A legal conflict over share contributions for construction projects started after 2021 is causing housing prices to rise and slowing down investment activity, according to the Ukrainian Association of Developers.
The repeal of Law No. 132-IX, which abolished share contributions for projects whose construction began after January 1, 2021, was supposed to help reduce housing prices and stimulate investment activity. However, in practice, the industry has encountered a situation where communities are demanding, including through the courts, the payment of share contributions for projects for which construction permits were obtained before that date but construction began later. In particular, the Department of Economy and Investment of the Kyiv City State Administration is the plaintiff in 152 court cases seeking to recover equity contributions from construction customers.
As of March 1, 106 such cases were pending in courts of various instances for projects launched in 2020-2022 worth approximately UAH 1.59 billion.
“In 2019, the authorities officially recognized that equity participation had become a source of corruption, and therefore Law No. 132-IX was adopted to abolish it. This was a principled position of the state – to eliminate a quasi-tax on real estate, which was actually paid by home buyers. This decision contributed to a reduction in housing prices and was intended to stimulate investment activity in the industry. Despite the clear official position of the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine, the authors of the law on the abolition of equity participation, and the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, the prosecutor’s office and local authorities continue to ignore the provisions of the current legislation,” said Yevgeny Favorov, chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Association of Developers, to Interfax-Ukraine.
A fixed property tax is proving to be very effective for community development.
The head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Organization of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development, and Urban Planning, Olena Shulyak, one of the authors of Law No. 132-IX, emphasized that even at the stage of abolishing share participation, there was a compensatory alternative, namely a fixed property tax. This tool has much higher potential for solving infrastructure problems, is easier to administer, and has significantly lower corruption risks than the share contribution.
“In fact, the share of equity participation in local budget revenues was very small — about 1%. These funds were not used for the construction of new kindergartens, schools, and other infrastructure, and the intended use of these funds was not controlled. Therefore, we have a property tax. I would not say that this is a universal compensatory measure, but we can now see that, in terms of figures, it already exceeds it many times over. Thus, in 2020, it amounted to 5.7 billion, in 2021 – 7.8 billion UAH, in 2022 – 7.1 billion UAH (despite the war), in 2023 – 9.1 billion UAH, in 2024 – 10.7 billion UAH, and in 2025 (as of now) – 4.3 billion UAH. In terms of share contributions, we see the following figures: in 2020, share participation funds amounted to 1.4 billion UAH, in 2021 – 572 million UAH, in 2022 – UAH 134 million, in 2023 – again UAH 134 million, in 2024 – UAH 199 million, in the current year (as of now) – UAH 159 million,” Shulyak said.
She emphasized that equity participation as a tool had long been ineffective, which is why it was abolished at the legislative level.
“But this does not mean that communities do not have the right to defend their interests in court when it comes to cases covered by the old legislation. Indeed, some communities, in particular Kyiv, remain active in legal disputes over equity participation – these are situations where objects received permits before 2020 but were completed later. In such cases, the legal basis for claims is most often Article 1212 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, which deals with unjustly retained property. As for other communities, we do not yet have centralized statistics on the number of claims,” Shulyak said.
At the same time, in her opinion, if the agreement on the payment of a share was not concluded before the law on its cancellation came into force, such charges are unfounded.
Regarding projects where the participants have changed during this period, she noted that if the new construction customer carries out construction in accordance with the construction permit issued to the previous customer before January 1, 2021, there are no grounds for non-payment of the share participation. However, if the construction permit was obtained after January 1, 2021, the share participation is not payable.
“If the construction customer is implementing a completely new project in terms of functionality, etc., then in this case it is more expedient to terminate the previous permit and obtain a new one. Thus, the new permit will be obtained after January 1, 2021, and the construction customer will not have any obligations to pay the share contribution,” Shulyak recommends.
Conflict: permit obtained before the share contribution was canceled, construction started after.
According to experts from the Association of Developers, when the share contribution was canceled, a legal conflict was identified that created a legal loophole in the regulation of the relevant legal relations. This was directly acknowledged by the Supreme Court in its decision of July 20, 2022, in case No. 910/9548/21, which states: “Law No. 132-IX does not regulate issues of share participation in cases where construction of the facility began after January 1, 2021.” At the same time, by providing its own interpretation of these legal relations, the court effectively departed from the essence and intention of the legislator, which was to completely eliminate equity participation as a quasi-tax on real estate.
On May 14, 2025, in case No. 320/44099/23, the Supreme Court finally confirmed that the changes to the procedure for attracting and using share contributions adopted by the Kyiv City Council in 2019-2020 are unlawful and invalid. In other words, with this decision, the Supreme Court confirmed that the legal basis used by the city authorities since 2019 to calculate share participation, conclude relevant agreements, or issue financial claims is unlawful, i.e., illegal.
“In addition to the legally unfounded position of the city authorities, another important aspect should be noted. The city already receives billions of hryvnia from developers and home buyers in the form of engineering, transport, and social infrastructure facilities that have been built and transferred to municipal ownership,” Favorov noted.
The cities have received new engineering infrastructure worth billions of hryvnia, but the issue of transferring it to the social balance sheet has not been resolved, experts noted.
According to estimates by the Ukrainian Association of Developers, in just eight projects by five member companies in Kyiv, engineering, transport, and social infrastructure worth more than 5.6 billion hryvnia has already been created. The total cost of all the infrastructure that city developers have built over the years is estimated at tens of billions of hryvnia, Favorov said.
Many of these assets are transferred to the balance sheet of municipal enterprises, which not only receive them free of charge but also receive a stable income by charging residents for the maintenance of the built networks.
As for social infrastructure, such as kindergartens and schools, their creation is required by building regulations, but there is no de facto procedure for transferring such facilities to communities.
Anna Laevskaya, commercial director of Intergal-Bud, spoke about two precedents when the company tried to negotiate with city authorities regarding educational infrastructure—a kindergarten in the Parkovye Ozera residential complex in the Dniprovsky district and in the Yaskryvy residential complex in the Minsk district.
“In Parkovye Ozyora, we offered to transfer to the city a turnkey kindergarten with 120 places, complete with furniture, dishes, and toys. All that remained was to take it on the balance sheet and open it. At that time, equity participation was in effect, the city was in dialogue with us, and possible options were discussed for accounting for the kindergarten as part of a share contribution or providing other preferences for the developer. But at the moment of signing the deed of transfer, that is, in essence, the legal transfer to the city, it became clear that there were no legal possibilities to count it as a share contribution. We had to return the kindergarten through the courts,” she stated.
A similar story happened with a kindergarten in the Obolonsky district. When forming the request, the district planned to take it on the balance sheet, but later reported that there was no legal basis or budgetary funds to open a new educational institution. The companies were advised to immediately plan for a private operator, which is what happened.
“The only option now is to invite a private operator to cooperate on the social infrastructure facilities that have been built, and this has disadvantages for everyone,” says Laevskaya.
For the developer, these facilities have an extremely low payback period of 15-25 years. They are not commercially viable, but they are necessary for the developer’s reputation. Residents would gladly choose municipal schools and kindergartens in buildings owned by the developer, but instead they have no choice but to pay a private operator of an educational institution between 15,000 and 25,000 hryvnia per month.
Laevskaya cited Hatne as a positive example of cooperation with local authorities. To resolve the issue of social infrastructure, the developer invested in the renovation and expansion of an existing school.
However, in general, the abolition of share contributions has not solved the problem of urban renewal. Ukraine still lacks a legal framework for transferring infrastructure created by developers to communities. In particular, Intergal-Bud has invested more than UAH 800 million in engineering infrastructure, including collectors, road repairs, lighting, and the reconstruction of water pumping stations and electrical substations. This does not include social facilities and the improvement of adjacent green areas (Nivki Park, the lake, etc.).
But what is happening now, attempts to retroactively charge additional fees, only exacerbate the already difficult situation of the most acute housing crisis in the history of independent Ukraine. According to experts from the Ukrainian Association of Developers, such practices cause housing prices to rise, as they create a double, unpredictable financial burden on companies, which are forced to include these costs in the price per square meter.
“These costs cannot be predicted within the business model, as national legislation explicitly prohibits equity participation. The country’s political leadership bears particular responsibility in this situation, having publicly promised voters that it would abolish equity participation and improve the investment climate. However, in practice, this turned out to be a declarative gesture that was only partially implemented in real law. What we are seeing today directly contradicts the state’s stated goals of deregulation, support for the construction industry, and ensuring affordable housing,” Favorov noted.
According to experts from the Association of Developers, the situation can be remedied.
It is necessary to eliminate the legislative conflict and clearly stipulate that for construction projects that were started before January 1, 2021, and which, as of January 1, 2021, have not been accepted for operation, share participation agreements between developers and local authorities were not concluded before January 1, 2021, the payment of share participation shall not be accrued or made.
“This will be in line with the original intention of the legislator – to eliminate the quasi-tax and stimulate the development of the construction industry,” Favorov stressed.
The Ukrainian Association of Developers was founded in 2023. The association’s members implement projects that account for 26% of the Ukrainian market and 93% of the capital’s market.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w0XEn7Nw5q6TKFTM3mceLKIDCr-qebOn/view
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has allocated sugar quotas for export to European Union countries, which will remain in effect until August 5, 2025, according to the ministry’s press service.
According to the report, the sugar quota has been distributed among exporters in proportion to their actual exports of this product to EU countries in January-May 2025.
The quotas were allocated to the following companies: TOV “Radehivsky Sugar” — 3,977.6 tons, TOV “Tsukoragroprom” — 1,700.9 tons, TOV “PK ”Zorya Podillya” — 927.6 tons, PJSC “Teofipol Sugar Plant” — 915.1 tons, LLC “Narkevychi Sugar Plant” — 688.8 tons, LLC “Novoorzhytskyi Sugar Plant” — 598.4 tons, LLC “Starokostiantynivtsukor” — 451.6 tons, LLC “Shamraivsky Sugar” — 381.5 tons, LLC “Shepetivka Sugar” — 349.5 tons, LLC “Signet-Center” — 259.4 tons, LLC “Agrocomplex ”Green Valley” — 216.5 tons, Kraievyd LLC — 184.2 tons, Novomyrhorodsky Sugar LLC — 140.7 tons, Prisma-14 LLC — 121.7 tons, and Krasylivsky Sugar Plant PJSC — 94.0 tons.
The Ukrainian chain of one-dollar stores Aurora (Vygidna Pokupka LLC) will invest UAH 3.2 billion (including VAT) in 2025, including UAH 1.3 billion in the restoration of the WestGate logistics center, according to the chain’s CEO Taras Panasenko.
“This is Aurora Multimarket’s response to the intensified attacks on Kyiv. We are investing. In 2024, we invested UAH 2.7 billion (including VAT) in Ukraine. The investment plan for Ukraine for 2025 is more than UAH 3.2 billion (including VAT),” he said on Facebook.
According to him, all the necessary permits have already been obtained, and Aurora has begun rebuilding the WestGate logistics center in the village of Stoyanka near Kyiv, which was completely destroyed in 2022.
“This is the same logistics center that was bombed by the Russians, where the GoodWIne warehouse was located. This year, investments in the reconstruction of WestGate will amount to more than UAH 1.3 billion. The rest will be invested in the network and technology. We will rebuild and create a thousand new jobs here. We plan to launch by January 2026,” he said.
In total, the company plans to create more than 2,500 new jobs in Ukraine in 2025.
“Our partners, Ukrainian manufacturers, of which there are currently more than 600, are also investing and creating new jobs. In addition, thanks to the active development of the Romanian company, our partners, Ukrainian manufacturers, are exporting to the European market for Aurora in Romania. We will stand firm,” Panasenko emphasized.
As reported, Aurora’s revenue for 2024 increased by 42.5% to UAH 38.5 billion (excluding VAT). In the first quarter of 2025, revenue grew by 32.5% to UAH 10.6 billion.
Aurora was founded in 2011 by Zhydenko, Taras Panasenko, and Lesya Klymenko. At the end of 2024, the chain had over 1,600 stores in Ukraine and 30 in Romania. The retail chain’s head office is located in Poltava.
According to Opendatabot, the owner of Vygidna Kupivlya LLC, which develops the chain, is the Cypriot company Avrorailt Investmens Limited, whose beneficiary is Zhydenko.
The Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers of Ukraine (APLU) supports the compromise draft government resolution developed by the Ministry of Health to regulate the size of marketing payments in the retail pharmaceutical market at 20% for over-the-counter drugs and 3% for prescription drugs.
This is stated in the text of the relevant declaration available to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
APLU members support the proposal to allow marketing expenses in pharmacies for over-the-counter drugs at a level not exceeding 20% of the total sales of each individual licensee (manufacturer, importer, etc.) of such drugs for the previous year, as well as expenses for services related to ensuring the availability of prescription drugs in pharmacies, in an amount not exceeding 3% of the total sales of each individual manufacturer or importer of such drugs for the previous year.
The APLU explains that “this is a compromise solution reached as a result of interdepartmental consultations, and it now best reflects the achievable balance of interests of all market participants involved—manufacturers, importers, and pharmacies.”
According to APLU members, the draft proposed by the Ministry of Health, in particular, establishes clear rules for the functioning of the market in the marketing services segment and creates a predictable and flexible system that minimizes the risks of abuse and “stimulates the development of fair competition based on product quality and service quality, not just marketing budgets.
In addition, APLU members note that the draft is “a stabilizing tool that prevents a payment crisis at all links in the distribution chain, reduces the risks of monopolization of communication channels, and allows jobs to be preserved and the population to have access to quality medicines at fair prices.”
At the same time, APLU participants propose to adopt the draft “as soon as possible as a transitional but fundamental solution that will stabilize the market” and, after the resolution comes into force, to conduct regular monitoring together with all market participants and state authorities to assess its impact and initiate improvements to the tools, if necessary, ensuring public reporting and transparency of information on the structure of marketing costs and their impact on pricing and the preservation of competition.
“We call on all market participants to join this declaration. The reform of the rules should not be achieved by dismantling the pharmacy sector or demonizing marketing, but through the introduction of clear, controllable, and ethical practices,” the APLU emphasizes.
Source: https://ru.interfax.com.ua/news/pharmacy/1080866.html
In mid-June, the Ukrainian wheat market was dominated by downward price dynamics, according to the information and analytical agency APK-Inform.
“The approaching harvest, low demand from traders awaiting the new harvest, and a downward price trend on the export market put pressure on prices. The supply of grain remained insufficient, while demand from processors was quite high, which continued to support prices,” analysts explained.
Prices for grade 2 wheat were recorded at 10,000-11,300 UAH/t CPT, and for feed wheat at 9,200-10,200 UAH/t CPT, according to APK-Inform.
On June 16, renowned Ukrainian pianist Natalia Pasichnyk received the prestigious Cultural Award from the Friends of the Arts Association, a cultural foundation affiliated with one of Sweden’s most famous museums, the Prince Eugen’s Waldemarsdösa Museum. The award was presented during a ceremony in Stockholm by Her Majesty Queen Silvia, according to the Swedish Royal Court website.
Hans Dillen, chairman of the organization, said: “Natalia Pasichnyk is a renowned pianist with a distinguished international career. But she also uses her talent to tell the story of Ukraine and spread Ukrainian culture – which is more important today than ever before. She builds cultural bridges between Sweden and Ukraine and is one of those rare figures whose artistic work becomes a channel for deeper understanding between peoples.”
Lars Edelholm
The Cultural Award, presented by the Renässans Society for the Humanities, is awarded annually by the Association of Friends of Artists to individuals who have made a significant contribution to cultural life in Sweden. The award ceremony is traditionally attended by members of the royal family.
“I am grateful for this recognition and attention to the promotion of Ukrainian culture—and Ukrainian music in particular—in Sweden. Today is not a time for celebration, but it is time to remind everyone once again of Ukraine’s need to be heard, to have the support of the world, and to talk about the existence of a distinct, deep, rich, and integrated Ukrainian culture within the European context,” emphasized Natalia Pasichnyk.
Fredrik Jönsson
The pianist has lived in Sweden for over 30 years and is one of the key figures in Ukrainian cultural representation in Europe. She is the founder and artistic director of the Ukrainian Institute in Sweden, as well as the artistic director of the large-scale European festival “Ukrainian Spring,” which takes place every year at the Royal Philharmonic Hall in Stockholm.
The Association of Friends of Artists was founded in 1937. Its long-time chairman was Prince Eugen, a member of the ruling Bernadotte dynasty and the fourth son of King Oscar II of Sweden. He was a renowned artist, collector, and patron of the arts. The association’s goal is to support and encourage people working in the humanities and arts in Sweden, especially through an annual cultural award. The Waldemarstad Museum (translated from Swedish as “Waldemar’s Cape”) is now in the prince’s old villa.
