Destroyed airport in Odesa, deportation of children, and plan for country’s recovery: Highlights on war in Ukraine as of April 30 — May 2

Author

Yulia Ustymovych

The 68th day of the war against the Russian invaders continues in Ukraine. has collected business, political, and economic news that will help you learn more about the situation in the country that has been fighting for its right to exist for more than two months.

The major developments of these days were:

As a result of a missile strike on April 30, the runway of the Odesa Airport was damaged, without casualties. The missile strike was delivered from the territory of Crimea by the Bastion coastal missile system.
In the two months since the recognition of the independence of the so-called DPR and LPR and the outbreak of the invasion of Ukraine, more than 10,000 sanctions have been imposed against Russia. Great Britain imposed the greatest number of restrictions against Russia.
Russia has illegally deported or relocated 181,000 Ukrainian children to the occupied territories, Daria Herasymchuk, Commissioner of the President of Ukraine for Children's Rights and Rehabilitation, reported. According to her, Russia is preparing special amendments to the law that will simplify the process of adoption by Russian citizens of illegally deported children. To return the children, the Ukrainian government is drafting a special mechanism.

Politics

On May 1, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Kyiv with Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. During the meeting, Zelenskyy stressed the importance of US President Joe Biden's address to Congress to provide financial assistance to Ukraine in the amount of $33 billion.
At least 3,000 military of NATO Special Operations Forces will participate in key European special forces drills, Trojan Footprint, from May 2 to 13. These drills are deployed in parallel with the Swift Response maneuvers as part of Defender Europe 2022, wide-scale drills of the Alliance and partners held on the territory of Poland.
On Monday, May 2, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod visited Irpin, where he personally witnessed the atrocities committed by the Russian army, said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Economy

The government has allowed filling station operators to set the price of "branded premium" fuel without restrictions, provided they also sell the fuel at government-regulated prices. Previously, retail prices for "branded premium" fuel could not exceed government-regulated prices for "usual" fuel by more than 5%. In the calculation of the regulated price, the cost of external logistics was also increased — from $50 to $80 per ton.
Ukraine got 495 million euros in grant funds from the United States, Norway, and Austria (under one grant) through the World Bank Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) under the Second Development Policy Loan Program for the economic recovery of Ukraine, Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko informed on his Facebook. In particular, in the near future, it is preparing to raise another grant support from the United States in the amount of $500 million.
During the international conference "After the War: Rethinking the Future of Civil Society", Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko presented a roadmap for the economic recovery of Ukraine, which is being drafted by the government, experts, and business associations.

Business

At the request of the prosecutors, assets of Cypriot companies totaling more than 469 million UAH have been seized, the Office of the Prosecutor General stated. These are funds that were on the accounts of a bank that is one of the ten largest financial institutions and included in the systemically important banks of Ukraine. The beneficial owners of this bank are entrepreneurs from the Russian Federation.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has granted the largest Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturer Farmak (Kyiv) a loan of 20 million euros to replenish working capital, Interfax-Ukraine reports. During the outbreak of the Russian war against Ukraine, Farmak lost about 1.5 billion UAH as a result of a fire in a warehouse in the Kyiv region. Ready-made medications, raw materials for pharmaceuticals, and primary packaging were kept at the warehouse.
Payoneer integrates with Privat 24. From now on, Privatbank clients will be able to get funds from Payoneer directly in the application. This will enable Ukrainians to withdraw funds from Payoneer to cards and accounts of individuals and sole proprietors.

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