The main problem in Ukraine’s labor market is a labor shortage; at the same time, between 3.5 and 5 million people of working age are excluded from the labor market, said Daria Marchak, Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture, during the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2026) in Gdańsk (Poland) on Friday.
“Currently, three-quarters of businesses in Ukraine are facing a shortage of workers and are closing down precisely because of this labor shortage. But we have somewhere between 3.5 and 5 million people of working age who are excluded from the labor market for various reasons,” Marchak emphasized.
According to her, this group includes people with disabilities, including veterans, as well as internally displaced persons and women.
In this regard, the deputy minister considers the main task to be “doing everything possible to ensure that these people gain access to the labor market and overcome all obstacles.” To this end, she proposes a comprehensive overhaul of training systems and competency standards, as well as providing relevant retraining opportunities to anyone who wishes to participate.
JSC “Ukrposhta” has completed the installation of 38 modular branches in 16 regions, including Kharkiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, Chernihiv, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, the company’s CEO, Ihor Smilianskyi, announced on Telegram.
According to a press release published by Ukrposhta, the project was implemented thanks to financial support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which allocated EUR 600,000 in the form of an investment grant from the Special Crisis Response Fund.
“At these branches, local residents can receive pensions and social benefits, order medications through the ‘Ukrposhta.Apteka’ service, receive and send packages and letters, pay for utilities, and use financial services,” Smiliansky noted.
The CEO of the postal operator noted that out of the 40 modular branches installed, two were destroyed during the project’s implementation in the Sumy and Donetsk regions.
It is noted that, depending on the number of residents in the community, the company installed two types of modules. Specifically, there are 25 branches with an area of 22 square meters and another 13 with an area of 45 square meters.
These branches are equipped with ramps for people with limited mobility, autonomous heating systems, and the ability to connect to backup power sources to operate during blackouts.
Smilyansky also added that the number of modular branches will continue to grow in the future, funded entirely by Ukrposhta’s own resources.
In total, during the full-scale invasion, 49 of the company’s permanent branches were completely destroyed, and another 648 facilities were damaged.
Over the past month, “Ukrposhta” has also recorded damage to one branch almost every day.
“In recent weeks, we have once again seen how important it is to quickly resume operations. The enemy destroyed our logistics hub in Kharkiv, and after the attack on Kyiv, only a crater remained where the branch in Troyeshchyna used to be. Every day, other facilities come under fire,” the CEO of Ukrposhta is quoted as saying in the press release.
Georgia is preparing to tighten its immigration rules following a sharp increase in the number of applications for residence permits based on marriage to a Georgian citizen.
According to the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of applications for residence permits based on marriage tripled in the first quarter of 2026. Authorities believe this trend may indicate abuse of the system and the use of sham marriages to legalize one’s stay in the country.
The new amendments provide for the creation of a separate type of residence permit for spouses of Georgian citizens. Before issuing such a document, the state will verify the authenticity of the marriage through a special commission. This residence permit will remain valid until the applicant is eligible to receive a permanent residence permit.
In addition, Georgia plans to criminalize sham marriages entered into for the purpose of obtaining citizenship, a residence permit, or any other legal basis for staying in the country. Possible penalties include deportation of the foreign national, a re-entry ban for a period of two to ten years, a fine, house arrest for a period of one to two years, or imprisonment for up to two years.
The amendments also expand the powers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Migration Department. It is planned to grant the department the right to conduct operational and investigative activities to detect illegal migration and abuses of migration procedures.
A separate set of changes concerns foreign students. The authorities intend to introduce additional requirements for admission to Georgian higher education institutions and vocational schools, including an international language certificate or passing a language exam. There are also plans to set maximum quotas for the admission of foreign students, and educational institutions will be required to enter information about them into a unified information system.
Georgia explains the reform as necessary to make the migration system more transparent, secure, and manageable. The authorities note that current rules do not always allow for effective monitoring of whether foreigners are actually studying, are in genuine marriages, or are using these grounds merely as a formality.
The issue of migration has become particularly sensitive for Georgia since 2022, when the country accepted a significant number of foreigners from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other countries. At the same time, the composition of the foreign population in the country is diverse: some migrants are there due to relocation, some for educational purposes, and others are people of Georgian origin who have already obtained foreign citizenship and have returned.
According to data released by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in February 2026, the country issued 107,307 thousand residence permits to citizens of 164 countries. Russian citizens accounted for 32,129 thousand permits, or 29.9% of the total. The authorities clarified that a significant portion of this group consists of former Georgian citizens or people of Georgian descent.
The second-largest group of residence permit holders consists of Indian citizens: 23,930 thousand people, mostly students. Next are citizens of Azerbaijan and Ukraine—6,290 thousand people, or 5.9 percent—followed by Armenia (over 5 thousand), Belarus (3,738 thousand), Turkey (3,645 thousand), and Iran (3,331 thousand). Other notable groups include citizens of Sudan, China, Jordan, Pakistan, Egypt, and the United States.
Separately, there are Ukrainians living in Georgia without a regular residence permit. According to Kobakhidze, up to 25,000 Ukrainians are in the country with de facto refugee status, and the total number of Ukrainians in Georgia is estimated at approximately 30,000 people.
According to preliminary census data, the total number of foreigners residing in Georgia—including both legal and illegal migrants—is estimated at approximately 257,000 people. More than 70% of foreigners, according to government estimates, come from post-Soviet countries, the EU, the United States, and Israel.
Thus, the tightening of rules regarding marriage and student residence permits is part of a broader restructuring of Georgia’s migration policy. The country is seeking to remain open to businesspeople, students, and expatriates, while at the same time strengthening control over the grounds for foreigners’ residence and reducing the number of formal legalization schemes.
Enterprises engaged in operations with ferrous metal scrap called for lifting the de facto ban on scrap exports from Ukraine and introducing quotas for supplies of this raw material to EU countries in the amount of 200,000 tonnes per year.
This position was voiced by business representatives at the press conference “Ukraine’s Scrap Market: Between the Needs of the Economy and Regulatory Uncertainty” at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Friday.
President of the Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals (“UAVtormet”) Volodymyr Bublei noted that steel production over the first 5 months of the current year decreased by 6%, while scrap consumption fell by 7.6%, to 604,000 tonnes. Because of this, the country lost EUR60 million in foreign currency revenue, and tax revenues to the state budget decreased accordingly.
According to him, due to the ban on scrap exports, scrap prices on the domestic market fell. Thus, Ukrzaliznytsia sold scrap this year at a price of UAH 5,500, whereas in 2025 the average price was UAH 8,500 per tonne. When selling 50,000 tonnes of scrap, UZ lost UAH 3,000 on each tonne.
“Consumers are now selling scrap on the domestic market at $160-165 per tonne, while entrepreneurs in the EU pay $360 per tonne. Thus, we lose an average of $200,” Bublei stated.
He proposed holding a meeting at the government level in order to sort out the situation on the market and draw up a balance of scrap consumption. In addition, he considers plans to increase VAT on scrap operations to be wrong.
General Director of Ukrmet-Invest LLC Serhii Vovk noted that his company dismissed 150 employees because of the de facto ban on scrap exports.
“Of 18 divisions, 6 remain, the rest have been put up for sale because of million-scale losses. Previously, we supplied 5-6,000 tonnes of scrap to the market, now it is 2,000 tonnes. The scrap procurement sector accordingly reduced payments to the budget. Overall, the state lost more than UAH 500 million in budget revenues,” Vovk said.
General Director of the UKRMET Group of Companies Vladyslav Kleshchynskyi noted that after the de facto closure of scrap exports, the industry “broke down.”
“We closed two terminals, a port and 10 sites. But the industry should not be closed when there is no possibility to sell products on the domestic market. A compromise solution is to introduce an export quota of up to 200,000 tonnes for scrap supplies to the EU,” Kleshchynskyi said.
Development Director of Mirten LLC Mykola Klymovych appealed to the government: “We are not demanding benefits or assistance – give us the opportunity to work under market conditions.”
Earlier, head of UAVtormet Volodymyr Bublei stated that as a result of the introduction from January 1 of the current year of a zero quota for the export of ferrous metal scrap, the scrap procurement industry is losing its potential, reducing raw material procurement and being forced to cut employees.
As reported, Ukraine’s scrap procurement enterprises in 2025 increased the export of ferrous metal scrap by 45.3% compared with the previous year – to 448,685 tonnes from 293,190 tonnes. In monetary terms, scrap exports in 2025 grew by 44.5% – to $131.927 million from $91.311 million. Scrap exports during the specified period were formally carried out mainly to Poland (75.42% of supplies in monetary terms), Greece (10.19%) and Italy (6.65%).
In connection with the sharp growth in exports of strategic raw materials from Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy initiated the introduction of a licensing and quota regime for scrap exports with the establishment of a zero quota volume. The government introduced a zero export quota for 2026 for exports of ferrous metal scrap.
Ukraine’s scrap procurement enterprises in 2024 increased exports of ferrous metal scrap by 60.7% compared with 2023 – to 293,190 tonnes from 182,465 tonnes. In monetary terms, scrap exports over the year grew by 73.2% – to $91.311 million from $52.723 million.
SCRAP_METAL, SERHII_VOVK, VLADYSLAV_KLESHCHYNSKYI, VOLODYMYR_BUBLEI, МИКОЛА_КЛИМОВИЧ
Ukraine’s retail trade turnover in January–May 2026 increased by 9.2% compared to the same period in 2025, according to the State Statistics Service (SSS).
According to its data, in nominal terms, retail trade turnover for the first five months of this year amounted to 1.19 trillion UAH.
Retail trade turnover in May increased by 5.2% compared to April of this year, and by 10.9% year-over-year compared to May 2025.
Derzhstat notes that the turnover of retail trade enterprises (legal entities) in January–May 2026 increased by 9.3% compared to January–May 2025 and amounted to 0.83 trillion hryvnias.
At the same time, retail trade turnover for retail enterprises rose by 5.2% in May compared to April of this year.
According to the statistics agency, retail trade turnover in Ukraine grew by 7.5% in 2025.
The State Statistics Service notes that the data does not include territories temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation or parts of the country where hostilities are (or were) taking place.
ENTERPRISE, RETAIL TRADE, State Statistics Service, TURNOVER, UKRAINE
Carlo Formosa, the Italian Ambassador to Ukraine, met with representatives of Italian companies already operating in Ukraine, as well as with businesses implementing new projects in the country, according to a statement from the Italian Embassy in Ukraine.
“An opportunity to pool experience, contacts, and knowledge, establish new connections, and strengthen Italy’s presence in Ukraine,” the embassy’s Facebook post states.
The event served as a platform for exchanging experience, establishing new contacts, and strengthening cooperation among Italian companies operating in the Ukrainian market.
The embassy noted that the meeting took place following a series of webinars involving over 1,000 Italian companies and was aimed at further strengthening a cohesive and coordinated business community.
Particular attention was paid to the activities of the Italian Business Association (IBA), established several months ago at the embassy’s initiative to enhance the visibility and unifying potential of Italian business in Ukraine.
“The Embassy continues to facilitate dialogue between businesses and institutions, encouraging the exchange of expertise and the coordination of efforts within the ‘System Italy’ to support Italy’s economic presence in Ukraine,” the post states.
