Ukraine will extend its COVID-19 quarantine measures to June 22 but start lifting more severe restrictions this week. The opening of some public places including beaches and parks, as well as barber shops, hairdressers, beauty salons and outdoor dining areas has already seen a degree of normality return to life in the capital Kyiv and elsewhere, but public transport has remained closed for weeks.
More restrictions will be lifted on May 22 that allow for the opening of kindergartens, gyms and hotels, but fears of a possible second wave of coronavirus infections has prompted the Ukrainian government and others elsewhere to keep an “adaptive lockdown” in effect to June 22 while it carries on monitoring the epidemic in Ukraine.
The government opened 66 border checkpoints with the EU on May 20, closed since March due to coronavirus. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine said the country had resumed the work of these crossing points at multiple border areas with the European Union and Moldova. At the same time, according to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, checkpoints on the border with Russia and Belarus remain closed in light of the epidemiological situation there.
Public transport will also be gradually restored to Ukrainians from May 22, infrastructure minister Vladyslav Kryklii said in a statement. Urban and suburban bus routes, including marshrutka taxi buses, will be up-and-running again from May 22, while the underground metro system will tentatively reopen on May 25 but could be closed again if needed.
From June 1 the national Ukrainian railway will begin serving customers again and some restrictions on travel between regions with personal vehicles will be lifted, Kryklii said, adding that vehicles must be no more than 50% full and drivers may still face restrictions driving to regions with a high rate of infection.
Ministers have said they will continue to monitor the coronavirus epidemic, as health experts confirmed 354 new cases of confirmed infection on May 20, bringing the total number of cases in Ukraine to at least 19,230 and the national death toll to 564. The reopening of subways and other public transport is an area of heated debate and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Smyhal said on May 18 that they will only reopen public transport as the “epidemiological situation allows.”
Air travel restrictions will start being lifted from June 15 and a number of airlines (Swiss, Wizz, Lufthansa) have already announced their intention to start their Ukrainian routes for the summer. But passengers and workers should expect extra security and measures at airports and on planes, Kryklii said, noting that temperature screenings and disinfections would be taking place, while the 14-day self-isolation for travellers (with the usage of a monitoring app for smartphones) won’t be lifted before June 22.
Concorde Capital has raised $50 million for financing projects in Ukraine amid the coronavirus crisis. The Concorde Capital investment company, one of the largest capital funds operating in Ukraine, has said it intends to act as a financial adviser in attracting and structuring hybrid financing for Ukrainian companies experiencing problems with access to capital amid the coronavirus crisis and raised $50 million for such bridge financing.
Founder and Head of Concorde Capital Ihor Mazepa told Interfax-Ukraine: “Despite all the current events, Ukraine still has a large stratum of non-poor people who previously invested in property and received some rental income. Now this market has fallen, deposit rates in commercial banks have also fallen, that is a lot of instruments that were working two months ago, it turned out to be non-working. However, there is a need to continue to invest further.”
Ex-head of the State Customs Service Maksym Nefyodov could work for the President’s Office, President Zelensky has said. At a press conference in Kyiv Zelensky said that he had invited Nefyodov to amend legislation and allow the armed forces and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) to police smuggling at the border, Ukrainian language media including Interfax reported on May 20.
Zelensky reportedly said: “I would like Maksym to come back… He could work for the Office of the President, manage certain project in which he could succeed… I suggested to him [Nefyodov] that we change the legislation for the time in the fight against smuggling, so that certain detachments of the military and the SBU could come to the customs and stop smuggling.”
Limit for “investment nanny” cut from $100 million to $30 million for attracting FDI. Those bringing investments of $30 million to Ukraine, rather than the $100 million that was previously envisaged, will be able to have access to the investment nanny tool, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a press conference on Wednesday. “We lowered this limit,” the president said. “The investment nanny is a special VIP manager, who will be attached to any investor in Ukraine who has invested $30 million and more.”
Ukrainian authorities have received $15.5 million worth of assistance from the United States to combat COVID-19, the U.S. Department of State has said. The assistance includes $13.1 million in health and humanitarian assistance “that will improve the ability of local health care institutions to care for the sick and combat further spread of COVID-19.”
