Today's Contents
Just The Facts:
- Trump sending Treasury Secretary to meet Zelensky in Ukraine
- Ukraine parliament approves purchase of 2 Russian nuclear reactors from Bulgaria
- EFI Group's NovaSklo to build a €240 million Kyiv glass plant to supply reconstruction of Ukraine
- Wizz Air matches Ryanair's plan to resume Ukraine flights within 6 weeks of any ceasefire
- Revolut launches service in Ukraine to tap local-diaspora market
Here's What They Think:
- FT: European leaders' worst fear is Ukraine deal reached behind their backs
- Atlantic Council: Failure to hold Russia accountable for crimes in Ukraine may tear Trump's legacy
Sober Second Thought:
- A quarter of ethnic Russians in Ukraine feel the connection with their ethnicity has weakened during war, ethnicity study shows
Trump sending Treasury Secretary to meet Zelensky in Ukraine
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will send US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and called for a quick end to the war.
"This War MUST and WILL END SOON — Too much Death and Destruction. The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump hasn't provided more details about Bessent's visit to Ukraine.
An unnamed source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Bessent, who will reportedly travel to Ukraine this week, will discuss US access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals, energy resources, and energy infrastructure as well as the future of some of Ukraine's state-owned enterprises.
Last week, Trump said he wanted Ukraine to provide the US with rare earth minerals as compensation for US military support during the ongoing war with Russia. Zelensky has said he was open to this proposal.
On Sunday, US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told NBC that the US was also looking into Ukraine's oil and gas.
"We need to recoup those costs," Waltz said, referring to US assistance to Ukraine. "And that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians, in terms of their rare earths, their natural resources, and their oil and gas, and also buying ours. Those conversations are going to happen this week."
Zelensky and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha both said last week that Ukraine was interested in buying and storing America's liquified natural gas.
Ukraine parliament approves purchase of 2 Russian nuclear reactors from Bulgaria
Ukraine's parliament has voted in favor of a bill allowing state-owned nuclear energy operator Energoatom to buy two Russian-made nuclear reactors from Bulgaria to expand Ukraine's Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant (NPP).
The bill passed with 261 votes in favor in the 450-seat parliament, Ukrainian lawmaker Yaroslav Zheleznyak said in a post on Telegram.
The proposal to buy the two reactors, which Bulgaria initially purchased for the construction of the planned Belane NPP but then abandoned the project, has faced fierce criticism from opposition lawmakers due to the high cost, Russian design and doubts the purchase would contribute to Ukraine's energy security.
In July 2023, the Bulgarian parliament authorized the country's energy minister to start talks on the potential sale of the reactors to Ukraine at a sale price not lower than €601.6 million - equal to what Bulgaria eventually paid to Russia's Atomstroyexport for the equipment.
After the bill allowing for the purchase was adopted in parliament, Ukraine's energy ministry said in a press release that this is "one of the most important decisions for the Ukrainian energy system in 30 years of independence."
The acquisition will give Ukraine an additional 2.2 GW of guaranteed base generation, the ministry said. The Khmelnytskyi NPP currently has two working reactors and the ministry noted that work on the third power unit is 80% complete, while work on the fourth power unit is at 25%.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky also commented on Verkhovna Rada's decision. "Even when it comes to strategic economic projects with our partners—particularly with the United States and President Trump—related to Ukraine's natural resources, extraction, and processing, Ukraine will now be able to negotiate with greater confidence, knowing that we will have a significant additional energy source in the future," Zelensky stated.
The Khmelnytskyi NPP in western Ukraine is one of three operational nuclear power plants in the country under Kyiv's control.
EFI Group's NovaSklo to build a €240 million Kyiv glass plant to supply reconstruction of Ukraine
NovaSklo, a company backed by Ukrainian investment firm EFI Group, will build a €240 million glass factory in the Kyiv region by 2028 to supply the reconstruction of Ukraine, according to statements by the company and the government.
The factory, to employ about 340 people and run two production lines will supply manufacturers of windows, facades, household and commercial appliances, electronics, and other items that rely on a "constant supply of high-quality float glass," NovaSklo said on its website.
The Ukrainian Economy Ministry said in a post on Telegram that the project will receive tax and customs benefits as a project of significance, and the government will pay part of the costs for the needed transport infrastructure and connection to networks.
"Glass manufacturing is a vital industry that plays a strategic role in the country’s construction, industrial production and reconstruction efforts," Deputy Economy Minister Andrii Teliupa said in announcing the investment. "The state supports such large-scale projects by offering a range of incentives that allow investors to recoup up to 30% of the total investment."
He spoke at a press conference organized by state investment promotion agency UkraineInvest, also attended by Ihor Liski, founder of EFI Group and the main investor in the glass project.
"We are one of the few in the country that is building production facilities from scratch and introducing cutting-edge technologies that are unprecedented in the region," Liski said. "I believe NovaSklo will become a benchmark for efficient, high-tech and competitive manufacturing. We have chosen top-of-the-range German equipment from HORN and engaged an international team of experts with direct experience in the start-up of float glass plants."
He also said the "strategic location" of NovaSklo, with access to high-quality silica sand and support from international financial institutions, will ensure the factory is "built faster, operate more efficiently and play a key role in Ukraine’s industrial independence."
Wizz Air matches Ryanair's plan to resume Ukraine flights within 6 weeks of any ceasefire
Budget airline Wizz Air plans to start flying to Ukraine within six weeks of any ceasefire agreement with Russia, CEO Jozsef Varadi told Reuters on Tuesday, matching a promise made by competitor Ryanair earlier this month.
Wizz Air's resumption of flights to Ukraine, suspended after the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022, would reinstate about 30 inbound routes into Ukraine, the CEO said.
He added that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency estimates it would need between six and eight weeks after a ceasefire announcement to safely reopen Ukrainian airspace.
"We have a firm plan for the restart of Ukraine, because I think it can happen any moment," Varadi told the news agency. "Once a ceasefire is announced, then we would look at our restart."
The statement comes a little over a week after Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary made a similar statement. He said that, after that, Ryanair would launch approximately 24 new routes connecting Kyiv and Lviv, flying aircraft redirected from airports like Stansted and Paris Orly to service these cities.
Even after the war, some air traffic will be affected by damage from the war.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said in December 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.
Revolut launches service in Ukraine to tap local-diaspora market
Revolut, the UK-based fintech, has launched services in Ukraine, allowing citizens to open European Revolut accounts, as the company seeks to capture a share of the large diaspora market created in 2022 by the outflow of millions of Ukrainian refugees.
"Ukrainian residents can now send and receive money from their friends and family abroad without worrying about expensive transfer fees," Revolut said in a press release announcing the service. "Revolut's account will offer Ukrainian customers foreign exchange and remittance capabilities in 30+ currencies."
Some 6 million Ukrainians fled the country after the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022, with most of them taking up residence in European Union nnations. The sudden demographic shift opened up a market courted by delivery companies, telecommunications firms and others.
Revolut said more than 700,000 Ukranians living in the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA) already use its services, and have transferred more than €1 billion to Ukraine from Germany, the UK, Ireland, Poland and the Netherlands.
The company said the new account holders in Ukraine can undergo the onboarding process via the government Diia app used to provide digital services via citizens.
It also said it is offering a "Clear Sky" Visa debit card in the Ukraine, the UK and the EEA in the Ukrainian yellow and blue colors. Customers can get one with a €5 donation that will go toward the UNHCR to support Ukrainian refugees.
FT: European leaders' worst fear is Ukraine deal reached behind their backs
The greatest fear of European leaders regarding the war in Ukraine is that a peace agreement could be reached between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin without their involvement, Sylvie Kauffmann, editorial director at Le Monde, wrote in an op-ed for the Financial Times.
Keeping Europeans in the shadow is a US diplomatic practice that precedes Trump but a notion of American disengagement is now more than evident, Kauffmann wrote. This made things painful for those countries on the continent that have been relying on the US to keep them secure and are not forced to reconsider their position, Kauffmann argued.
Atlantic Council: Failure to hold Russia accountable for crimes in Ukraine may tear Trump's legacy
The inability to hold Russia accountable for crimes committed in Ukraine could pose a threat to international security and the legacy of US President Donald Trump, Kristina Hook, an assistant professor of conflict management at Kennesaw State University, wrote in an op-ed for the Atlantic Council.
Hook referred to senior Trump administration officials who recently argued that in Russia's aggression against Ukraine, both sides should make concessions, noting that recent statements on a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression should remind US leaders that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the most documented war in history and that Russian crimes against Ukraine can't be denied.
A quarter of ethnic Russians in Ukraine feel the connection with their ethnicity has weakened during war, ethnicity study shows
Some 25% of Ukrainian citizens who identify as ethnic Russians say they feel their connection with their ethnic community has weakened during the ongoing war, according to a new study on ethnic and religious identities of Ukrainian citizens.
Meanwhile, 18% feel their connection has strengthened and 49% feel nothing has changed since the 2022 full-scale invasion, according to the survey by State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Affairs and Freedom of Conscience, carried out with the help of the European Union.
The nationwide survey of 3,500 respondents aged 18 and over also found that 31% of Russian Ukrainians say they have suffered oppression or violation of their rights in the use of their primary language, while 11% said they have suffered oppression in the field of education and 6% in healthcare.
While 65% of respondents who identified as ethnic Russian said they have suffered no oppression due to their ethnicity, the levels of reported violation of rights is the highest among all ethnic minorities in Ukraine.
The Jewish community was second in terms of reported oppression, with 78% saying they have suffered no oppression but 16% saying they felt their linguistic rights were violated in the cultural sphere, while 11% felt their rights were violated in the area of employment.
Some 40% of Ukrainian Jews, though, said they feel their connection with their ethnic community has strengthened during the last three years of war, while 52% said nothing has changed.
The only other of the major ethnicities to feel significant change in their connection to their community during the war was the ethnic Polish community, with 34% saying their connection with their community has strengthened and 11% saying it was weakened.
Overall, 3.2% of respondents to the nationwide poll said they identify first and foremost as Russians, followed by 0.8% who said they were Moldovans, 0.8% who feel their primarily Romanians, 0.5% Hungarians and 0.3% Jews.
Those numbers rose, however, when asked how they consider themselves secondarily.
The number of people identifying first as Ukrainian and secondarily as Russian was 3.9%, followed by 2% who consider themselves Poles second, 0.7% who consider themselves Jews, and 0.6% who consider themselves Hungarian.
Mortgage Market
Ievgen Metsger, CEO of Ukrainian Financial Housing Company, announced that the Association of Ukrainian Banks has created a Mortgage Lending Development Committee to help develop the fledgling Ukrainian mortgage market.
The committee is now focused on simplifying income confirmation mechanisms, examining the possibility of using bank liquidity to increase mortgage lending, and streamlining the process for developers to apply to partner banks for accreditation in yeOselia, the national subsidized mortgage program.
Land Mines on Farms
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko posted that the state program for compensation for agricultural land demining, whch was launched last year to help farmers clear their land of mines, has returned its first 640 hectares of land to farm use.
So far, farmers have submitted 75 applications to the program covering a total of 3,087 sites covering a combined 121,000 hectares. Svyrydenko said the state budget includes UAH 1 billion ($24 million) to compensate the costs of demining of agricultural land.
76% Chance Ukraine Rare Earth Metals Go to US?
Andrii Zhupanyn, a Ukrainian member of parliament, noted in a social media post that Polymarket, the New York-headquartered cryptocurrency-based prediction market that lets investors bet on future events, estimates a 76% chance the US will get Ukraine's rare earth metals before April.
He also outlined the difficulties of an event like that taking place due to Ukrainian legal frameworks, competitive tenders, and the rarity of foreign companies actually taking part in Ukrainian production-sharing agreement (PSA) tenders, among other reasons.
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