Today's Contents
Just The Facts:
- EU to provide €1.5 billion monthly to Ukraine throughout 2025
- Ukraine's court unfreezes Veon's corporate rights in Kyivstar
- Ukraine's PM says 15 civilian airports damaged during war
- EU grants €52 million for Ukraine's transport infrastructure development
- Ukraine gets first tranche of $2.1 billion in Korean concessional funding
Here's What They Think:
- Kyiv Post: Annexation of Ukrainian territories will only fuel Putin's ambitions
- The Hill: Biden and Putin's geopolitical manoeuvres escalate war ahead of Trump's return
Sober Second Thought:
- War in Ukraine war leaves 6 million with limited access to clean water, study finds
EU to provide €1.5 billion monthly to Ukraine throughout 2025
The European Union (EU) will disburse Ukraine €1.5 billion each month throughout 2025 from the proceeds of Russian frozen assets, newly appointed European Council President Antonio Costa said on Sunday.
Costa also stated that the EU will in December provide Ukraine with €4.2 billion to support the country's budget. All these funds can also be used for military purposes, Costa noted.
In addition, both Ukraine and the EU will aim to open at least two negotiating clusters for Ukraine's accession to the block during the first six months of 2025, Costa said at a joint press conference with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
In an unannounced visit to Ukraine, Costa was accompanied by the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas, and Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
The visit marks their first official engagement since officially taking on the roles last week.
Ukraine's court unfreezes Veon's corporate rights in Kyivstar
A Ukrainian district court has decided to unfreeze 47.85% of Veon's corporate rights in Ukraine's biggest mobile company, Kyivstar, and 100% of its corporate rights in its other Ukrainian subsidiaries.
"Today's decision allows us to focus on our plans to increase energy resilience, expand 4G coverage and develop digital services in Ukraine with greater confidence," Kyivstar CEO Oleksandr Komarov said.
Since Kyivstar joined the Veon Group, Veon has contributed over $10 billion to Ukraine's economy. Veon has pledged an additional $1 billion to rebuild Ukraine's digital infrastructure by 2027, it said in a press release on Friday.
Ukrainian authorities ordered the seizure of Veon's corporate rights in its local units in 2023 as part of sanctions and an asset seizure targeting Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, co-founders of Veon's largest shareholder, LetterOne.
Fridman and Aven resigned from the boards of both Veon and LetterOne after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Last month, Veon CEO Kaan Terzioglu said the company considering an initial public offering in the US as early as next year for Kyivstar, its wholly-owned subsidiary.
Ukraine's PM says 15 civilian airports damaged during war
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Saturday that 15 out of 20 civilian airports in the country have been damaged since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Shmyhal said it is currently impossible to partially open Ukraine's airspace, which has been closed since February 2022, due to the security situation.
"We conducted a risk assessment and determined the needs of the air defense forces to partially open the airspace," Ukrinform quoted Shmyhal as saying at the International Transport Forum in Kyiv on Saturday."Security issues and the military situation remain key to this decision."
Shmyhal also said that, over the past three months, Russia has launched nearly 60 attacks on Ukraine's port infrastructure, resulting in damage or destruction to nearly 300 facilities and 22 civilian vessels.
Last month, Marsh McLennan Senior Partner Crispin Ellison said that Ukraine was expected to resume operations at Lviv or Boryspil international airports by the end of January 2025. Under favorable circumstances, five or six airlines could agree to operate flights from Ukraine in January, Ellison has said.
Ukraine's Ministry for Communities and Territories Development in October presented a roadmap for the partial opening of the country's airspace under martial law, without specifying which airports were considered nor when the reopening could take place.
EU grants €52 million for Ukraine's transport infrastructure development
The European Union (EU) has granted a total of €52 million for four projects aimed at the development and modernization of Ukraine's transport infrastructure.
The funding will be used for the modernization of the railway and checkpoints, as well as river and air navigation infrastructure. The beneficiaries are Ukraine's State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia), the state-run air traffic enterprise Ukraerorukh, and the state enterprise for waterways Ukrvodshlyakh.
The approval of the funding was announced by the European Commission's Director-General for Mobility and Transport Magda Kopczynska during her visit to Kyiv, Ukraine's Ministry for Communities and Territories Development said in a press release on Saturday.
The projects include the development of the 1435 mm railway track, increasing the efficiency of border crossings between Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova, the creation of a river information service on the Ukrainian part of the Danube, and the modernization of aeronautical information infrastructure, as per the statement.
Ukraine gets first tranche of $2.1 billion in Korean concessional funding
Ukraine's finance ministry said the country has received the first tranche, amounting to $100 million, from a total of $2.1 billion in concessional loans from South Korea the two countries agreed on in April.
"I am grateful to the Korean Government for strengthening cooperation in the financial sector, which allows us to mobilize resources to meet the urgent needs of the State Budget under martial law," Ukraine's Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko said.
In April, Ukraine and South Korea signed a framework agreement allowing Ukraine to draw loans of up to $2.1 billion between 2024 and 2029, the finance ministry said in a press release on Friday.
The funds, coming from South Korea's Economic Development Cooperation Fund, will be used to acquire equipment, support rehabilitation projects led by the state or state-owned companies with a state guarantee, and finance the state budget, Ukraine's Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in June, when Ukraine's government approved a draft law on ratification of the agreement.
Under the agreement, the concessional funding will initially be used to supply equipment, while infrastructure loans for reconstruction will also be under consideration starting in 2025.
Kyiv Post: Annexation of Ukrainian territories will only fuel Putin's ambitions
Conceding Ukrainian territories in exchange for peace would not resolve the conflict but instead validate Russian President Vladimir Putin's "imperialistic greed," Kyiv Post columnist Ihor N. Stelmach wrote in an op-ed. Stelmach argued that Western allies need to provide security assurances that will deter Putin.
The Hill: Biden and Putin's geopolitical manoeuvres escalate war ahead of Trump's return
Two major geopolitical moves by US President Joe Biden and Russia President Vladimir Putin appear to have escalated the war in Ukraine, signalling a potential shift in US foreign policy ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House, according to an op-ed published by the Hill.
War in Ukraine war leaves 6 million with limited access to clean water, study finds
The ongoing war in Ukraine has left over 6 million people without access to clean water, highlighting the impact of the Russian invasion on the country's already-vulnerable water security, a study published by ScienceDirect shows.
Ukraine's internal water resources are limited, with only 28.6% of its water originating within the country's borders. Some 97% of the available water resources are river runoff, while only 3% comes from groundwater. Moreover, the water is unevenly distributed across the country. The study highlighted that surface water sources — such as rivers — are highly vulnerable toward climate-related risks like droughts and floods, as well as military interventions.
The study relied on the collection and analysis of information on water resources, climate risks, and impact of Russian invasion. The data was collected from open sources, including Ukrainian and international data bases. The evaluation of the impact included impact of climate change on water resources, as well as the impact of Russia's destruction of Kakhovka reservoir on the water sector in southern Ukraine.
On June 6, 2023, the explosion of the Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region lowered the water level at a rate of 15cm per hour. By June 11, the volume of water held in the reservoir dropped by 72%, reaching 14.39 cubed kms of lost water. The destruction of the dam has resulted in the loss of almost 10.4% of Ukraine's water resources, according to the study.
The destruction of the dam has also flooded 80 settlements in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, at the same time, the Kakhovka reservoir was almost completely empty. The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine estimated the environmental damage caused by the destruction of the reservoir to have reached more than $3.7 billion. This estimate does not take into account the losses of the entry of pollutants into the Black Sea, according to the study.
Preliminary assessments of the situation suggest that the complete reconstruction of water infrastructure would cost more than $5 billion, with the Kakhovka reservoir costing $1 billion-1.5 billion by itself. Estimations also indicate that the reconstruction of the dam would take up to 10 years.
Climate change is another concern highlighted by the research. The rising temeperatures and changing precipitation patterns resulted in reduction in river flow and an increase in drought frequency. During the last 10 years, the average annual increase in temperature in Ukraine has exceeded 2.0 celsius, with 2015 recording an increase of 2.3 celsius and 2019 having 2.7 celsius hike.
Ukraine's water security is severely threatened by both climate change and ongoing war, particularly when Russia targets critical water infrastructure, the researchers concluded. The restoration of Ukrainian water security is "only a technical problem, which can be solved in a short but peaceful time but attracting investments into the reconstruction of water infrastructure based on modern technologies," the researches said, highlighting that the destruction of the Kahkovka reservoir has long-term environmental and social implications.
The Ukrainian Wind Energy Association said Ukraine’s pilot "green" auctions have "fallen short of expectations," revealing "a concerning lack of trust from both national and international investors in the state and its inefficiently implemented support mechanisms for renewables."
Peder Lundquist, CEO of Danish state-run Export and Investment Fund of Denmark, a new fund that provides a single point of contact to all Danish companies in need of state financed risk capital, describes a recent trip to Kyiv, plus mentions a DKK 350 million ($50 million) loan.
Kristina Mikulova, Head of Regional Hub for Eastern Europe at European Investment Bank (EIB), celebrated "a key milestone in #healthcare infrastructure in Ukraine with the opening of a new #upgrade of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Department in #Zhytomyr, addressing a critical need and improving care for young patients."
Dragon Capital marks 10 years working with Ukrainian law firm AEQUO in a social media post, calling the firm "a trusted partner in bringing our boldest plans to life."
State nuclear power generator Energoatom recaps a meeting with Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine Masashi Nakagome to discuss various issues, including "the use of Japan's experience in implementing nuclear projects at Khmelnytskyi NPP and supporting the operation of existing facilities."
The USAID Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) announced that it is collaborating with Tetra Tech and Egis "to modernize border crossing points (BCPs) along Ukraine's western borders."
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