Business news, entrepreneurship and startups in Kyiv region
Six stores of a Spanish retail group have resumed operations in a shopping mall after six months of closure due to a corporate dispute between state banks and former owners. But behind the return of these brands lies something more significant than shopping.
From April 24, the only branch in the frontline town of Komyshuvaкha in Zaporizhzhia Region has not been operating. The company acknowledged that intensive shelling and FPV drones have made it impossible for staff to work.
ACER forecasts that the EU will enter the next winter with gas at only 80% of storage capacity — and even this is possible only if the LNG market does not bring new surprises.
The EBRD provided $45 million not for abstract "green generation," but for a specific station with an industrial energy storage system. This is Kernel's second major solar project running parallel to the one in Chernivtsi.
The Commercial Court of Kyiv has ordered the demolition of an illegal structure on Yefremova Street and invalidated the registration of a land plot valued at over 20 million hryvnias — another episode in a system that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau is investigating as organized crime.
A plant in Texas started operations after the main contractor Zachry went bankrupt with a $2.4 billion cost overrun — and this is just the first of three technology modules.
Mining giant divests assets and considers share dilution amid liquidity crisis caused by sanctions against its majority shareholder Konstantin Zhevago.
The European Commission is preparing a package of measures to combat aviation fuel shortages — for now without a mandatory enforcement mechanism. If the Strait of Hormuz does not open in the coming weeks, flight cancellations during the height of the summer season will become a reality.
Germany's longest stagnation since World War II is forcing Berlin to bet on the defense sector. This creates jobs — but economists warn of a structural trap.
The Ivano-Frankivsk Prosecutor's Office is demanding compensation from a state enterprise for illegal logging in Hutsulshchyna National Park — the investigation found that the scheme operated under the cover of fake permits for "forest health improvement."
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.