Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga called Kazakhstan a key regional partner of Ukraine and spoke in favor of deepening cooperation in the fields of logistics, energy, and post-war reconstruction, also announcing his intention to launch the “Ukraine + Central Asia” platform.
“It is important for Kazakhstan to remain one of the key suppliers of energy resources in Eurasia, while simultaneously diversifying and modernizing its energy sector. Kazakhstan is also one of the world’s leading producers of uranium, which is a critically important resource for nuclear energy production. This plays an important role in global energy security,” the minister said in an interview with The Times of Central Asia.
Sibiga noted that Ukraine is interested in the participation of Kazakhstani businesses and investors in the country’s reconstruction, as well as in the development of the Middle Corridor as an alternative transport route between Asia and Europe involving Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
Separately, the foreign minister touched on the topic of historical memory and the shared experience of Ukraine and Kazakhstan related to policies of repression and the suppression of national identity.
According to Sibiga, Russia’s strategic goal is to continue a policy that, in his assessment, dates back to the times of the Russian Empire and the Soviet period.
“Russia’s strategic goal is to complete what the Russian Empire began and the Soviet regime failed to finish: the eradication of national identity and the destruction of the very foundation of our existence as a separate nation,” he emphasized.
The minister also noted that Ukraine and Kazakhstan share a common historical memory of language and cultural bans, repression, deportations, and famines.
“Ukraine and Kazakhstan alike remember the tragic chapters of their history: the banning of language and culture, the destruction of the intelligentsia, deportations, repression, and famines. We cannot allow this to happen again,” the foreign minister concluded.
Central Asia, KAZAKHSTAN, MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PARTNER
Insurance Company “Kraina” (Kyiv) will increase its authorized capital to UAH 144.999 million through an additional share issue worth UAH 20 million.
As the company reported in the NSSMC’s disclosure system, this decision was adopted by its shareholders’ meeting on May 7.
An additional 15.504 million ordinary registered shares with an existing par value of UAH 1.29 will be issued.
According to the information, Vyacheslav Suprunenko owns a block of 96.897 million shares of the company, which represents 99.997987% of the total number of shares.
IC “Kraina” has been operating in the Ukrainian insurance market since 1994.
According to the NBU, the company ranked 18th in terms of premiums collected among non-life insurers in Ukraine as of the end of 2025.
DARA, Bulgaria’s representative, won the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 in Vienna, Austria.
According to a correspondent for the “Interfax-Ukraine” agency, the final of the “Eurovision 2026” song contest took place on the night of May 17 in Vienna, Austria, with Bulgaria’s representative, singer DARA, winning with the song “Bangaranga.”
The top five finalists also included Israel, Romania, Australia, and Italy.
Ukrainian singer Leléka, performing the song “Ridnym,” placed 15th with 54 points based on the votes of the national juries of the participating countries. Only the Swiss national jury awarded Ukraine the maximum score of 12 points, while Azerbaijan gave 10 points. After the public vote, Ukraine moved up to 9th place, receiving 167 points from viewers.
In total, performers from 25 countries participated in the contest final: Denmark: Søren Torpegaard Lund – “Før Vi Går Hjem,” Germany (Sarah Engels – “Fire”), Israel: Noam Bettan – “Michelle,” Belgium: ESSYLA – “Dancing on the Ice,” Albania: Alis – Nân, Greece: Akylas – Ferto, Ukraine: Leléka – Ridnym, Australia: Delta Goodrem – Eclipse, Serbia: LAVINA – Kraj mene, Malta: Aidan – Bella, Czech Republic: Daniel Žižka – Crossroads, Bulgaria: DARA – Bangaranga, Croatia: LELEK – Andromeda, United Kingdom: LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER – Eins, Zwei, Drei, France: Monroe – Regarde!, Moldova: Satoshi – Viva, Moldova!, Finland: Linda Lampenius x Pete Parkkonen – Liekinheitin, Poland: ALICJA – Pray, Lithuania: Lion Ceccah – Sólo Quiero Más, Sweden: FELICIA – My System, Cyprus: Antigoni – JALLA, Italy: Sal Da Vinci – Per Sempre Sì, Norway: Jonas Lovv – Ya Ya Ya, Romania: Alexandra Căpitănescu – Choke Me, and Austria: COSMÓ – Tanzschein.
As reported, Austria’s representative, the artist JJ, won the international song contest “Eurovision 2025” in the Swedish city of Basel. Accordingly, the 70th anniversary contest “Eurovision 2026” took place in Vienna (Austria) at the country’s largest indoor arena, the Wiener Stadthalle.
Throughout their participation in Eurovision, Ukraine’s representatives have always advanced to the final and have never finished in last place in the contest.
Ukraine made its debut at Eurovision in 2003, and as early as 2004, Ukrainian singer Ruslana won the contest with the song “Wild Dances,” earning the country the right to host Eurovision in Ukraine.
In 2016, after a one-year hiatus, Ukraine was represented in the contest by singer Jamala with the song “1944,” which won the contest, and in 2017, Ukraine once again hosted Eurovision.
In 2019, Ukraine did not participate in the contest due to public criticism of the winner of the national selection, singer Maruv, over her performance in Russia.
In 2020, Eurovision was not held in its usual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Ukraine was represented at Eurovision by the electro-folk band Go_A, which placed fifth in the contest’s final.
In 2022, the Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra won Eurovision with the song “Stefania,” but due to the war, the United Kingdom hosted Eurovision 2023 on behalf of Ukraine.
In 2023, Ukraine was represented at Eurovision by the band Tvorchi with the song “Heart Of Steel,” which placed sixth.
In 2024, Ukraine was represented at Eurovision by the duo Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil with the song “Teresa & Maria,” which placed third.
In 2025, the band Ziferblat took 9th place at “Eurovision 2025” with the song “Bird Of Pray.”
In total, Ukraine has participated in the “Eurovision” Song Contest more than 20 times and has won three times (Ruslana, Jamala, Kalush Orchestra). Ukraine has also made it to the top five finalists six more times: Verka Serduchka (2nd place), Ani Lorak (2nd), Zlata Ognevich (3rd), Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil (3rd), Mika Newton (4th), and Go_A (5th).
The Zhydachiv Pulp and Paper Mill (ZhCPK, Lviv Oblast) plans to invest approximately UAH 50 million of its own funds in production development in 2026 to improve manufacturing processes in order to reduce production costs, purchase new equipment to expand the product range, and improve product quality.
According to the company’s 2025 financial report, published in the disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), in the near future, the company plans to purchase an automated production line for four-valve corrugated boxes with three-color printing (UAH 46.5 million), as well as an automated packaging line for corrugated products (UAH 8.5 million).
In addition, there are plans to purchase a 500 kW solar power plant (UAH 9.5 million).
The report does not specify the amount of funds invested in development in 2025, but it notes that over the past five years, the plant has purchased fixed assets for production purposes totaling UAH 160.91 million, including machinery and equipment worth UAH 125.3 million.
Most of the funds were invested in 2024 (55.9% of the total investment), while in 2025 – 3% (2021 – 20%, 2022 – 9.5%, 2023 – 11.6%).
According to the report, ZhCPK increased its net profit by 85% in 2025 compared to 2024—to UAH 9.85 million—as net revenue grew by 19.2%—to UAH 524.3 million.
Exports accounted for 2.6% of sales (UAH 13.9 million), specifically to Poland, Moldova, and Latvia.
ZhCPK has an annual production capacity of 40,300 tons of paper (corrugating medium, linerboard, wrapping paper), 50,000 tons of cardboard (boxboard and linerboard for glued cardboard), corrugated cardboard – 100 million square meters, and egg trays – 48 million units per year.
As reported, ZhCPK slightly increased its corrugated packaging output last year to 19.9 million square meters. Packaging board output decreased by 4.4% to 10,400 tons, while wrapping paper output increased by 38.4% to 5,200 tons.
As of the first quarter of 2026, according to the NSSMC, the shareholders include Melfort Trading (21.118%), Hangli International Holdings (20.154%), Halefield Holdings (nearly 12.09%), Grammel Holdings (nearly 10%), as well as the closed-end investment fund “Seventh” LLC “Asset Management Company ”Svarog Asset Management,“ associated with businessman Kostyantyn Hryhorishyn – 17.65%, and FC ”Meridian” – nearly 8.64%.
Based on its performance in January-March of this year, Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Plant (KZRK) saw its net loss increase 4.4-fold compared to the same period last year—to UAH 378.948 million from UAH 85.925 million.
According to KZRK’s interim report, available to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine,” revenue from ordinary activities for this period fell to UAH 135.457 million from UAH 705.526 million.
Retained earnings as of the end of March 2026 amounted to UAH 144.526 million.
In Q1 2026, KZRK reduced iron ore production (sintering and blast furnace) by 4.7 times—to 50,000 tons from 236,000 tons in the first quarter of 2025. Exports accounted for 88.8% of total sales (89.11%).
Approved production capacity for iron ore mining as of the first quarter of 2026 is 269,000 tons (483,000 tons in Q1 2025 tons), while actual raw ore production amounted to 68.2 thousand tons (294.3 thousand tons). Capacity utilization in the first quarter of 2026 was 25.3% (60% in the first quarter of 2025).
Major customers (accounting for more than 5% of total revenue) in the first quarter of 2026 were U. S. Steel Košice, s.r.o., Lentimex spol.s.r.o., KIZARA GROUP LTD, and METINVEST HOLDING LLC. KZRK’s products are sold on domestic and foreign markets (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, and Austria).
For 2026, the company plans to produce 3 million tons of commercial products with an average iron content of 56.86%.
In the first quarter of 2026, the company did not attract external investments or credit funds; business operations were financed using its own funds. The company’s capital expenditures for the first quarter of 2026 amounted to UAH 25.422 million (compared to UAH 48.343 million in the first quarter of 2025).
According to the interim report for the fourth quarter of 2025, due to the inability to maintain wages at the level of comparable enterprises—a situation compounded since 2025 by the inability to pay wages on time and in full—1,375 employees left the company in 2025. The current number of production-category employees is insufficient to maintain core production processes. To halt the exodus of personnel, the company must fully fund the repayment of wage arrears, ensure their timely payment, and provide a competitive salary
The report for Q1 2026 notes that despite the difficult situation with the sale of finished products due to the ongoing aggression by the Russian Federation, work is currently continuing at the plant’s mines on the construction of the following levels: “Ternivska” level – 1,500 m, “Kozatska” – 1,500 m level, ‘Pokrovska’ mine – 1,415 m level, “Kryvorizka” mine – 1,465 m level.
As reported, KZRK increased its net loss by 3.2 times in the first nine months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024—to 1.487217 billion UAH, while net revenue for this period decreased by 41.6%—to 1.601822 billion UAH.
The annual report for 2025 has not yet been published.
KZRK ended 2024 with a net loss of 2.14015 billion UAH, while in 2023 it amounted to 63.411 million UAH. Net revenue in 2024 amounted to UAH 3.443 billion, compared to UAH 5.578 billion in 2023.
In 2024, the plant produced 1.693 million tons of raw ore; the volume of marketable ore was 1.370 million tons. The plan for 2025 is 4.385 million tons of raw ore and 3.6 million tons of marketable ore.
As reported, on May 23, 2025, TViy Energosupply LLC (Kyiv) filed a petition with the Commercial Court of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against KZRK due to unpaid bills for electricity consumption. The Commercial Court of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast ruled to open bankruptcy proceedings against KZRK on June 9 of this year.
KZRK specializes in underground iron ore mining. It comprises four mines: “Pokrovska” (formerly “Zhovtneva”), the “Kryvyi Rih” mine (“Batkivshchyna”), “Kozatska” (formerly ‘Hvardiyiska’), and “Ternivska” (formerly the Ordzhonikidze Ore Administration, later named after Lenin).
According to the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) data for the fourth quarter of 2025, the main shareholder of KZRK is Starmill Limited (Cyprus), which owns 99.8812% of its shares. Operational control of the plant was exercised by the Privat Group prior to the initiation of bankruptcy proceedings.
In May 2023, Ukraine imposed sanctions against dozens of foreign companies linked to Russian individuals that own significant assets in Ukraine, including KZRK. Some of these assets had already been seized, but the sanctions paved the way for their confiscation. The corresponding Presidential Decree No. 279 of May 12 was published on the President’s website. In particular, the list of legal entities includes Starmill Limited, which owns 99.89% of KZRK under the operational control of the Privat Group.
The company’s authorized capital is 1 billion 991.233 million UAH.
Dynamics of export of goods in January-December 2025 by the most important items in relation to the same period of 2024, %
