The prospect of implementing the Agreement on Mineral Resources with the US may be attractive for Ukrainian greenfield companies that already have special permits for deposits of minerals critical to the EU or the US, according to NADRA.info founder Volodymyr Boiko.
Among such companies, the expert named, in particular, the investment group BGV Group Management headed by Hennadiy Butkevych, as well as companies owned by Vitaliy Yakimenko and Oleksandr Nastenko.
“But at the same time, for some mineral extraction investors, such as Ferrexpo and Black Iron, the agreement will be a real test of strength. After all, against the backdrop of preparations for international agreements, officials have already announced another hunt for ‘dormant’ licenses,” Boiko commented on the situation to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
In his opinion, the redistribution of subsoil use rights is a very likely reality in the near future.
“We can only hope that the auditors will act wisely and not allow projects to be scrapped whose implementation has been delayed by objective circumstances beyond the control (or desire or intentions – IF-U) of subsoil users,” said the founder of NADRA.info.
He also believes that the agreement with the US could lead to a thorough audit of the previous activities of companies in the extractive industry.
“It can also be assumed that the agreement will trigger the start of an audit not only of ‘dormant’ special permits in private hands, but also a thorough public audit of all state-owned companies and enterprises in the extractive industry for each special permit, PSA or PSA (production sharing agreement, joint activity agreement – IF-U), for each well drilled or leased, for each management decision,” added Boiko.
As reported, Ukraine and the US signed a framework agreement on economic partnership on April 30. It was signed by First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko and US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. It provides for the creation of a US-Ukraine recovery investment fund.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal expressed hope that the Verkhovna Rada would ratify the signed agreement by May 8. The “technical” agreements have not yet been signed or published.
According to information from the Ministry of Finance, in 2024, state-owned Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, Ukrgasbank, and PUMB provided 11 loans under state guarantees to enterprises in the defense-industrial complex (DIC) under the Program for Strengthening the State’s Defense Capabilities and Meeting the Urgent Needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to the information, Oschadbank became the largest lender, issuing six loans worth UAH 9.86 billion and participating in a consortium loan together with Ukrgasbank and PUMB worth UAH 2.38 billion.
In turn, Ukreximbank provided four loans totaling UAH 8.25 billion.
According to the Ministry of Finance, in 2023, only two loans were provided under state guarantees under the Program for Strengthening the State’s Defense Capabilities: Oschadbank for UAH 6.09 billion and Ukreximbank for UAH 5.98 billion.
As reported to Interfax-Ukraine by Oschadbank, since the start of the full-scale war, the bank has participated in lending to defense industry enterprises in the amount of over UAH 17.1 billion.
“Oschadbank has historically lent to state-owned defense industry companies, so we know better than anyone how difficult it was to simplify access to bank loans for privately owned defense companies and how important this is for the development of the industry,” said Yuriy Katsion, deputy chairman of the board of Oschadbank, responsible for corporate business.
PJSC Dniprovsky Metallurgical Plant (DMZ), part of DCH Steel, owned by businessman Alexander Yaroslavsky, reduced its rolled steel production by 52.4% in January-April this year compared to the same period last year, to 11.2 thousand tons.
According to the company, coke production in January-April 2025 decreased by 24.8% to 70.6 thousand tons.
In April 2025, DMZ produced 4.1 thousand tons of metal products, which is 62% less than in April 2024. The production of metallurgical coke decreased by 34.8% to 15.7 thousand tons.
At the same time, it is specified that from April 25 to May 7, a rolling campaign was held in rolling shop No. 2, during which 9.2 thousand tons of metal products were produced in the shop.
As reported, in 2024, DMZ reduced its production of rolled products by 59.4% compared to 2023, to 42.9 thousand tons, and coke by 1.2%, to 289.1 thousand tons.
In 2023, DMZ increased its production of rolled metal products by 86.2% compared to 2022, to 105,600 tons, and coke by 38.5%, to 292,700 tons.
In 2022, the plant reduced its production of rolled products by 74.2% compared to 2021, to 58.4 thousand tons, and coke by 56.3%, to 211.3 thousand tons.
DMZ specializes in the production of steel, cast iron, rolled products, and products made from them.
On March 1, 2018, the DCH Group signed an agreement to purchase the Dniprovsky Metallurgical Plant from Evraz.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the agricultural holding company Astarta-Kyiv have agreed to cooperate in the development of distance learning for Ukrainian farmers. Astarta experts will share their knowledge and practical expertise in the form of short interactive online courses, which will be available on the AgriAcademy platform, writes SEEDS.
As part of the cooperation, 25 courses are planned to be developed with a focus on the cultivation, storage, and processing of field crops.
The first two courses, “Sunflower. Biological Characteristics” and “Sunflower. Cultivation Technology”, are already available on the platform.
Andriy Balashov, Head of Professional Development at Astarta: “Staff recruitment is a challenge for all Ukrainian businesses today, and we are no exception. People remain a key source of knowledge, but modern conditions require new approaches to the preservation and transfer of information. That is why we have implemented an internal online training system for mandatory training and professional development of employees. We are now ready to share these developments to support the development of the Ukrainian agricultural sector.”
In recent years, Ukrainian agricultural enterprises have faced an acute shortage of specialists, which significantly affects the competitiveness of the entire sector. The issue of high-quality and accessible professional education is currently extremely relevant, and the AgriAcademy platform was created specifically to provide free access to knowledge in the agricultural sector.
Vasyl Govhera, Lead Corporate Advisory Expert at the EBRD: “We are grateful to our partners, Astarta-Kyiv, for their openness and for allowing us to draw on the experience of professionals with years of practical experience in developing training materials. We are confident that our joint educational initiative will help more people improve their knowledge in the agricultural sector.”
AgriAcademy is a free online training platform for agricultural workers and students of agricultural educational institutions, which was launched by the EBRD in December 2022 as part of its food security support program in Ukraine. The platform aims to increase the competitiveness and sustainability of a critically important sector of the Ukrainian economy, which has been significantly affected by the Russian invasion.
All lectures, training materials, and online courses from leading experts and foreign universities on AgriAcademy are available in Ukrainian. Currently, 23 courses are published on the platform. This is almost 300 hours of training covering a wide range of knowledge for both beginners and professionals. Each course includes a knowledge test, and based on the test results, students receive certificates of successful completion.
The creation and management of the platform (including course development, training tours, etc.) is supported and funded by the EBRD, as well as:
Almost a third (31%) of Ukrainians use tobacco or nicotine products, including 27% daily and 4% non-daily, according to the results of a nationwide survey “Use of tobacco and nicotine products” conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology from February 14 to March 4, 2025.
Compared to October 2024, the share of those who use tobacco or nicotine products increased from 27% to 31%, including from 23% to 27% of those who use them daily.
Among men, 45% of respondents use tobacco or nicotine products, among women – 19%. Younger and middle-aged people use tobacco or nicotine products more, both among men and women. Among 18-29 year olds, 45% use such products, and then the rate decreases to 11% among those aged 70+. At the same time, the increase in use was primarily among 18-39 year olds.
Among consumers of tobacco or nicotine products, the vast majority (73%) smoke manufactured cigarettes. This is followed by tobacco products for electric heating (19%), electronic cigarettes (17%), hookahs (9%), and tobacco (8%). The fewest respondents mentioned nicotine patches (3%).
For all these products, except for plain tobacco, the current figures are the same as in 2024 (i.e., all differences are within the statistical margin of error). In the case of plain tobacco, the figure rose from 4% to 8% (primarily due to older respondents).
The use of HTPs, e-cigarettes, and hookahs is more prevalent among predominantly young respondents. The use of such products is most prevalent among respondents aged 18-29. Thus, among 18-29 year old respondents who currently use tobacco or nicotine products, 37% use tobacco products for electric heating, 39% use electronic cigarettes, and 24% use hookahs.
In regional terms, tobacco is most commonly used in eastern Ukraine (35.7%), less in the south (33.7%) and in the center (31.7%), and least in the west (25.6%).
Tobacco use is highest in large cities with a population of 100,000 or more (34.5%) and lowest in villages (24.8%).
Tobacco use is also more common among people with average incomes (32.8%) than among those with low and high incomes, but lowest among people with very low incomes (25.1%).
The survey was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI). A total of 2,029 adult respondents from all regions of Ukraine under government control were interviewed. Formally, under normal circumstances, the statistical sampling error (with a probability of 0.95 and a design effect of 1.1) does not exceed 2.4% for indicators close to 50% and 0.5% for indicators close to 1 or 99%.
Geographical structure of Ukraine’s foreign trade (imports) in January-December 2024, million USD
