Team
Liliane Bivings
Business EditorLiliane is the business editor at the Kyiv Independent. She previously worked at the Kyiv Post as a staff writer covering business news and then as business editor. Liliane holds a master’s degree in Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian affairs with a focus on Ukrainian studies at Columbia University. From 2017-2020 she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine, after which she interned with the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center. Liliane is the author of the Ukraine Business Roundup newsletter, which is sent out every Tuesday.
Articles
An investor's guide to Ukraine
Created in partnership with KPMG Ukraine Gateway
It's a scene all too familiar for those who frequent the Ukraine conference circuit: People gather from all over the world, talk big about pouring capital into the war-torn country, and leave, with few plans for actual investment.
Ukraine's resistance to Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 drew unprecedented attention to the eastern European nation. Everyone from Wall Street to Main Street wanted to be part of the rebuilding.
As it b
Zelensky blames ex-energy chief for grid’s failure to withstand Russian assaults amid talk of scapegoating
"He was the head of a large system, and this system was supposed to ensure the security of our energy sector. He was obliged to do this — and he did not," the president told journalists on Nov. 7.
This investment fund is betting on Ukraine's struggling farm sector
Get more news like this directly to your inbox every week by subscribing to our Ukraine Business Roundup newsletter.
Russia's full-scale invasion has hit Ukraine's agriculture sector in every conceivable way — from blocked ports and occupied farmland to grain theft, trade disruptions, and direct attacks.
But even as the sector struggles, Ukraine has become more dependent on it than ever before. With exports of metals, mining, and other key industries shrinking due to the war, agriculture and a
Chart of the week: Ukraine’s deal market holds steady despite investor hesitation
Get more news like this directly to your inbox every week by subscribing to our Ukraine Business Roundup newsletter.
Ukraine’s merger & acquisition market has remained active despite international investor caution, with 45 deals worth a disclosed $806 million in the first nine months of 2025, a new report from accounting firm KPMG Ukraine said. The total is an 8% increase in value from last year.
Domestic investors drove most of the activity, accounting for 73% of transactions and $442 million
Over $100 million in losses reported after Russia’s weekend missile strikes on Kyiv businesses
Russian missile attacks on Kyiv over the weekend destroyed the warehouse of one of Ukraine's largest pharmaceutical distributors and a production facility of a popular coffee chain, reportedly causing at least $100 million in damage and losses.
Kyivstar celebrates NASDAQ bell-ringing ceremony in Kyiv
The bell ringing took place at the Nasdaq headquarters in New York City on Aug. 29, with Ukraine's Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko and Presidential Office Head Andriy Yermak in attendance.
Zelensky's big blunder, explained
For many who came to know Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky only after Russia's full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the president's recent move on anti-graft agencies was jarring.
In the early days of the invasion, Zelensky gained hero status after refusing to evacuate as Russian forces closed in on Kyiv. His daily addresses and global appeals rallied Western support and helped secure the military and financial aid that have kept Ukraine afloat. To much of the world, Zelensky became the
Ukraine’s economic crimes bureau remains leaderless amid government interference
Ukraine's economic crimes agency is still without a head following a controversial selection process, raising fresh concerns about the government's commitment to anti-corruption and international obligations.
Exclusive: Ukraine pitches US modernizing its largest oil refinery as part of minerals deal
Projects Kyiv has submitted to the U.S. for consideration as part of a profit-sharing deal for Ukraine's resources include a shelf and deepwater project and an oil refinery that comes under frequent attack by Russia, Ukraine's Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko told the Kyiv Independent in an interview published on July 7.
After months of hard-fought negotiations around the investment agreement — known more widely as the "minerals deal" for its focus on Ukraine's critical minerals — the two sid
‘Neither side wasted time' — Ukraine's economy minister on minerals deal negotiations with Trump’s ‘business-oriented’ administration
Ukraine's Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko says her task is simple — to get the investment fund behind the closely watched minerals deal with the U.S. off the ground, and prove its detractors wrong.
"There are so many criticisms from different parties that this fund is just a piece of paper we can put on the shelves — that it won't be operational," Svyrydenko, who is also Ukraine's first deputy prime minister, tells the Kyiv Independent at Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers on July 4, the morning
EXCLUSIVE: Ukraine economy minister breaks down US minerals deal
The Kyiv Independent's business editor Liliane Bivings sits down with Ukraine's Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko to discuss the U.S.-Ukraine "minerals deal" and address the myths surrounding it.
In wartime Ukraine, a university grows — and reclaims a space once reserved for the corrupt
Once the playground of disgraced Ukrainian politicians, a golf club in Kyiv’s Soviet-era Obolon neighborhood is now set to become the new campus of the Kyiv School of Economics, which last month bought the site for $18 million as part of a $40 million investment — the largest private investment in education in Ukraine’s independent history.
At the opening picnic on the grounds last Sunday, over 2,000 students, alumni, and locals gathered on a territory once reserved for political elites, includ
Ukraine, US sign additional agreements for minerals deal, Economy Ministry says
The move follows Ukraine's ratification of the minerals agreement, deepening U.S.-Ukraine economic ties and signaling expanded U.S. involvement in Ukraine's long-term recovery.
‘Clearly, Ukraine is holding cards’ — political economist on why US pressure won’t force Kyiv to concede
If Ukraine’s military resistance to Russia’s full-scale invasion stunned the world, its economic resilience in the face of a larger, better-equipped enemy is a lesser-known story of the war.
A combination of rapid state expansion, prudent monetary policy, active civil society in Ukraine, and crucial external funding from foreign partners since 2022 have helped Kyiv avoid the kind of catastrophic state collapse a war can trigger.
As a result, Ukraine is far from “doomed to defeat” — even if the
Ukraine Business Roundup — Making sense of the minerals deal
The following is the May 6, 2025 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here.
As I’m sure you saw, the U.S. and Ukraine finally signed the minerals agreement after months and months of back and forth and tense negotiations. Most people are in agreement that this version of the deal is much fairer than earlier versions observers called “colonial” and “exploitative,” but that doens’t me
Editors' Picks
Ukraine is cautiously optimistic as Trump's son-in-law enters peace talks — here's why
'The key to ending the war is in Brussels' — Ukrainians react to Belgium's Russian asset loan opposition
Youth exodus — Ukraine's young people are increasingly quitting their jobs to go abroad
