Today's Contents
Just The Facts:
- US, Ukraine make 'significant progress' on minerals deal, Svyrydenko says
- Rubio and Witkoff to travel to Europe this week for talks on ending war in Ukraine
- Logistics remains key issue for Ukrainian grain products exporters, says association head
- Ukraine's parliament extends martial law for 90 days
- Belgium to provide €150 million to Ukraine for reconstruction through 2028
- Second phase of Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine gets $190 million in commitments
- Russian court increases penalty for Ukraine's Naftogaz to $1.3 billion for breaching Gazprom litigation ban, Interfax reports
- Ukraine's Odesa region expands safety center with backing of European Investment Bank
Here's What They Think:
- Interfax-Ukraine: Digital solutions for restoring trust in Ukrainian-Polish agricultural logistics
- The Wall Street Journal: Trump's Ukraine peace deal, while 'ugly' for Ukraine, could serve US interests
Sober Second Thought:
- War disrupts traditional smuggling routes in Ukraine's Transcarpathia, study shows
The Rebuilders' Social
- National Price Catalogue for medicines explained, changes to national timber pricing applauded, and public procurement problems highlighted.
Dear Subscribers,
A reminder that Ukraine Rebuild Newswire will not publish on Friday, April 18, or Monday, April 21, in observance of the Easter holidays.
This year, Easter is celebrated on the same weekend by both Western and Eastern Christian traditions, and we join many in taking this time for rest and reflection.
We’ll be back with full coverage on Tuesday, April 22.
Happy Easter!
US, Ukraine make 'significant progress' on minerals deal, Svyrydenko says
The US and Ukrainian government have made "significant progress" on a proposed minerals deal between the two countries and on the establishment of an investment fund for Ukraine's recovery, Ukraine's Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Wednesday.
"Our technical teams have done thorough work together on the agreement — there's significant progress, and the legal teams have made the right emphasis in the draft," Svyrydenko wrote in a post on LinkedIn.
Svyrydenko also said the two sides will now move to prepare a memorandum of understanding to document the progress made in the negotiations.
The agreement, subject to ratification by Ukraine's parliament, "will open up opportunities for investment and development in Ukraine, and lay the groundwork for tangible economic growth — both for Ukraine and the United States," Svyrydenko wrote.
Technical teams from the US and Ukraine started negotiations on the agreement on Friday. The US administration reportedly seeks a share of profits from future Ukrainian investment projects and a first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that Washington would control, as it looks to get compensated for military aid sent to Kyiv during former President Joe Biden's tenure.
Kyiv has repeatedly stated that it won't recognize the past US aid as debt and that it would not sign any agreement that would endanger its path towards EU membership.
On Wednesday, unnamed sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that Washington has cut its estimate for the aid the US provided to Kyiv since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion to about $100 billion from $300 billion, following the negotiations last week, softening its approach towards the war-torn country.
Rubio and Witkoff to travel to Europe this week for talks on ending war in Ukraine
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Europe this week for talks about ending the war between Ukraine and Russia, the State Department said.
The two will travel to Paris on April 16-18 "for talks with European counterparts to advance President Trump's goal to end the Russia-Ukraine war and stop the bloodshed," the State Department said in a press release on Wednesday.
The development comes amid an apparent slowdown in negotiations between the US and Russia on a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that, while there is political will to move toward a potential agreement with the US on Ukraine, there is still no clear framework or timeline for a settlement.
On Friday, Witkoff held a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg focused on "aspects of a Ukrainian settlement," the Kremlin said, without offering further details.
A day later, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One that "Ukraine-Russia might be going OK, and you're going to be finding out pretty soon. There's a point at which you just have to either put up or shut up and we'll see what happens, but I think it's going fine."
Logistics remains key issue for Ukrainian grain products exporters, says association head
Logistics remains one of the most persistent challenges for Ukrainian exporters of grain products since the Russian full-scale invasion began in February 2022, APK-Inform reported on Wednesday, citing the director of the Association of Ukrainian Flour Millers, Rodion Rybchynskyi.
"The corridors of cooperation have been a great help to us, meaning the open routes provided by European countries on their railways, including those to the Baltic ports and Polish ports. However, this still doesn't fully compensate for the losses we have incurred since the beginning of the war," Rybchynskyi said at the Baltic Grains & Oils Conference in Riga, as quoted by APK-Inform.
While shipping products via the Danube to the port of Constanta is an option, military risks remain, he said. Insurance companies classify these risks as high, significantly increasing logistics costs.
"The Baltic ports are attractive because they offer direct container lines and the possibility to ship to places like North America and South Asia. However, it's a much longer route for goods to reach those destinations... In fact, compared to 2021, only the port of Ventspils handled slightly more Ukrainian products, while all the other ports saw a decline. For instance, the volume through the port of Klaipeda in 2023 was almost cut in half," Rybchynskyi said.
Meanwhile, Polish ports have substantially increased the transshipment of Ukrainian goods, especially grain processing products.
Ukraine's Minister for Communities and Territories Development Oleksiy Kuleba said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian maritime route has transported 116 million tonnes of cargo, including nearly 73 million tonnes of grain, since its launch.
In a post on Facebook following President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to the Odesa region, Kuleba also wrote that Russia has launched more than 500 missile strikes on Ukrainian ports, damaging around 400 port infrastructure facilities, since the summer of 2023.
Ukraine's parliament extends martial law for 90 days
Ukrainian lawmakers on Wednesday voted to extend martial law for 90 days, starting from May 9, when it was set to expire.
The legislation extending the martial law approved a decree from President Volodymyr Zelensky from April 15, Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, said in a press release.
Parliamentary approval is needed every 90 days to extend martial law, which permits troop mobilization and the suspension of the electoral cycle.
Zelensky, whose five-year term ended last year, became president of Ukraine in May 2019. New elections were planned to be held in the spring of 2024, but Ukrainian law prohibits parliamentary, presidential, and local elections under martial law, which was enforced in Ukraine following Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.
This has led to criticism from some politicians in Ukraine, who claim that Zelensky has been tightening his grip onto power.
Russia has sought to portray Ukraine's government, and Zelensky in particular, as illegitimate due to the lack of elections. The US administration, both under President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, has urged for elections in Ukraine, with Trump even calling Zelensky a "dictator without elections."
Belgium to provide €150 million to Ukraine for reconstruction through 2028
Belgium will provide Ukraine with €150 million through 2028 through the technical assistance project BE-Relieve Ukraine, aimed at helping the war-damaged country's rebuilding efforts, Ukraine's Ministry of Community and Territorial Development said on Wednesday.
The project focuses on key areas such as modernizing energy infrastructure, rebuilding medical facilities, renovating schools and vocational training centers, and supporting reform implementation while strengthening partnerships with Belgian counterparts, the ministry said in a press release.
Priority activities include delivering 212 generators to educational institutions, providing mobile boiler houses for hospitals and municipal services, and repairing medical infrastructure.
"BE-Relieve Ukraine is not just technical assistance. This project is aimed at a partnership between Ukraine and Belgium in the reconstruction of our country. The main principle of our cooperation is 'To rebuild better than it was'," Deputy Minister of Community and Territorial Development Kostiantyn Kovalchuk said.
The project is implemented by Belgium's government through the development agency Enabel. Beneficiaries include Ukraine's ministries of Community and Territorial Development, Health, Education and Science, and Economy.
Second phase of Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine gets $190 million in commitments
Canada, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK have committed a combined $190 million through 2027 for the second phase of the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine (PFRU), according to the fund and Ukraine's government.
"Ukraine's recovery is based on partnership with our communities and international friends. We need to act quickly but wisely to restore basic services, infrastructure, and bring hope back to the regions most affected by the war," said Alyona Shkrum, First Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, as quoted by PFRU.
PFRU is a multilateral donor initiative aimed at bolstering Ukraine's resilience to Russian aggression by delivering vital support to communities in collaboration with Ukrainian government agencies, civil society, media, and the private sector, the ministry said in a press release.
The second phase of the program will focus on resilience - from frontline survival to long-term recovery, launching a Rapid Response Mechanism to deliver aid faster, restoration of essential services, inclusive local recovery planning, and veterans' reintegration.
The first phase of the program ran from 2021 to 2024, with a budget exceeding $114 million. It focused on priority regions including Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv.
During this phase, 577 projects were implemented across 127 communities, reaching over 2 million Ukrainians. The program helped restore access to essential services such as healthcare, education, electricity, and clean water. It supported the reconstruction of hospitals, schools, cultural institutions, and public spaces.
Russian court increases penalty for Ukraine's Naftogaz to $1.3 billion for breaching Gazprom litigation ban, Interfax reports
A Russian court has increased a financial penalty against the Ukrainian state oil and gas company Naftogaz to $1.3 billion from around $150 million for violating a ban on conducting legal proceedings against Gazprom outside of Russia, in a gas transit dispute between the two companies, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday.
The dispute involves the 2019 transit contract, which sets gas transfer volumes and procedures at two metering stations on the border between Russia and Ukraine - Sudzha and Sokhranivka, Interfax reported.
In May 2022, Naftogaz reportedly halted gas transit through Sokhranivka, demanding all gas be rerouted through Sudzha instead. Gazprom rejected the demand and stopped paying for unused transit services via Sokhranivka.
Naftogaz argued that the gas should have been redirected through Sudzha, and Gazprom remained obligated to pay, even if transit through Sokhranivka was not provided, as per the report.
Naftogaz moved to file a claim against Gazprom at the International Arbitration Court of the International Chamber of Commerce in France with a demand to recover $150 million in debt from Gazprom. The venue for the proceedings is Switzerland, according to Interfax.
"The dispute is subject to consideration in the Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, since restrictive measures are currently being applied against Gazprom by foreign states, creating obstacles to access to justice," the Russian court stated.
The Arbitration Court of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region imposed the initial $150 million penalty against Naftogaz in January 2024.
Ukraine's Odesa region expands safety center with backing of European Investment Bank
Ukraine's southwestern Odesa region has expanded a safety center in the city of Avangard, by adding a second building to the facility, with €484,000 in support from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the lender said on Wednesday.
The new building of the safety center, which is tasked with providing emergency services to about 36,000 people in Avangard and the surrounding area, will enhance rescue operations, enable on-site staff training, and offer shelter for both civilians and emergency personnel during air raids, the EIB said in a press release.
The second building of the Avangard safety center was constructed under the Ukraine Early Recovery Programme - a €200 million multisectoral framework loan from the EIB, as per the statement.
In total, the EIB is financing three recovery programs in Ukraine, amounting to €640 million, all provided as framework loans to the Ukrainian government.
In Odesa region alone, 28 projects supported by EIB-financed recovery programs are either underway or completed, representing a total investment of €48.7 million. These projects include the reconstruction of 15 educational institutions, seven healthcare facilities, three administrative buildings, two sewage treatment plants, and one heating plant.
Interfax-Ukraine: Digital solutions for restoring trust in Ukrainian-Polish agricultural logistics
Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukraine has shifted its exports from southern ports to western border crossings, with Poland becoming the main transit route. This change brought economic benefits to Polish logistics but also triggered tensions due to competition with Ukrainian farmers, leading to protests and restrictions, Yuriy Shchuklin, logistics expert and European Business Association committee member, wrote in a column for Interfax-Ukraine.
Shchuklin argues that a user-friendly digital platform could offer a solution: allowing small Ukrainian farmers to plan exports, sign direct contracts with EU buyers, and bypass intermediaries. This would improve transparency and profitability for Ukrainian producers while enabling Poland to manage cargo flows and support its transit economy. With Poland holding the EU Council presidency until July 2025, the author sees a timely opportunity for integration based on joint planning and digital innovation.
The Wall Street Journal: Trump's Ukraine peace deal, while 'ugly' for Ukraine, could serve US interests
US President Donald Trump's chaotic trade policy may soon threaten broader strategic efforts, including US support for Ukraine, wrote Holman W. Jenkins, Jr., a member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, in an opinion column for the newspaper.
However, both Democratic and Republican administrations have signaled that Ukraine will likely have to accept a 'half-a-loaf' negotiated settlement—an outcome that could help prevent a broader conflict, even the deal "would be ugly only for Ukraine." The piece argues that while Trump's methods to achieving a settlement are "debatable," such negotiated peace aligned with US and NATO interests could still be seen as a success.
War disrupts traditional smuggling routes in Ukraine's Transcarpathia, study shows
Transcarpathia, Ukraine's westernmost region bordering Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania, has long been a smuggling hotspot. Deep-rooted corruption, a weak state presence, and resilient cross-border ethnic networks have entrenched an illicit economy dominated by tobacco, goods, drug, and human smuggling.
However, scrutiny of the region intensified after Russia's full scale invasion in 2022, and Kyiv's wartime anti-corruption push have disrupted, but not dismantled, the smuggling operations, according to a new report from the Switzerland-based Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
Following 2022, small-scale tobacco smuggling suffered a serious blow, prompting many operators to relocate to the Chernivtsi region or across the border to re-establish their activities elsewhere in Europe, according to the report. Meanwhile, traditional migrant smuggling declined sharply following the invasion, largely due to Europe's open-border response. In its place, a new and highly profitable people-focused trade has emerged, namely conscription evasion.
Fraudulent call centers, drug trafficking, and environmental crimes like illegal logging are also key components of the region's illicit economy. The blockade of Odesa's ports during 2022–2023 has re-routed smuggling activity through western Ukraine, benefiting Transcarpathian networks.
According to the report, grey smuggling—where imported goods are deliberately undervalued—poses the greatest threat to Ukraine’s economy. It deprives the state of vital tax revenue and distorts market competition, allowing sellers who evade excise duties to offer lower prices. This form of smuggling relies on the complicity of high-level officials, with law enforcement agencies often playing a role in facilitating and benefiting from these illicit operations.
Additionally, the crackdown on illicit tobacco production in Ukraine and along its western border calls for a more coordinated response, particularly from EU law enforcement.
The report noted that Ukraine's new customs reform law, passed in September 2024 with strong international support, offers a solid foundation for change. However, its success will depend on confronting deeply rooted corruption and the entrenched realities of smuggling networks.
"Assisting Ukrainian authorities to dismantle the complex verticals by which money generated at the border is funnelled to high-level officials will be highly sensitive but essential work," the report stated. "The price of failure is high, with serious implications for Ukraine's ability to access international financing and its pathway to EU membership."
Social Media Posts
Public Procurement Problems
Kateryna Kyslenko, head of the service desk Ukraine at OA, the German business initiative that supports trade and investment in Central and Eastern Europe, covered key issues with procurement in Ukraine's reconstruction in a post about a Business Outreach Workshop held this week.
The issue of public procurement in Ukraine "is a very challenging one for German companies. We ... often hear from our company members about the lack of clarity and transparency regarding Prozorro — Ukraine’s electronic procurement platform. And this is true."
National Price Catalogue for Medicines
Borys Danevych, Head of CEE Life Sciences & Health Care at global law firm CMS, promoted the firm's legal alert outlining Ukraine's establishment of a National Price Catalogue that "sets maximum wholesale prices for most medicines on the market - including those in the private retail and OTC segments."
"Wholesale prices for generics and biosimilars are capped at 75% of the declared maximum wholesale price of the original (i.e. reference) medicines. Pharmacies must stock at least one of the cheapest options under the international non-proprietary name (INN), form and dosage as per the National Price Catalogue."
Changes to Timber Pricing
The Kyiv-based European Business Association applauded a move by the state enterprise Forests of Ukraine to set starting prices for timber auctions in Q3 based on the average weighted selling prices of Q1.
"This step moves closer to addressing the request of the EBA’s Woodworking and Furniture Committee, which had previously appealed to state authorities regarding the need to increase timber harvesting volumes and set economically justified prices."
URN Daily: Sense Bank and Ukrgasbank for sale? And US seeks to cancel $4.7 billion of Ukraine's debt
