The agreement, signed on April 30, establishes a joint investment fund between Kyiv and Washington and grants the U.S. special access to projects developing Ukraine's natural resources.
Ukraine is considering moving away from the U.S. dollar and closer to the euro as a benchmark for the hryvnia, National Bank Governor Andrii Pyshnyi told Reuters.
The Atesh partisan group claims it disabled communication at several Russian military facilities when it allegedly destroyed equipment at a transformer substation in the village of Mogiltsy in Russia's Moscow Oblast.
U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks during the annual Lord Mayor's Banquet at The Guildhall on Dec. 2, 2024 in London, U.K. ( Carl Court/Getty Images)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has emphasized the importance of inflicting "maximum pain" on Russian President Vladimir Putin through additional sanctions and enhanced military support for Ukraine.
Talking during a video conference with G7 leaders, Starmer highlighted Putin's unwillingness to make concessions and argued for bolstered aid to Ukraine to position the country as strongly as possible for the future. He noted that the international community must increase economic pressure and military assistance to achieve this goal.
The remarks come amid ongoing efforts by G7 nations to finalize a $50 billion aid package for Ukraine using Russian assets, as recently noted by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
On Dec. 9, the U.K. announced new sanctions targeting the illicit gold trade, which it says finances Russia's war against Ukraine.
"Russia uses the illicit gold trade to launder money and evade sanctions, in doing so bolstering (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's war efforts," the U.K. government said in a press release.
The measures include asset freezes on five individuals, including Anto Joseph, CEO of Paloma Precious, which has reportedly purchased over $300 million worth of Russian gold.
The British government reported in 2023 that gold brought $15.5 billion to the Russian economy in 2021, making it one of the country's most valuable commodities after energy exports.
Olena Goncharova is the Head of North America desk at The Kyiv Independent, where she has previously worked as a development manager and Canadian correspondent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
