Excerpts from the most important news on Ukraine
EBRD will provide €900 mln for Kyiv-Odesa road
01.10.2019
European banks will provide €900 million for the repair of Ukraine’s busiest highway, the 453 km Kyiv-Odesa road, says Slavomir Novak, the outgoing head of Ukravtodor, the state highway agency.“We were able to complete negotiations with European banks, with the EIB and EBRD, and Ukraine will receive €900 million for the overhaul of Kiev-Odesa, raising this road to autobahn category,” he tells Hromadske.Next spring, he says, work should start on the road, Highway M05.Ukraine plans to legalize gambling in high-end hotels
01.10.2019
The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a bill to legalize gambling in hotels in Ukraine.The version that goes to the Rada in coming days restricts gambling to high-end hotels and only “on gaming equipment using software that meets international standards.”The law is thought to be adopted within two months. The government predicts gambling will draw $100 million in tax revenue next year.IT sector revenues expected to reach $5 bln in 2019
30.09.2019
A new report into the Ukrainian IT industry produced by tech service provider N-iX has predicted a rise in annual industry revenues to a new high of USD 5 billion during the current year, representing almost double the total reached four years ago in 2015.The report, which draws on data from a range of domestic and international sources including the IT Ukraine Association, the World Bank, Bloomberg and PwC, anticipates the number of Ukrainian IT professionals reaching 200,000 by the end ...S&P upgraded Ukraine’s sovereign debt
30.09.2019
S&P Global upgraded Ukraine’s sovereign debt on Friday to B from B-, following a similar upgrade three weeks earlier by Fitch. “The country’s economy is recovering and the debt-to-GDP ratio is declining,” wrote Standard & Poor’s. “The agency notes that Ukraine should maintain access to domestic and international capital markets, which will allow the country to repay its commercial borrowings through 2020.”New Evidence in Berlin Assassination Links russian State to the Crime
29.09.2019
In the process of this investigation, Bellingcat and its partners have obtained conclusive evidence that the suspect – whose real identity is still being sought by our team – traveled to Berlin under a cover identity with the active support of the russian state that created a comprehensive, back-dated paper-trail for this fictitious persona in order to help him obtain the necessary travel and insurance documents, and – crucially – a Schengen visa.These findings preclude the hypothesis that this ...russia’s war against Ukraine should matter to America
27.09.2019
US support for Ukraine, in any form – whether through diplomatic gestures or weapons – sends a signal that the democratic world order is still worth fighting for, writes Nolan Peterson for The Daily Signal.It’s easy to believe that history automatically arcs in the right direction, or that the era of world wars is over. It could never happen again; not in our time, we mistakenly conclude. The truth is, we are just treading water, fighting against the gravitational tug ...China has displaced russia as Ukraine’s largest trading partner
27.09.2019
China has displaced russia as Ukraine’s largest trading partner, according to new data posted by the National Bank of Ukraine. In the first quarter of this year, China-Ukraine trade hit $2.55 billion, or 10.6% of Ukraine’s foreign trade. During the same period, russia’s trade dipped to $2.34 billion, or 9.7% of Ukraine’s foreign trade.At the same time, the boom in China-Europe train traffic is bypassing Ukraine due to russia’s restrictions on freight trains transiting its territory to Ukraine. Through, ...Moneyval: Swift actions against money launderers are needed
27.09.2019
The Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering (AML) watchdog called on nations to take swift action against money launderers and terrorist financiers in an annual report. Moneyval Chair Elzbieta Frankow-Jaskiewicz said in the report that large-scale money laundering scandals and terrorist attacks in 2018 underline the “importance and urgency that countries and territories around the world apply robust measures to counter money laundering and terrorist financing.”The annual review outlines the organization’s 2018 findings published in four mutual evaluation reports and 26 follow-up ...Kharkiv Airport sets new monthly passenger record
27.09.2019
Passenger numbers at Kharkiv International Airport rose by 48% year-on-year during August 2019 to reach a new record of 140,400 people, Business Ukraine reports.This new total surpassed the previous monthly high of 130,700 passengers established one month earlier in July 2019.The surge in passenger volumes during the peak summer season has helped push annual growth at Kharkiv airport to 29% for the first eight months of the year.The most popular destinations from Kharkiv are Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt, Istanbul ...Deutsche Bank is raided in connection to Danske scandal
27.09.2019
German authorities have raided Deutsche Bank’s headquarters in search of information related to the Danske Bank money laundering scandal, Reuters reports.The ongoing investigation is trying to establish whether Germany’s biggest bank facilitated money laundering and acted as a correspondent bank for Danske.Danske Bank is under investigation in several countries, including the United States, Denmark, Britain and Estonia, over suspicious payments totalling $220 billion moved through its tiny Estonian branch.SBU raided money laundering center with $1 bln turnover
26.09.2019
Operatives of the SBU have halted the activities of the money laundering center in Kyiv with a turnover of over $1 bln per annum, SBU reports.“The SBU operatives established that a group of criminals organized illegal business which had been functioning since 2017. The offenders carried out financial operations on the clients orders using a number of fictitious enterprises, to transfer money into cash for the purpose of tax evasion … The customers of the illicit ...Danske Bank CEO Aivar Rehe’s body found
26.09.2019
The Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) have confirmed that the body of former Danske Bank CEO Aivar Rehe has been found. According to ERR’s information, Rehe’s body was found in his own backyard, and everything at the scene points toward death by suicide.Police officers and volunteers began the search for Rehe, 56, on Monday, after he was last seen that morning. On Tuesday, PPA Northern Prefecture operations chief Valdo Põder told ERR that Aivar Rehe was a threat to ...
