Ukraine News and Discussion

weatheriscool
Posts: 12946
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by weatheriscool »

Russia's war to shrink Ukraine economy 45%, World Bank says
Source: AP
LONDON (AP) — The World Bank says Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45.1% this year because of Russia’s invasion, which has shut down half of the country’s businesses, choked off imports and exports, and damaged a vast amount of critical infrastructure.

Unprecedented sanctions imposed by Western allies in response to the war, meanwhile, are plunging Russia into a deep recession, lopping off more than a tenth of its economic growth, the World Bank said in a report Sunday.

The war is set to inflict twice the amount of economic damage across Europe and Central Asia that the COVID-19 pandemic did, the Washington-based lender said in its “War in the Region” economic report.

“The magnitude of the humanitarian crisis unleashed by the war is staggering,” said Anna Bjerde, the World Bank’s vice president for the Europe and Central Asia region. “The Russian invasion is delivering a massive blow to Ukraine’s economy and it has inflicted enormous damage to infrastructure.”


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... c26836c122
User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by caltrek »

An Insider Look at a Ukrainian Fintech Startup Adapting to Life During Wartime
by Nelia Holovina
April 15, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/15/an-in ... g-wartime/

Introduction:
(TechCrunch) Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine has been going on for almost two months, and during this time, all sectors of the economy, including IT, have had to stand by the military.

Ukrainian IT did not break down — it shrank a little, but it is standing firmly, providing employment to people, paying taxes, organizing humanitarian help and assisting the Ukrainian army.

Here are a few key factors that have helped Ukrainian IT, and us as a company, survive:

Companies prepared for war before it started

The media was discussing the possibility of war long before it actually started. Even though everyone hoped for the better, Ukrainians acknowledged that they had a neighbor who could attack at any moment. With this in mind, many IT companies started to plan for emergencies and set up contingency teams. Preparation significantly helped us maintain cohesion when the war started on February 24.

Our company created an emergency team, whose main responsibilities were to ensure the accommodation and transportation of our employees from dangerous zones.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by caltrek »

American Chemical Society Joins U.S. National Academy of Sciences in Effort to Support Researchers Forced to Flee Ukraine
April 21, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/950323

Introduction:
(American Chemical Society via EurekAlert) WASHINGTON, April 21, 2022 — With a $500,000 donation, the American Chemical Society (ACS) has joined the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in an effort to help researchers who are being forced to flee Ukraine because of Russia’s invasion. The donation will support the NAS’ Scientists and Engineers in Exile or Displaced (SEED) program, which is working to help scientists and engineers relocate and continue their work in Poland and other neighboring countries.

Under agreements with the Ukrainian and Polish academies of sciences, NAS support for researchers and their families includes providing the displaced researchers with grants and placements in appropriate research institutions for up to six months. The funding from ACS will be prioritized to assist Ukrainian chemical scientists to the extent possible.

Millions of Ukrainians have fled their country since the start of the war, including an estimated 20,000 researchers. With many male family members still in Ukraine, the NAS effort is initially supporting primarily female scientists, but this may change as the situation evolves. Although Poland has been the principal destination for refugee scientists, many are also fleeing to Estonia, Lithuania and elsewhere. The NAS plans to help expand the program to include partnerships with other science academies.

In addition to providing immediate assistance to these researchers and their families, the SEED program aims to ensure that Ukrainian science will be better positioned to be restored after the war ends. Keeping the affected researchers engaged in their work and connected to the international science community allows the world to continue to benefit from their ideas and discoveries.

“As our thoughts go out to all those impacted by this war, we appreciate the need to assist the scientists being displaced so that they can continue their work and their careers,” says Paul W. Jagodzinski, Ph.D., chair of the ACS Board of Directors. “Through NAS, we are proud to provide support for these skilled and talented people.”
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by caltrek »

Ukrainian Farmers Wear Bulletproof Vests to Sow Spring Crops
by Philip Case
April 12, 2022

https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/ukrainian-fa ... ring-crops

Introduction:
(Farmers Weekly) Ukrainian farmers are wearing helmets and bulletproof vests to sow spring crops as their country’s war with Russia rages nearby.

Farmers in the Zaporozhye region of south-eastern Ukraine are risking their lives to carry out spring sowing less than 20 miles away from active combat zones.

The fields have to be checked for Russian mines and other explosives prior to drilling. During spring planting operations, safety is paramount, the farmers say, which is why they have started wearing body armour.

On 8 April, an unnamed farmer was photographed scouring land on foot in the Zaporozhye region and checking for any dangerous objects before the tractor driver could be given the all-clear to drill sunflowers.

The spring sowing campaign is under way in 22 of 24 regions of Ukraine, according to the country’s agriculture ministry. Despite the hostilities, the government hopes farmers will plant six million hectares of crops this year, which is equivalent to 80% of the area farmed last year.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
User avatar
caltrek
Posts: 6509
Joined: Mon May 17, 2021 1:17 pm

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by caltrek »

Biden Administration Lifts Tariffs on Ukrainian Steel
by Ivana Saric
May 6, 2022

https://www.axios.com/2022/05/09/biden- ... ff-ukraine

Introduction:
(Axios) The U.S. will lift tariffs on Ukrainian steel for the next year in a bid to help Ukraine as its war with Russia continues, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced on Monday.

Why it matters: The move temporarily pauses part of a 2018 measure by the Trump administration to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on a broad swath of countries.

The big picture: While Ukraine is a relatively minor supplier of steel to the U.S. — coming in only 12th among foreign suppliers — the steel industry looms large in Ukraine and has been a source of economic growth, per the New York Times, which first reported the news.
  • Ukraine's steel industry employs 1 in 13 people in the country and many steel mills have "continued to pay, feed, and even shelter their employees" through the war, the Commerce Department noted in the press release.
  • The country ranks as the world's 13th largest steel producer and 80% of its steel output is exported, according to S&P Global.
Don't mourn, organize.

-Joe Hill
weatheriscool
Posts: 12946
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by weatheriscool »

Russia pounds vital port of Odesa, targeting supply lines
Source: AP

ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops pounded the vital port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday, an apparent effort to disrupt the supply lines and Western weapons shipments critical to Kyiv’s defense.

Ukraine’s ability to stymie a larger, better-armed Russian military has surprised many who had anticipated a much quicker conflict. With the war now in its 11th week and Kyiv bogging Russian forces down and even staging a counteroffensive, Ukraine’s foreign minister appeared to suggest the country could expand its aims beyond merely pushing Russia back to areas it or its allies held on the day of the Feb. 24 invasion.

One of the most dramatic examples of Ukraine’s ability to deny Moscow easy victories has been Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters remained holed up at a steel plant, denying Russia’s full control of the city. The regiment defending the plant said Tuesday that Russian warplanes continued pounding it.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ru ... ffbe91b774
weatheriscool
Posts: 12946
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by weatheriscool »

Biden signs law aimed at streamlining US military aid to Ukraine
Source: CNN

President Joe Biden on Monday signed a bill into law aimed at streamlining the process for getting military assistance to Ukraine as Russia continues its invasion.

In an Oval Office signing ceremony for the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act on Monday afternoon, Biden said, “The atrocities that the Russians are engaging in are just beyond the pale.”

“I’m signing a bill that provides another important tool in our efforts to support the government of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in their fight to defend their country and their democracy against (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s brutal war – and it is brutal,” Biden said while flanked alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and the bill’s sponsors, Indiana Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz, Michigan Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin.

Earlier Monday, Putin delivered an address on Russia’s annual Victory Day. Though many had speculated that the Russian leader may reveal more about his plans in Ukraine, Putin offered few clues about the direction of the conflict.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Putin’s claims about NATO “creating threats next to our border” were “patently false and absurd.”
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/09/politics ... index.html
weatheriscool
Posts: 12946
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 6:16 pm

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by weatheriscool »

Ukraine to Halt Key Russian Gas Transit to Europe, Use Alternative
Source: USNews/Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) -Ukraine said on Tuesday it would suspend the flow of gas through a transit point which it said delivers almost a third of the fuel piped from Russia to Europe through Ukraine, blaming Moscow for the move and saying it would move the flows elsewhere.

GTSOU, which operates Ukraine's gas system, said it would suspend flows via the Sokhranivka route from Wednesday, declaring "force majeure", a clause invoked when a business is hit by something beyond its control.

The company said in a statement that it could not operate at the Novopskov gas compressor station due to "the interference of the occupying forces in technical processes", adding that it could temporarily shift the affected flow elsewhere, to the 'Sudzha' physical interconnection point located in territory controlled by Ukraine.

But Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline, said it was "technologically impossible" to shift all volumes to the Sudzha interconnection point, as GTSOU proposed.
Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/ar ... b911ae2025
User avatar
Time_Traveller
Posts: 2090
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:49 pm
Location: Clermont, Indiana, USA, October 7th 2019 B.C.E

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by Time_Traveller »

EU backs Ukraine's membership bid to 'live the European dream'
June 17, 2022

BRUSSELS/KYIV, Ukraine, June 17 (Reuters) - The European Union gave its blessing on Friday for Ukraine and its neighbour Moldova to become candidates to join, in the most dramatic geopolitical shift to result from Russia's invasion.

"Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told a news conference, wearing Ukrainian colours - a yellow blazer over a blue blouse.

"We want them to live with us the European dream."

It was only the start of a process that could take many years, but it puts Kyiv on course to realise a goal that would have been far beyond its reach just months ago.

Ukraine applied to join the EU just four days after Russian troops poured across its border in February. Four days later, so did Moldova and Georgia - smaller ex-Soviet states also contending with separatist regions occupied by Russian troops.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu ... 022-06-17/
"We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams."

-H.G Wells.
User avatar
Time_Traveller
Posts: 2090
Joined: Sun May 16, 2021 4:49 pm
Location: Clermont, Indiana, USA, October 7th 2019 B.C.E

Re: Ukraine News and Discussion

Post by Time_Traveller »

Ukraine lays out $750bn ‘recovery plan’ for postwar future
Mon 4 Jul 2022

The eventual restoration of Ukraine through a $750bn (£620bn) recovery plan is the common task of the entire democratic world, the Ukrainian president said on Monday at the first detailed event to map out a physical future for the country in the event it survives as a western-facing nation after the Russian invasion.

Speaking by video link to a high-level conference in Lugano, Switzerland, attended by many senior Ukrainian politicians, Volodymyr Zelenskiy admitted the task ahead was colossal, claiming the war was a battle of outlooks in which Russia was determined to destroy his country’s physical and moral fabric.

He added the process of recovery being led by a Ukrainian national recovery council would allow his country to deepen its links with Europe.

The scale of the task is such that there is a danger of multilateral bodies duplicating offers, as well as tensions between plans developed by Ukraine itself and those prepared by bodies such as the European Investment Bank. The private sector’s willingness to invest billions in Ukraine will depend on the country’s security and Ukraine’s ability to resist the clutches of oligarchs.

Denys Shmyhal, the Ukrainian prime minister, said Ukraine’s direct infrastructure losses amounted to more than $100bn, adding more than 1,200 educational institutions, 200 hospitals and thousands of kilometres of gas pipelines, water and electricity networks, roads and railways had been destroyed or damaged.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... war-future
"We all have our time machines, don't we. Those that take us back are memories...And those that carry us forward, are dreams."

-H.G Wells.
Post Reply