Ukraine: Daily Briefing
November 2, 2018, 5 PM Kyiv time
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| Canada’s Ambassador to Ukraine Roman Waschuk visits Yavoriv, where Canadian Forces personnel are training Ukrainian forces under Operation UNIFIER, Canada’s military training mission to Ukraine. Photo – CAF Operations |
1. Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense reported at 12:30 PM Kyiv time that in the last 24 hours, one Ukrainian soldier was killed and two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in action. In the last 24 hours, Russian-terrorist forces opened fire on Ukrainian positions on the Luhansk and Donetsk sectors of the front 20 times in total. Returning fire, Ukrainian forces killed 2 and wounded 4 enemy combatants.
2. Ukraine, Germany set strategic goal to increase trade turnover to 10 billion Euros
Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers reported on November 1, “Ukraine and Germany have set strategic goals to build up their mutual trade turnover to EUR 10 billion against the current USD 8 billion a year and are finalizing preparations for the Third German-Ukrainian Forum in Berlin.
Such opportunities were discussed by Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman and Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Angela Merkel. Germany is one of the strategic partners of Ukraine in the political and economical planes, as well as one of the largest humanitarian donors for Ukraine. […]
‘I am glad to visit your country again and see what has changed over the last four years. We have really close and friendly relations. Germany advocates and stands for the preservation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the promotion of economic development. We will discuss our further joint plans in-depth at the business forum in late November,’ German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized.”
3. US Energy Secretary to travel to Ukraine next week
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry will travel to Ukraine and Poland next week. Reuters reported, “Perry will also visit Hungary and the Czech Republic on the trip. He will meet with government officials on topics from nuclear energy to cyber security and coal and liquefied natural gas exports, the Department of Energy said in a release on Thursday.
The Trump administration is seeking foreign markets for coal as domestic consumption has dropped to the lowest level since 1983 due to closures of coal-fired power plants that are suffering from abundant, cheap supplies of natural gas. In July, 2017 Centrenergo PJSC, one of the largest power companies in Ukraine, agreed to buy 700,000 tons of U.S. coal. Last month, Poland’s top natural gas company, PGNiG, finalized the terms of a deal to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) from U.S. company Venture Global LNG, as part of a move to cut reliance on Russia.”
4. First IMF tranche should arrive by end of year: Central Bank
Ukraine Business News reported, “The first tranche of IMF agreement money should arrive by the end of this year and could be as much as $1.9 billion, Kateryna Rozhkova, the central bank deputy governor, tells reporters. Prime Minister Groysman has asked the Rada to approve the government’s 2019 budget by Dec. 1, a key hurdle to getting IMF Board approval for the support program. Another hurdle was overcome Thursday when Naftogaz raised household gas prices 23.5%.”
