The share of revenue not from the core telecommunications business of Ukraine’s largest telecommunications operator Kyivstar, which will amount to about 20% by the end of this year, is expected to reach 50% in five years thanks to planned investments of $1 billion over the next three years, said Zoya Dronchkevich, Kyivstar’s business development director and member of the supervisory boards of Helsi.me and Uklon.
“In five years, we aim to have around 50% of the group’s revenue coming from non-telecom sources with our investments of around $1 billion over three years. That is our goal,” said Dronchkevich at the Forbes Money forum in Kyiv.
Among the areas of investment for Kyivstar, which this year acquired Uklon and bought out the minority stake in Helsi, she named healthcare, education, fintech, entertainment, and advertising.
“We have a number of interesting organic experiments that could grow into inorganic ones. And we have strategic bets on certain industries that will help us make up the missing percentage to achieve our goal,” added the business development director.
She also emphasized that the most important task is to increase revenue through synergies between these businesses.
“Our strategy is not to tell telecom companies what to do, but to give them access to capital, enable them to leverage synergies from telecom and the ecosystem, create new value, and scale Ukrainian products abroad,” Droshkevich described Kyivstar’s approach to cooperation with partners.
Commenting on the acquisition of up to 100% of Helsi, she said that this is not the last deal in the healthcare sector.
“We will definitely be developing healthcare for several years. And it will be a whole ecosystem in itself. In addition to being part of the larger Kyivstar ecosystem and galaxy,” the director emphasized.
According to her, this involves both the development of B2C areas, where customers will soon see new products in the Helsi app, and investments in B2B. “For example, a few months ago, we approved a separate investment in private clinics and will compete there as well,” said Dronshkevich, also mentioning medical insurance.
She added that the company is also investing in R&D for overseas expansion, and certain elements of the ecosystem will be expanded to the markets of VEON, Kyivstar’s parent company.
“We have already grown the second player in the entertainment market, OTT TV Kyivstar TV, and we will continue to develop this area.
We are definitely very interested in fintech, which fits very organically into the ecosystem. This is far from a simple story,” said the Kyivstar business development director, listing the next areas of focus. She clarified that in fintech, there is a choice between an organic and inorganic scenario.
Droshkevich also mentioned investments in delivery, where, thanks to the acquisition of Uklon, the company already has a few percent of revenue.
“Advertising Tech is also an area of interest for us, where our clients, our data, and the presence of our ecosystem are a competitive advantage for this business. And it will help it generate additional revenue,” the director noted.
According to her, Kyivstar is also interested in B2B SAS solutions and fundamental B2B infrastructure areas. She recalled that the operator has already become the largest Microsoft distributor in Ukraine, and this major strategic partnership will continue to develop.
Droshkevich also acknowledged Kyivstar’s significant interest in the education sector and said that she had already interviewed 17 founders of LMS (Learning Management System) companies in Ukraine.
“I have met with eight different founders over the past month. We have selected the top three, who are in completely different segments. Perhaps we will start with commercial partnerships, perhaps we will start directly with a joint venture, and education is definitely of interest to us,” said the director.
Passenger traffic across the Ukrainian border during the week of May 24-30 increased by 1.4% to 506,000 with the approach of summer, according to data from the State Border Service on Facebook.
According to them, the outbound flow even decreased from 254,000 to 253,000, while the inbound flow increased from 245,000 to 253,000.
The number of vehicles that passed through checkpoints this week remained at around 124,000, and the flow of vehicles carrying humanitarian cargo also remained almost unchanged at 524.
At the same time, on Saturday, May 31, after the last bells of the school year, the State Border Service recorded an increase in the outbound flow to 47,000 people compared to 40,000 last Saturday.
According to the agency, on Sunday morning, there was a buildup of vehicles leaving Ukraine at the Ugriniv and Krakivets checkpoints on the Polish border, and at the Shehyni and Krakivets checkpoints, there was also a buildup of vehicles entering Ukraine.
To avoid traffic jams and save time, the State Border Service recommends choosing alternative checkpoints (PP): “Nizhankovychi,” “Smilnytsia,” “Hrushiv,” or “Rava-Ruska,” and reminds that due to large-scale repair work at the “Shehyni” checkpoint, traffic is temporarily complicated, leading to increased waiting times.
As of 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, there were also significant queues at the border with Slovakia at the Uzhhorod checkpoint – 25 cars, and at the border with Romania at the Porubne checkpoint – 30 cars.
As for the border with Hungary, 10 vehicles were waiting to cross at the Tisa, Kosino, Luzhanka, and Vylok checkpoints, and 5 at the Dzvinkove checkpoint.
The total number of people crossing the border this year is almost the same as last year: during the same seven days, 258,000 people left Ukraine and 243,000 entered, but the flow of cars was lower – 115,000.
Last year, a significant summer increase in passenger traffic began in the first week of June and lasted for five weeks in a row.
As reported, from May 10, 2022, the outflow of refugees from Ukraine, which began with the start of the war, was replaced by an influx that lasted until September 23, 2022, and amounted to 409,000 people. However, since the end of September, possibly influenced by news of mobilization in Russia and “pseudo-referendums” in the occupied territories, followed by massive shelling of energy infrastructure, the number of people leaving exceeded the number of people entering. In total, from the end of September 2022 to the first anniversary of the full-scale war, it reached 223,000 people.
During the second year of the full-scale war, the number of border crossings to leave Ukraine, according to the State Border Service, exceeded the number of crossings to enter by 25,000, during the third year by 187,000, and since the beginning of the fourth year by 30,000.
As Deputy Minister of Economy Serhiy Sobolev noted in early March 2023, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP.
In its April inflation report, the National Bank again estimated the outflow from Ukraine in 2024 at 0.5 million (according to the State Border Service – 0.315 million). In absolute terms, this means an increase in the number of migrants remaining abroad to 6.8 million in 2024. The NBU also maintained its forecast for the outflow in 2025 at 0.2 million.
According to updated data from the UNHCR, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of April 17, 2025, was estimated at 6.358 million, and worldwide at 6.918 million, which is 15,000 fewer than on March 20.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data at the end of last year, there were 3.669 million internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Economic experts predict a further decline in inflation in Germany in the second half of 2025. The main factors contributing to this are:
Lower energy prices
Stronger euro
Slower wage growth
Lower external demand due to trade tensions
Thus, inflation in Germany in January-May 2025 shows a steady downward trend, approaching the ECB’s target level. This creates the conditions for monetary policy easing and supports expectations of economic stability in the second half of the year.
Impact on monetary policy
The slowdown in inflation in Germany and other eurozone countries is strengthening expectations of interest rate cuts by the ECB. In May 2025, inflation in the eurozone stood at 2.1%, in line with the ECB‘s target.
The ECB is expected to decide at its meeting on June 4–5, 2025, to lower its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.0%. This will be the eighth rate cut since June 2024, when it stood at 4.0%.
The OKKO Group, which includes the operator of the eponymous network of gas filling stations, Concern Galnaftogaz, plans to have approximately 600 MW of wind power capacity over the next five years, 200 MW in solar energy, and 150 MW in energy storage facilities (ESF), according to Vasyl Danylyak, CEO of OKKO GROUP and co-founder of GORO Mountain Resort.
“In the energy sector, we see ourselves in about five years with approximately 600 MW in wind, 200 MW in solar, and about 150 MW in batteries. We have already accomplished some of these goals,” he said during a Forbes Ukraine Business Breakfast broadcast on his YouTube channel on Thursday.
He also added that in the agricultural sector, which is a very interesting business, the group sees its KPI (key performance indicator) as increasing efficiency per hectare.
At the same time, he denied the possible exit of the group’s fuel business to public capital markets, but suggested that this could be done to some extent for other areas of activity.
“We thought about the public capital market for our core business, retail. This is not possible now because the fuel business has become unfashionable and toxic for capital markets, banks, and MFIs. But if we are talking about other businesses, then most likely it will not be classic public capital markets, but perhaps specialized large funds operating in certain areas. This is more realistic,” said the CEO of OKKO.
As reported, the OKKO Group is building the 147 MW Ivanychi wind farm in the Volyn region with a total cost of EUR 225 million (excluding VAT) and is seeking financing for its second wind energy project in this region, the 192 MW Zatyrintsy wind farm, which is estimated at EUR 250 million (excluding VAT).
The group also won a five-year special auction held by NEC Ukrenergo for the provision of power system balancing services, at which it announced the installation of a 20 MW energy storage facility (ESF).
In addition, the group plans to open a new 60,000-tonne elevator by autumn 2025 and a bioethanol plant in summer 2026. An important component of OKKO’s agricultural portfolio is its partnership with Gadz-Agro in the Ternopil region, in which the company acquired a stake in 2023. The enterprise cultivates 26,000 hectares of land and has about 10,000 head of cattle, including 5,000 dairy cows. It is also one of the largest horticultural farms in Ukraine, but OKKO decided not to integrate the horticulture business into its operations.
OKKO Group unites more than 10 diverse businesses in the fields of manufacturing, trade, construction, insurance, services, and other services. The flagship company of the group is Galnaftogaz, which operates one of the largest gas station chains in Ukraine under the OKKO brand, with almost 400 gas stations.
The founder and ultimate beneficiary of the group is Vitaliy Antonov.
Proposals for establishing marketing rules in the retail pharmaceutical market submitted by pharmaceutical manufacturers were not taken into account when developing the rules for marketing medicines. Instead, the interests of the pharmacy business were taken into account when preparing the draft rules, according to domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers.
The “rules of the game” in the pharmaceutical market are not set by the state, but by five non-public business groups of pharmacy chains that control over 70% of the market. The draft resolution on marketing dated May 14, 2025, proposed by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, provides for a ban on the provision of marketing services for prescription drugs and, at the same time, limits the income of pharmacies from marketing services to 12% of the total sales of drugs (including prescription drugs),” – according to a statement by the Association of Drug Manufacturers of Ukraine (ADMU) and the Association of Employers in the Medical and Microbiological Industry, sent to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Manufacturers emphasize that the proposed model contradicts the law and is clearly a blatant manipulation not in the interests of consumers and will lead to a 75% increase in retail prices of over-the-counter drugs to the distributor’s price.
Since over-the-counter drugs account for only 37% of the market, according to the associations, the percentage of the marketing payment in the price of an over-the-counter drug will exceed 40% of the manufacturer’s wholesale price. This is in addition to the 35% retail markup allowed by Ukrainian law. The real increase in the price of an over-the-counter drug at the pharmacy level for the consumer will be 75% of the distributor’s price, manufacturers emphasize.
“When the Ministry of Health of Ukraine approves a model of 12% marketing payment without specifying services, the result is not reform, but a 40% burden on the price of an over-the-counter drug. This is not a market mechanism, but a regressive tax on the poor: those who buy drugs without compensation pay the most,” the associations emphasize.
Manufacturers also note that the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on drug marketing in this version of the Ministry of Health does not specify the list of permitted marketing services aimed at consumers at the point of sale, as proposed by many participants in the public discussion, but instead introduces an unjustified payment in the form of a fixed percentage of the total volume of medicines sold by pharmacies.
“This approach is more like a ‘shelf space fee’ for manufacturers. Such a payment, without a fixed list of clear, transparent services based on the European model defined at the legislative level, has nothing to do with the manufacturer’s marketing activities and is in fact a form of systematic racketeering,” the manufacturers believe.
Domestic manufacturers emphasize that during the preparation of the draft order on the provision of marketing services, all discussions boiled down to the need to develop compensation for the decline in the profitability of the pharmacy business that existed before the state limited retail markups to 35%. “All meetings boiled down to discussions about the profitability of pharmacies. Patient needs were never discussed. This is an institutional mistake,” the associations say.
Domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers emphasize that the pharmacy market is oversaturated and degraded, with the number of pharmacies in Ukraine 2-3 times higher than European standards, and in large cities, there are three pharmacies “door to door” at almost every intersection. This number of pharmacies does not correspond to the actual number of pharmacists, as a result of which many pharmacies employ people without the appropriate education.
“Consumers and patients are being forced to buy unnecessary drugs from manufacturers who have agreed to pay marketing fees, while other manufacturers are simply being removed from the shelves. The “rules of the game” in the pharmaceutical market are set not by the state, but by five non-public business groups of pharmacy chains that control over 70% of the market. This is not a market — it is corporate dictatorship in the absence of state arbitration,” emphasize the leaders of the domestic pharmaceutical industry.
The associations note that today, a dirty information campaign has been launched against those manufacturers who have spoken out in favor of transparent pricing and in support of the Ukrainian president’s initiative, who have reduced the prices of their basic medicines by 30%. The medicines of these manufacturers have been effectively removed from the shelves of pharmacies belonging to the monopoly cartel.
These are the top five pharmacy chains in the Ukrainian pharmaceutical market. Pharmaceutical manufacturers remind us that in support of the initiative of the President of Ukraine and the government to ensure the availability of medicines, 32 leading domestic manufacturers of medicines have reduced the retail prices of the 303 most commonly used medicines
sold and available in pharmacies in Ukraine by 30% compared to the wholesale (list) prices in January 2025.
Domestic manufacturers note that 37% of the Ukrainian pharmacy market consists of over-the-counter drugs, most of which are purchased monthly by the same people.
“Today, vulnerable groups of citizens—the elderly, patients with chronic diseases, and residents of rural areas—were the first to feel the effects of opaque pharmacy policy. Manufacturers who reduced prices by 30% on more than 300 medicines were effectively “kicked out” of pharmacies. Their drugs disappeared from the shelves, leaving consumers with more expensive alternatives. This is not a market, this is discrimination against patients as the weakest link,” the manufacturers say.
Manufacturers insist on the adoption of the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on the provision of marketing and other services related to the sale of medicines to end consumers, published by the Ministry of Health on May 26, 2025, which limits marketing expenses depending on whether the medicine is available without a prescription or with one.
“The adoption of this draft will return the logic of the reform to its original meaning—protecting patients, rather than balancing the business interests of pharmacies and manufacturers. The focus is not on profits, but on health,” the manufacturers emphasized.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/news/pharmacy/1076084.html?utm_source=telegram
On Sunday, June 1, in the southeastern part of Ukraine, and during the day in Transcarpathia and Prykarpattia, moderate, in some places in the central, Odesa, and Mykolaiv regions, short-term rains, in some places thunderstorms, according to the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Center.
The rest of the territory will be dry.
The wind will be westerly and northwesterly, 5-10 m/s.
The temperature at night will be 11-16°, during the day 22-27°. In the Carpathians, the temperature at night will be 5-10°, during the day 15-20°.
In Kyiv, no precipitation, northwesterly wind, 5-10 m/s. Temperature at night 14-16°, during the day 23-25°.
According to the Boris Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory, the highest daytime temperature in Kyiv on June 1 was recorded in 1979 and 2011 and amounted to 31.7°, the lowest nighttime temperature was 4.1° in 1904.
On Monday, June 2, there will be short-term rains and thunderstorms in Zakarpattia at night and in western, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia regions and in Crimea during the day. The rest of the territory will be dry.
The wind will be variable, 3-8 m/s.
The temperature at night will be 11-16°, during the day 22-27°. In the Carpathians, the temperature at night will be 6-11°, during the day 18-23°.
In Kyiv, there will be no precipitation, with winds of 3-8 m/s. The temperature at night will be 14-16°, during the day 25-27°.
