How Ukrainians are leaving and returning
The State Border Service recorded over 16.4 million border crossings (total departures and returns) in the first half of 2025. 85% of border crossings were made by Ukrainians. 250,000 citizens who crossed the border this year did not return to Ukraine. This is 1.6 times less than in the same period last year.
16.47 million border crossings were recorded in the first six months of 2025. This is 4% more than in the same period last year. The vast majority of crossings — 85%, or 14.08 million — were made by Ukrainians. It should be noted that these are official border crossings — cases of “swimming across the Tisa” or leaving through temporarily occupied territories cannot be reliably tracked.
7.17 million citizens left Ukraine between January and June, while 6.92 million returned. Thus, this year, 250,000 more people left the country than returned. However, this is 1.6 times less than in the same period last year, when the difference was 404,000. In total, more than 3 million citizens have left since the start of the full-scale war and have not returned.
On average, Ukrainians cross the border 2.35 million times per month. The lowest number was in February (1.78 million), and the highest was in June (3.13 million). June, July, and August are traditionally peak months, accounting for a third of all border crossings during the year.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/ukrainians-emigration-trend-2025
In 2024, the mining and metallurgical group Metinvest increased its spending on environmental projects by 2% compared to 2023, to $170.5 million.
According to NV Business, citing the group’s press service, capital investments in environmental projects reached $39.8 million, current expenditures amounted to $129.1 million, and other expenditures amounted to $1.5 million.
As noted, further integration into EU markets, where the “green agenda” dominates, is encouraging Ukrainian businesses to invest in reducing harmful emissions and saving energy resources despite the war.
Environmental investments in Ukraine are concentrated in several main areas: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, optimizing energy consumption, introducing renewable energy, modernizing equipment, and improving water treatment. These initiatives are driven by the need to comply with European legislation, in particular systems such as MRV (monitoring, reporting, and verification), CBAM (cross-border carbon adjustment mechanism), ESRS (sustainable development reporting standards), and ETS (emissions trading system). For every company that is ready to supply its products to the EU and integrate into the European community, this terminology translates into investments in environmental projects.
In particular, companies that pollute the air and consume a lot of electricity and natural gas are forced to address the issue of production modernization. For example, some Metinvest companies are optimizing their energy consumption and gradually switching to alternative energy sources. For example, at the Northern and Central GOKs, natural gas has been partially replaced by biofuel (sunflower husks), which is already contributing to a reduction in CO₂ emissions.
The Group is implementing CO₂ emission management systems such as MRV, CBAM, ESRS, and ETS. These systems enable us not only to comply with European standards, but also to optimize production processes, reducing fuel and energy costs. Compliance with these systems is expected to not only reduce the environmental impact but also provide economic benefits: lower energy costs, increased production efficiency, and the ability to export to the EU without interruption.
Environmental initiatives enable companies to not only reduce their impact on the environment, but also save money. The use of alternative energy sources, such as biofuels, reduces energy costs, while monitoring systems such as MRV and ETS provide tools for analyzing efficiency and making management decisions.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical companies. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine, in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions, as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The main shareholders of the holding are the SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the managing company of the Metinvest Group.
The state-owned Ukreximbank (Kyiv) provided a UAH 135 million loan to Eco-Sfera, a natural juice producer from Vinnytsia region, half of which is covered by a state guarantee.
According to the bank’s website, the loan was issued in the form of a tranche credit line with the use of a state risk-sharing mechanism, with 50% of the limit secured by a state portfolio guarantee.
The funds will be used for seasonal accumulation of raw materials, which will enable the company to increase production during peak periods and strengthen the market presence of its brands both in the regions and at the national level.
According to the NBU, as of April 2025, Ukreximbank ranked third (UAH 311.8 billion) among 60 operating banks in terms of total assets.
Bonds of the international financial service NovaPay (TM NovaPay, issued by NovaPay Credit LLC) were purchased by 5,900 Ukrainians for a total amount of UAH 1.7 billion, the company announced on Tuesday. On May 8, it reported that as of April, there were more than 4,800 investors with a total investment of over UAH 1.3 billion.
According to NovaPay’s press release on Tuesday, 80% of purchases in the app are investments of up to UAH 50,000.
In early March this year, the company reported that about 4,300 Ukrainians had purchased its bonds for a total of about UAH 1.2 billion, while at the beginning of the year it reported more than 3,000 customers and UAH 740 million, and in mid-October 2024 – about 2,600 customers and UAH 600 million.
As reported, in 2023, NovaPay made three public issues of interest-bearing bonds of series “A”, “B” and “C”, and last year issued six more series of bonds – “D”, “E”, “F”, “G”, ‘H’ and “I”, and this year – another series “J”, all worth UAH 100 million. This year, the company also decided to issue two more series – ‘K’ and “L” with a total nominal value of UAH 100 million. Traditionally, the funds raised are planned to be used for lending operations to individuals and legal entities – 80% and 20%, respectively.
Securities of all series, except for “B” and “I,” are used for repo operations as an alternative to bank deposits, They are available for purchase in the NovaPay mobile app, while bonds of series “B” and “I” are offered for sale to institutional clients, with interest income paid quarterly.
According to the prospectuses, the bonds of the last four series were issued for three years. The nominal interest rate on them is 17% per annum, while for the previous three it was 18%.
According to the prospectus, NovaPay Credit plans to increase its interest income to UAH 802.1 million this year and to UAH 1 billion 515.1 million next year, and to receive UAH 518.9 million and UAH 1 billion 30.6 million in net profit, respectively.
Last year, the company’s net profit grew to UAH 89.2 million from UAH 40.3 million a year earlier, with revenue increasing to UAH 285.6 million from UAH 95.6 million.
In January-June 2025, the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” signed over 800 contracts through the Prozorro system for the harvesting of 5 million cubic meters of timber worth UAH 2.1 billion, the company’s press service reported on Telegram.
“Harvesting services account for the largest share of the company’s purchases. Traditionally, they were purchased under direct contracts. Last year, Forests of Ukraine began creating a transparent, open, and civilized timber harvesting market,” the state-owned company emphasized.
Lisy Ukrainy reminded that a number of entrepreneurs who were not used to working openly and did not accept the mechanism of public tenders resisted the reforms, but the procurement was successfully transferred to Prozorro. The state-owned enterprise demonstrated to businesses the advantages of concluding agreements through transparent, competitive auctions.
“The result is that thousands of workers are officially employed, contractors pay taxes to local budgets. There are more opportunities to monitor compliance with safety and working conditions. The opportunities for manipulation have been minimized—all contracts are published,” emphasized Lesy Ukrainy, adding that the formation of an efficient and competitive timber market is a guarantee that the company will fulfill its obligations to wood processors regarding timely deliveries of timber.
Construction of the Kvartal City shopping and entertainment center has begun at 313 Shevchenko Street in Lviv. The opening is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2027, according to the website of the consulting company Retail&Development Advisor (RDA), which is the exclusive broker for the property.
According to RDA project manager Alina Abramtseva, Kvartal City will be a multifunctional space for the daily needs and leisure of the community, a place for shopping with international and national fashion operators, children’s markets, electronics stores, perfumes, cosmetics, etc.
The property is located directly on the M10 international highway, which connects Lviv with Krakivets on the Polish border. The Lviv ring road is also nearby.
The Kvartal City shopping and entertainment center will have three floors with a total area of almost 50,000 square meters and 20,000 square meters of leasable space. The complex will accommodate 75 stores. There will be an entertainment area for children, a cinema, a large food court and restaurants (2,000 square meters), and, of course, a shopping area with international and national fashion retailers, children’s markets, electronics stores, perfumes, cosmetics, etc.,” Abramtseva said.
An underground parking lot with an area of 8,900 square meters and a multi-level parking lot with an area of 14,600 square meters are planned, with a total of 523 parking spaces.
All the necessary documents for the construction of the shopping and entertainment center have been finalized, preparatory work has been carried out on the site, and construction of the complex will begin in September this year.
