According to Fixygen, starting April 1, 2026, cigarette manufacturers and importers in Ukraine will be required to apply a multiplier of 1.1 to the minimum excise tax liability, resulting in the minimum excise tax rising from €82 to €90.2 per 1,000 cigarettes. This was reported by the State Tax Service of Ukraine.
As explained by the tax service, the multiplier is being introduced for the period from April 1 to December 31, 2026, since, according to the results of the 2025 tax declaration, the share of the total excise tax in the weighted average retail price of cigarettes amounted to 58.8%, which is below the 60% threshold established in the Tax Code. The State Tax Service also published the estimated weighted average retail price of cigarettes at 6,537 UAH per 1,000 units.
The base rate of the minimum excise tax liability for 2026 was set by Law No. 4115-IX at 82 euros per 1,000 cigarettes, and the application of a 1.1 multiplier effectively raises it to 90.2 euros. The law also provides for a further increase in this rate to 86 euros in 2027.
According to market experts, this change could lead to a 10% increase in retail prices for cigarettes, and a pack could become approximately 10 UAH more expensive.
According to Serbian Economist, the authorities in Kotor, Montenegro, welcomed a group of 40 children from Ukraine aged 14 to 18, who arrived in the city as part of a humanitarian visit organized with the participation of the municipality and the Ukrainian Embassy in Montenegro.
According to a municipal announcement, the children are staying in Kotor from March 23 to 28, and the Ukrainian association “Dobro djelo” also participated in organizing the trip. At an official reception at the Byzantine Palace, the guests were welcomed by the Mayor of Kotor, Vladimir Jokić; the Ambassador of Ukraine to Montenegro, Oleg Gerasymenko; the Chairman of the Municipal Assembly, Vojin Batuta; Deputy Mayor Stojan Milović; and the Secretary for Culture, Sports, and Community Activities, Tatjana Krieštorac.
As Jokić noted, the host’s mission is to give the children at least a few days of peace and a sense of a normal childhood, interrupted by the war. During the meeting, city representatives emphasized that they want the stay in Kotor to become a bright memory for the Ukrainian teenagers and a time of respite from the realities of war.
The Ukrainian Ambassador to Montenegro thanked the municipality and residents of Kotor for their support, emphasizing the importance of such initiatives for children experiencing the consequences of war.
A packed program was prepared for the guests, including visits to Kotor’s museums, a boat ride around the bay, a trip to Perast, a tour of St. Tryphon’s Cathedral, a trip to Plavi Horizonti, a walk along the city’s fortress walls, as well as sports and other group activities.
https://t.me/relocationrs/2518
As of the end of 2025, there were 7,500,944 foreigners in Spain with valid residence permits, which is 4.5% more than a year earlier. These figures were published by the Permanent Immigration Observatory (OPI) under Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration.
Of this number, 3,804,191 individuals held an EU or EFTA citizen registration certificate, 3,497,284 resided in the country with a residence permit under the general migration regime, and another 199,469 people were in Spain on a TIE card under the Brexit agreement for British nationals and their family members.
Among holders of EU registration certificates and related documents, the largest groups were citizens of Romania—1,136,518 people, Italy—514,054, and the United Kingdom—382,474. Together, these three nationalities accounted for 51% of this category of foreigners with residence permits.
In the segment of foreigners with residence permits outside the EU regime, the largest national groups, according to OPI, were citizens of Morocco, Colombia, and Argentina. At the same time, the total number of foreigners in this segment increased by 9% over the year, or by 288,253 people.
Separately, Spain updated its statistics on Ukrainians. According to OPI data, as of December 31, 2025, 338,576 Ukrainian citizens with valid residence permits were living in the country. The figure was published in January 2026 in a special report on Ukrainian citizens.
Thus, Spain continues to host one of the largest populations of foreign nationals with legal residency status in the EU, and Ukrainians remain one of the most prominent national groups within this demographic.
The Amber Dragon Ukraine Infrastructure Fund I SCSp (Luxembourg) may acquire the Cypriot company Banoran Holdings Limited, which owns several Ukrainian companies involved in the Power One distributed energy project. According to information from the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine on its website, it granted the fund the relevant approval on Thursday, March 26.
Amber Dragon Ukraine Infrastructure Fund I, managed by Dragon Capital and Amber Fund Management Limited, announced its first project in Ukraine, Power One, at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome in July 2025 (URC2025).
Later, Power One signed a loan agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for €22.3 million to build 68 MW of decentralized generation capacity in Zakarpattia Oblast. This initiative also received €3 million in grant funding from the EBRD Crisis Response Special Fund, which is supported by the Norwegian government.
The project involves the installation of three gas piston units (36.8 GVA) and three energy storage systems (31.5 GVA) across six sites. Projects at three sites were scheduled to launch in November 2025, and at the other three in April 2026.
According to information from YouControl, Banoran Holdings currently owns four LLCs: “Power 1,” “Power 1 Center,” “Power 1 Lviv” (all three in Kyiv), and “Power Forest” (Zhytomyr).
In turn, Banoran Holdings is owned by the family trust of Tomas Fiala, the founder and chairman of the investment company Dragon Capital.
The AMCU’s issuance of a permit to Amber Dragon Ukraine Infrastructure Fund I is a step toward fulfilling prior agreements to transfer the project to this fund.
Additionally, it was reported that Power One’s operating partner is the company “Nedzhen,” owned by former head of NPC “Ukrenergo” Volodymyr Kudrytskyi and his colleague Andriy Nemirovskyi.
Amber Dragon Ukraine Infrastructure Fund I has a target volume of 350 million euros. In January of this year, the fund announced its first closing of €200 million, in which the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group, Swedfund, and Impact Fund Denmark participated.
Yevgen Baranov, Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure at Dragon Capital, announced at URC2025 in Rome in July 2025 that over the past year, Dragon Capital and Amber have built a robust portfolio of projects capable of absorbing even more capital than the fund plans to raise.
The fund’s presentation at URC2025 noted that its strategy involves investing in controlling stakes or co-investing with like-minded partners, with an average investment size ranging from €20 million to €50 million.
In December, Baranov clarified that the focus is primarily on energy projects, but also on transportation and digital infrastructure, as the war has created “huge shortages.”
“When we talk about projects ranging from €30 million to €50–70 million, that is the range where we feel most comfortable. And starting in January or February of next year, we will begin investing more actively,” Baranov said late last year.
Dragon Capital is one of Ukraine’s largest investment groups in the field of investment and financial services, providing a full range of investment banking and brokerage services, direct investments, and asset management for institutional, corporate, and private clients. The company was founded in 2000 in Kyiv. According to Fiala, the group’s investment portfolio includes nearly 50 different companies or real estate projects. From 2015 to 2021, the company invested approximately $700 million in Ukraine, excluding reinvestments; in 2025, it invested nearly $100 million and plans to exceed this figure in 2026.
The combined profits of China’s large industrial companies in January–February 2026 rose by 15.2% compared to the same period last year—to 1.02 trillion yuan ($147.6 billion), according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Industrial enterprises with annual revenue exceeding 20 million yuan are considered large.
The growth was the strongest for this period since 2018, notes Trading Economics.
Profits of state-owned companies increased by 5.3% over the first two months of this year, while those of private companies jumped by 37.2%.
Significant profit growth in January-February was recorded in the computer and communications equipment manufacturing segment (3-fold) and ferrous metal production (2.5-fold), as well as in the chemical industry (+35.9%).
By the end of 2025, the profits of large industrial enterprises increased by 0.6%.
According to the Interfax-Ukraine Culture project, at least six bookstores closed in Ukraine in March alone, including in Vinnytsia, Kropyvnytskyi, and Kyiv, as reported by Viktor Kruglov, publisher and CEO of the “Ranok” publishing house, on his Facebook page.
After analyzing the published information and the situation in the book market, journalists from the “Culture” department of the Interfax-Ukraine agency sought comment from Artem Bidenko, chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Publishers Association.
“The market situation is difficult: people are buying less and less, while book production is becoming more expensive. Bookstores, both small and large, have already begun to close. Books are becoming unprofitable for retailers because they take up space and don’t sell well,” said Artem Bidenko, chairman of the board of the Ukrainian Publishers Association, in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Viktor Kruglov, bookstores in Vinnytsia and Kropyvnytskyi—which opened in 2023–2024 amid a wave of enthusiasm and expectations of state support—have closed permanently.
In addition, next week “Yakaboo” is closing its only brick-and-mortar location at the Main Post Office on Khreshchatyk, and the publishing house “ArtBooks” is liquidating its flagship bookstore on Velyka Vasylkivska Street due to unprofitability.
Earlier, “Knyholand” closed its bookstore in the underground shopping center on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, and the future of the bookstore in Rusanivka, Kyiv, remains uncertain.
Additionally, according to Kruglov, the owner of the bookstore “My Bookshelf” announced the closure of the business, while the “Ridit” and “Sens” chains reported losses in the millions for the year.
According to Bidenko, in January–March, the average receipt at bookstores fell by nearly half: whereas shoppers previously chose 3–5 books, they now select 1–2.
Against the backdrop of falling demand, publishers are forced to offer significant discounts in an attempt to recoup at least part of their investment, but this does not solve the systemic problem.
“For retailers, books are becoming economically unprofitable: they take up space, require specific storage conditions, yet sell significantly worse,” he explained.
According to the expert, the next stage could be a payment crisis in the industry, which will first affect publishers and later printing houses.
“These are signs of a systemic crisis in the market that cannot be overcome without government intervention,” Bidenko emphasized.
He also noted that one of the key reasons for the rising cost of books is the increase in production costs.
“Raw materials are imported, logistics are complicated, and there is a shortage of personnel in both transportation and printing houses. All of this increases costs and, consequently, the final price of books,” he said.
Piracy in the e-book and audiobook sector remains a separate factor putting pressure on the market.
“About 80% of digitized content is illegal. Because of this, it is impossible to objectively assess real demand: we don’t know whether people are reading more in digital format or simply buying fewer books and reading less in general,” noted Bidenko.
He added that certain segments, particularly children’s literature, have been in crisis since the start of the full-scale war.
Assessing government policy, Bidenko stated that the market currently sees no practical implementation of the declared support.
“So far, these are just statements. There are no real actions, although we expect the situation to change. If these tools start working, the market will be able to return to pre-war levels and resume development. Without state participation, the publishing industry, which is subsidized in most countries, will not be able to function stably,” he concluded.
Text: Olga Levkun
https://interfax.com.ua/news/culture/1154870.html
