According to Serbian Economist, Serbia may decide on the location and technology for its future nuclear power plant in 2027, said Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Jedović-Handanović. According to her, the country has already entered the first phase of developing its nuclear program and has corrected a “historic mistake” by lifting the ban on considering nuclear energy.
The minister stated that an analysis is currently underway to determine where and how a nuclear facility could be integrated into Serbia’s power grid. A preliminary study has already examined possible options for connecting the future nuclear power plant to the grid, and next year the authorities expect to reach a decision on the site and technology.
Serbia views nuclear energy as part of a long-term response to rising electricity consumption, decarbonization, and the need for stable baseload generation. Serbia’s first nuclear power plant could be connected to the grid by 2040, and the country aims to become part of the global “nuclear renaissance.”
Authorities expect to complete the initial stages of preparation for construction by 2032. This involves not only selecting a site and technology but also establishing a regulatory framework, training personnel, forming a national organization to implement the nuclear program, assessing financing, and engaging with public opinion.
For Serbia, nuclear energy is becoming part of a broader discussion about the future structure of its energy mix. The country remains heavily dependent on coal-fired generation, while simultaneously developing solar and wind projects, battery storage, and gas infrastructure. However, for energy-intensive industries, data centers, artificial intelligence, and the future electrification of transportation, the authorities consider it necessary to have a stable source of baseload power.
Serbia’s most likely international partners for its nuclear program could be France, Russia, China, South Korea, the United States, Slovenia, and Hungary. France’s EDF has already presented Serbia with a roadmap for a nuclear program comprising 19 key steps: completion of studies by 2027, selection of technology and preparation of a construction contract by 2032, and commissioning of the nuclear power plant by 2040.
Russia, through Rosatom, has also discussed with Belgrade possible cooperation during the preparatory phase, primarily in the areas of knowledge exchange and support for the development of a nuclear program. However, political and sanctions-related risks make the Russian option more complicated, especially if Serbia aligns itself with European standards for financing and regulation.
China already has a memorandum of cooperation with Serbia in the nuclear sector, covering issues such as radioactive waste, radiation protection, personnel training, and technical support. South Korea’s KHNP has also signed a memorandum of cooperation with Serbia on nuclear energy and hydrogen, making Korea one of the potential technology partners.
The U.S. may be of interest to Serbia primarily through small modular reactors (SMRs) and technological cooperation, as Belgrade has previously spoken of seeking support to obtain approximately 1.2 GW of capacity based on SMR technology. Separately, the option of Serbia participating in the Hungarian Paks NPP by purchasing 5–10% of the capacity or a stake was discussed, which could be a faster way to access nuclear power generation without immediately building its own plant.
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Artem Bidenko, president of the Ukrainian Publishers Association (UPA), states that pirated publications account for nearly a third of the book market, and most of them are sold through marketplaces and websites.
“When a Ukrainian book is pirated on the day of its release, legal publishers are physically unable to purchase the rights for an official translation—the rights holder sees that the market is flooded with counterfeits and refuses. This is how legal translation is systematically being killed off. This is how authors don’t receive royalties. This is how translators don’t receive fees. This is how the state loses tax revenue. And this is how readers end up with machine translations ‘on toilet paper’ instead of literature. According to our estimates, nearly a third of the market consists of illegal content,” Bidenko wrote on Facebook.
According to him, most illegal publications are sold through marketplaces and websites that are easily found via search engines.
“And it is Google that is currently the main sponsor of piracy in Ukraine, paradoxical as it may seem. Because the scheme is perfectly designed to bypass local blocks. The SBU blocks a domain—pirates register a new one within a day. The State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting blocks that one—the next one appears. At the level of Ukrainian internet providers, it’s an endless game of cat and mouse. But all these stores thrive on Google—through indexing, through Google Shopping, through ads, through reviews on Google Maps,” Bidenko noted.
In his view, if Google begins to heed official requests from the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting and the SBU and de-index domains with confirmed piracy, it will become technically unprofitable for networks to launch yet another site, because without search engine results, no one will find them.
“This is a working mechanism. It is already used for the DMCA in the U.S., for child safety, and for sanctions lists. Today, the industry, together with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Science, has appealed to Google Ukraine with a request to implement a mechanism for blocking illegal content,” said the president of the UIA.
Kyiv Electric Locomotive Repair Plant JSC (KEVRZ), a subsidiary of Ukrzaliznytsia, reported a loss of UAH 20.2 million in January–March 2026, compared to a net profit of UAH 0.48 million for the same period in 2025.
According to the company’s interim financial report published in the disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), its net revenue increased by 14.6% to UAH 250.5 million.
The plant reported a gross loss of UAH 5.4 million compared to a gross profit of UAH 10.7 million a year earlier, with an operating loss of UAH 19.2 million compared to an operating profit of UAH 1.6 million.
The company notes that during the reporting period, it sold 18 refurbished electric locomotive sections for UAH 224.2 million (in the first quarter of 2025 – 8 sections for UAH 188.7 million), 25 wheel sets for UAH 10 million (35 sets for UAH 15.9 million), 104 traction motors and auxiliary machines for 14 million UAH (84 units for 11 million UAH).
KEVRZ was founded in 1868. It specializes in the overhaul of electric trains for Ukrainian railways, the repair of components and assemblies, electric machines, electric motors, and wheel sets, as well as the manufacture of spare parts.
The plant ended 2025 with a net profit of 70.2 million UAH—4.4 times more than the previous year—following a 34.2% increase in net revenue to 1.703 billion UAH. It repaired 51 electric sections, 223 wheel sets, 538 traction motors, and auxiliary machines.
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, increased its EBITDA by 28.5% in the first quarter of 2026 to UAH 7.5 billion, while revenue rose by 31.3% to UAH 13.9 billion, according to the company’s quarterly report released on Wednesday.
“We continue to strengthen our long-term market leadership thanks to the successful integration of Uklon and Tabletki, the innovative Starlink connectivity, and investments in our network and energy independence,” Kyivstar CEO and President Oleksandr Komarov is quoted as saying in the document.
He noted that given this momentum, the company has raised its financial forecasts for 2026 and now expects revenue growth in hryvnia of 18–21% (previously 15–18%) and EBITDA growth of 14–17% (previously 12–15%).
In dollars, Kyivstar now estimates revenue growth this year at 11–14% (previously 8–11%) and EBITDA growth at 7–10% (previously 5–8%), while in the first quarter, revenue in dollars rose by 26.6% to $323 million, and EBITDA by 23.5% to $173 million.
The company’s net profit for January–March of this year jumped by 93.2% in dollars—to $85 million (in hryvnias—by 99.1%), and earnings per share amounted to $0.37.
It is noted that revenue from digital platforms for January-March 2026 increased nearly 3.6-fold to $67 million (in hryvnia, 3.7-fold to 2.9 billion UAH), and the digital business’s share of EBITDA amounted to $29 million.
The number of Kyivstar’s multiplay customers grew by 31.6% in the first quarter of 2026—to 8.1 million, representing 39.6% of the total number of active mobile customers over the course of a single month.
Kyivstar’s total number of customers in the first quarter of 2026 decreased by 3% to 22 million, while the number of broadband subscribers increased to 1.2 million, thanks to the integration of approximately 52,000 customers following the successful acquisition of the internet provider Shtorm.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) for the first quarter of 2026 increased by 14.1% to $3.8 (in hryvnia, by 18.4% to 166.5 UAH).
The average number of minutes a subscriber uses per month (Mobile MoU) increased by 2.3% to 297.
The report also states that the total number of monthly active digital users for the quarter grew from 20.8 million to 28.4 million. Specifically, Uklon and Tabletki had 5.1 million and 6.3 million users, respectively; Helsi saw an increase from 4.8 million to 4.9 million; KyivstarTV rose from 3.1 million to 3.4 million; and
MyKyivstar grew from 7.8 million to 8.7 million.
The online taxi service Uklon, which was consolidated into Kyivstar’s financial statements in April 2025, generated UAH 1.425 billion in revenue, or $32.9 million, in the first quarter of 2026. Its EBITDA amounted to UAH 538.9 million, or $12.4 million. The number of rides in the first quarter of 2026 was 43.7 million, and deliveries totaled 1.5 million.
It is noted that the Helsi medical information system had 87,000 paid subscribers as of the end of the first quarter of 2026, compared to 57,000 at the end of 2025; its revenue amounted to UAH 93 million, compared to UAH 68 million in the first quarter of 2025. The service’s clients have access to 1,700 public and private clinics and nearly 41,000 medical professionals.
The Tabeltki.ua service generated revenue of 233.9 million UAH, or $5.3 million, in February–March 2026. EBITDA amounted to UAH 195.8 million, or $4.5 million; the gross merchandise value (GMV) for orders placed through the platform was UAH 11.2 billion, and the total number of orders reached 30.6 million.
In the first quarter of 2026, the Kyivstar TV platform increased the number of user sessions by 11.7% to 931 million, and revenue reached UAH 453 million compared to UAH 89 million in the first quarter of 2025. “These results were driven by a strong content offering, including the Kyivstar TV Originals crime drama series
‘Tikha Nava,’ which has been the platform’s most popular show since its launch and helped attract new customers,” the report explains.
Kyivstar.Tech contributed an additional UAH 715 million in the first quarter of this year compared to UAH 632 million in the first quarter of the previous year, with the number of active contracts growing by 31% to 2,200. The growth was primarily driven by the cloud service, which increased from UAH 105 million to UAH 192 million.
Thus, the total share of the digital business in Kyivstar’s revenue rose to 20.9% from 7.4% in the first quarter of 2025.
It is noted that capital expenditures, excluding license fees, amounted to UAH 2.9 billion, or $67 million, or 20.9% of revenue, compared to $51 million in the first quarter of 2025. Capital expenditure intensity for 2026 is expected to be within the range of 21%–24% of revenue (previously 23%–26%).
At the end of the quarter, the company had $353 million in free cash flow against gross debt of $487 million, while at the beginning of the quarter these figures stood at $456 million and $478 million, respectively. Free cash flow from operating activities amounted to $161 million for the quarter, compared to $128 million in the first quarter of 2025.
It is also noted that the market capitalization of Kyivstar Group, which is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, stood at $3.214 billion as of May 11.
Kyivstar noted that the Group has expanded its cooperation with SpaceX to include the resale of Starlink high-speed internet services for businesses. The number of customers who have already used Direct to Cell technology has exceeded 5 million, and the launch of Light Data is scheduled for later in 2026.
Also during the reporting period, Ukrainians chose the name “Syayvo” for the national language model that Kyivstar is developing jointly with the Ministry of Digital Transformation.
As reported, Kyivstar increased its EBITDA by 30% in 2025—to UAH 27 billion—amid a 30.3% rise in revenue—to UAH 48.2 billion, including a 23.1% increase in EBITDA in the fourth quarter of last year—to UAH 7.2 billion—on the back of a 30.1% rise in revenue—to UAH 13.5 billion.
European apricot producers expect a partial recovery in the harvest in 2026 following a poor season in 2025, according to an industry forecast by Europech.
According to European industry estimates, apricot production in Europe in 2026 could reach about 505,000 tons, which is approximately 6% more than in 2025 and 4% higher than the 2020–2024 average. At the same time, market participants note that harvest potential remains uneven across countries and regions.
Weather was the key factor of the season. In 2026, there were no large-scale destructive frosts in Europe; however, the return of cold weather in late March and early April affected some orchards. Blooming was generally satisfactory, but frequent rains in some areas hampered fruit set. Therefore, northern regions may recover from the low volumes of 2025, while more subdued dynamics are expected in southern Europe.
For the market, this means an increase in supply, but not a complete elimination of risks. European exporters are already warning that the season could be challenging in terms of sales: as volumes increase, competition will intensify between Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and other producers. This could put pressure on prices, especially in the fresh apricot and processing raw material segments.
Romanian President Nicușor Dan stated that he would not propose a candidate for prime minister without a pre-agreed parliamentary majority, following the dismissal of Ilie Bolojan’s government via a vote of no confidence.
According to Digi24, Dan intends to invite parliamentary parties for consultations on Thursday or next Monday. He emphasized that he does not want to “experiment” with appointing a prime minister who would then be unable to secure a majority in parliament.
The president also did not rule out the option of a technocratic government, which could be led by an independent expert. At the same time, he said, there are “relatively few” options capable of securing a stable majority, as the parties’ positions remain rigid following the fall of Bolojan’s cabinet.
The political crisis in Romania began after parliament passed a no-confidence vote against the Bolojan government on May 5. A total of 281 deputies voted for the cabinet’s resignation, significantly exceeding the required minimum of 233 votes. The motion was supported by the Social Democratic Party and the right-wing nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians.
After the vote, Bolojan’s National Liberal Party announced its move to the opposition and its refusal to form a new coalition with the Social Democrats. This sharply narrows the scope for the rapid formation of a government, as it will be difficult to secure a stable majority without the PSD or a portion of its votes.
Among the scenarios being discussed are Bolojan’s return to the post of prime minister, the formation of a technocratic cabinet, a new agreement between pro-European parties, or a more complex configuration involving the PSD. UDMR leader Hunor Kelemen stated that the option of a technocratic prime minister could be acceptable if the ministers remain political appointees of the parties that secure the majority.
For Romania, a prolonged crisis carries economic risks. The country needs to continue fiscal consolidation and meet the conditions for receiving EU funds, whereas a caretaker government has limited powers. Bolojan previously warned that the absence of a full-fledged cabinet could complicate access to European funding.
Romania remains one of the key countries on the eastern flank of the EU and NATO, as well as an important logistical partner for Ukraine on the Danube and the Black Sea.
