2 May 2022 (Hina) - Over HRK 600,000 (€80,000) was raised for Ukrainian children left without parents as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine during a friendly charity match between Hajduk Split and Shakhtar Donetsk in Split on Sunday, the Croatian football club said.

A total of 6,550 tickets were sold for the match and more than 30,000 calls were placed to the donor number 060 9006, which will be active until 15 May. Among the guests at Hajduk's call centre were well-known athletes, actors, singers, members of the management board and UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin.

April 27, 2022 - Economist Damir Novotny was a guest on N1 Television's ''Novom Danu'', and commented on how certain is it that Russia will suspend gas to Croatia based on recent threats to Bulgaria and Poland.

Novotny said Russia's threat to stop supplying gas to Poland and Bulgaria is in some ways a warning to the entire European Union, as the Polish and Russian governments clash most verbally, reports Index.hr.

The economic analyst pointed out that he did not think that Russia would make a decision to stop supplying gas to Croatia.

"It is possible that Russia will suspend gas to Croatia, of course, but it is uncertain and we cannot predict anything because the Russian political elite is unpredictable at the moment, Putin's decisions are completely unpredictable, we cannot be sure about the direction of his decisions, especially economic ones'', said Novotny.

''He told the Russian public that the sanctions did not cause any damage to the Russian economy, which is simply not true. So I don’t believe there will be drastic blockades'', added Novotny.

What does an early warning about the gas situation mean?

He also explained what the government's early warning measure due to the gas situation means.

"This is a mechanism used by the governments of all European countries when gas storage facilities are emptied over the winter and refilled over the summer, and if the storage tenants do not refuel or do not fill it with that dynamic, prices are high and they are expected to fall over the summer to refill them, but that’s ungrateful because it’s hard to estimate gas prices at the moment. It is possible that it will start to descend during the summer, but it is not certain. All supply chains will be disrupted, Russian gas will not come to the EU market in the amount we are used to and prices will not fall over the summer'', Novotny said.

As for the norms of strategic stocks, he said that, according to publicly available information, we are below those stocks in terms of the amount of gas.

Gazprom: We are suspending gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland

Recall, Russian energy giant Gazprom claims to have cut off all gas supplies to both Bulgaria and Poland after both countries refused to start paying for deliveries in rubles.

Earlier, both Polish and Bulgarian gas suppliers said they had received official notifications from Gazprom that supplies would be suspended.

At one point early Wednesday, physical gas flows along the Yamal-Europa gas pipeline from Belarus to Poland fell to zero, but then gas supplies resumed. But then Gazprom confirmed that gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria were suspended.

For more, check out our politics section.

April 27, 2022 - About 10 tons of humanitarian aid, food, and hygiene supplies were delivered to the residents of the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine, with which Varaždin County has friendly relations.

Varaždin County said that on the eve of Easter, according to the Julian calendar, humanitarian aid was delivered through the border crossing at the Romanian-Ukrainian border, to the Olimpia humanitarian aid depot in the city of Chernivtsi, reports HRT News.

Groceries and supplies were delivered thanks to citizens, local governments, and companies that, after the appeal of Varaždin County Prefect Anđelko Stričak, in just a few days, donated ten tons of groceries with a longer shelf life and hygiene supplies.

In addition to Varaždin County, aid was collected by: Varaždin, Varaždinske Toplice and Lepoglava and the municipalities of Petrijanec, Trnovec Bartolovečki, Cestica, Sračinec, Beretinec, Gornji Kneginec, Breznica, Breznički Hum, Mali Bukovec and Veliki Bukovec. The companies Ivančica, Hudek-Trgotrans, Siga, Krešimir Futura, Helcom Trade, Trgograd - BP Šilec and Nika konstrukcije also joined the initiative.

The city of Chernivtsi is the capital and largest city in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine, the region with which Varaždin County signed a Cooperation Agreement in 2013.

Prefect Anđelko Stričak thanked everyone who responded to brighten up the Easter holidays to friends in Ukraine.

- As the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Croatia Vasil Kirilich informed us, who asked for help, today the region is a temporary residence of many Ukrainians from war parts of that country, so they urgently needed help, primarily in the form of long-term food duration, stressed Uncle.

As the devastation of the war in Ukraine does not stop, the Varaždin prefect announced that he would organize the collection of humanitarian aid for a friendly region in Ukraine in cooperation with cities and municipalities, and companies in the coming months.

For more, check out our lifestyle section.

25 April 2022 - Croatia has taken in 15,550 refugees from war-torn Ukraine and 2,446 of them are currently located in Split-Dalmatia County, the head of the Civil Protection Directorate, Damir Trut, said in Split on Monday.

"So far, fewer than 10,000 people have applied for temporary protection and they have the right to education, accommodation, healthcare and other needs," Trut said after meeting with Split-Dalmatia County Prefect Blaženko Boban and local civil protection personnel included in organising the reception of refugees.

A Ukrainian doctor and psychologist are available to refugees, while unaccompanied children have been placed in foster care. According to the head of the local civil protection organisation, Srđan Kušćević, children are attending online classes.

Trut and Boban discussed options for the Ukrainian refugees who are currently staying in accommodation that is usually rented out during the tourist season.

Of the children staying in the county, 106 are attending elementary school, 7 are secondary-school students and 17 are attending kindergarten.

Elderly refugees are learning Croatian at the Centre for Life-Long Learning.

Split-Dalmatia County is "one of the few counties that has its own operations centre where all the information related to refugees can be obtained in one place thanks to the Red Cross," Boban said, adding that activities are also being prepared with the Ukrainian ambassador.

April the 23rd, 2022 - Can the Croatian financial sector withstand the consequences of the war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion? Experts say yes.

As Tomislav Pili/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Croatian financial sector isn't immune to the consequences of the ongoing war in Ukraine, but there will be no big problems because it is strong enough to withstand whatever the outcome may be, according to the Macroprudential Risk Scanner of the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (Hanfa).

The growth of geopolitical risks caused by the Ukraine-Russian war increased systemic risks in the financial services sector back in February by increasing already pronounced inflationary pressures and disrupting investor sentiment, the publication said.

Risk growth

The beginning of 2022 was additionally marked by the growth of interest rate and market risk, which in the short term had a negative impact on the risk of profitability of the financial services sector, but the level of capitalisation of the Croatian financial sector remains high even in such unpleasant conditions.

“Liquidity in the Croatian financial sector in terms of services during the first quarter of 2022 was maintained at very high levels despite increased pressures on disbursements from some investment funds. The analysis conducted in the analytical report called: ''Do domestic institutional investors behave pro-cyclically?'' Showed that in the period from 2014 to 2021, there was no systemically significant search for returns in the financial services sector, despite pressures on profitability in the form of declining returns on bond investments.

Nevertheless, cyclical systemic risks are at elevated levels in the context of pronounced market uncertainties and pronounced structural vulnerabilities of the sector, which are primarily reflected in the increased concentration of investment in domestic government bonds,'' they said from Hanfa.

At the beginning of the year, investment funds recorded double the amount of pressure placed on assets in terms of negative market movements, as well as increased disbursements, but to a much lesser extent than back in March 2020.

Their net assets at the end of March were 16 percent lower than they were back at the end of 2021 and amounted to 18.1 billion kuna. Sudden pressures on share payments due to the limited nature of such a recent shock and high liquidity reserves of the funds didn't manage to undermine the liquidity position of investment funds, the regulator claims.

Negative impacts

Changes across the wider financial market also affected the value of investments of pension funds, whose assets amounted to 139.8 billion kuna back at the end of March, which is a decrease of 0.7 percent when compared to the end of 2021.

The negative impact of market developments on the value of net assets boasted by pension funds partially mitigated the inflow of new funds in the amount of 2.8 billion kuna. Although the domestic stock market in the previous period before the Russian invasion of Ukraine didn't record record highs and was only marginally exposed to economies subject to sanctions at the end of February, global market corrections and deteriorating market sentiment also affected Croatian capital market prices.

As such, some sectors, whose business relies more heavily on the imports of materials, such as the construction sector, lost up to 10 percent of their value from the end of January in February.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 22 April (2022) - Croatia's oil pipeline operator JANAF said on Friday it was allowed to resume the delivery of crude oil to the Serbian oil company NIS, adding that it had concluded storage contracts with the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency and the Delta Oil International company.

JANAF reported on 29 March that its contract with NIS was covered by EU sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić then said that the problem of oil delivery would be addressed together with Croatia and the European Union.

JANAF said on Friday that the EU Council regulation of 8 April amending a regulation concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine allows JANAF to continue performing its obligations under the contract on crude oil transport with NIS.

JANAF also said it had concluded storage contracts with the Croatian Hydrocarbon Agency and the Delta Oil International company.

The contract with the Hydrocarbon Agency provides for the storage of 20,000 cubic metres of diesel fuel and the same amount of unleaded petrol at the Omišalj Terminal on Krk island from 1 July to 31 December 2022.

Under the contract with Delta Oil International, 169,000 cubic metres of crude oil will be stored at Omišalj from 15 April to 15 August 2022.

JANAF's CEO Stjepan Adanić said that the new contracts were yet another confirmation of JANAF's strength and importance as a key component of the energy market in the European Union, Croatia and this part of Europe.

For more, check out our politics section.

11 April 2022 - Croatia has expelled 18 Russian diplomats and six members of administrative staff, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said in a statement on Monday.

Croatia notified the Russian ambassador about the reduction of the number of diplomatic and administrative staff at the Russian Embassy on Monday.

"Eighteen diplomats and six members of administrative staff (24 employees in total) at the Embassy of the Russian Federation have been asked to leave the Republic of Croatia," the statement said.

Croatia thus joined other European countries, including Poland, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, in expelling Russian diplomats over the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. Neighbouring Slovenia will expel 33 Russian diplomats.

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs once again strongly condemned "the brutal aggression on Ukraine and numerous war crimes committed."

Russia was once again called upon to immediately cease its military activities, withdraw its troops from the entire territory of Ukraine, and secure evacuation and aid supply routes.

Croatia also called on Russia to bring those responsible for war crimes to justice.

4 April 2022 - Since 25 February, 11,974 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Croatia, and most of them are in individual accommodation, the government said at its website dedicated to the Ukraine crisis.

Of the arrivals, 5,832 or 48.7% are women, 1,619 or 13.5% are men and 4,523 or 37.8% are children.

Most of them are staying in individual accommodation, 1,498 are in collective accommodation and 16 in private accommodation.

The Civil Protection Directorate has mobilised 34 facilities for collective accommodation, three reception centres, and one catering and one transport company to provide for the refugees.

According to UNHCR, by the end of March more than 10.5 million people were displaced internally in Ukraine or left the country as refugees, which is around one quarter of the country's population. The UN agency estimates a total of 13 million people in Ukraine urgently need humanitarian assistance.

ZAGREB, 3 April 2022 - Over 11,000 Ukrainians have found refuge in Croatia after their country was invaded by Russia on 24 February, and a considerable number of them might stay for good, according to estimates by the Ukrainian community in Croatia.

According to the United Nations, more than 4 million people have fled Ukraine in the five weeks since the start of the war and about 6.5 million have been internally displaced. That is over 10 million people, or about a quarter of the country's population, which is the most massive migration in modern European history.

Viktor Filima, a representative of the Ukrainian community in Zagreb, told Hina in an interview that Poland would most likely take in all the displaced persons, but that it was questionable whether it would be able to physically endure the pressure.

Croatia has expressed its intention to take care of 20,000 displaced persons, and can expect more arrivals. Filima said that a considerable number of refugees would stay even if the war were to end soon because it would take time before Ukraine rebuilts its damaged infrastructure.

According to Filima, the refugees' primary wish is to return to their homes as soon as possible, but many of them are not aware that they will have to stay longer because their cities and infrastructure have been razed to the ground.

Filima said that Croatia had proved to be well organised as it had taken care of all the refugees.

The first migrations of Ukrainians to Croatia began at the time of Austria-Hungary 130 years ago. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian community in Croatia was between two and three thousand strong, and now their number could increase tenfold.

30 per cent of refugees highly educated

Representatives of the Ukrainian community see potential in the migration, saying that Croatia could benefit from Ukrainian refugees because 30% of them are highly educated people, including medical doctors who are in short supply in Croatia.

The head of the Ukrainian community in Zagreb, Marija Meleško, who studied the Croatian language and literature in Kyiv and has been living in Croatia for 15 years, says that refugees are not aware that they will stay here longer than they expect.

Some of the refugees who arrived in the first wave have applied for temporary protection and some of those who have obtained temporary protection cards have already enrolled their children in school. Only a small number of refugees have expressed their desire to work because they first need to learn basic Croatian and meet other requirements for integration into the labour market.

Meleško said the majority of refugees were women and children because men below 60 years of age must not leave Ukraine, with the exception of parents with children with disabilities or with several children.

"Before thinking of how to find work, mothers first need to settle their status and enrol their children in school or kindergarten," she said. Another problem is the recognition of qualifications for work in a regulated profession, which takes time, especially for medical doctors. Ukraine is not a member of the EU, and in order to get a job in Croatia, doctors first need to have their degree recognised and learn Croatian, she added, hoping that this process will be accelerated.

Regulating status is not a problem because displaced persons only need to apply for temporary protection via the bilingual website Croatia for Ukraine, which also provides other information. With a temporary protection card, they can exercise their rights to education, health insurance and all other rights enjoyed by Croatian nationals.

Nearly half of the refugee population are children, many of whom have been enrolled in kindergarten or school, and they will not have trouble integrating, Filima said. "If the war continues, they will make friends and get to know their neighbours. Some will enrol in university or get a job, and when they see that they have nowhere to go back to, a good many of them will probably stay."

Filima believes that the integration process will not be a problem because the two languages are similar. "The Croatian language is Ukrainian written in Latin", and there are also cultural and visual similarities between Ukraine and Croatia, he said. He also believes that it will be easier for Ukrainians to continue their lives in Croatia because of Croatia's experience with the war from the 1990s.

Meleško said she had noticed that the refugees could feel the support and sympathy in Croatia. "What they are getting, the understanding of the situation in which they have found themselves, because Croatians themselves have gone through similar ordeals in the past, is creating a positive atmosphere of hospitality and giving them the feeling that they can be part of this society."

Meleško believes that children will fit into the education system very quickly and will have no trouble learning the language.

According to official information from Saturday, the majority of Ukrainian refugees in Croatia, namely 10,292 out of 11,791, are in individual accommodation. Most of them are accommodated in continental Croatia,  and to a lesser extent in Dalmatia and Istria.

For more, check out our dedicated lifestyle section.

April 1, 2022 - As a support measure for those who have fled Ukraine due to the Russian invasion, Booking.com has enabled the Ukraine Refugee Rate, a special rate that allows its partners to offer accommodations for free or at a significantly lower price to Ukrainian refugees.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began on February 24 this year, has forced more than 4 million Ukrainian citizens to leave their homes and cross borders to seek asylum in neighboring countries. The majority of refugees are women and children, who have found a very warm reception at the borders of countries like Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova, and more. As of March 30, 11,200 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Croatia. Although many have had to stay temporarily in refugee centers in different parts of the country, there are those who are looking for alternative accommodation such as apartments and hotels.

In order to make it easier for refugees from Ukraine to find accommodation in the country where they are, as well as to allow property owners a way to help them, the company Booking.com has made available to all those who rent their properties on their platform the Ukraine Refugee Rate option. Thus, the accommodations can now create a special rate, exclusive for Ukrainian refugees, that allows property owners to offer accommodation for free or at a significantly lower price to them.

''We want to work together to help refugees from Ukraine find a place to stay via our platform'', reads the email sent by Booking.com. ''If you’re able to help, you can now create a Ukraine Refugee Rate to support people in need. This special rate allows you to offer accommodations for free or at a significantly lower price''. Additionally, Booking.com points out that they will waive commission for these stays.

Among the conditions to apply this special rate, Booking.com indicates the following:

''We appreciate any support that you’re able to offer. We want to make this process as smooth as possible for you and the people you’re helping:

The Ukraine Refugee Rate is only available to people leaving Ukraine who make a last-minute booking (0–3 days before check-in). This condition is designed to help you better manage the number of rooms you can commit to this effort.

Given the challenging circumstances people leaving Ukraine are facing, the Ukraine Refugee Rate will offer them control and flexibility, allowing them to cancel for free anytime''.

Booking.com has also prepared a FAQ article with more details about the Ukraine Refugee Rate, in order to clear doubts about this special rate for both Ukrainian citizens and property owners.

Which partners can offer a special rate to refugees from Ukraine?

At the moment, partners in the following countries can create this rate: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

The special rate currently applies for bookings and stays until June 30, 2022.

Who can book a stay using this rate?

This special rate enables partners to offer people leaving Ukraine a place to stay for free or at a significantly reduced rate. When your guests arrive, we recommend that you ask them for some form of identification document to confirm that the rate was booked by eligible guests.

Bear in mind that people may have had to leave their homes with little time to prepare. We recommend that you accept passports, ID cards, or any other form of documentation that shows your guests were residing in Ukraine.

You can cancel reservations within reason should you find that this rate wasn’t booked by eligible guests.

Rate details and cancellation policies

Given the incredibly challenging circumstances people leaving Ukraine are facing, you can only use the Ukraine Refugee Rate in conjunction with Fully Flexible rates. This allows the people you’re helping to have as much control and flexibility over their booking as possible. They’ll be able to cancel anytime without charges. If you haven’t already set up a Fully Flexible rate for your property, do this before creating a Ukraine Refugee Rate.

When you create this rate, you can choose to either:

• Offer a discount of between 50% and 99% on your usual rates, or
• Offer accommodations for free. In this case, for technical reasons we’ll display the price of the room or unit as EUR 0.01 (before any taxes and fees) or the equivalent in your local currency, but your guests won’t need to pay anything.

If taxes or other fees apply to the booking based on relevant laws and regulations in your country, handle these as you normally would since they're beyond our control. However, we do encourage that you waive any additional booking-related fees, such as cleaning fees.

How the reservation process works

This rate currently applies for bookings and stays until June 30, 2022. Last-minute bookings can be made from zero to three days before check-in, and for stays of up to 30 days. This condition is designed to help prevent double-bookings at your property and to ensure space for those who need it.

To best support these guests, we encourage you to collect payment (where applicable) during check-in using a pay at property policy. If that's not possible, we'll support payment options for you. Because you can only use the Ukraine Refugee Rate in conjunction with Fully Flexible rates, these guests will be able to cancel anytime without charges or no-show fees. Of course, Booking.com will waive our commission fee for these reservations.

Creating this rate

If your property is eligible to create a Ukraine Refugee Rate and you’d like to offer people leaving Ukraine a place to stay, here’s how to get started:

1. Log in to the Extranet
2. Click Promotions
3. In the Humanitarian aid section, click Assist next to Ukraine Refugee Rate
4. Select whether you’d like to offer a percentage discount on your usual rates or offer accommodation for free
5. If you choose to offer a percentage discount, enter a percentage between 50% and 99%
6. Select the rate plans and rooms or units you’d like the rate to apply to
7. Click Review
8. Review the details you’ve entered, then click Activate

Canceling ineligible bookings

If a guest books the Ukraine Refugee Rate but isn’t eligible for it, you’ll need to cancel the reservation. You can do so by sending the guest a cancellation request with a note explaining that you believe the booking was made in error. Alternatively, you can contact our Customer Service team who will support you with the cancellation process.

Rent A Local Croatia has prepared a very helpful guide for Ukrainian citizens seeking asylum in Croatia. You can read it HERE.

For more on the Ukraine crisis and Croatia, as well as breaking news, follow our news section.

For more, check out our business section.