The use of exchange rate policy to address structural imbalances when international reserves are sufficient is a wrong decision, according to First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Sergiy Nikolaychuk.
In an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, he explained that the main factor behind the downgrade of GDP growth forecasts and revision of inflation in 2024 was increased security risks and the impact of weather conditions on crop yields.
“We analyze in detail the dynamics of missile strikes, drone attacks, and the duration of air raids. Unfortunately, this year the situation is much worse than last year. This has a direct impact on business activity and the economy’s potential,” Nikolaychuk said.
According to him, the foreign trade deficit is an “objective reality” caused by the war, increased imports for defense and energy needs, and reduced export opportunities.
“It would be wrong to solve these structural problems through exchange rate policy when we have a sufficient level of international reserves. We see other ways – more active state policy through duties, taxes or non-customs barriers to non-critical imports,” he emphasized.
The official emphasized that the National Bank continues gradual currency liberalization and has provided businesses with tools to hedge currency risks.
As of the end of August, 5.8 thousand notaries work in Ukraine, according to the Unified Register of Notaries of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the number of notaries has decreased by 11%. A quarter of all notaries in the country work in Kyiv. 82% of these professionals are women.
5,845 notaries work in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the number of notaries has decreased by an average of 200 professionals per year. In general, compared to 2021, there are now 11% fewer such specialists.
It is worth noting that the Register of Notaries is dynamic, as new lawyers are constantly added to it and specialists who are no longer authorized to practice notary work are removed. Accordingly, it is possible to compare the number of specialists only as of a specific date.
Most notaries are registered in Kyiv – 1,292 or 22%. Also, specialists choose to work in Dnipropetrovska oblast (451 (8)%), Lvivska oblast (446 or 8%), and Odeska oblast (420 or 7%).
Since the start of the full-scale notary campaign, the number of notaries has increased in relatively safe regions of the country: +5% in Cherkasy and Kyiv regions, +2% in Rivne and Vinnytsia regions. The only region where the number of notaries has not changed is Ternopil region: 132 specialists work there, as it was before the full-scale lockdown.
Instead, in the regions close to the frontline, the number of specialists has decreased: 20 times in Luhansk region, 4 times in Kherson and Donetsk regions, 1.8 times in Zaporizhzhia, and 1.3 times in Kharkiv region.
The majority of Ukrainian notaries are engaged in private practice – 88% or 5,139 of them. Another 12%, or 687 professionals nationwide, work in state notary offices and only 0.3% work in state notary archives.
The vast majority of Ukrainian notaries are women: 82% or 4,804 professionals. It should be noted that, unlike in many other areas, the full-scale war did not have much of an impact on the gender advantage in the notary profession: in 2021, there were 81% of women.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/notary-2025
Agroholding Continental Farmers Group has started harvesting potatoes in the Ternopil and Lviv regions, where 2,100 hectares are allocated for cultivation, according to the agroholding’s press service.
“Harvesting is already underway in both regions where the company grows crops: in Lviv region, they started with chip potatoes, and in Ternopil region, with early seed varieties. In addition, Continental will also harvest food varieties. In total, the company will harvest tubers from an area of 2.1 thousand hectares this season,” the agricultural holding said, adding that potato harvesting will continue until the end of October.
Continental also said that in 2025, it purchased new machinery and equipment for potato production worth more than EUR 1.85 million. This includes Ukraine’s first self-propelled four-row third-generation potato harvester with a capacity of 460 hp, a trailer-transloader, a receiving hopper, an optical sorter, a potato picker, and equipment for calibrating and storing products.
As reported, Continental allocated 2,130 hectares for potatoes in the 2025 season, of which 60% are chip varieties, 24% are table varieties, and 16% are seed plots. The agricultural holding explained the 13% increase in the area under this crop compared to last year by the growth in demand for table potatoes and additional demand for the production of chip potatoes.
The Mriya agricultural holding and CFG, united under the name Continental Farmers Group, have been operating as a single business since November 2018, when Mriya signed an agreement with international investor Salic UK to sell its assets.
Salic was founded in 2012. Its sole shareholder is the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which invests in agricultural and livestock production.
The Agrotrade agricultural holding has begun harvesting soybeans, sunflowers, and industrial hemp, according to a statement posted on its Facebook page.
“The campaign is underway simultaneously in several regions: soybeans in Kharkiv and Sumy regions, sunflowers in Kharkiv region, and industrial hemp in Chernihiv region. Currently, 9% of soybeans, 7% of sunflowers, and 54% of industrial hemp have been harvested,” the agricultural holding company said.
According to Alexander Ovsyannik, director of the agro-industrial department, industrial hemp has been harvested on almost half of the area, with yields within the norm.
“This is the third year of experimenting with this crop, and in the fall, we will decide whether to scale up this direction. As for soybeans and sunflowers, it is too early to draw conclusions: early soybeans were affected by drought, while late soybeans are still in good condition, and the situation with sunflowers depends on the region,” Ovsyannik said.
In the 2025 season, Agrotrade used 23 combine harvesters and about 60 trucks to quickly transport the harvest.
As reported, in 2025, Agrotrade allocated almost 13,000 hectares for soybeans, 11,000 hectares for sunflowers, and 333.5 hectares for industrial hemp.
The Agrotrade group of companies is a vertically integrated holding company with a full agro-industrial cycle (production, processing, storage, and trade in agricultural products). It cultivates more than 70,000 hectares of land in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions. Its main crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans, and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 570,000 tons.
The group also produces hybrid seeds of corn, sunflower, barley, and winter wheat. In 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20,000 tons of seeds per year was built on the basis of the Kolos seed farm (Kharkiv region). In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand, Agroseeds.
The founder of Agrotrade is Vsevolod Kozhemyako.
On September 3, during his visit to Uman, Michael Brodsky, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Ukraine, visited the Central City Hospital, met with the director of the facility, Ivan Khoptyan, and donated a water purification system for the hospital’s needs.
The ceremony was attended by the mayor of Uman, Iryna Pletnyova.
“Israel continues to provide assistance to Ukraine. Following a decision by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, several water purification systems will be delivered to Ukraine in the near future. Today, such a system began operating in Uman. Thanks to this, patients at the local hospital and residents of nearby homes will be able to receive high-quality drinking water without interruption,” said Michael Brodsky.
Diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Israel were established on December 26, 1991. The Ukrainian Embassy in Tel Aviv was opened in April 1992. The Israeli Embassy in Kyiv began operating in September 1992.
AMBASSADOR, HOSPITAL, ISRAEL, UMAN, water purification system
The Supervisory Board of IC “Euroins Ukraine” on September 1, 2025 decided to terminate the activities of fifteen separate structural subdivisions, which have not been operating for a long time, the company reported in the information disclosure system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM).
In particular, we are talking about the sales center in Krasnoye settlement of Lviv regional directorate, a branch in Kharkiv, sales center in Kamenske of Dnipro regional directorate, sales centers № 4 and № 7 of Zaporizhzhya directorate, sales center in Skadovsk of Kherson regional directorate, a branch in Yuzhnoukrainsk of Mykolayiv region, Kherson regional directorate, sales center in Valki of Kharkiv regional directorate, sales center in Uman of Cherkassy regional directorate.
IC “Euroins Ukraine” is a universal non-life insurer, operating in the Ukrainian market since 1992. The company has 75 representative offices all over the country, has a license for insurance in 16 classes. It actively works in the segments of auto insurance, medical insurance, property, liability and cargo insurance for private and corporate clients.
IC “Euroins Ukraine” is a member of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine, League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine (LIOU) and EBA (European Business Association).
