Since its launch in 2023, the Ukrainian maritime corridor has transported 200 million tons of cargo, including 118 million tons of Ukrainian grain, according to a statement by Deputy Prime Minister for Recovery and Minister of Community and Territorial Development Oleksii Kuleba.
“Behind every figure lies the hard work of Ukrainian ports, sailors, logistics specialists, railway workers, farmers, and everyone who keeps our economy running every day despite the war,” Kuleba wrote on Telegram on Thursday.
According to him, since the beginning of 2026, nearly 35 million tons of cargo have been transported through seaports, and Ukrainian products have reached 56 countries around the world.
It is noted that in April of this year alone, more than 500 drone attacks on logistics infrastructure were recorded.
“The ports were under fire practically every other day,” the post states.
Kuleba specified that since the start of the full-scale invasion, 935 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged or partially destroyed, 191 civilian vessels have been affected, and 255 people have been injured.
“Despite this, the Ukrainian maritime corridor is operational. It remains one of the key tools for supporting the national economy, ensuring exports, and Ukraine’s important contribution to global food security,” the Deputy Prime Minister emphasized.
As reported, Ukraine’s ports handled 35.8% more cargo in April 2026 than in April 2025—8.2 million tons.
According to the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority (USPA), in total, from January to April 2026, Ukraine’s seaports handled 29.5 million tons of cargo, which is more than during the same period in 2025.
At that time, it was noted that grain accounted for the bulk of the cargo flow—16 million tons, which is 7% more than last year.
According to the European Business Association, 75% of companies report staff shortages, and the State Employment Service’s (SES) Unified Job Portal has registered over 200,000 open positions, said Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Oleksiy Sobolev at The Jobs & Skills 4 Ukraine Forum on Thursday.
“We can see how much the labor market has changed, with 75% of businesses facing a labor shortage. The government must address this. That is why we are developing a labor market forecasting system that will serve as the foundation for state funding of education and training, retraining programs, donor investments, educational programs, and employers’ hiring decisions,” the minister emphasized.
According to him, the new employment policy should be based on several key points. First, it involves data on which professions, skills, and qualifications the economy will need not only today but also in five or ten years. Second, if an employer needs certain skills, the government, education providers, and partners must help people acquire those skills. Third, a more inclusive labor market. Fourth, a new level of partnership with the business sector.
The volume of funds raised under new life insurance contracts in January–April 2026 increased by 4.3% compared to the same period in 2025, reaching UAH 454.8 million, according to the National Association of Insurers of Ukraine (NAIU), citing operational data from the PRIMA project.
“Citizens continue to show active interest in savings instruments, as evidenced by this growth,” the statement noted.
Particular attention should be paid to the stable trend in recurring premiums, which represent regular payments under long-term savings programs. This indicator remains at +13%. In addition, there has been a significant increase in revenue from single premiums (where the entire amount of insurance coverage is paid in a single lump sum at the time the contract is signed), with growth reaching 20.1%.
The total volume of insurance claims increased by 31%, amounting to UAH 699.6 million. The lion’s share comes from “survivorship” risk payouts, which showed a 37% increase.
“This is an entirely natural process, as the Ukrainian life insurance market has reached the stage of maturing classic 20-year contracts. Customers who signed contracts a decade ago are now receiving their accumulated funds along with accrued investment income, and these funds, in turn, are partially reinvested in new insurance products,” the report explains.
In the life insurance market, based on premiums collected for the specified period in 2026, MetLife Insurance Company continues to hold the top position with UAH 1.057 billion, TAS Insurance Company – UAH 339.3 million, Grave Life – UAH 198.9 million, PZU Life – UAH 138.5 million, ARKS Life – UAH 126.2 million.
Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), Ukraine’s second-largest mobile operator, which has repurchased approximately $25.5 million worth of its own Eurobonds since late May of last year following several offers related to dividend payments, has announced another similar tender at 98% of par value for a total of $1.165 million.
As noted in a statement on the Irish Stock Exchange, the company previously made another monthly dividend payment on June 2 in the amount of UAH 51.60 million.
Applications to participate in the tender are being accepted through June 17, and settlements are scheduled for June 24.
Bonds maturing in February 2027 with a coupon rate of 9.625% per annum were issued for $300 million. Their redemption is related to the fact that on April 24, 2025, VFU announced the accrual of dividends to its shareholder in the amount of UAH 660.245 million ($15.9 million at the exchange rate specified in the announcement) for 2024. In accordance with National Bank restrictions, these dividends will be paid in separate monthly installments in hryvnia, each amounting to EUR1 million. The company emphasized that, under the terms of the bond issue, it must in such a case offer all bondholders the opportunity to submit an application to sell their bonds for an amount equal to the dividends paid outside Ukraine.
In the first two tenders, mobile operator “Vodafone Ukraine” repurchased bonds in an amount equivalent to EUR1 million. The initial repurchase was announced at 99% of par value, the second at 90% of par value. The company did not announce the results of the second buyback on the exchange, while the bid-to-cover ratio for the first buyback was 0.0040355668.
Following the third tender, where the buyback price was reduced to 85% of par value and the offer was capped at $4.67 million, “Vodafone Ukraine” received bids totaling $53.395 million and satisfied them in the amount of $5.208 million. The scaling factor was 0.1315451889487317.
The fourth tender was announced on August 13 but was subsequently extended seven times. As a result, the redemption price was increased from 85% to 98%, and the redemption amount to $10.84 million. The company received bids totaling $127.14 million for this amount. Some of the bonds were returned to their holders due to the inability to split the face value, while the rest were accepted with a scaling factor of 0.1150681.
In the fifth through tenth bond redemption tenders held from December to May, the price was again set at 98%: in the fifth tender, with bids of $1.165 million, the scaling factor was set at 0.01901; in the sixth, with bids of $1.475 million, at 0.04234; in the seventh, with bids of $1.185 million, at 0.3246; for the eighth, with bids of $1.18 million – 0.0333333; for the ninth, with bids of $1.16 million – 0.449; and for the tenth, with bids of $1.17 million – 1.0 (bids totaling $2.32 million were submitted).
Overall, based on the results of the ten tenders, the total nominal value of bonds remaining in circulation is $274.52 million.
As reported, mobile operator VFU increased its revenue by 14% in 2025 compared to the previous year—to 27.8 billion UAH—while its net profit rose by 18%—to 4.18 billion UAH.
In the first quarter of this year, VFU increased its net profit by 12% compared to the same period last year—to UAH 778 million, while its revenue grew by 11%—to UAH 7.3 billion.
The share of electric vehicles in the new passenger car market in May 2026 fell to 8.5% compared to May 2025, when it stood at 18.4%, according to a report on the “Ukravtoprom” Telegram channel.
Compared to April of this year, their share decreased by 0.5 percentage points.
At the same time, cars with traditional engines (gasoline and diesel) accounted for over 60% of the market, compared to 54.3% last year. In particular, the most popular gasoline models accounted for 39.9% of the market, whereas in May of last year they accounted for 36% of the market. Diesel cars also increased their share—to 20.7% from 18.3% last year.
The share of hybrid cars rose from 27.1% to 30.8%, but compared to April 2025, it decreased by more than 2 percentage points.
As in the previous year, cars with LPG systems accounted for less than 1% of new car sales.
According to data from “Ukravtoprom,” the Hyundai Tucson took the lead in the gasoline-powered car segment, the Toyota RAV-4 in hybrids, the Renault Duster in diesel cars, the BYD Sea Lion 06EV in electric cars, and the Hyundai Tucson in LPG-powered cars.
As reported, overall in 2025, due to the rapid growth in electric vehicle sales in the second half of the year, they increased their share of the new passenger car market to 28.3% from 14.5% in 2024, while cars with traditional engines (gasoline and diesel) accounted for only half of the market compared to over 65%. The diesel car segment also decreased from 25.6% to 17.4%.
At the beginning of this year, electric vehicles still held a 19% share of the new passenger car market (in January), but by February it had fallen to 3.3%; however, in March it began to gradually increase amid rising prices for traditional fuel.
As reported, Ukrainians purchased approximately 5,500 new passenger cars in May 2026, which is 18% less than in May 2025 and 11% less than in April of this year.
PJSC “Vesco,” controlled by PJSC “System Capital Management” (SCM) through its subsidiary Vesco Limited (Cyprus), saw its net profit drop 4.7-fold in January-March of this year compared to the same period last year—to 46.593 million UAH from 220.620 million UAH.
According to the company’s interim report, which is available to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine,” revenue from ordinary activities for this period fell by 2.4 times—to UAH 272.968 million from UAH 648.604 million.
Retained earnings as of the end of March amounted to UAH 3,190.277 million.
PJSC “Vesko” previously operated in the Sloviansk and Dobropillia districts of Donetsk Oblast. Due to military operations in the areas where its production sites are located, some production processes have been temporarily suspended. The company’s fixed assets are located at storage sites in territory controlled by Ukraine and at work sites.
During the period from January 1 to March 31 of this year, no clay was extracted; exports accounted for 90% of total sales. Sales volumes were supported by warehouse stocks and available extraction capacity. Sales volume for this period decreased by 135,000 tons compared to the same period in 2025, to 77,000 tons.
During the second quarter of 2026, the company does not plan to produce any clay; sales are projected at 104,000 tons of refractory clay.
The company plans to spend UAH 0.5 million in 2026 on technical re-equipment, specifically on software.
According to the annual report, the company reported a net profit of UAH 979.729 million in 2025 (UAH 1.020788 billion in 2024), while revenue from ordinary activities amounted to UAH 3.131770 billion (UAH 3.643114 billion).
In 2025, clay production amounted to 359,000 tons, with exports accounting for 80% of total sales.
In 2025, the company employed more than 709 people (including part-time workers and those laid off during the year), of whom 63% were blue-collar workers, and 37% were managers, specialists, and white-collar employees. The average salary for 2025 was 52,443.90 UAH, compared to 35,915.30 UAH in 2024.
The report notes that the war in Ukraine has significantly impacted the company’s operations. Vesko’s production facilities are located in close proximity to the active combat zone, which poses constant risks to personnel, infrastructure, and logistics processes. The intensification of hostilities in the second half of 2025 complicated the security situation in the region where the company operates and led to a reduction in production and sales volumes. In particular, due to the approach of hostilities to the city of Pokrovsk, shipments from two stations were suspended. Only one station remained for product shipment.
In order to maintain the ability to fulfill contractual obligations, the company is building up product inventories in warehouses outside the combat zone. Despite the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine, the company continued to produce and sell clay throughout 2025. The company is searching for alternative deposits and developing new sales markets to sustain its business.
No clay extraction is planned for 2026; clay sales will be made from inventory in the amount of 542,000 tons.
It is also reported that in 2025, dividends were declared in the amount of UAH 427.403 million (2024 – UAH 200 million). The company’s outstanding dividend liability as of December 31, 2025, was UAH 281.371 million (as of December 31, 2024, it was UAH 316.158 million).
The number of employees as of the end of Q1 2026 was 247, as of the end of 2025 – 297, and as of the end of 2024 – 597.
Private Joint Stock Company “Vesco,” registered in Kyiv, is a leading mining and extraction enterprise and a global supplier of refractory clays with a production chain ranging from raw material extraction to the manufacture of finished products. Main business activity: extraction of sand, gravel, clays, and kaolin.
Vesco Limited (Cyprus) owns 100% of the shares of PJSC “Vesco.” The ultimate beneficial owner is Rinat Akhmetov.
The authorized capital of the PJSC is UAH 57.553 million, and the par value of a share is UAH 0.5.
