The shadow market for cigarettes continues to grow in Ukraine. In April 2025, the overall level of illegal trade in tobacco products reached 16.2% (compared to 14.1% at the beginning of 2025), according to a study by Kantar Ukraine “Monitoring of illegal trade in tobacco products in Ukraine,” published on Monday.
Kantar Ukraine specified that with this level of illegal cigarette products on the market, the annual loss to the state budget due to tax evasion amounts to UAH 25.2 billion, and the volume of the shadow cigarette market in Ukraine exceeds 5 billion cigarettes.
“In April, we again observed growth in the market for illegal tobacco products in Ukraine and a significant increase in the share of counterfeit products to 8.8% (compared to 6.4% in February 2025). According to average annual figures, more than a third of counterfeit products (39%) have signs of fake excise stamps. Among them, according to the inscription on the packaging, 33% were produced by Marshall Fine Tobacco (United Tobacco)/VK Tobacco FZE and 6% by Ukrainian Tobacco Production,” said Tatyana Sverdlik, an analyst at Kantar Ukraine.
At the same time, a significant share is accounted for by illegal products marked “Duty Free” or intended for export and illegally sold in Ukraine. More than half of such products, according to the inscription on the packaging, were produced by the Vinnikivska Tobacco Factory. Compliment (47%) and Lifa (5%) are the main brands in this category. The remaining 43% of illegal products are brands produced by Marshall Fine Tobacco, the most common of which are Marshall (26%), Urta (9%), and Brut (3%).
The study notes that the largest volumes of trade in illegal tobacco products are traditionally recorded in six regions, which together account for 71% of the market for such products Dnipropetrovsk – 27%, Odessa – 13%, Lviv – 10%, Kharkiv – 9%; Kyiv and Kyiv region – 7%, Khmelnytskyi – 6%.
A significant share of illegal tobacco product sales comes from kiosks and shops – in April 2025, 67% of illegal tobacco products were sold through these channels, according to Kantar Ukraine.
A special tribunal to investigate the crimes of Russian aggression against Ukraine complements the existing mechanisms of justice, becomes a critical step for the establishment of the rule of law in international relations and ensuring the inevitability of punishment for serious international crimes, said Victoria Zagoruy, attorney at Barristers.
Commenting to Interfax-Ukraine on the legal aspects of the establishment of the special tribunal, she noted that “the tribunal is a temporary international judicial body (ad hoc) established for a specific purpose: to investigate and prosecute those responsible for committing this key crime.” The statute of the special tribunal specifies that the “crime of aggression” means the planning, preparation, initiation or execution by a person in a position to exercise effective control over or direction of the political or military activities of a State of an act of aggression which, by its nature, gravity and scale, constitutes a clear violation of the UN Charter.
“The need to create such a body is due to the so-called jurisdictional gap in international law. The main obstacle to the investigation of the crime of aggression in national courts or the International Criminal Court is the immunity of senior officials (head of state, government, foreign minister), which protects them from foreign jurisdiction during their tenure. The special tribunal, which will act on behalf of the international community and is being created under the auspices of the Council of Europe, is designed to overcome this immunity,” the lawyer emphasized.
Zagoruy noted that “this mechanism will allow to bring to justice the top leaders of the aggressor state, regardless of their current status.”
In addition, the mechanism of the special tribunal provides for direct and indisputable jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, which allows prosecuting the leadership of the Russian Federation, despite the fact that the Russian Federation is not a party to the Rome Statute.
The special tribunal will also have international legal personality, rather than the status of a hybrid or national structure, and will provide for the possibility of in absentia proceedings, which “allows justice to be done even if the accused are not physically present in the courtroom” and means that “amnesty granted to any person under the jurisdiction of the special tribunal is not an obstacle to prosecution.”
“This is extremely important because it prevents national or third-party amnesties from obstructing justice for the crime of aggression. Thus, the establishment of the Special Tribunal is a historic step that clearly establishes accountability for senior officials for the crime of aggression, completely disregarding their personal immunities,” she said.
Commenting on the relationship between the special tribunal and the International Criminal Court (ICC), Zagoruy noted that “these are different but complementary institutions. In particular, the ICC has jurisdiction over four major international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
Ukraine has recognized the ICC’s jurisdiction over crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on its territory by submitting two applications under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute. This allows the ICC prosecutor to investigate and prosecute these categories of crimes.
At the same time, the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression is limited. According to the Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute, the ICC can only consider this crime if the aggressor state and the victim state are parties to the Rome Statute and have ratified these amendments, and if the case is referred to the ICC by the UN Security Council.
“Since neither Ukraine nor the Russian Federation has ratified the Rome Statute and the amendments on aggression, and the Russian Federation, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has a veto, the ICC cannot independently prosecute this particular crime. This creates the very jurisdictional gap that the ad hoc tribunal is intended to fill. It will not duplicate the work of the ICC, but will complement it, providing comprehensive coverage of crimes committed during the aggression,” explained Zagoruy.
She emphasized that the ICC investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed on the territory of Ukraine, and this applies to specific actions: the killing of civilians, torture, deportations, destruction of civilian infrastructure, etc. Both ordinary perpetrators and their commanders may be held responsible for them.
At the same time, the special tribunal will focus exclusively on the crime of aggression, i.e., the very fact of planning, preparing, initiating and waging a war of aggression. The responsibility for this crime lies solely with the highest political and military leadership of the aggressor state.
Zagoruy also noted that the interaction between the Special Tribunal and the ICC will be based on the principle of ne bis in idem (no one can be punished twice for the same act), which is fundamental in international law.
“A person cannot be convicted twice for the same crime. However, the same person may be convicted of different crimes. For example, an official can be convicted by a special tribunal for the crime of aggression (for ordering to start a war), and the same official can be convicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity (for example, for the policy of deporting children) or for war crimes (for orders to indiscriminately shell cities),” the lawyer explained.
She noted that the ad hoc tribunal may enter into agreements or practical arrangements with the ICC to ensure the effective exercise of their respective jurisdictions. In particular, whenever a person subject to an ICC arrest warrant is detained in ICC detention centers, the special tribunal will prioritize the proceedings before the ICC.
“The activities of the courts will be coordinated to ensure comprehensive justice and full accountability for all categories of international crimes. By focusing exclusively on the crime of aggression, the tribunal aims to bring to justice the top leadership of the Russian Federation, those responsible for the decision to start the war. For victims of the war who suffered from specific crimes, such as the destruction of property or illegal detention, the national courts of Ukraine and the ICC remain the mechanisms of justice, which are already actively working to document and investigate these crimes,” Zahoruy emphasized.
In January-May 2025, Ukraine imported aluminum and aluminum products worth $206.628 million, up 20.2% compared to the same period in 2024. In May, imports of aluminum products amounted to $40.340 million.
Over the same period, aluminum exports increased by 31.9% to $57.761 million. In May, the company exported products worth $12.698 million.
In 2024, aluminum imports amounted to $446.006 million (+21.7% compared to 2023), and exports amounted to $124.408 million (+27.4%). In 2023, Ukraine imported aluminum products worth $366.463 million and exported $97.616 million.
In January-May 2025, Ukrainian companies reduced imports of nickel and nickel products by 28% year-on-year to $7.976 million. In May, nickel products worth $3.071 million were imported.
At the same time, Ukraine’s nickel exports amounted to $443 thousand, which is almost twice as much as in the first five months of 2024 ($242 thousand). In May, exports amounted to $69 thousand.
For comparison: in 2024, imports of nickel products to Ukraine increased by 73.7% to $26.730 million, while in 2023 they amounted to only $15.391 million. Exports in 2024 amounted to $602 thousand, and in 2023 – $532 thousand.
The Chornomorka fish restaurant chain has announced the opening of restaurants in the capitals of Lithuania and Hungary.
“We are opening new Chornomorkas. Even two: in Vilnius and Budapest! So if you like to fry fish, we miss you very much – join the team,” the chain said in a Facebook post.
According to its website, as of May, the chain operates 36 restaurants in Ukraine, Moldova, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Poland.
In January-May of this year, Ukrainian enterprises increased their consumption of rolled metal products by 14.5% year-on-year to 1 million 557.8 thousand tons.
According to a press release from Ukrmetallurgprom, 591.8 thousand tons, or 37.98% of the domestic rolled metal consumption market, were imported during this period.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom, in 5 months of 2015, steel companies produced 2.057 million tons of rolled steel (97.6% compared to the same period in 2024), of which, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine, about 1.541 million tons, or 61.5%, were exported. In January-May 2024, the share of exports amounted to 65.4% (1.680 million tons with a total production of 2.568 million tons of rolled steel).
The share of semi-finished products in export deliveries in January-May 2025 amounted to 32.23%, which is significantly lower than in January-May 2024 (46.79%). The share of flat products in export deliveries in January-May 2025 is significantly higher than in January-May 2024 (46.59% and 40.30%, respectively). The share of long products is also significantly higher than in January-May 2024 (20.18% in 2025 vs. 12.92% in 2024).
The structure of imports in January-May 2025 is still characterized by a significant dominance of flat products over long products (76.83% and 21.24%, respectively); in January-May 2024, the dominance of flat products over long products was also significant (82.09% and 16.12%, respectively).
“In 5 months of 2025, the domestic market capacity amounted to 1 million 557.8 thousand tons of rolled steel, of which 591.8 thousand tons, or 37.98%, were imported. In January-May 2024, the domestic market capacity amounted to 1 million 360.8 thousand tons, of which 472.8 thousand tons, or 34.74%, were imported. Thus, in January-May 2025, there was an increase in the domestic market capacity by 14.48% compared to January-May 2024, with a simultaneous increase in the share of the import component by 3.24%,” the press release states.
According to the State Customs Service, the main export markets for Ukrainian rolled metal products in 5 months of 2025 are the European Union (82.0%), the rest of Europe (8.4%) and the CIS (6.9%).
Among metallurgical importers in January-May 2025, the first place is occupied by other European countries (57.7%), the second by the EU-27 (23.5%), and the third by Asian countries (18.3%).
As reported, Ukraine’s rolled steel market in 2024 decreased by 6.26% year-on-year to 3 million 288.4 thousand tons, while in 2023 it increased 2.19 times compared to 2022 to 3 million 505.6 thousand tons.
