the end of August, Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Urusky tell Interfax Ukraine. One major titatanium mining and processing operation — United Mining and Chemical Company – will b...

Ahead of his meeting with President Biden, President Zelenskiy took issue with Biden’s comment that the country still has “to clean up corruption” before it can join NATO. “It’s very popular to accuse Ukraine of corruption — and it’s not that I hold these views only since I became president, but I’ve always felt offended ...

A senior Russian security official questioned Washington’s commitment to Ukraine after its abrupt exit from Afghanistan, predicting the US would one day abandon its Ukrainian allies in the same way. “Was the ousted pro-American regime in Kabul saved by the fact that Afghanistan had the status of a principal U.S. ally ou...