Ukraine increased imports of lead and lead products by 7.7 times to $4.723 million (in July – $718 thousand), while exports of lead and lead products decreased by 15.6% to $5.482 million (in July – $1.022 million).
Lead is currently mainly used in the production of lead-acid batteries for the automotive industry. In addition, lead is used in the manufacture of bullets and certain alloys.
Ukrainian businessman Pyotr Dyminsky, who was a suspect in a 2017 fatal car accident in the Lviv region, was granted Serbian citizenship in November 2017, three months after the accident.
This was reported in a joint investigation by OCCRP and the Serbian project KRIK. The Serbian Interior Ministry told journalists that the decision was made “in the interests of the state,” without providing further explanation, KRIK reported.
According to the investigation, two months after the accident, Dyminsky purchased a duplex in the Athens suburb of Voula for €280,000, which gave him a “golden visa” and a five-year residence permit in Greece. In November 2017, he also received a Serbian passport; in 2020, his wife Elena received Serbian citizenship.
Interpol, as noted by journalists, removed the “blue notice” and repeatedly refused Ukraine’s request to issue a “red notice” for the businessman.
Investigators also note the financial ties between the Dyminsky family and Serbian defense exports: Ablemark Limited (Cyprus),
controlled by the businessman’s wife, issued an interest-free loan of €2.6 million in February 2020 to the Cypriot company Jikinto Limited, which soon received its first arms export licenses in Serbia and, by the end of the year, sold more than €10.3 million worth of Serbian weapons to the Ugandan Ministry of Defense.
Journalists were unable to identify the ultimate beneficiary of Jikinto.
In Ukraine, before his departure, Dyminsky owned the ZIK media group and the Karpaty football club (Lviv). In June 2019, the ZIK channel was sold to MP Taras Kozak, who was later linked to Viktor Medvedchuk’s media holding; in February 2021, Kozak’s broadcasting assets were blocked by a decision of the National Security and Defense Council.
In May 2020, control of FC Karpaty passed to Oleg Smalychuk, as reported by Ukrainian media and confirmed by the club’s beneficiary data.
Sources: KRIK article “Ukrainian oligarch obtained Serbian citizenship while under investigation” (https://www.krik.rs/ukrajinski-oligarh-dobio-drzavljanstvo-srbije-dok-je-bio-pod-istragom/); OCCRP publication “After Fatal Car Crash, Ukrainian Tycoon Dyminskyy Secured Greek Residency and Serbian Citizenship” (https://www.occrp.org/en/news/after-fleeing-deadly-car-crash-ukrainian-tycoon-dyminskyy-secured-greek-residency-and-serbian-citizenship).
The Epicenter group of companies and the family of People’s Deputy Anatoly Urbansky intend to build a grain terminal in the port of Pivdennyi (Odesa region) with a transshipment capacity of 5 million tons of grain cargo per year at an estimated cost of $160-270 million, according to latifundist.com. The first announcement about the future terminal was made in November 2024 by Petro Mikhailishin, CEO of Epicenter K. In April 2025, the information was confirmed by Svitlana Nikitiuk, head of the group’s agricultural division.
The publication claims that the terminal construction project is not just a business plan. In 2025, Casablanca Shipping Limited (Cyprus), founded by Epicenter K, acquired a 32.61% stake in Promtechnizatsiya (Odesa).
The remaining 16.48% of the legal entity’s shares belong to Anatoliy Urbansky, and 25.46% each to Kateryna and Denys Urbansky. Promtechnizatsiya leases land plots in the water area of the Pivdennyi port and near the local highway T1606.
The total area of the plots for construction is about 32 hectares. This area is sufficient for the construction of a station for unloading railcars and motor vehicles near the highway, after which the grain will be sent through a transport gallery to silos and a transshipment terminal.
According to the publication, the construction of the terminal is still at the design stage, which was developed in 2024. Its estimated cargo turnover is 5 million tons per year, and the total capacity of the silo warehouses is 250,000 tons.
According to the project, a private railway station with a capacity of up to 3 million tons per year and the ability to handle up to five freight trains (50-70 cars) per day will be built to unload cars. The land plot for the railway station is 10 hectares. A wagon unloading station with a capacity of 2,000 tons per hour and a truck unloading station with a capacity of 1,000 tons per hour are planned for the facility.
The unloading station with main elevators will be connected by a 1,600 m long conveyor gallery with a capacity of 1,200 tons per hour. From there, the grain will be transported to silos: about 50 “banks” with a total capacity of 250,000 tons are planned, located on a 10-hectare site.
There are plans to build a berth up to 350 m long and 16 m deep. Agricultural products will be transshipped by two tower cranes with a capacity of 1,500 tons per hour. The equipment for unloading, transporting, storing, and transshipping grain is owned by Promtehinovatsiya.
According to port officials familiar with the construction progress, the project is being implemented successfully. The terminal is scheduled to be launched in 2026. Despite the technical complexity of the project, the publication’s interlocutors are optimistic about the prospects for the timely completion of construction. At the same time, market participants are reluctant to estimate the payback period of the project.
Epicenter K LLC, which includes Epicenter Agro, was established in 2003 and opened its first hypermarket in Kyiv in December of the same year. It has a network of shopping centers of the same name in Ukraine. Since 2016, it has been developing its agricultural business. It cultivates over 1,670,000 hectares in the Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, and Kyiv regions. The group includes 20 livestock farms and 15 elevator complexes with a total storage capacity of 2 million tons.
The agricultural holding’s own production of agricultural products is about 1 million tons. In 2025, Epicenter Agro launched its own trading business. Anatoliy Urbansky is a member of parliament, a member of the For the Future parliamentary group, and a member of the parliamentary committee on finance, tax, and customs policy.
Since 2005, he has been engaged in entrepreneurial activities in ship repair companies. Since 2009, he has been a manager for management and administrative activities and a consultant for ship repair and maintenance at Dunaysudoremont JSC. In 2011, he was elected a member of the supervisory boards of PJSC Dunaysudoremont and PJSC Izmail River Port Dunaysudorservis. In 2015, he was elected a member of the Odesa Regional Council.
The Export Credit Agency (ECA) supported UAH 1.49 billion of exports in July 2025, insuring eight loans totaling UAH 359.14 million issued by Ukrainian banks to entrepreneurs for the fulfillment of export contracts.
According to the ECA website, the agency’s largest partners among banks during this period were Ukrgasbank (UAH 1.09 billion in supported exports and loans worth UAH 49.62 million), Bank Alliance financed exports worth UAH 153.13 million with loan agreements totaling UAH 239.51 million, and Creditwest Bank financed exports worth UAH 146.93 million and provided loans worth UAH 70 million.
In July, the ECA’s services were most used by exporters from Ternopil (UAH 1.03 billion in supported exports), Cherkasy (UAH 156.69 million), Mykolaiv (UAH 153.13 million), and Odesa (UAH 88.25 million) regions. In Kyiv, support amounted to UAH 41.87 million, and agreements were also signed in the Rivne, Dnipropetrovsk, and Chernihiv regions.
The largest contracts for the period were concluded for the supply of Ukrainian goods to Austria (UAH 1.03 billion), Lithuania (UAH 235.18 million), as well as to Israel, Jordan, the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Moldova, and Georgia. The most popular export commodity groups were the production of oils and animal fats (UAH 1.03 billion), processing and preservation of fruits and vegetables (UAH 153.13 million), wholesale trade in seeds and animal feed (UAH 146.93 million), production of chains and springs (UAH 88.25 million), and pharmaceuticals and materials (UAH 41.87 million).
The Export Credit Agency of Ukraine (ECA) is a state institution that supports non-raw material exports by insuring the risks of enterprises and banks. The agency insures foreign economic contracts, export credits, bank guarantees, and investment credits against military risks.
The network of bank branches in Ukraine in the second quarter of this year decreased by 32 locations and as of the beginning of July numbered 4,934 units, the National Bank of Ukraine reported on its website.
According to its statistics, since the beginning of the year, 48 branches have been closed, and 113 over the year.
Crystalbank closed the most branches in the second quarter, six, reducing its network to 40.
Crystalbank and Oschadbank closed five branches each, but while the former now has only 35 branches, Oschadbank remains the leader in Ukraine with 1,147 branches.
Ukreximbank, Raiffeisen Bank, and PUMB closed four branches each, now having 39, 321, and 219 branches, respectively.
PrivatBank and TAScombank lost three branches each in April-June, reducing their networks to 1,102 and 91 locations, respectively.
As for banks that expanded their territorial presence, Akordbank once again became the leader: with nine new branches, it increased its network to 162 locations.
Asvio Bank opened two branches and now has 51 locations, while Grant Bank, BIZbank, and RVS Bank added one branch each.
According to the National Bank, at the beginning of July this year, the leaders in terms of the number of branches on the Ukrainian market were the state-owned Oschadbank (1,147 branches) and PrivatBank (1,102), followed by Raiffeisen Bank (321), PUMB (219), and Ukrsibbank (218 branches).
The second five were formed by the state-owned Ukrgasbank (211), A-Bank (198), Akordbank (162), the state-owned Sens Bank (137) and Credit Agricole Bank (125), while TAScombank (91) opened the second ten.
Eight state-controlled banks had a network of 2,655 branches, accounting for 53.8% of their total value as of mid-year.
The Cabinet of Ministers has amended the charter of NAEK Energoatom, in particular by increasing the number of members of its supervisory board from five to seven, four of whom must be independent. The relevant amendments were approved by Cabinet Resolution No. 983 of August 15, 2025, published on the Government Portal.
According to paragraph 74 of the amended charter of Energoatom, the supervisory board consists of seven members, the majority of whom, namely four, must be independent, and three members must represent the state.
According to the company’s report in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system, the amendments supplement the powers of the general meeting of shareholders, and some of their powers have been transferred to the supervisory board.
Thus, the competence of the general meeting of shareholders no longer includes, among other things, the decision to appoint and dismiss the chairman and members of the management board in accordance with the proposals of the supervisory board. According to paragraph 12 of the amended charter, the election and termination of the powers of the chairman and members of the management board is the exclusive competence of the supervisory board. As well as approving the regulations on the management board, reviewing the management board’s report and making decisions based on its results, approving the company’s financial plan, as well as its medium-term (three to five years) investment plan and strategic development plan.
However, the powers of the general meeting of shareholders were expanded to include, in particular, the submission for approval by the Ministry of Finance of proposals on certain financial indicators, the amount of payments to the state, budget financing and quasi-fiscal operations, approving the owner’s letter of expectations based on the State Property Policy and after consultation with the company’s supervisory board, and approving the results of the supervisory board’s performance assessment.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers plans to complete the formation of supervisory boards of state-owned energy companies by December 2025, in full compliance with the principle of a majority of independent members, and wants to appoint the heads of such companies on a competitive basis. This is stated in the draft Government Action Program published on August 18.
In its updated Extended Fund Facility (EFF) program for Ukraine following the eighth review in early July, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) noted the need to further strengthen corporate governance of state-owned enterprises in Ukraine, in particular, the immediate appointment of the head of LLC Gas Transmission System Operator and the completion of the formation of the supervisory board of NAEK Energoatom, which provides for the expansion of its composition to seven members.
The supervisory board of Energoatom currently includes its chairman, Jarek Niewierowicz, and deputy chairman, Michael Elliott Kirst, as well as state representatives Timofey Milovanov and Vitaliy Petruk. The third independent member of the supervisory board, Timothy Stone, refused to sign the contract.
