Mining of the Black Sea and mobilization in ORDLO: Highlights on war in Ukraine as of March 19

Author

Yulia Ustymovych

The twenty-fourth day of the war against the Russian occupiers continues in Ukraine. This day has been quite eventful for business, politics, and economics. has compiled a digest that will help you to know the situation in Ukraine.

The major developments of the day are:

The seaport of Sochi sent a warning to shipowners and captains of merchant ships about the threat of "being blown up by the mines of the Ukrainian Navy, drifting in the Black Sea." The warning was signed on March 18 by Vyacheslav Rumyantsev, captain of the seaport of Sochi, accorfing to Andriy Klymenko, head of the Institute for Strategic Black Sea Studies and editor-in-chief of BlackSeaNews.
The command of the Russian occupation forces is actively "mobilizing" the male population in the occupied territories of ORDLO. The units formed in this way are distinguished by very low training, discipline, and morale.

Economy

The court granted a motion to remove an attachment of physical evidence and send it to the purchase of War Bonds, the Office of the Prosecutor General reports. More than 34.5 million UAH will be transferred to a special account to support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The government lifts all restrictions on the business lending program "5-7-9". Any Ukrainian business that needs support will get a loan on favorable terms. The maximum loan amount is increased to 60 million UAH.

Politics

The UN has denied Russian fakes about biological weapons laboratories in Ukraine, and all attempts by Russia to create false pretexts for war with Ukraine are doomed to failure, Oleg Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, stated.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov stated that his country will continue to provide humanitarian support to Ukraine, but is not going to send weapons there.
The Chinese authorities advocate for the United States and NATO conducting a dialogue with Russia both on the situation in Ukraine and on the issue of security, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng said on Saturday. Speaking about NATO expansion and the impact on Russia's security, the Chinese diplomat stressed that "to corner a large country, especially a nuclear state, can lead to dire consequences."

Business

The Ukrainian food delivery service Rocket (formerly Raketa) is freezing a project in Ukraine, co-founder of the company Oleksiy Yukhymchuk informed service employees in a letter. He said that at present the company is not able to resume operational activity and continue to work and also cannot guarantee the fulfillment of wage obligations.
About 30% of businesses have completely or temporarily suspended work in Ukraine, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko stated, citing preliminary data based on taxes.

"Our preliminary tax calculations… indicate that about 30% of the economy is either not working or temporarily not working. These are calculations are based on the payment of personal income tax and single social security tax," he said during the telethon on Saturday.