KI short logo

Business news

Created in collaboration between Kyiv Independent and KPMG Ukraine Gateway
An investor’s guide to
UKRAINE
Learn more
For Ukraine's mil-tech startups, access to credit remains a battlefield
Business

For Ukraine's mil-tech startups, access to credit remains a battlefield

by Luca Léry Moffat

When a bank asked Ukrainian defense tech company TAF Industries to pledge its assets as collateral for a simple bank loan, the company faced a dilemma: it couldn't reveal the location of its manufacturing facilities. To prove the factory existed, TAF came up with a bold workaround — blindfolding bank officials and driving them to the site. "It worked — they gave us a loan," Volodymyr Zinovskyi, CEO at TAF Industries, told the Kyiv Independent in a cafe in downtown Kyiv. Well into the fifth ye

More from Business

NewsLetters

News Feed

Wednesday, June 10

Ukraine's political and military prospects for 2026 - KI Insights at URC

KI Insights is coming to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk! Join us at a networking event on the eve of URC, on June 24, 2026. We will be hosting a discussion on the new power mapping of Ukraine and the key roadblocks to reform. The briefing will feature exclusive insights and research from across our research programs. It will cover how key political risks in Ukraine, the EU reform trajectory, and the military situation are viewed from Kyiv. The event will be followed by a historical

Ukraine should not reject associate EU membership

Volodymyr Zelensky made a rare misstep when German Chancellor Friedrich Merz proposed associate EU membership for Ukraine, offering institutional access, participation in Council meetings, gradual budget integration, and critically, Article 42(7) security guarantees. Zelensky rejected it, insisting Ukraine deserves full and equal membership. In principle, most Europeans would agree. On politics, however, we can argue. Ukraine's EU candidacy is not the problem Europe is currently trying to solv

President Volodymyr Zelensky arrives for a press conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, on April 14, 2026.

How Trump failed to force Ukraine into a bad 'peace' deal

The Kyiv Independent’s Martin Fornusek speaks with Phillips O'Brien, a U.S. historian and professor of strategic studies, about U.S. policy on Ukraine under President Donald Trump, the future of transatlantic relations, and the state of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

History haunting Ukraine-Poland relations, again

History is rattling Ukraine-Poland relations, yet again. The new round of historical grievances erupted in Poland when President Volodymyr Zelensky named a Ukrainian special forces unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) — an organization that fought for Ukrainian independence during and after World War II, but which evokes painful memories in Poland. In Ukraine, the UPA represents a historical struggle against Moscow's domination — a legacy that feels especially alive amid Russia's full

About Business

The Kyiv Independent’s Business Desk covers the biggest news in business, economics, and tech from Ukraine, as well as global developments that shape the economy of the region.

Read more

Most Popular

Editors' Picks

News Feed