Business news, entrepreneurship and startups in Kyiv region
The United States has physically seized an Iranian cargo vessel for the first time since the beginning of the maritime blockade: USS Spruance opened fire after six hours of warnings, Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz again, and oil prices rose.
Pre-revolutionary buildings in Podil and Pechersk are setting price records on Kyiv's secondary real estate market. Logically, it should be the opposite: aging housing stock, no bomb shelters, lack of modern utilities.
Ukraine's secondary real estate market has split for the first time not along regional lines, but according to perceived safety. In areas where people have decided to stay, prices are rising faster than inflation.
At the "Brailiv" station, a locomotive from a mining enterprise collided with the Kyiv-Przemysl train. This is not the first critical threat to the Hyundai Rotem fleet — the fleet is already exhausted by the war.
April road repair record is a real achievement. But it comes with a financial abyss: the state is spending funds that are officially lacking by 46 billion hryvnias.
An American helicopter manufacturer has registered a legal entity in Kyiv with a charter capital of 2.16 million hryvnias — marking just the first step toward assembling combat vehicles directly in Ukraine.
# Ukrainian News Translation Starting April 25, Ukrainian Railways removed the fixed price in premium cars — now it depends on four variables at once. For 30% of passengers who buy tickets a day or two before departure, this is a direct hit to the wallet.
Navrocki personally warned against Russian disinformation about drones over Poland. On the same day that NASK filed a complaint against Swinarsky's YouTube channel for the same fakes, the president was preparing a place for him on the Council of New Media.
While only 6 vessels per day pass through the Strait of Hormuz instead of 130, Ankara is pushing forward with two land routes — one through unstable Iraq, another across the Caspian. The money is there, the routes are there. But is there time?
Bratislava claims that the gas sector decarbonization plan is a hidden sanction against Moscow that requires unanimous approval. If the court agrees, it could paralyze the bloc's energy policy.
# Intel Stock Reaches Over 20-Year High. Why the Market Believes in a Company Recently Written Off — And Will It Last? Intel shares have hit their highest point in more than two decades. This dramatic turnaround has surprised many investors who had recently counted the chip giant out of the competitive race. The resurgence raises important questions about what triggered this renewed confidence in the company and whether this rally can be sustained. Market analysts are weighing the factors behind Intel's unexpected recovery against the persistent challenges the corporation continues to face in an increasingly competitive semiconductor industry. The rally reflects changing investor sentiment, but skeptics question whether the fundamental issues that plagued the company have truly been resolved or merely masked by temporary market optimism.
# Żabka Launches Żappka Pay Credit Card with Payment Deferral Żabka, together with PKO Bank Polski, Visa, and Planet Pay, is launching Żappka Pay—a credit card with payment deferral functionality directly in the mobile application. This is more than just convenience: Poland's largest bank is deliberately transforming the convenience store network into a point of issuance for consumer credit.
Russia's Minister of Economic Development has for the first time so openly named four reasons for the contraction of the economy — and all of them are structural rather than cyclical. Behind the scenes, there is an expected GDP decline in the first quarter of 2026 of 1.5%.
A Russian state corporation, through a shell company, obtained a license and has already begun geological exploration at the Velyka-Tokmachka deposit — Ukraine's largest manganese field. This is not a private business initiative, but rather the implementation of Russia's "Strategy for the Development of the Mineral and Raw Materials Base" for 2024.
Leonid Radvinsky, a native of Odesa, died of cancer at age 43 — and now his legacy has become the subject of negotiations between OnlyFans and a little-known credit fund, Architect Capital, from San Francisco.
# Head of Hungarian Oil Refiner MOL to Visit Russia Next Week. What It Means for Ukraine, Which Blocked Transit Over Sanctioned Payments The CEO of Hungarian oil refiner MOL, Zoltan Hernadi, is traveling to Russia next week. This development comes as Ukraine has blocked transit over sanctioned payment settlements.
The State Property Fund plans to hold another auction in summer 2026 to privatize the Odesa Port Plant. Four investors have signed non-disclosure agreements — but none have yet registered for the bidding.
# ARMA Leadership Contest Caught in Legal Trap: No Law on What to Do if Only Candidate Falls Short of Required Votes The competition for the head of ARMA has run into a legal snag: the law does not provide for what to do if the sole candidate fails to receive the required number of votes — and now it is impossible to either appoint or officially reject the candidate.
# Shalamar vessels 450,000 barrels from Das Island and heads to Karachi. Since the start of the war, only 21 vessels have passed through the strait — instead of over 100 daily before the conflict.
The Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv has sentenced Olha Drozdova to two concurrent prison terms for embezzling over 1.7 million hryvnias in purchases for school shelters. At the time of sentencing, she was renting accommodation in Turkey.
Lviv Road Authority announced a tender through the TED e-procurement platform for repair of 6.3 km of trolleybus lines and reconstruction of contact networks. No company broke Onur's monopoly — the Turkish contractor won all four lots.
# War between the USA and Israel against Iran has turned the oil sector into a profit machine — and placed Europe facing a dilemma it already experienced in 2022 after Russia's invasion.
# International Energy Agency Director Warns of Flight Cancellations if Strait Remains Closed The Director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, has warned that if the strait remains closed, the first flight cancellations could occur before the start of the summer tourist season. Economists say a "systemic deficit" could emerge as early as May.
DTEK Naftohaz is negotiating with the American-Ukrainian fund URIF regarding financing for deep wells. So far, the fund has approved only one of three planned investments for 2026 — and that went not into energy resources, but into defense technologies.
Blanar Set a Condition: Sanctions Only After Restoring "Druzhba". But the actual reason for the pipeline shutdown remains a point of contention between Bratislava and Kyiv.
The European Commission has proposed a complete ban on maritime services for Russian oil and extended sanctions to include the shadow fleet, regional banks, and cryptocurrency. Adoption is expected by February 24, 2026 — the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion — however, consensus has not yet been reached within the EU Council.
# PAT "Dnipro Mineral Fertilizer Plant" — an enterprise that managed to pay off part of its debts during rehabilitation — has ceased operations due to loss of sea supply routes for raw materials and is now being sold as a single property complex. For a starting price of 305 million hryvnias, the buyer will acquire a legacy of Soviet-era chemistry production and a host of current liabilities.
The government approved 26 special projects in 10 communities worth 12.7 billion hryvnias — including network ring systems, backup power sources, and mobile water intake complexes. Funding for the first package has already been allocated, with the deadline set for the beginning of the 2026-2027 heating season.
# Kunpeng loaded at "Portova" and heading to Daheji: if cargo is accepted, India will officially violate commitments that Trump announced to the world — and Delhi has not publicly confirmed.
# Oschadbank and Ukrainian Railways Launch Model Where Employers Top Up First Payment by 20% and Cover Part of Loan for Three Years. The Problem Is That in Kyiv, Apartments Under 2 Million Hryvnias—the Only Limit for IDPs—Are Effectively Disappearing From the Market.