Business of Kyiv Region and Ukraine

Business

Special permit for granite worth 2.1 million hrn: how the Supreme Court closed a loophole for withdrawing sanctioned assets

# Supreme Court Voids Two Granite Mining Permit Sale Agreements, Returns Asset to State The Supreme Court has ruled null and void two purchase agreements for a special permit to extract granite that belonged to the sanctioned "Unigran" company, transferring the asset to state revenue. This sets a legal precedent blocking the so-called "buffer-buyer" scheme.

Business

British Steel Returns to State Ownership: How £700,000 in Daily Losses Forced London to Act

Starmer's government is preparing full nationalization of British Steel for the first time in 38 years. Over a year of operational management, taxpayers have already spent £377 million, and the meter keeps running.

Business

SUP DAY FORUM IVANO-FRANKIVSK 2026: What You Need to Know About the Event

On May 21, 2026, SUP DAY FORUM will take place in Ivano-Frankivsk — an event dedicated to stand-up paddleboarding culture and active water recreation.

Business

Discount on Urals crude rises for the first time since Iran war began — but not due to sanctions

The price of flagship Russian oil has fallen below $81 per barrel: the discount to Brent has widened to $23.9, rolling back to levels that Moscow wanted to leave behind after the February price spike.

Business

Grain Empire of Verevsky Builds Wind Farms Near Kyiv: Why Does the Agrarian Need 112.5 MW Near the Capital

# Kernel investing ~$400 million in renewable energy generation, with new wind farm in Yahidne community part of this portfolio. The question is not whether the wind farm will be built, but rather who will buy this electricity and on what terms.

Business

Pipeline Built During Iran-Iraq War Now Saves Aramco From Iran-American Tensions

While the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed and the world has lost nearly a billion barrels of oil, Saudi Aramco has pumped a record 7 million barrels per day through alternative routes — and earned $33.6 billion in quarterly revenue.

Business

65% of employers see a problem with digital skills in 50+ workers — and now the state will pay to fix it

The Cabinet of Ministers is launching a free internship program called "Experience Matters" for people over 50. The main barrier is not a lack of experience, but age stereotypes and gaps in digital competencies, which the program aims to address.

Business

Hormuz Buffer Melting: Why the Oil Market Could Panic Before July

Morgan Stanley has calculated that all the factors that have so far held back Brent prices represent borrowed time. If the strait remains closed for several more weeks, the buffer will disappear and the market will shift into a new mode.

Business

Coal for the Enemy of the Heating Season: Centerenergo's Case Worth 12 Million in Damages Removed from VAKS

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau investigated for two years how state coal went to a private trader instead of state thermal power plants during wartime fuel shortage — but the damage amount turned out to be below the anti-corruption threshold, so the case was taken by a regular district court.

Business

Ukrainian Railways Needs 100 Electric Locomotives, but Only 55 Contracted So Far — and Not Until 2027

While the Ministry of Development negotiates with Berlin on new supplies, the first real contract — with French Alstom — covers half the need and operates without any acceleration mechanism against attacks.

Business

Tenant Under the Microscope: When 400 Thousand per Month Turns a Realtor into a Financial Watchdog

From February 2026, real estate agents will be required to verify clients when renting properties if the monthly rent exceeds 400,000 hryvnias. The threshold formally existed for years, but the verification mechanism only came into effect now.

Business

535 hryvnias of state investment per job: why new parks are a test for the system, not a victory

# Cabinet adds two new industrial parks to registry in Khmelnytsky and Odesa regions The Cabinet of Ministers has added two new industrial parks to the registry — one in Khmelnytsky region and one in Odesa region. Together they promise 650 jobs and over 535 million hryvnias in investments, but the real bill will not be presented at registration, but when the first factory halts its assembly line.

Business

Two Years Without Work, Additional Agreement Instead of Termination: How LOVA Retained 562 Million Hryvnia Contract with Shlyakhovyk-T

A contractor failed to perform work since 2024, but instead of having the contract terminated, received another year of deferment—until the prosecutor's office intervened in the matter.

Business

Painting Chambers from Vinnytsia Are Already Going for Export — How Smart Line Plant Started Up During the War

The first resident has started operations in the VinIndustry industrial park: Smart Line manufactures equipment for powder coating of metal and immediately enters foreign markets — with a capacity of 20 units per month.

Business

Kernel Bought Ships to Survive, Now Sells Them as Market Returns

Over two years, the agricultural holding completed a full cycle: three vessels in the fleet → one. Rotterdam Pearl V was sold, leaving the tanker Mavka — and the company does not hide that it is ready to get rid of it as well.

Business

Google retreats before EU: search engine changes algorithm under pressure from antitrust investigation

The European Commission has cornered Google: the company is willing to ease the demotion of news websites in search results — but only to avoid a billion-dollar fine, rather than admitting wrongdoing.

Business

The State Wants to Borrow Money Against Future Lease of Its Fields — And It's Not Science Fiction

# State Property Fund Prepares Mechanism to Secure Government Bonds with Agricultural Land The State Property Fund is developing a mechanism whereby government bonds will be backed not by gold or GDP, but by specific hectares of agricultural land and rental payments from farmers. The precedent is modest in scale, but the logic derives from the global financial market.

Business

Grain trader from Zdolbunov bought abandoned alcohol plant on 9 hectares — for the price of a one-bedroom apartment in Stryi

The Hnizdychiv spirits factory has been idle since 2010, has creditor debts, and occupies eight buildings on nine hectares. Rivne-based agroholdng Tradex Agri, which has already converted a cement plant into a grain elevator, purchased it for 3.7 million hryvnias — less than the cost of a new truck.

Business

OPEC Produces Less Oil Than in 1990 — And It's Not Sanctions, But a 54-Kilometer Pipeline

In April, OPEC cut production to 20.55 million barrels per day — a 36-year low. Behind this figure stands one narrow point on the map that controls a fifth of the world's oil supply.

Business

Man Who Sold Anti-Ukrainian Posters to Orbán Now Offers to Transfer Company to the State — and Has Had Accounts Frozen

Gyula Balashi transformed zero state contracts into 150 per year over 13 years and earned nearly a billion dollars. After Orban's electoral defeat, he was the first to offer to surrender his business — but police are already taking action.

Business

"The Man Who Invented 24-Hour News: Ted Turner Dies"

# The Founder of CNN Launched the First 24-Hour Television News Network in 1980 Without Any Market Research — and Changed How Humanity Gets Information. He Was 87.

Business

Trump to Question Xi About Iranian Oil: Why Beijing Pays Tehran — And Who Benefits

# US Trade Representative Calls Iranian Oil Buyers Terrorism Sponsors, Names China as Primary Purchaser The US trade representative has labeled buyers of Iranian oil as sponsors of terrorism, with China identified as the leading purchaser. Trump's negotiations with Xi are becoming a test of whether Washington is willing to pressure its trade deal partner simultaneously with discussions on tariffs.

Business

"Ukrzaliznytsia Without Wagons — AMKR Without Ore: How Logistics Failure Halted Ukraine's Largest Steel Plant"

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih has halted a blast furnace, two sinter machines, and iron ore mining due to the absence of trains from Ukrainian Railways. CEO Mauro Longobardo had warned of this risk back in 2024 — and it has come to pass.

Business

Japanese Auto Giants Retreat: Nissan Cuts European Staff as Honda Freezes $11 Billion Investment in Canada

# Translation Nissan is cutting approximately 900 office workers in Europe and consolidating production lines at Sunderland — while Honda has indefinitely halted construction of an EV factory in Ontario. Two decisions made almost simultaneously demonstrate that Japan's model of "catching up with China through electric vehicles" has failed.

Business

State Keeps Its Own, But Asks Business to Pay: SFMD Seeks Investors for Kuyalnik and Schönborn Palace

The State Property Fund is launching public-private partnerships for assets that cannot be sold. An investor puts in money, carries out restoration, manages the property — but does not become the owner.

Business

Dragon Capital Completes Six-Year Reconstruction of Piramida Shopping Center on Kyiv's Left Bank

Investment company Dragon Capital has launched an updated business center based on the former Piramida shopping mall. Six years of construction during a full-scale war — what does this say about the state of commercial real estate in Ukraine?

Business

Rostov Company Leased Five Luhansk Mines—and Went Bankrupt Without Paying Wages

# Translation "The trading house 'Donetsk Coal' received mines with a promise to invest 40 billion rubles, but instead left miners without money and initiated its own bankruptcy. This is not an isolated failure — this is a model.

Business

$500 Million for a Flooded Village: What Lies Behind the Water Resort Project in Bakota

Developer "Superposition" announced a large-scale resort on the Dniester Reservoir — but behind the impressive half-billion-dollar figure, so far there is only land, ambitions, and experience from one unfinished Carpathian project.

Business

Mesaros Wrote a Letter to Madyar — While His Shares Fell 10%

Hungarian billionaire and Orbán ally Lőrinc Mészáros appealed to the future prime minister following statements about oligarchs fleeing the country. Behind the letter stand 60,000 employees and a conglomerate that has lost more than half its value in six months.

Business

Oil in the Black Sea: Russia destroyed three processing facilities in a month — and this is no accident

Following a series of strikes on ports and facilities in Odesa and Dnipro regions, Ukraine is approaching a halt in sunflower oil exports. This is not collateral damage — it is a systematic attack on the second-largest item of agricultural foreign currency earnings.