President Volodymyr Zelensky warned German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that Russia was wielding its Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as “a geopolitical weapon” to threaten energy security in Europe. He added that German relations with the controversial gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine have been a growing irritant for both Washington and Kyiv.
The U.S. President Joe Biden's administration issued new warnings on Feb. 11 that Russia was poised to launch a further invasion of Ukraine at any moment, saying that it could happen within days. The White House said it still wasn’t clear if Russian President Vladimir Putin had made
Amid mounting fears over a possible Russian all-out invasion, Ukraine is facing a threat on two fronts – land and cyberspace. “Cyberattacks look like an ideal way for Russia to achieve its goals (to destabilize the country),” Yegor Aushev, co-founder of the Kyiv-based Cyber Unit Technologies and Cyber School, told the
Mark Rutte warned of “serious consequences” if Moscow chooses to further invade Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly addressed tensions surrounding Ukraine for the first time since December as he accused the U.S. of using Kyiv as a “tool” to pull Russia into an armed conflict over its neighboring country. Putin said the U.S. and its allies have “ignored” Moscow’s
The United Nations Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security held on Jan. 31 turned into a sharp confrontation with little result, as Russia actively denied responsibility for its war against Ukraine. The council meeting led by Washington's UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield was set to discuss the
The current Russian military buildup near Ukrainian borders is not much different from the situation in spring 2021, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Jan. 28. Reznikov explained that Russia currently has about 130,000 troops arrayed around Ukraine, which he says is not significantly different from the
Four European airlines have stopped parking their planes overnight at an airport in Kyiv as fears mount over a possible all-out Russian invasion. Germany’s Lufthansa, Dutch KLM, Austrian Airlines and Swiss International Airlines have made sudden changes to their Kyiv flight schedule so that their planes and crew would
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on Jan. 21 in Geneva for high-stakes talks amid mounting fears that the Kremlin could be about to invade Ukraine. As they had predicted earlier, the top U.S. and Russian diplomats made no major breakthrough in
A large number of Russian soldiers in the eastern part of the country have been sent on mysterious 6-9-month missions toward Ukraine, according to the Moscow-based Conflict Intelligence Team’s report published on Jan. 19. The report comes as Russian troops, which moved from the country’s far east to
The White House has confirmed on Jan. 19 that Russia has embassy evacuation plans from Ukraine, amid Kremlin's ongoing military escalation. “We have information indicating that the Russian authorities were preparing to evacuate family members of diplomats from their (Kyiv) embassy in late December and early January,” Jen Psaki, White
Russia has begun sending its troops and combat vehicles to Ukraine’s northern neighbor Belarus ahead of next month’s joint military exercises, in a move likely to stir Western fears that Moscow is preparing to further invade Ukraine. Belarus's defense ministry announced on Jan. 18 that Russian troops have
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed a 13 million euro agreement with Ukraine's biggest parcel delivery firm Nova Poshta to help the company build an automated sorting hub in Dnipro, the financial institution announced on Dec. 29. The new terminal in central Ukraine will allow the company
A fire killed three patients and injured four medical staff in the intensive care unit of Kosiv Central District Hospital in western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast on Dec. 28. Preliminary data from the investigation suggests that the accident happened due to human error. According to the head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional State
Kyiv has detected its first cases of the highly transmissible Omicron strain of coronavirus, Deputy Head of the City Administration Mykola Povoroznyk said on Dec. 28. The official called on Kyiv residents to adhere to the yellow zone restrictions in place, requiring proof of at least partial vaccination, negative test
Ukrainian documentary "Home Games" has joined the Netflix library on Dec. 23. Its director Alisa Kovalenko said this is the streaming giant's first documentary by a Ukrainian filmmaker. “I hope it will be a milestone and that other great Ukrainian author-driven documentaries will be soon on Netflix as well,” she
A Ukrainian label, Standard Deviation, made it onto the list of best record labels in 2021 compiled by Mixmag, a U.K. magazine and one of the world’s oldest publications that focus on electronic music. This label of Kyiv’s famous unnamed techno club located on Kyrylivska Street was
China’s aerospace firm Skyrizon is taking the Ukrainian government to an international tribunal, demanding $4.5 billion in compensation over the failed purchase of Motor Sich, an advanced aircraft engine manufacturer based in the regional capital of Zaporizhia. Beijing Skyrizon Aviation explained in the statement on its WeChat account
Ukraine will suspend entry for foreigners traveling from several African countries where the Omicron variant of Covid-19 has been detected, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said during a televised government meeting on Dec. 2. The temporary entry ban will come into force at midnight on Dec. 3. The rules apply to
Ivanna Sakhno will reportedly be playing a newly-created character in the Disney+ limited series “Star Wars: Ahsoka,” a spinoff from the hit show “The Mandalorian.” Details about Sakhno’s character have not been revealed. The series, which is gearing up for production, will follow the fan favorite character Ahsoka Tano,
Law enforcement arrested five people for selling fake negative PCR tests, Ukrainian and Slovakian vaccine passports on Nov. 26 in Zakarpattia Oblast. Amongst confiscated materials were computers that contained personal information about clients that used the services. According to the data, nearly 4,500 individual fake Covid-19 documents were created
The privatization of Ukraine's oldest wine-making enterprise located in the southern Black Sea port city of Odesa has been officially completed, the State Property Fund of Ukraine announced on Nov. 25. The buyer is Kaplor 7, an Odesa-based company, which paid three times the starting price. The purchase includes a
Ukraine will get the funding from German state-owned development bank KfW, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Nov. 24. The money will be allocated to two regional capitals, Zhytomyr and Zaporizhia. Each municipality will have a 2% interest rate on the loan with a grace period of 10 years. The
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, the country’s solvent banks made a combined Hr 58.4 billion in net profits from January through October, compared to Hr 39.8 billion in the same period last year. The banks’ total revenues for the first 10 months of 2021 increased
The U.S. pharmaceutical will deliver the vaccines in 2022-2023, Health Minister Viktor Lyashko announced on Nov. 23. Ukraine has fully vaccinated 10.2 million people, or 25% of the population. A delayed rollout and widespread vaccine skepticism have slowed down the vaccination drive, putting stress on the country’s
President Volodymyr Zelensky's government has secured the long-awaited new IMF loan tranche of nearly $700 million as well as the extension of its $5 billion stand-by program through June 2022. The Washington-based organization said on Nov. 22 that the program is to help Ukraine address the effects of Covid-19 shock
Ukraine’s seniors had a combined $123 million in retirement savings in 2020, which was just 0.1% of the country’s GDP. This is the second-lowest rate out of 89 countries surveyed by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Only Pakistan’s rate was lower. As of Aug.
The U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Company signed a contract with Ukraine’s state nuclear operator Energoatom on Nov. 22. The agreement outlines the construction of two AP1000 reactors at the power plant in Khmelnytskyi, a regional capital in western Ukraine. In September, Westinghouse signed a memorandum with Energoatom to
The company began daily flights between Kyiv and Zaporizhia on Nov. 21. It also sent its first commercial flight from Kyiv to Lviv on Nov. 22 and plans to add more routes in the future, including international ones. The airline is based in the Kyiv International Airport, known as Zhuliany.
Ukraine’s state-owned postal service Ukrposhta signed an agreement with Grand Impeks to construct a fully-automated mail sorting complex in the regional capital of Dnipro on Nov. 19. The step is expected to speed up delivery times. The new facility will be built on an eight-hectare plot close to the
The all-in-one restaurant management system ORTY made it into the U.K. TechRound’s list of top food tech startups in 2021. Founded by Ukrainians, the Toronto-based startup developed an app for restaurants to track data, including customer orders, ingredient expiration dates, supplies, and marketing procedures. ORTY has received $105,
The number is four times higher than the bank’s earnings in the same period of last year, state-owned Ukrgasbank announced on Nov. 15. This is the bank’s most profitable year on record. Banks around the world have seen windfall profits in 2021 as consumer spending increased and economies
