It took several months of Russia’s full-scale invasion to turn some of the most valuable assets of Ukraine’s richest man Rinat Akhmetov into a pile of dust, metal, and concrete. The tycoon's long list of painful business losses includes the Mariupol-based Azovstal steel plant, one of the largest
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s exports were a reason to celebrate. Last year, the country hit a 10-year record with $68 billion in exports. As Russia’s invasion enters its seventh month, no one can predict when Ukraine can expect to post these kinds of results again. According
As Ukrainian soldiers fight Russia on the front lines, workers at Ukraine’s state employment centers are fighting their own battle: finding jobs for the hundreds of thousands of people who are now unemployed as a result of Russia’s war. The war has forced the country’s unemployment rate
In its brutal war of conquest in Ukraine, Russia has been destroying everything in its path since its full-scale invasion began on Feb. 24. In addition to the immense human toll Russia’s war has taken on Ukraine, the country’s businesses – from small сozy cafes, cinemas, and supermarkets to
Russia's war in Ukraine is not only killing civilians but defenseless animals as well. Marine biologists and ecologists from countries in the Black Sea region are sounding the alarm, as dolphins die en masse for the fourth month in a row. Ivan Rusev, an environmental scientist at Ukraine's Tuzly Estuaries
Ukrainian farmers begin the July harvest knowing there may be nowhere to store their grain or export it, as Russia’s naval blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports enters its fifth month. According to Ukraine's estimates, 22 million tons of grain already stockpiled across the country remain in their silos.
In 1937, Pablo Picasso, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest painters in history, said after visiting an exhibition in Paris: “I bow down before the artistic miracle of this brilliant Ukrainian.” He was talking about the folk painter Maria Prymachenko and her paintings in the “naive art” genre. Eighty-five
Unlike Ukraine's manufacturing plants, warehouses and stores, many of which lie in ruins, its IT sector has had much better luck. The tech industry reacted with lightning speed to the new reality dictated by Russia's all-out war against Ukraine. Early in the invasion and even before it, companies started to
After Ukraine ended 2021 with a historically high gross domestic product (GDP) of $195 billion, top officials issued optimistic forecasts for the coming year. Then the war began, killing all of the country's economic plans. As of late April, the Russian military has destroyed 30% of Ukraine’s infrastructure, causing
As Russia was preparing to invade Ukraine, experts feared that the Ukrainian banking system would collapse in the event of an all-out war. The closure of Ukraine's main banks, cashless ATMs, and free fall of the national currency were expected by many. Yet, the Ukrainian banking system proved the opposite,
Editor's Note: Natalia Datskevych is a journalist with the Kyiv Independent. An endless feeling of fear that seems to never go away. Every loud sound, every sudden spark in the sky, causes panic. My life, together with the lives of millions of Ukrainians, turned into hell when Russia launched a
Millions of Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes as Russian forces continue to bombard residential areas across the country. While more than 3 million have gone abroad, many have relocated to western Ukraine, which is currently safer than the rest of the country. English teacher Oleksiy Shpak and
Spring. As the winter softens, Ukraine’s farmers used to take to their fields, sowing the seeds of wheat, sunflowers, and buckwheat and tending to poultry farms whose yields are sent across the world. This year, planting has become a luxury, in many cases fields and livestock have been abandoned.
Companies in Ukraine are about to receive temporary tax and legal relief amid growing threats of a full-scale war with Russia. On Feb. 22, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a program on “economic patriotism,” which will ease the tax burden, including possibly reducing value-added tax from current 20% to 8%
On Feb. 8, the Diia City, a special legal and tax regime for IT businesses, came into force. With Diia City, the government wants to raise the share of the IT sector in the country's gross domestic product to 10% from the current 4%. As of Feb. 11, three days
As Ukraine is facing the threat of a renewed, possibly all-out invasion by Russia, another risk arises. Dozens of countries, including Egypt, Yemen, Lebanon, Tunisia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and even China rely on Ukrainian harvests to feed their people. The Middle East and Africa absorbed nearly 40% of Ukraine's exports of
Road repair in President Volodymyr Zelensky's Ukraine is an extremely lucrative business. After the quality of Ukrainian roads fell to an all-time low, placing an abysmal 130th out of 137 in the World Economic Forum's 2018 ranking, comedian turned politician Zelensky, elected in 2019, made rebuilding infrastructure his top domestic
Ukrainian imports of chemical solvents skyrocketed by 86% to 132,000 tons in 2021, according to the Kyiv-based A-95 consulting group. While such chemicals are commonly used in the paint and varnish industry, in Ukraine, the increase in imports of solvents points to a different trend. “This is a booming
Ukraine’s public procurement relies heavily on imports: nearly 40% of items bought by the state come from abroad. In the European Union that figure is five times lower, and in the U.S. its nearly nine times less, according to the Center for Market Economy Development. The problem is
After Ukraine's historic liberalization of its land market on July 1, Ukrainians sold 155,000 hectares of land plots worth $200 million in six months, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported on Jan.13. On average, 470 sales were made every day with an average price of $1,420 per
On Jan. 12, the Cabinet of Ministers announced it would manually regulate prices for a number of essential food items amid record inflation in the past three years. The list includes sugar, wheat flour, buckwheat, pasta, milk, butter, chicken eggs, and poultry. Government officials have set a maximum permitted trade
Nearly one-third of the alcohol market in Ukraine is unregulated, according to the World Health Organization. This costs the state big bucks. According to a Jan. 11 report by the Accounting Chamber of Ukraine, bootleg alcohol sales are costing the country's government $330 million (Hr 9 billion) in excise taxes
Electric cars have continued to grow in popularity in Ukraine last year. A total of 8,541 new and used electric vehicles were registered in 2021, an almost 20% increase compared to 2020, according to the Federation of Automotive Employers. Used vehicles outnumbered new ones seven to one. Ukraine now
The Ontario Supreme Court on Dec. 31 awarded $84 million to the families of six people who were killed when the Iranian military downed a plane of Ukrainian International Airlines with two surface-to-air missiles in early 2020. The verdict in a civil lawsuit, filed by family members of Canadian citizens
With only a few days left before the world enters 2022, the Kyiv Independent is looking back at Ukraine's biggest achievements of the past year. Military affairs, some reforms, technology, and sports gave Ukraine reasons to celebrate. The list is based on a survey by the sociological group Rating, published
Oleksiy Kovalov, a lawmaker with the ruling 242-member Servant of the People party, announced on Dec. 28 that he has bought the nationwide TV Channel 4. Kovalov said that the broadcaster with its team of 200 people will preserve its “pro-Ukrainian vector” and independent editorial policy. “Our family decided to
Over 600,000 Russians have moved to Crimea since the Kremlin illegally occupied the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014, according to National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov. The relocations are part of a broader Russian effort to influence the region, Danilov said during an online conference on Dec. 15-16,
On Dec. 10, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law the annual state budget for 2022. A 4% spending increase coupled with a deficit cut necessitated by IMF conditions meant that the government had to find nearly $8 billion of extra revenue, creating several new taxes and hiking up existing ones,
A coal power plant in the city of Chernihiv just experienced something it’s not faced in 60 years – it has run out of coal. The Chernihiv Thermal Energy Plant was forced to switch to natural gas to generate electricity, the local news service reported on Dec. 14. What’s
The U.S. House of Representatives approved the 2022 annual defense spending bill, which includes $300 million in aid for Ukraine, on Dec. 7. The total budget amount is $770 billion. The Senate is due to vote on the bill later this week. The move comes a day after U.
Russia is bringing more tanks, infantry combat vehicles, and self-propelled artillery to the contact line in the Ukrainian Donbas, the Ministry of Defense announced on Dec. 7. This violates the Minsk agreements that require both sides to move heavy weapons at least 50 kilometers from the line of contact. It
Ukraine received the second of seven coal shipments ordered by DTEK Group, Ukraine's largest energy holding, that are meant to sustain the country through the winter. The 230-meter-long cargo vessel loaded with 66,000 tons of U.S. and Colombian coal arrived at the Pivdennyi seaport in southern Odesa Oblast
