•Two Chinese companies formalized plans to build a $1 billion, 1 gigawatt solar plant in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, Resource Global Network reported. Ukrainian officials said the two firms, GCL System Integration Technology and China National Complete Engineering Corp., will spend up to $1 billion on the project over the next two years.

•Deputy Education and Science Minister Maksym Strikha said Ukraine spent less than half a percent of its GDP on science and research in 2016, according to Interfax Ukraine.

•Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany) saw passenger traffic in 2016 increase 19 percent from 2015, serving 1.1 million people. The number of flights accommodated rose as well, just over 2 percent.

•Estonian furniture and wood products manufacturer Skano is shuttering its operations in Ukraine, the company announced Friday. The company cited poor trading conditions and Ukraine's political and economic uncertainty as the factors in the losses it incurred. Closure will begin immediately and is expected to wrap up in March.

•Mexican and Ukrainian business owners formed an alliance that includes people in the energy, aviation, pharmaceutical and legal fields, Ukrinform reported. The alliance aims to foster bilateral cooperation in the areas of trade, the economy, science and technology.

•Odesa has surpassed Kyiv as Ukraine's most expensive city in which to live, Novoe Vremya reported. In the annual global rankings of cost of living by municipality, Odesa held down the No. 454 spot, while Kyiv was four places down on the list. Other notables: Kharkiv, No. 465; and Lviv, No. 475.

•As a follow-up on a news item mentioned in the previous edition of the UBJ am, the 466,000 tons of sugar that Ukraine exported in 2016 was the largest annual total in the country's history since independence, Ukrinform reported.

•In the second quarter of the fiscal year that started in July, ag behemoth Kernel increased grain sales by 15 percent year over year and bulk sunflower oil sales by 13 percent, according to Interfax Ukraine.

•Naftogazvydobuvannia, part of DTEK Naftogaz, increased natural gas production 25 percent year over year in 2016, Interfax Ukraine reported. The launch of three wells at the Semyrenkivske gas condensate field contributed to growth of gas and gas condensate production, and production at existing wells was boosted.

•About $36 million will be allocated to the Mykolaiv region this year for construction of new roads, according to Ukrinform.

For comments and news tips, please email UBJ AM editor David Edwards at david.edwards@theubj.com.