The International Soft Skills Summit 2026, dedicated to the development of individuals, teams, and organizations in the context of the spread of artificial intelligence, will take place September 12–14 in a hybrid format and will bring together over 70 Ukrainian and international experts.
According to the event organizers, the first day of the summit will take place in person in Kyiv with an online livestream, while the remaining two days will be held online. More than 5,000 people are expected to participate.
The summit will also feature the inaugural Soft Skills Summit Awards 2026—a professional award for corporate programs in the areas of leadership development, talent development, team development, corporate culture, and soft skills.
According to the organizers, the Soft Skills Summit program is structured around three levels of development: the individual, the team, and the organization.
On September 12, the program will focus on individual development. On this day in Kyiv, there will be presentations on the main stage, panel discussions, hands-on Soft Skills Hubs, a Mindfulness Zone, an EXPO, Guided Speed Networking, and the awards ceremony for the winners of the Soft Skills Summit Awards 2026.
On September 13, the online program will focus on team development, communication, psychological safety, and modern approaches to leadership.
On September 14, participants will discuss corporate culture, talent and change management, organizational effectiveness, and corporate transformation driven by artificial intelligence.
“Today, a company’s competitive advantage is determined not only by technology. It is determined by people—their ability to think, interact, learn, and lead others through change. That is why we created the Soft Skills Summit—a platform that brings together global expertise and Ukrainian experience to help people, teams, and organizations prepare for the future,” said Ihor Lukianenko and Nataliia Novhorodska, co-founders of UpPro School and the Soft Skills Summit.
The organizers note that the development of soft skills is becoming increasingly important amid the spread of artificial intelligence technologies and changing labor market demands.
According to a World Economic Forum forecast, approximately 39% of the professional skills required for work will change by 2030. Among the competencies expected to grow in importance the fastest are analytical thinking, resilience, adaptability, creativity, leadership, and social influence.
For Ukraine, the relevance of this issue is also linked to labor shortages, the integration of veterans and internally displaced persons into the labor market, the potential return of Ukrainians from abroad, the need to develop management teams, and the implementation of AI tools in business processes.
Among the announced speakers for the Soft Skills Summit 2026 are Andriy Fedoriv, founder of Fedoriv Group; Richard E. Boyatzis (U.S.), communications expert and TED speaker Julian Treasure (UK), SoftServe’s Senior Vice President of HR Renta Delporte, Advanter Group Chairman Andriy Dligach, PwC Ukraine Academy Leader Iryna Blinova, business consultant Frank Pucelik (U.S.), Shola Kaye (UK), an expert in communications and People-First culture, and Chen Lizra (Canada), a somatic transformational coach and TED speaker.
The full program and information on participation are available on the Soft Skills Summit 2026 website.
The summit is aimed at business owners, CEOs, team leaders, HR and L&D professionals, business trainers, coaches, psychologists, consultants, and other specialists working in the field of people and organizational development.
As part of the Soft Skills Summit Awards 2026, the best programs will be recognized in five categories: leadership development, talent development, team and corporate culture development, mental health support, and innovation in soft skills training and development.
Projects will be evaluated using a unified methodology developed by the UpPro School Analytical Center in collaboration with the non-governmental organization “Independent Association of Psychology and Coaching” and an independent panel of experts. The organizers state that the main criteria will be the program’s professional value, the quality of its implementation, and its actual impact, regardless of the company’s size.
Detailed information about the award and the terms of participation is available on the Soft Skills Summit Awards 2026 page.
The summit is organized by UpPro School—an international educational center for training and professional development of psychologists, HR and L&D specialists, managers, and other professionals working in the field of people, team, and organizational development. According to the organizers, UpPro School is an accredited CPD provider in the United Kingdom; over 150,000 participants have taken part in the center’s educational events, and more than 8,000 students have completed professional training.
For “Open4Business” readers, the promo code Open4Business is available, offering a 10% discount on tickets to the Soft Skills Summit 2026. The promo code is valid through September 11, 2026.
For partnership inquiries, contact Svitlana Chaurova at partnerships@softskills-summit.com.
Open4Business is the official media partner of the event
Ukrainian defense startup Swarmer, which went public on the Nasdaq in March of this year (ticker SWMR), reported in its financial statement that in the second quarter of 2026, its net loss increased from $1.6 million in the same period of 2025 to $7.3 million, while revenue rose from $138,200 to $216,000.
“The second quarter of 2026 was our first full quarter as a public company and a period of significant progress across all areas of our business. We successfully attracted new customers and made progress in implementing projects to deploy our solutions on various unmanned platforms, while continuing to invest in the team and technologies necessary to ensure future growth,” the press release quotes company co-founder Alex Fink as saying.
According to the report, the company’s gross profit for the second quarter of 2026 was $183,600, compared to $82,000 in April–June 2025. This growth was primarily driven by licensing revenue recognized under the SkyKnight program.
It is noted that Swarmer’s operating expenses for this reporting period totaled $7.5 million, compared to $854,800 a year ago.
“This increase is primarily due to investments in personnel, engineering development, product creation, and platform integration capabilities, as well as higher expenses for consulting, legal, and professional services related to the company’s operations as a public entity,” the company noted.
Operating expenses for the second quarter of 2026 also included, among other things, approximately $1.2 million in non-cash stock-based compensation expenses and certain one-time expenses for equipment purchases, which are not expected to recur on a regular basis.
The report added that during the second quarter of this year, the company billed drone manufacturer SkyKnight $1.5 million. Specifically, $0.2 million was recognized as revenue, $0.1 million was recorded as deferred revenue, and the remaining amount was recorded as an advance payment on the balance sheet.
The company noted that as of the end of June 2026, cash and cash equivalents had increased to $25.3 million from $9.3 million as of December 31, 2025.
Swarmer explains that this growth was driven by approximately $16 million raised from its initial public offering (IPO), $8.8 million raised under a share-for-equity financing facility, and $3.5 million from the sale of Series A-1 convertible preferred shares.
In April–June of this year, Swarmer also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the technology company Autonomous Power Corporation (Powerus) to explore the potential integration of Swarmer’s battle-proven software with Powerus’s autonomous aerial and maritime platforms.
The company’s core areas of activity include autonomous swarm coordination, integration of multi-domain unmanned systems, AI-based collaborative autonomy, and software for commanding and controlling distributed robotic operations, according to the press release. In addition, the company’s clients include drone manufacturers that license Swarmer’s software for integration with their hardware platforms.
As previously reported, Swarmer posted a net loss of $4.5 million for January–March 2026, compared to $0.7 million for the same period in 2025. Revenue fell to $20,300 from $110,700, while operating expenses rose to $4.5 million from $0.8 million.
The company was founded by Serhiy Kuprienko and Alex Fink in May 2023. Its registered headquarters and marketing and sales office are in Austin, Texas, USA, while its engineering divisions are split between offices in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Warsaw, Poland. The company’s holding structure includes “subsidiary” companies in Ukraine, Poland, and Estonia.
Prior to the IPO, Kuprienko held a 27.4% stake and Fink held 15.1%, while other shareholders included Theseus Capital Partners—where Philip Wagenheim, a member of the board of directors, serves as managing partner—with 22%, D3 Fund (Evelyn Buchacki) with 10.1%, RG.AI Technologies, led by Charles Eberle von Sexi, held 14%, Green Flag Fund I held 5.3%, and Radius Fund I held 6.9%
Swarmer’s revenue in 2025 fell to $0.31 million from $0.33 million a year earlier, while its net loss increased to $8.53 million from $2.07 million.
Starting August 12, 2026, Ukrainian companies exporting packaged goods to European Union countries must comply with the new uniform European packaging requirements set forth in EU Regulation 2025/40 on packaging and packaging waste—the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).
The new rules apply not only to manufacturers from EU countries. The European Commission explicitly states that the regulation applies to all packaging placed on the EU market, regardless of material or origin. Thus, the requirements also apply to goods from Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, China, and other third countries.
The regulation entered into force on February 11, 2025, but its main provisions began to apply on August 12, 2026. It replaced the European directive on packaging and packaging waste, which had been in effect for over 30 years.
For Ukrainian businesses, this primarily affects manufacturers of food and beverages, cosmetics, household chemicals, consumer and industrial goods, as well as e-commerce companies that ship packaged products to customers in the EU.
The new regulations establish requirements for the composition and safety of packaging materials, the reduction of excessive packaging, and the potential for reuse and recycling. Manufacturers must assess the packaging’s compliance with the established requirements and issue an EU Declaration of Conformity.
For shipments from Ukraine, direct legal responsibility for placing imported goods on the European market often lies with an importer registered in the EU. According to the regulation, an importer is a company or individual located in the European Union that places packaging or packaged goods from a third country on the EU market. With regard to imported products, the importer is responsible for verifying compliance with established requirements.
However, this does not mean that Ukrainian manufacturers will not have to make any changes. In practice, the European importer will need to obtain from the supplier information on the packaging’s composition, confirmation of its compliance with requirements, and technical documentation. If a Ukrainian company is unable to provide these documents or if the packaging does not comply with the PPWR, the European partner will not be able to properly place such goods on the EU market.
One of the requirements, which will take effect as of August 12, 2026, concerns packaging that comes into contact with food. It must not contain PFAS—so-called “forever chemicals”—in concentrations exceeding the limits set by the Regulation.
At the same time, some of the widely discussed PPWR requirements are being phased in gradually.
For example, the requirement to ensure that all packaging is recyclable is set for 2030, and the new unified labeling rules will also be introduced later. Therefore, it would be incorrect to claim that, as of August 12, 2026, companies are already required to comply with absolutely all future PPWR standards.
For Ukrainian exporters, the practical significance of the reform is that packaging compliance is gradually becoming just as much a prerequisite for access to the EU market as the safety and quality requirements for the product itself. Companies in the food, light industry, chemical, and FMCG sectors, as well as manufacturers producing under the private labels of European retail chains, should pay particular attention to their packaging.
On August 3, 2026, the European Commission additionally published updated guidance for businesses on the application of the PPWR, while the general effective date for the main provisions of the regulation was set for August 12.
Source: EU Regulation 2025/40 and the European Commission’s guidance on the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.
In 2025, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine resumed imposing administrative fines for violations related to the submission of statistical reports, after no such resolutions were issued in 2023 or 2024.
According to Opendatabot, in 2025, the State Statistics Service issued 30 rulings totaling 5,100 UAH. By comparison, there were 21 such rulings in 2022, and none in 2023–2024.
The refund of fines is linked to the reinstatement of mandatory statistical and financial reporting. The State Statistics Service officially announced that, as of July 5, 2025, reporting once again became mandatory for enterprises, institutions, organizations, and entrepreneurs included in state statistical surveys.
Companies that took advantage of wartime exemptions and failed to submit the required information in 2022–2025 were required to file their backlog of reports within three months—by October 5, 2025. At the same time, the regular deadlines for submitting current reports were reinstated.
However, the practice of imposing fines in 2025 proved to be extremely uneven. All 30 resolutions were issued in just five regions: respondents in Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia, and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblasts received eight each; those in Mykolaiv Oblast received five; and one was issued in Luhansk Oblast.
Administrative liability applies for failure to provide statistical data, missing deadlines, or submitting inaccurate or incomplete information. According to Opendatabot, the fine for officials and sole proprietors ranges from 170 to 255 UAH, and may be higher in the event of a repeat violation.
In 2026, the reporting obligation remains in effect. The State Statistics Service has published a separate reporting calendar for 2026 and allows companies to review the required forms via the “My Reporting” service.
Source: Opendatabot, published on August 14, 2026; State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
ENTERPRISE, FINE, REPORTING, State Statistics Service, STATISTICS
PJSC “Chernivtsi Oil and Fat Plant” (COFP), part of the Vioil Group, reduced its net loss by 47.9% in January–June 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, bringing it down to 48.8 million UAH.
According to the company’s disclosure in the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) reporting system, its net revenue from product sales for the first half of the year increased by 33.9% to 319.6 million UAH.
According to the financial statements, in January–June of this year, the company recorded a gross profit of 0.5 million UAH, compared to a gross loss of 40.9 million UAH for the same period last year, while the operating loss decreased by 46.8% to 49.1 million UAH.
The document notes that in the second quarter, the Chornomorsk Oil and extraction complex, increasing its capacity to 1,800 metric tons per day of sunflower seeds, compared to the current capacity of 500 metric tons per day. Work has already been completed on developing a feasibility study, including visualizations, for this construction project.
In addition, a project was developed to modernize the DKVR -20-13 boiler has been developed to reduce the burning of hulls, and equipment has been procured to implement a scheme for granulating oilcake prior to extraction, with the aim of increasing the oil extraction unit’s capacity and reducing costs by lowering the oil content of the meal.
As noted in the report, by the end of the second quarter of 2026, 12.29 thousand metric tons of sunflower seeds and 5.93 thousand metric tons of soybeans had been processed; production volumes of unrefined sunflower oil totaled 5.47 thousand metric tons; crude soybean oil production was 1.38 thousand metric tons, sunflower meal production was 4.82 thousand metric tons, and soybean meal production was 4.49 thousand metric tons. Production of refined and deodorized sunflower oil totaled 0.05 thousand metric tons.
It is noted that the capacity utilization rate of the oil extraction plant for the second quarter of 2026 was 52.15%, that of the oil refining shop was 0.92%, and 0.86 thousand metric tons of granulated sunflower hulls were produced. Part of the hulls is burned in the plant’s boiler room; the steam generated is used to power the plant’s production processes and to heat the facilities. During the reporting period, 6.01 thousand Gcal of thermal energy were generated.
As of June 30, 2026, the plant had 1.2 million UAH in its accounts, compared to 8.3 million UAH at the beginning of the year. At the same time, the enterprise had no bank loans—neither long-term nor short-term.
The ChozhK complex includes an oil extraction shop with a capacity of 500 metric tons of sunflower seeds per day (actually processing 470–490 metric tons per day), seed storage facilities for 7,500 metric tons, and metal silos for 2,400 metric tons, a 2,000-metric-ton meal elevator; a hull pelletizing section with a capacity of up to 45 metric tons per day; and oil storage tanks with a capacity of up to 5,000 cubic meters.
The average number of employees at the plant in the first half of 2026 was 313.
The company is part of the “Vioil” industrial group—one of Ukraine’s leading producers of sunflower oil.
In 2025, ChOZhK reported revenue of 768.4 million UAH, which is 51.2% less than in 2024, and a net loss of 144.1 million UAH, compared to a net profit of 14.3 million UAH a year earlier.
OIL, PROCESSING, SUNFLOWER, VIOIL, ЧОЖК
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has raised its forecast for U.S. corn exports in the 2026/27 season amid ongoing supply constraints from Ukraine.
In the August World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, released on August 12, the forecast for U.S. corn exports was raised by 75 million bushels to 3.3 billion bushels, or approximately 83.8 million metric tons. Compared to the July estimate, the increase amounts to about 1.9 million metric tons, or 2.3%.
The USDA explicitly attributes the increase in the U.S. export forecast to rising global demand and limited export capacity from Ukraine.
At the same time, the agency lowered its forecast for Ukrainian corn exports in the 2026/27 marketing year by 1 million metric tons—from 23 million to 22 million metric tons. Meanwhile, the estimate for Ukraine’s corn harvest itself, on the contrary, was increased by 1.8 million metric tons—from 30 million to 31.8 million metric tons.
Thus, Ukraine may harvest more corn than the USDA expected just a month ago, but a smaller portion of the harvest will be able to reach foreign markets.
As a result, the forecast for Ukraine’s ending corn stocks has been increased from 2.06 million to 4.86 million metric tons—more than 2.3 times the previous figure. At the same time, the USDA left its forecast for domestic consumption virtually unchanged.
The situation on the global market is different. The USDA raised its forecast for global corn trade in the 2026/27 season by 0.6 million metric tons—from 209.88 million to 210.48 million metric tons.
The United States is the main source of this additional supply. At the same time, the USDA lowered its export forecast not only for Ukraine but also for the European Union.
The U.S. agency also raised its forecast for EU corn imports, while estimates for purchases by China and Turkey were lowered.
The growth in U.S. exports is occurring against the backdrop of a virtually unchanged forecast for U.S. corn production. The harvest is expected to reach about 16 billion bushels and could be the second-largest in the country’s history. However, the increase in export demand will lead to a reduction in U.S. ending stocks by 137 million bushels—to 1.7 billion bushels.
The USDA also raised its forecast for the average corn price for U.S. farmers by $0.10 to $4.50 per bushel.
Consequently, difficulties with Ukrainian corn exports are already beginning to shift the global market in favor of competing suppliers. The U.S. stands to increase shipments by nearly 2 million metric tons compared to the previous forecast, while Ukraine risks accumulating significant additional domestic stockpiles.
