Official exchange rate of Ukrainian hryvnya collapsed. Russia continues to concentrate invasion troops on the occupied territory of Donbass and in the border districts. Contract for South Africal coal supplies to Ukraine derailed.
Ukraine
● Official exchange rate of national currency vs US dollar collapsed during the day by almost one hryvnya: 15.77 UAH/USD (+97cop), 19.69 UAH/EUR (+1 UAH 34 cop), 3.44 UAH/10 RUB (+35 cop). Exchange rate hasn’t been agreed during the meeting between NBU and representatives of 40 major banks. Accordingly, the regulator could employ administrative measures as well as new rules of currency auctions. If Fx rate reaches 16 UAH/USD, petrol price will go up to 20 UAH/l, which will hit the economy hard.
Ukrainians are massively buying foreign currency in exchange offices. More than $ 7 billion was withdrawn from foreign currency deposits since the beginning of the year.
● National Bank approved a regulation on emission of electronic money on the territory of Ukraine.
● NBU allowed to establish correspondent relations with banks of the Crimea to meet obligations under the loan agreements by Crimea subjects.
● Index of Ukrainian stock exchange UX went down below the psychological minimum of 1,000 points, loosing almost 7% during the day.
● Five parties, winners of the elections to Verkhovna Rada, agreed on the principles of the coalition agreement and principles of new government formation.
● Foreign Affairs Ministry speaker Evheniy Perebyinis stated that Russia continues military aggression against Ukraine and is actually getting ready for the occupation of part of its territory. According to representatives of the OSCE mission in Ukraine, the danger of escalation in the Donbass increased sharply.
● As per published report of Kharkiv Regional State Administration, construction of ‘’the Wall’’ project on the border with Russia failed. Measures to strengthen the territorial defense and repairs of armored vehicles had been financed but haven’t been executed.
● As reported by media, most of the Yanukovych family members are still allowed to enter the EU. Only few of them, being internationally wanted, could be arrested.
● Warm weather enabled Ukraine to half the volume of natural gas withdrawal from the underground storage facilities during the month.
● Supplier of the South African coal refused to cooperate with Ukraine due to the scandal, related to the Prosecutors Office inspection of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy.
Kyiv
● Kyiv authorities cancelled city’s underground transportation benefits for pensioners from other regions of Ukraine. As per Kyiv city metro report, its losses reached 500 mln. UAH during the year. At the same time experts point out that “corruption holes” do exist within the enterprise budget.
War in Ukraine
● 5 Ukrainian military were killed as the result of shelling and attacks of LPR and DPR militants. Shelling of residential areas of towns in Luhansk, Donetsk regions and Donetsk city continued. Strong explosion took place in the sea near Mariupol. No casualties from Ukrainian Navy have been reported.
● According to official data of the NSDC, 1,052 soldiers were killed during combat operations in the Donbass.
● The “Azov” regiment announced destruction of one of the divisions of the Russian army MLRS “Smerch” under Dokuchaevsk. By the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs, the regiment has been transferred to the National Guard.
● Seventh Russian ‘’humanitarian convoy’’ is getting ready to invade Ukraine with neither customs clearance, nor backup from international charitable organizations. Usually militants activity and shelling of residential areas sharply increases after such invasions. The Speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Perebiynis said that Russian “convoys” are a way to supply the terrorist armed groups.
● Dutch experts discovered new remains at the crash site of MH17 aircraft catastrophe.
● OSCE denies both accusations of Ukrainian army positions locations disclosure, and of activity of Russian security services within the monitoring mission in Donbass. As per statement of the SSU representative, Russia is trying to discredit the OSCE mission in Donbass.
● NATO reports that Russia have brought nuclear delivery vehicles to Crimea, as well as that concentration of Russian troops in Donbass and within border regions is growing. Observers report on the concentration of Russian forces and forced mobilization of the local population in the occupied territories of the Donbass.
International
● According to a member of the European Commission for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy Khan, the EU does not intend in the near future to soften sanctions against Russia and some EU members insist on their tightening.
● Ukrainian crisis will be one of the critical issues during the G20 forum in Australia.
● Riots sparked near the Russian Embassy during celebrations of the Posish Independence Day. Around 300 rally participants were detained.
● UN Security Council will conduct an emergency meeting on situation in Ukraine.
● Moldova considers building both a natural gas pipeline from Romania, and its own LPG terminal to minimize dependency on Russian natural gas.
Trends
● Experts believe that Fx market panic is the result of unprofessional leadership of the National Bank, which is unable to stabilize the Fx rate under conditions of minimal volumes of trades on the market.
● Situation in Donbass is becoming worse. All observers mark signs of Russian army preparations for invasion.
Digests & Analytics Ukraine for Information Resistance