More than 2,600 companies have been founded by foreigners in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Citizens of Turkey, Uzbekistan, Poland, and the United States are the most frequent business owners in Ukraine.
2652 companies have been opened by foreigners in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war. In total, citizens from 100 countries invested in the country during the war.
Among all foreign businessmen, Turkish citizens were the most likely to open a business in Ukraine. Residents of the republic are listed as owners in 354 Ukrainian companies. This is 13% of the total number of new businesses with foreign beneficial owners.
Uzbek citizens are owners of 274 new Ukrainian companies and occupy the second position in the rating. This is 10% of the total number. Polish citizens round out the top three with 193 businesses, or 7% of the total number of companies with foreign owners opened after 2022.
The top list also includes citizens of the United States, Kazakhstan, Germany, Azerbaijan, and Israel. It is worth noting that one company may have more than 1 owner.
The largest business opened by foreigners since the start of full-scale operations is TENS1MA LLC with an authorized capital of UAH 1.28 billion. The owner of the business is an Armenian citizen.
The second place is taken by JSC Closed Non-Diversified Venture Corporate Investment Fund Jugen. The authorized capital of this company is UAH 700 million, and the ultimate owner is a US citizen.
LFS LLC with an authorized capital of UAH 300 million, owned by a Polish citizen, rounds out the top three.
On May 15, the state enterprise Delta-Lotsman (Mykolaiv) announced a tender for voluntary insurance of liability to third parties for maritime accidents caused by the fault of marine pilots, pilot-operators of the insured’s vessel traffic control service in the performance of their official duties.
According to the electronic public procurement system ProZorro, the expected cost of the service is UAH 1.171 million. The tender security is an electronic guarantee of UAH 35 thousand.
The deadline for submission of bids is May 24.
SE “Delta Pilot” was established by order of the Ministry of Transport of Ukraine in 1998 in order to improve conditions for ensuring safety of navigation, protection of human life at sea and the environment, in the territorial sea of Ukraine in accordance with the requirements of international agreements and conventions, streamlining the structure of marine pilot services in the north-western part of the Black Sea.
According to Ukrainians, the countries of the Arab world are neutral in the Russian-Ukrainian war. This was revealed by a joint study by Active Group and the Experts Club think tank, “Attitudes of Ukrainians toward the Middle East and Central Asia,” which was presented at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
“The analysis includes a predominantly positive attitude of our citizens towards such countries as Israel (72.5%) and Turkey (55%), while the attitude towards other countries in the region is mostly neutral. Ukrainians are extremely negative about Iran (76%) and mostly negative about Afghanistan (52.6%),” said Oleksandr Poznyi, director of the research company Active Group.
In addition, the expert added that Ukrainians are mostly positive about countries with which they have trade or cultural ties. This is natural, as such ties promote mutual respect between societies and countries.
In his turn, Andriy Yeremenko, founder of the research company Active Group, emphasized that the attitude of Ukrainians towards the Middle East and Central Asia varies depending on many factors.
“We can see that the attitude of citizens is really certain only in relation to two countries – Iran and Israel. These are the countries where the percentage of those who find it difficult to answer is less than 20%. The rest of the countries have a much higher percentage of uncertainty, which indicates that Ukrainians are not well informed about these countries,” emphasized Eremenko.
Maksym Urakin, founder of the Experts Club think tank, added that building cooperation with the Middle East and Central Asia is very important for the development of the Ukrainian economy, especially in the agricultural and IT sectors. These industries have great potential for development and can become the basis for a mutually beneficial partnership.
“It is necessary to implement a state strategy to reduce the trade deficit and increase Ukraine’s export potential. This will create a more balanced and sustainable economy that will be less dependent on external factors. Ukraine may be interested in agricultural products, IT clusters, and educational services. We are interested in sales markets, agricultural technologies, metallurgy, and chemistry,” Urakin emphasized.
According to him, trade between Ukraine and the countries under study is currently growing rapidly.
“Turkey is the largest trading partner among the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia, accounting for more than half of all trade with these countries. This shows the importance of Turkey for the Ukrainian economy,” the founder of Experts Club added.
According to Urakin, a balanced foreign economic policy in the region can not only significantly improve Ukraine’s relations with Middle Eastern countries, but also have a positive impact on the overall state of the economy.
The results of the study are available here.
ACTIVE GROUP, ALEXANDER POZNIY, ANDREY EREMENKO, CENTRAL_ASIA, ECONOMICS, EXPERTS CLUB, MAXIM URAKIN, MIDDLE_EAST, POLL, SOCIOLOGY
Ensuring the stability of the energy system and organizing international support are the tasks that Ukrainians believe the government is doing best. At the same time, the lowest ratings were given to the state’s efforts to fight corruption and manage the seized property of sanctioned persons. These data were presented by Active Group at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Wednesday.
“Our research was focused on assessing public opinion, which is a key element in the process of governance. We decided to find out how and in what state public opinion is now regarding certain socially important issues,” said Roman Yaroshenko, director of the Foundation for Research for the Future.
He also emphasized that an important part of the research was to study attitudes towards various agencies and organizations.
In his turn, Andriy Yeremenko, founder of the research company Active Group, emphasized that modern technologies were used to analyze the survey results. According to the survey results, the statistical error does not exceed 2.2%, which makes the data quite representative.
“Answering the question ‘What tasks does the Ukrainian government do best?’ 29.6% of Ukrainians said that they are coping with ensuring the stability of the energy system, 26.6% – with organizing international support, 20.7% – with defense against Russian aggression. The last on the list were the tasks of fighting corruption: only 3.5% of respondents believe that the government has coped with this task; managing the property of sanctioned persons, which is handled by the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) – 2.5%; and justice – 1.1%. A third of respondents (33.2%) believe that the government is not coping with any of the tasks, and one in five (21.3%) have not decided on the answer,” said Andriy Yeremenko.
To the question “What is your attitude to the seizure of assets of persons under sanctions in Ukraine?” 72.8% of Ukrainians answered positively, of which 50.9% were very positive, 21.9% were rather positive, and 12.6% were neutral. On the other hand, 3.9% of respondents have a negative attitude toward asset seizures, including 3.3% who are rather negative and 0.6% who are very negative. 10.7% of respondents have not decided on the answer.
To the question “In your opinion, how transparent is the management of seized assets in Ukraine?” 12.9% of respondents believe that it is transparent, of which 2% said it is completely transparent, and 10.9% said it is mostly transparent. However, 62.7% of respondents believe the opposite, of whom 35.1% said it is mostly not transparent, 27.6% said it is completely not transparent. A quarter of respondents (24.4%) have not decided on their answer.
Answering the question “In your opinion, how effective is the management of seized assets in Ukraine for the state?” 13.9% of respondents believe that it is effective, of which 2.2% said “completely effective” and 11.8% said “mostly effective”. On the other hand, half of the respondents (50.3%) do not think so, 43% of them said that management is mostly ineffective, 7.3% – completely ineffective. More than a third of respondents (35.7%) have not decided on the answer.
The respondents were also asked “Which of these bodies best contribute to Ukraine’s development?” According to the respondents, the Security Service of Ukraine (29.4%), the President (27.8%), and the local authorities of your city (20.7%) are the best helpers. The last places on the list are occupied by the Prosecutor’s Office (3.5%), the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and the Agency for Finding and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (3.3%). The fact that no government agency helps is believed by 36.4% of respondents.
The full presentation with the results of the survey can be downloaded here.
The research was conducted by Active Group using the SunFlower Sociology online panel. Method: Self-completion of questionnaires by Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older. Sample: 2000 questionnaires (representative by age, gender and region of Ukraine). Data collection period: May 4, 2024.
The Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine has topped the nationwide ranking of artistic higher education institutions presented by the Institute of Sociological Research of the Kyiv National Economic University named after V. Hetman and the research company Active Group.
According to Oleksandr Poznyi, the coordinator of the project to create the rating, director of the Active Group research company, artistic higher education institutions are a very complex and important social institution that requires a specific methodology for studying.
“That’s why we combine the efforts of researchers, scholars and the best practices of the international community to improve our ranking of artistic higher education institutions,” he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
Pozniy emphasized that the main mission of the rating is to evaluate artistic institutions, as the existing ratings are designed for classical universities and do not take into account the unique aspects of art education and the specifics of evaluating art institutions. This, in turn, affects the objectivity and significance of these rankings in the context of art education, resulting in the underrepresentation of artistic institutions in the rankings.
“This is an important step in creating a transparent and objective system for evaluating artistic educational institutions, which allows us to adequately assess their contribution to the cultural development of the country. The ranking is designed to reflect the uniqueness of each artistic institution. We have applied comprehensive criteria that include teaching, research, international activity and financial stability,” said Yulia Gorbova, Director of the Institute of Sociological Research at the Kyiv National Economic University named after V. Hetman.
According to her, the methodology of this year’s ranking was improved as part of the joint research work of Active Group, the Institute of Higher Education and the Institute of Sociological Research of the Kyiv National Economic University named after V. Hetman. The study searched, systematized, and analyzed international and local general and subject (industry) rankings, with a special focus on the rankings of art education institutions and/or educational programs.
Art higher education institutions were analyzed by 45 parameters grouped into six blocks: “Teaching and Learning”, “Science and Research”, “Impact of Higher Education Institutions on Society Development”, “Internationalization”, “Institutional Reputation”, and “Financial Sustainability”. The share of each group of indicators and the weight of each individual criterion was determined based on the analysis of international experience and adjusted based on the results of an expert survey of representatives of the field of art education.
The authors of the ranking also used multi-criteria approaches to evaluating the activities of higher education institutions based on the processing of data that can be obtained from open sources and whose validity can be verified.
The sources of data for the ranking of artistic HEIs were: EDEBO, NAQA, Rector’s Report, Report on Scientific Activities, Estimates, Financial Statements of HEIs, HEI Website, Scopus, Web of Science, OpenAlex, Ukrainian National H-index Ranking, Google Scholar, Transparent Ranking, QS, UniRank, services for measuring brand reputation on the Internet and social networks.
As a result, the all-Ukrainian ranking of art universities for the 2023-2024 academic year was as follows:
| Place in the ranking | Result | |
| Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine | 1 | 68,6 |
| Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts | 2 | 47,7 |
| Kharkiv State Academy of Culture | 3 | 43,8 |
| Lviv National Academy of Arts | 4 | 43,5 |
| National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture | 5 | 41,7 |
| Kharkiv National University of Arts named after I.P. Kotlyarevsky | 6 | 39,6 |
| Kyiv National University of Theater, Cinema and Television named after I.K. Karpenko-Kary | 7 | 38 |
| A.V. Nezhdanova Odesa National Music Academy | 8 | 32,2 |
| Mykola Lysenko Lviv National Music Academy | 9 | 32,1 |
| Mykhailo Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design | 10 | 27,2 |
| National Academy of Management Personnel of Culture and Arts | 11 | 27,1 |
| Transcarpathian Academy of Arts | 12 | 14,5 |
| Luhansk State Academy of Culture and Arts | 13 | 12,3 |
The researchers plan to continue this assessment of artistic institutions in order to track the dynamics of the development of Ukrainian art education institutions. The project team invites everyone to join the work on the development of the ranking, in particular, to improve the criteria for evaluating art institutions.
The flow of grain ships through the ports of Odessa Region is bringing long-awaited support to Ukraine’s economy. However, analysts warn that this may be a temporary phenomenon.
“In early March in Odessa, a 700-foot Liberian-flagged vessel slowly sailed out of the port, passing rows of yellow cranes and plunging into the calm waters of the Black Sea. Its hull was almost completely submerged as the ship was loaded with corn bound for Bangladesh. Meanwhile, other ships laden with grain have already left port, bypassing those that were just arriving,” the New York Times reported.
What seemed impossible last summer, when the Russian naval blockade paralyzed all commercial activity, is now a reality. The port was back on track thanks to a military campaign that drove Russian warships out of Ukrainian waters and provided a trade route for supplies to foreign markets.
Ukrainian grain and oilseed exports across the sea, which are vital to the Ukrainian economy, have almost returned to prewar levels, according to data provided to the New York Times. Over the past six months, Ukraine exported 27.6 million tons of grain and oilseeds across the Black Sea, only 0.2 million tons less than the average volume for the same period from 2018 to 2021 before Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
In the first quarter of this year, Black Sea exports even exceeded pre-war figures, according to Ukrainian data.
Grain and oilseed export estimates from Dragon Capital, a Kiev-based investment firm, and data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a shipping analytics firm, confirm this trend.
Sal Gilberti, head of Teucrium Trading, a U.S. company that trades agricultural commodities on the New York Stock Exchange, said claims by Ukrainian officials that grain exports across the sea are close to prewar levels are “accurate.”
Ukraine still faces challenges that could prevent grain exports from stabilizing at previous levels, including continued Russian attacks on port infrastructure and a reduced harvest this year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts a decline in grain exports in the near future.
However, analysts say the overall environment is improving and freight companies are willing to transport Ukrainian grain despite the war. “The data shows there is no shortage of shipowners willing to take the risk and go for it,” said Greg Miller, senior maritime journalist at Lloyd’s List.
Maintaining high levels of grain exports is a strategic necessity for Ukraine. Grain and oilseeds accounted for a third of Ukrainian exports last year, said Natalia Spygotska, senior analyst at Dragon Capital. It has become critical to sustaining Ukraine’s economy and ultimately its war effort.
Tariel Khajishvili, head of Novik LLC, a Ukrainian ship agent operating in Odessa, said: “It is obvious that without grain exports, the country’s economy will collapse.”
After the invasion, Russia seized control of the Black Sea, blocking trade for months, jeopardizing global food security. In July 2022, a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey allowed Ukraine to resume exports through an agreed corridor in the Black Sea.
But a year later, Russia pulled out of the agreement and threatened all commercial ships traveling to or from Ukraine, leading to a complete halt to maritime grain exports last August.
To resume exports, the Ukrainian army launched a campaign to drive the Russian navy out of part of the Black Sea, destroying many warships and attacking their headquarters in Russia-occupied Crimea. The successful operation allowed Ukraine to create a new trade corridor along the coast that allows ships to enter the territorial waters of NATO countries.
Dmytro Barinov, deputy head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration, recalls how nervous they were when the first grain ship passed through the corridor in mid-September: “We prayed that everything would go well.
Eventually, the ship successfully sailed into the open sea, and soon the “familiar pleasant sounds” of the ship’s sirens were again heard in Odessa.
The number of grain ships arriving at the three ports of the Odessa region – Odessa, Pivdennyi and Chernomorsk – increased to 231 in March from just 5 in September, according to Lloyd’s List.
Ukraine’s ship insurance arrangements with global insurers also contributed to the increase. Mr. Gilberti of Teucrium Trading added that Moscow is also interested in keeping the fighting out of the Black Sea, as it is also used to export Russian goods.
Today, Ukraine can only use ports in the Odessa region for grain exports, as other seaports are either too close to Russian positions or occupied by Russian troops. Despite this, with 4.1 million tons of grain and oilseeds shipped monthly, these three ports are close to pre-war export volumes.
The opening of the Odessa ports brought welcome financial relief to Ukraine. Having lost key economic assets during the war, such as steel mills in the east seized or destroyed by Russia, Ukraine is now more dependent on grain exports to support the economy. Dragon Capital predicted in the fall that a return to full operation of Odessa ports could add several percentage points to Ukraine’s GDP growth this year, which was forecast at 4 percent.
However, analysts warn that the initial success of Ukraine’s new trade route may be short-lived.
Russia continues to strike port infrastructure in Odessa, and with Ukraine’s air defenses in short supply, more missiles are reaching their target. In mid-April, Russia successfully struck two terminals in Pivdenne, destroying several containers.
Dragon Capital’s Ms. Spygotska also noted that high volumes of recent grain exports partly reflect shipments delayed by the Russian blockade, which could make it difficult to achieve those volumes in the future, especially with grain production projected to decline.
“Producers and exporters are now well positioned to export all available crops,” she said. “But it all depends on the harvest.”
