The buyer is Lorten Group, an obscure business entity with registered capital of less than $4. The company will take on the factory’s $36 million debts.
The plant once employed over 10,000 workers and was one of the largest computer producers in the Soviet Union. In the past 30 years, it drastically scaled back operations and has lately produced gas and electricity meters with a staff of 140.
Max Hunder is a business reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He previously worked as a business reporter at the Kyiv Post focusing on infrastructure and energy. He is a graduate of Eton College and University College London, and has reported for international publications from London, Kyiv and Yerevan.
Earlier on Jan. 1, Volodymyr Saldo, a Ukrainian politician turned top Russian proxy head of Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast, accused Kyiv of launching three drones at a hotel and a cafe on the Black Sea coast. Saldo claimed that the alleged New Year drone strike on the village of Khorly killed 24 people, including a child, and wounded more than 50.
Russian forces occupied 4,336 square kilometers (1,674 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in 2025, accounting for less than 1% of the country, the Ukrainian open-source mapping project DeepState reported in an year-end assessment published on Jan. 1.
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, over 100 animals and five people, including employees and volunteers, have been killed by Russian forces on the eco-park's grounds.
Ukraine is preparing to host a new round of high-level security discussions with Western partners in early January, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Dec. 30, signaling an effort to maintain diplomatic momentum.
Ukraine formally joined the European Union's single roaming zone on Jan. 1, allowing Ukrainian citizens to use their mobile phone service across the European bloc without incurring additional charges.
Patriot is one of the world's most advanced air defense systems, capable of intercepting aircraft as well as cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic missiles.
