Kyivstar becomes 1st Ukrainian company to join US stock exchange
The Kyivstar signboard visible on the facade of the building on December 15, 2023 in Lviv, Ukraine. (Photo by Mykola Tys/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Kyivstar — Ukraine’s leading digital operator — will ring the Nasdaq opening bell Friday morning as the first Ukrainian company to be listed on a United States stock exchange to celebrate its historic listing and the launch of its Invest in Ukraine NOW! campaign.
The company officially began trading on the Nasdaq on Aug. 15 under the umbrella of its parent company, VEON. Together, the companies launched the campaign to draw in U.S. and global investors, showcasing Kyvistar as a unique investment opportunity not only as a successful company, but also as a symbol of Ukraine’s economic growth and potential post-war recovery.
Beyond its nearly 22.4 million mobile customers, Kyivstar has expanded into entertainment, digital healthcare and ride-hailing platforms that all rank among Ukrainian market leaders.
“Kyivstar’s listing on Nasdaq under the ticker KYIV gives American investors a window into the Ukrainian economy as a whole,” said Augie K Fabela II, chairman and founder of VEON, in a press release.
The Invest in Ukraine NOW! campaign was attended by Ukrainian government officials, VEON and Kyivstar executives, investors, and business leaders. VEON and Kyivstar framed the initiative as both an image of wartime resilience and a practical effort to spur foreign investment.
“We have transformed Kyivstar into a robust digital operator with a globally attractive business model and growth story, while being the backbone of Ukraine’s resilience and reconstruction,” said Kyivstar President Oleksandr Komarov in a press release.
“This week we mark the resilience and potential of Ukraine. Together with our team, partners, investors and governmental counterparts, we mark the beginning of Kyivstar’s new chapter. We are excited to help build bridges for other Ukrainian companies to deepen their global partnerships, especially with the American and global business community.”
Heavy machinery is tearing through what locals are calling “Wet Wipe Island,” an 820-foot shoreline of flushed bathroom debris that has transformed a stretch of London’s Thames River into an environmental nightmare. ABC News / Dakota Bennett
(LONDON) — Heavy machinery is tearing through what locals are calling “wet wipe island,” an 820-foot shoreline of flushed bathroom debris that has transformed a stretch of London’s Thames River into an environmental nightmare.
The clean-up near Hammersmith Bridge in West London represents the United Kingdom’s first attempt to mechanically remove wet wipes from a river and, over the next month, excavators will extract an estimated 180 tons of congealed waste — equivalent to the weight of 15 double-decker buses spread across an area the size of two tennis courts.
“We’re doing the first mass removal of wet wipes that’s ever taken place in the country,” Emily McLean, senior technical advisor for the Port of London Authority, which is coordinating the operation, told ABC News.
The mechanical intervention comes after nearly a decade of volunteers painstakingly collecting wet wipes by hand. Thames21, an environmental charity, has documented the problem since 2017, with volunteers removing 140,000 individual wipes while mapping the contamination’s spread.
“It’s a validation of eight years of work,” said Ann Willard Sullivan, a Thames21 volunteer who leads cleanup efforts in the area. “It’s a sign that there can be big change, don’t give up.”
The volunteer data proved crucial in convincing authorities to act and, what started as citizen science, became the foundation for both this cleanup and potential broader policy changes down the line.
The Thames’ 23-foot tidal range creates a narrow window for the cleanup work meaning excavators can only operate during a four-hour window around low tide when the debris becomes accessible.
McLean said that engineers are using a “rake and shake” method to separate wet wipes from river sediment, ensuring that essential materials for the Thames ecosystem remain on the riverbed while removing only the contamination.
“We’re removing that contaminated layer while retaining as much of the foreshore as we can,” explained Grace Rawnsley, sustainability director for the Port of London Authority.
The cleanup represents the latest chapter in the clean-up of the Thames after it was declared “biologically dead” by the Natural History Museum in 1957.
“This is a huge moment — after years of campaigning, wet wipe island hopefully is no more!” said Fleur Anderson, the MP for Putney, Southfields, Roehampton and Wandsworth Town. “The ban I’ve introduced will mean 3.8 billion wipes removed from the network every year. A win for our waters, sewers and environment!”
Now, nearly 70 years later, it supports 125 different fish species and serves as a nursery for five types of sharks, according to the Zoological Society of London.
Wet wipes, however, have recently threatened this recovery, with the plastic-laden debris breaking down into microplastics that clog digestive systems of fish and disrupt feeding patterns, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Recent scientific research indicates that an estimated 70% of Thames flounder contain plastic fibers in their stomachs.
“They get stuck in fish stomachs,” McLean said. “So, we really think that by removing them, we’re taking out those contaminants, and that will help the water quality.”
The Hammersmith cleanup coincides with Britain’s groundbreaking approach to wet wipe pollution when, in April 2024, the U.K. government announced plans to ban plastic-containing wet wipes, with implementation expected by 2026.
Currently, Britons use approximately 11 billion wet wipes annually, with an estimated 2.5 billion flushed down toilets, according to Thames21.
Thames Water says that it spends £18 million ($24 million) yearly removing 3.8 billion wipes from London’s sewage system alone, costs that are ultimately passed to consumers through higher water bills.
The wet wipe issue extends far beyond the Thames, however, with water companies across the U.K. collectively spend £100 million ($135 million) annually clearing 300,000 sewer blockages, with 93% caused by flushed wipes, according to an October 2021 research report from United Utilities.
“These wet wipes should never be entering into the river,” Felicity Rhodes, Thames program manager at Thames21, told ABC News.
The charity advocates for a “multi-stakeholder approach” involving manufacturers, water companies, government regulation and consumer behavior change.
The Port of London Authority estimates the monthlong operation will cost “hundreds of thousands” of pounds, a fraction of the ongoing costs of wet wipe pollution.
For the rowers gliding past the cleanup site, the mechanical intervention represents both an end and a beginning: the removal of London’s most embarrassing landmark and a step toward the Thames that millions of Londoners want their river to become.
ABC News’ Maggie Rulli and Charlotte Gardiner contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s continued refusal to accept a ceasefire is “complicating” efforts to reach a peace deal, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday, as he prepared to travel to the White House to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Friday’s summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska — to which Ukrainian representatives were not invited — ended with Russia demanding that Ukraine cede the entirety of its contested and fortified eastern Donetsk region in exchange for an end to the fighting, two sources told ABC News.
Putin has repeatedly dodged Ukrainian-U.S. offers of an immediate ceasefire. Before the summit, Trump told reporters, “I want to see a ceasefire rapidly.”
Kyiv has previously rejected ceding any territory to Russia without binding security guarantees that include the U.S. Zelenskyy has also ruled out giving up Donetsk, saying the region could provide a launchpad for future Russian offensives deeper into Ukraine. Kyiv maintains that no peace negotiations can take part until a ceasefire is in effect.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy addressed the ongoing talks in a post to Telegram, saying, “We see that Russia rejects numerous demands for a ceasefire and still has not determined when it will stop the killings. This complicates the situation.”
“If they have no will to implement a simple order to stop the strikes, it may take a lot of effort for Russia to develop the will to implement much more, namely peaceful life with neighbors for decades,” Zelenskyy added. “But we all work together for peace and security. Stopping the killings is a key element of ending the war.”
Zelenskyy will meet Trump at the White House on Monday, with the U.S. president also inviting European leaders to attend.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed on Sunday that they will be among the leaders accompanying Zelenskyy.
“The talks will address, among other things, security guarantees, territorial issues and continued support for Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression,” Merz’s office said in a statement. “This includes maintaining the pressure of sanctions.”
The leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. were also expected to co-chair a virtual meeting of the pro-Ukraine “Coalition of the Willing” on Sunday, according to a press release from French President Emmanuel Macron’s office.
After the Alaska summit, Trump told Fox News he recommends that Kyiv “make the deal.”
“Look, Russia is a very big power, and they’re not,” Trump said, saying Ukraine had “great soldiers.” The president then praised Putin, calling him a “strong guy” and saying he is “tough as hell.”
On Sunday morning, Trump posted to social media claiming “big progress” being made regarding the peace talks. “STAY TUNED!” Trump wrote.
The president also again criticized media coverage of the talks. “If I got Russia to give up Moscow as part of the Deal, the Fake News, and their PARTNER, the Radical Left Democrats, would say I made a terrible mistake and a very bad deal,” he wrote.
Zelenskyy said Saturday he would continue “coordination with partners” ahead of Monday’s meeting. “It is important that everyone agrees that a conversation at the leaders’ level is necessary to clarify all the details and determine which steps are needed and will work,” he said.
The Ukrainian president warned earlier on Saturday that Russian operations may expand as peace negotiations continue. “The Russian army may attempt to intensify pressure and strikes against Ukrainian positions in order to create more favorable political conditions for negotiations with global actors,” Zelenskyy posted to Telegram.
Ukraine’s air force said that Russia launched 60 drones and one missile into the country overnight into Sunday, of which 40 drones were shot down or suppressed. Twenty drones impacted across 12 locations, the air force said.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down at least 52 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Andriy Zhyhaylo/Oboz.ua/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — During his visit to the U.K. on Monday, President Donald Trump expressed further frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s continued long-range attacks on Ukraine.
The president said he would shorten the 50-day window offered to Putin earlier this month in which to agree to a ceasefire deal or face punishing sanctions and tariffs.
“I’m disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him,” Trump told reporters. “So we’re going to have to look and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to lesser number, because I think I already know the answer what’s going to happen.”
“I’m going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump said later in the press conference. There’s no reason in waiting.”
“I want to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made,” Trump added.
Trump’s remarks came hours after Polish and allied NATO aircraft were scrambled in response to a large Russian drone and missile attack launched into Ukraine on Sunday night, per a statement from Polish military’s Operational Command.
“Polish and allied duty aircraft have been scrambled and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness,” the command said in a statement posted to X in the early hours of Monday morning, as hundreds of drones and missiles targeted sites across Ukraine.
The alert lasted for around three hours, after which the command posted another statement saying that “deployed forces and resources have returned to standard operational activities.”
NATO’s Air Command and Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters stationed in Poland took part in the response, the Polish Operational Command said.
An official at Lithuania’s Defense Ministry confirmed to ABC News that a drone also crossed into Lithuania from Belarusian airspace. Russian forces regularly route drones through Belarusian airspace to attack Ukrainian targets from the north. A search for the drone was still underway as of Monday morning, the official said.
Russia launched 324 drones and seven missiles into Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said in a statement published on Telegram.
Of those, 309 drones and two missiles were shot down or suppressed, it said, with 15 strike drones and two missiles impacting across three locations.
At least eight people were injured in Kyiv after a Russian drone hit a residential highrise, the head of the city’s military administration said in a post to Telegram.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, wrote on Telegram that the most recent barrage was evidence of Putin’s lack of commitment to a proposed ceasefire.
“This is how Putin responds to calls to end the war and sit at the negotiating table,” he wrote. “Russian air attacks are still ongoing, with civilian infrastructure, homes and people, including in Kyiv, already affected.”
“There is no alternative to sanctions, strengthening Ukraine’s long-range capabilities and tough actions against Putin’s circle and Putin himself,” Yermak wrote. “He wants nothing but war and Ukraine’s defeat. And there will be no defeat.”
Referring to the scrambling of NATO aircraft and the drone crossing into Lithuania, Yermak added, “The Russians and their satellites are testing NATO’s reaction. Drones entering the airspace of the Baltic countries are signals that cannot be ignored.”
Zelenskyy also posted to Telegram noting that Kyiv is “constantly strengthening the Ukrainian air shield and it is very important to maintain full understanding among partners about how exactly they can help. Step by step, we are closing the funding gap for drone production and this week I will have new talks with partners regarding this task.”
“Restoration and rescue work is currently underway everywhere it is needed,” the president added of the overnight drone and missile impacts. “This particularly concerns electricity supply. Necessary assistance is being provided to the wounded.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down seven Ukrainian drones overnight.
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Michelle Stoddart, Lalee Ibssa and Fidel Pavlenko contributed to this report.
