Latest news for today in Ukraine
Editor’s Note: Ukraine’s businesses are struggling after the country introduced nationwide restrictions on movement and travel starting on March 12. The restrictions have been strengthened since then and are set to last until at least April 24. Most businesses are closed with employees working remotely or not working at all. The exceptions include supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, parcel delivery services. The borders are closed to most forms of traffic, except Ukrainians returning by foot or by car. Most domestic transportation is closed or heavily restricted. Estimates range on how deeply the ensuing recession will harm Ukraine. The Kyiv Post talked with entrepreneurs about their daily struggles, asking how the quarantine has affected their ventures and what they are planning to do once it’s lifted.
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Johannes Wamberg Andersen and Svitlana Zymnia
co-founders of FARØ Foods, a Danish-Ukrainian family business that produces and sells prepared frozen meals in Ukraine
“We are losing a lot of the turnover that we potentially could have had if our products had been on display in the supermarkets. But we benefit from direct customers, from delivering directly to people’s doorsteps. Their loyalty is highly inspiring and their feedback is crucial and priceless, so the quarantine definitely has its positive moments. We expect that FARØ will continue to grow, albeit at a slower pace than previously anticipated.
“We are aiming at expanding our retail reach beyond a current single spot in downtown Podil. We feel that our product is a natural fit for the self-isolation requirements and beyond.
“The business was launched in March as Kyiv-based food delivery (service). We had to settle for a more humble business launch than we planned for, scaling down and marketing via social media. After having spent months preparing for a supermarket introduction of our ready meals, we faced rejections from retail chains, sitting on their fences due to the current uncertainty. Our meals allow you to stay home, filling your freezer with ready meals, and even limiting contact with others while shopping, for there’s no need to roam the supermarket shelves.
Johannes Wamberg Andersen and his wife co-founded FARØ Foods, a Danish-Ukrainian family business that produces and sells frozen meals.
“Loving both Denmark and Ukraine, we want to do our part in closing the gap between the cultures across former lines of division on the continent. We are motivated by our basic idea of making life easier for households in Ukraine’s metropoles by cutting the time spent daily on cooking. We hope to see saved time converted into quality time, with Ukraine’s number-one resource going forward – its children, its young generation. By easing life we also refer to the lightness and feeling of coziness and comfortable conviviality we aim to facilitate – even for romantic evenings. These goals go by far beyond the current challenges.
“We obviously get no help (from the government) whatsoever. What we need is a good old reform agenda: guarantees that the government will continue to subsidize bank credits for small-sized business; a rental agreement so we don’t face sudden cost increases at the landlord’s discretion; a break from the heavy Soviet burden of red tape for the food industry. Right now, we need our meals to fit a Soviet era-based, government-approved cookbook to get the official certificate of quality from a big retailer. If it hadn’t been for such stupidity we could have launched FARØ earlier, and our meals might already have reached the supermarket shelves to ease the life of Kyivans during the quarantine.
“Crises aren’t just trouble, it is also an opportunity to move things forward and increase competitiveness. ‘Ukrainian style’ business needs to get real, to move away from the expectation of short term gains and inflated three-digit profit rates. Settle for a smaller slice of a larger cake, please. Otherwise, Ukraine isn’t likely to reach stable growth and prosperity.”
As of April 17: 125 people have died from COVID-19 in Ukraine; 246 people have recovered.
As of April 11, 6 Ukrainians have died from the novel coronavirus abroad; 19 recovered. 172 are currently undergoing treatment abroad.
4,662 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ukraine as of early April 16. The first case was identified on March 3.
Ukraine has extended its quarantine measures until April 24.
Infographic of quarantine measures in place until April 24.
The measures shuttered most everything but hospitals, supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, gas stations, and other critical enterprises.
How the Ukrainian government has been responding: TIMELINE
Misinformation on coronavirus is going viral in Ukraine.
Foreign Ministry: What you need to know about traveling to and from Ukraine now
Why the Kyiv Post isn’t making its coverage free in the times of COVID-19.
Coronavirus stops the Kyiv Post’s print edition for now.
Where to buy masks.
Effects on the economy:
COVID-19 is already inflicting harm on Ukraine’s economy.
Invisible Threat Lurks Undetected: Top stories from March 27, 2020 PDF edition.
The former minister of economy says half a million Ukrainians may lose their jobs in the COVID-19 crisis.
