New sanctions and financial support for farmers: Highlights on war in Ukraine as of March 25

Author

Yulia Ustymovych

The twenty-ninth day of the war against the Russian invaders 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:

According to preliminary data, the Armed Forces of Ukraine eliminated Yakov Ryazantsev, the commander of the 49th Combined Arms Army of the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation, during the tenth barrage on the strategic airfield of the village of Chornobaivka.
Robert Habeck, Minister for Economic Affairs, said that over the past month, Germany had reduced its dependence on energy supplies from Russia. Dependence on coal from Russia was reduced in supply contracts from 50% to 25%, for oil from 35% to 25%, and for gas from 50% to 40%.
Apple has announced to the National Payment Card System (NSPK) that it is suspending support for Mir cards in the Apple Pay payment service.

Politics

The Swiss authorities are imposing sanctions against Russia in full, previously approved by the EU under the fourth sanctions package, over the situation around Ukraine, the Swiss government said in a statement. This refers to a ban on the export of "goods and services for the Russian energy sector." In addition, a ban is imposed on goods made of iron and steel from Russia, as well as the export of luxury goods to the Russian Federation. Also, the Swiss authorities decided not to take measures for the EU to terminate the activities of a number of Russian media, in particular Sputnik and Russia Today.
A group of People's Deputies proposed to provide compensation to citizens of Ukraine for certain categories of damaged and destroyed real estate as a result of hostilities, terrorist acts, and sabotage caused by the military aggression of the Russian Federation. The corresponding bill was registered in the Verkhovna Rada.
According to the results of a research by the Sociological Group Rating, 83% of Ukrainians advocate Ukrainian to be the only state language in Ukraine. In 2021, there were 76% of such citizens.
Hungary has banned the supply of weapons to Ukraine through its territory and will not refuse Russian gas and oil. According to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, the country does not want to risk the life and safety of the Hungarian people.

Economy

As of March 24, 2022, the KSE Institute estimated the damage caused to the infrastructure of Ukraine by the war in the country at $62.9 billion. During the past week, analysts have increased the amount by $3.5 billion. Since the outbreak of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the invaders have damaged, destroyed, or seized at least 4,431 residential buildings, 92 factories or enterprises, 378 educational institutions, 138 healthcare institutions, 8 civilian airports, and 10 thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants.
The Cabinet of Ministers introduced a number of financial support measures for small and medium-sized agricultural producers, in particular, they were offered concessional financing. Privatbank granted the first loan on new terms in the amount of 5 UAH million without additional collateral for a period of 6 months to an agricultural producer from the village of Bykove, Krynychky district, Dnipropetrovsk region.

Business

American jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co refused to purchase products from Russia, Marketwatch reports. Tiffany has instructed its suppliers to stop purchasing Russian diamonds and to separate Russian and non-Russian small diamonds used in jewelry. Tiffany's ban applies to diamonds obtained in Russia as of March 21.
The Italian oilfield services company Saipem SpA has updated its strategic plan for 2022-2025. Now it does not involve the conclusion of new contracts in Russia. According to the company's reports, the expected volume of orders for design and construction on land has decreased from 18 billion euros to 15 billion euros. In October, Russia accounted for 11% of the total expected onshore E&C orders.
The Ukrainian IT sector presented six startups and government projects at SXSW (Austin, Texas, USA) in March 2022, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported. Two Ukrainian booths were presented at SXSW-2022. One of them is dedicated to the tech and creative industries of Ukraine, the second one — to Diia, Diia. City, and Tech Ecosystem Platform. Ukrainian startups represented at SXSW include Effa, Framiore, Skyworker, FlashBeats, etc.
The international payment systems Visa and Mastercard have imposed restrictions on transactions with cards of the subsidiary of Sberbank in Belarus and BelVEB Bank. At the same time, Visa and Mastercard cards issued by these banks continue to work on the territory of Belarus without restrictions. Similar restrictions on payments with Visa and Mastercard cards were imposed by three more banks in Belarus — Dabrabut, subsidiaries of the Russian VTB, and Belinvestbank.
The South Korean company Samsung Electronics will allocate $6 million for the Ukrainian Red Cross Society. Of the allocated funds, $1 million will be used to provide consumer electronics, and the remaining $5 million will be used to purchase food, water, and essentials for people in shelters, medical equipment and medicines, as well as children's clothes and food.
Leroy Merlin continues the operation of its stores in Russia, fearing expropriation, but suspends investments, according to a video message from ADEO group CEO Philippe Zimmermann, that was received by Leroy Merlin Ukraine employees. At the same time, Leroy Merlin Ukraine continues to work in complete isolation from the central office. According to Zimmermann, there is no reason to stop being useful to Russians who need to repair, insulate, secure, protect, and light up their homes.

Context.

Western media continue to cover the war in Ukraine: on March 25, the media reported about a conversation between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin's indignation that Russian culture is cancelled, and Peskov's assurances that Moscowia cannot be isolated that easily.
We also provided up-to-date information about the situation in Ukraine over the Russian invasion that lasts 30 days.
In addition, we provided information from the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the enemy losses in the war with Ukraine as of March 25, 2022.