The farms of the KSG Agro agricultural holding have begun harvesting sunflowers, which cover more than 5,800 hectares this year; work has already been completed on approximately 29% of the planted area, the agricultural holding’s press service reported.
“Our main task now is to make the most efficient use of every weather window for harvesting. Precipitation has somewhat slowed down the pace of work, so we are closely monitoring the condition of the crops and the readiness of each field for threshing,” said Vitaliy Nekhay, head of the crop production division.
According to him, the sunflower ripening period was accompanied by rainfall, with a total accumulation of 5–7 mm in some fields. As a result, the natural drying of the plants is proceeding more slowly, which affects the ability to deploy machinery to the fields promptly.
To accelerate and standardize sunflower ripening across an area of approximately 400 hectares on KSG Agro’s farms, pre-harvest desiccation was carried out—a measure that speeds up and standardizes the drying of plants before harvest.
According to preliminary estimates by agronomists, the oil content of sunflower seeds is currently slightly lower than expected, at 44–48%. Final harvest quality indicators will be determined after harvesting is complete and laboratory analyses have been conducted.
The harvested sunflowers are sent to elevators, a processing plant, and the agricultural holding’s storage facilities.
AGRICULTURAL HOLDING, HARVEST, harvest season, KSG AGRO, SUNFLOWER
The insurance company “Knyazha Life Vienna Insurance Group” (Kyiv) collected 25.2 million UAH in insurance premiums from January through June 2026, which is 7.32% less than in the same period of 2025.
This was reported by the rating agency “Standard-Rating” on its website in an announcement confirming the company’s financial stability rating/credit rating at the “uaAA+” level based on the results of the reporting period.
It is noted that the insurer’s total insurance payments and claims settlements amounted to 23.986 million UAH, which was 57.97% higher than the amount of payments for the same period in 2025. Thus, the payout ratio rose to 95.10%.
The insurer’s acquisition costs for the first half of 2026 totaled 0.324 million UAH, which is 30.47% less than in the first half of 2025. Net profit amounted to 25.613 million UAH, whereas the insurer had reported a loss for the corresponding period in 2025.
As of July 1, 2026, the company’s assets grew by 5.92% to 1.060 billion UAH, equity by 9.48% to 324.824 million UAH, and liabilities by 4.42% to 735.353 million UAH, while cash and cash equivalents decreased by 23.05% to 6.813 million UAH, and government bonds and bank deposits—as part of current financial investments—increased by 6.88% to 1.028 billion UAH.
Thus, as of the beginning of the second half of 2026, the equity of IC “Knyazha Life Vienna Insurance Group” covered 44.17% of its liabilities, and 0.93% of liabilities were secured by cash and cash equivalents.
The RA also reports that as of the reporting date, the insurer had formed a portfolio of current financial investments totaling 1.028 billion UAH, which included bank deposits and investments in government bonds. Thus, liquid assets (cash and cash equivalents, bank deposits, and government bonds) exceeded the insurer’s liabilities by a factor of 1.41.
The RA notes that the company’s high level of external support is provided by its shareholder—the international insurance group Vienna Insurance Group Wiener Städtische Versicherung AG, headquartered in Austria, which is represented by 50 companies in 30 countries and is a leader in the insurance market of Central and Eastern Europe.
From September 1 to 9, Ukraine exported 630,000 metric tons of grains, oilseeds, and products derived from them, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky said at a briefing on Friday.
“From September 1 to 9, 630,000 metric tons of grains, oilseeds, and their processed products were exported. As of today, this represents 40% of what we could have exported. We ended August at 33%. Our forecast remains unchanged—to reach 50% of the target for September–October,” Vysotsky said.
According to him, 380,000 metric tons of grains were exported (35% of demand), 94,000 metric tons of oilseeds (64%), 97,000 metric tons of oil (66%), and 60,000 metric tons of meal (33%).
Vysotsky noted that compared to 2025, exports of grains, oilseeds, and their processed products have decreased by 60%.
DTEK invested 101.7 billion hryvnia in Ukraine’s energy sector from 2022 to 2025, the energy holding company announced on Thursday.
“We are restoring facilities destroyed by the enemy, building new capacity, and bringing global technology and financial partners on board for Ukrainian projects,” the statement said.
In total, Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM Group, which includes DTEK, has invested more than $4.3 billion in Ukraine since the start of the war, of which approximately $1 billion has gone toward restoring facilities destroyed by Russia.
SCM is now launching the global “Invest in Ukraine” initiative, calling on the international business community to invest in Ukraine today, without waiting for the war to end.
“Millions of people will see its message: Shakhtar will play the group stage of the 2026–27 Champions League in jerseys bearing the ‘Invest in Ukraine’ slogan,” DTEK reported.
Ukraine needs investments, new projects, and international partners right now, the energy holding company emphasized.
DTEK, ENERGY, INVESTMENT, SCM, UKRAINE
Ukraine’s State Financial Monitoring Service is drawing the attention of banks and international businesses to a significant increase in sanctions risks in connection with the U.S.-led Operation Economic Outcast, which aims to financially and economically isolate Iran, said Philip Pronin, head of the State Financial Monitoring Service.
According to him, the new U.S. sanctions policy extends the risks not only to Iranian companies and citizens directly, but also to foreign banks, financial companies, cryptocurrency platforms, traders, carriers, and other intermediaries that are directly or indirectly involved in facilitating transactions related to Iran.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury officially announced the launch of Operation Economic Outcast on August 24, 2026. As part of the first phase, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on nearly 60 companies, individuals, and vessels in various jurisdictions. The restrictions targeted entities that, according to U.S. authorities, were involved in procuring technology for Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, cyber operations, and generating revenue from oil trade.
The international networks identified by the U.S. included brokers, companies, and “shadow fleet” vessels operating in the UAE, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Switzerland, European countries, and other jurisdictions. The U.S. Treasury Department stated that it would pay particular attention to the use of third countries to circumvent sanctions.
At the same time, OFAC significantly expanded, for the first time, its ability to impose secondary sanctions across five sectors of the Iranian economy—digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping. Foreign individuals and companies operating in these sectors or providing services to them now face the risk of sanctions.
“Any entity that facilitates money laundering or sanctions evasion on behalf of Iran risks being cut off from the U.S. financial system,” states the U.S. Treasury Department’s position, as noted by Pronin.
According to the head of the State Financial Monitoring Service, transactions with intermediary companies from third countries, entities with opaque ownership structures, cryptoassets and exchange services, alternative payment channels, “shadow fleet” vessels, as well as payments for goods and technologies where the ultimate recipient may be an Iranian entity.
At the same time, sanctions risk may arise even in the absence of a company’s direct relationship with Iran—through a counterparty, correspondent bank, carrier, beneficial owner, or final recipient of the goods.
Under these circumstances, the State Financial Monitoring Service recommends strengthening sanctions screening of counterparties and their beneficiaries, analyzing the origin and destination of payments, verifying banks and payment intermediaries, monitoring the end users of goods and technologies, and monitoring transactions involving digital assets.
The United States continues to expand Operation Economic Outcast. On September 10, OFAC tightened its licensing policy regarding transactions with Iran, establishing a presumption of denial for special licenses except in a limited number of cases, and imposed new sanctions against networks linked to Iran-backed entities.
In addition, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the administration is preparing sanctions against another major, as-yet-unnamed bank as part of efforts to increase financial pressure on Tehran.
Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ranks first in Ukraine in terms of the number of sole proprietors working in the retail sector—as of early September 2026, 46,400 such sole proprietors were registered in the region, according to data from Opendatabot and its analysis by the Experts Club think tank.
In second place is the Odesa region with 44,500 entrepreneurs, followed by Kyiv with 43,900. Next are the Lviv region with 40,700 and the Kharkiv region with 40,600.
The top five regions are as follows:
1 Dnipropetrovsk region 46,400
2 Odesa Oblast 44,500
3 Kyiv 43,900
4 Lviv Oblast 40,700
5 Kharkiv Oblast 40,600
Collectively, these five regions alone account for about 216,000 entrepreneurs, or roughly one-third of all sole proprietors in the Ukrainian retail sector.
Nationwide, there are 659,090 sole proprietors working in the retail sector. The most common types of retail are sales in non-specialized stores—208,000 entrepreneurs—sales at markets and from stalls—159,900—and off-premises sales, including online—107,400.
In 2026, the number of entrepreneurs in the retail sector is growing again. Over the course of eight months, 8,196 more sole proprietorships were registered than were closed, whereas in 2025 the sector showed negative growth.
Source: Opendatabot study dated September 11, 2026. Opendatabot — regional structure of sole proprietorships in retail trade
