The legal cigarette market in Ukraine has been shrinking by 10-15% annually over the past two years, while the illegal market has been growing. This dramatic situation is unprecedented, said Maxim Barabash, CEO of Philip Morris Ukraine, to the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“What has been happening over the past two years? Due to the growth of the illegal market, the rate of decline in the legal market is simply incredible: Ukraine has never seen the legal cigarette market shrink by 10-15% per year,” he said on the sidelines of the Ukrainian Breakfast in Davos, organized by the Pinchuk Foundation on the margins of the World Economic Forum.
Barabash noted that consumers are switching to the illegal market because the difference in price between legal and illegal products has grown significantly in recent years due to increases in excise taxes.
“70% of the cigarette market is the low-price segment. These are people who come to the point of sale and ask: give me the cheapest cigarettes. Today, they get illegal cigarettes for 70-78 UAH (per pack), when according to the law, cigarettes cannot cost less than 125 UAH today,” explained the CEO of Philip Morris Ukraine.
He specified that from January 1, 2026, due to the next indexation of excise taxes, legal cigarettes will rise in price by 15-17% in hryvnia.
The CEO noted that for Philip Morris Ukraine, this means that at the factory in the Lviv region, which opened two years ago to replace the factory near Kharkiv, whose operations were halted on the first day of Russia’s full-scale aggression in February 2022, some of the five installed lines are underloaded, and plans to expand production with three more lines are meaningless.
“Conditionally, a 15% drop (in the market) means that one line can be closed. And we do not see any positive movement at all, any hope that something positive will happen in the fight against illegal products. I think this will be the main problem for the industry,” Barabash described the situation.
According to rough estimates by Mikhail Polyakov, Deputy Director General for Corporate Relations at Philip Morris Ukraine, the excise revenue plan for 2025 will fall short by at least UAH 7 billion, and this year’s plan of UAH 140 billion will fall short by at least UAH 10 billion if the situation remains unchanged.
“Excise tax is a consumption tax. If a legal product is not consumed, there is no excise tax. We think that at some point there will be a boiling point when they will start to fight (the illegal market). It may just be a little too late, and it will be impossible to defeat it at all,” emphasized the CEO of Philip Morris Ukraine.
According to him, in the current situation, a line worth several million dollars established on the illegal market can pay for itself in a week, and with the increase in excise taxes in accordance with the approved indexation calendar without intensifying the fight, this profitability will only grow, “so the only (solution) is a very serious fight, political will, which is currently lacking.”
Polyakov, in turn, added that recently, the channels for supplying illegal products to the market have diversified due to Telegram channels and online sales.
“There are a lot of Telegram channels and online sales. Appealing to law enforcement agencies does not allow these Telegram channels to be closed. How does it work? A person places an order through a Telegram channel and receives it by mail. It is declared as souvenirs or other products – the sender does not indicate that these are cigarettes,” explained the deputy general director for corporate communications.
Philip Morris Ukraine (PMU) has been operating in the Ukrainian market since 1994. In 2024, the company opened a new factory in the Lviv region with a declared investment of $30 million, to which 250 employees from the Kharkiv factory were transferred.
Last Friday, January 30, the company reported a Russian missile strike that damaged part of the company’s Kharkiv factory.
According to data from YouControl, in the first nine months of 2025, Philip Morris Ukraine’s revenue decreased by 13.3% to UAH 14.23 billion.
Mykolaivoblenergo JSC will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on February 27, 2026, in the form of a survey (remotely), according to a disclosure.
According to the announcement, the list of shareholders eligible to participate will be compiled on February 24 (at 23:00). Ballot voting will be accepted from 11:00 on February 17 to 18:00 on February 27, with ballots for the election of candidates to the company’s bodies scheduled to be posted on February 23.
The agenda includes the termination of the powers of the supervisory board, the election of a new composition, the approval of the terms of contracts with members of the supervisory board and their remuneration, as well as compensation for the costs of organizing and holding the meeting.
Mykolaivoblenergo JSC is the operator of the electricity distribution system in the Mykolaiv region; Ukrainian Distribution Networks owns 70% of the company’s shares.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has granted another loan of up to $200 million to the Kryvyi Rih Mining and Metallurgical Plant PJSC ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih (AMKR, Dnipropetrovsk region) to replenish working capital for the plant’s operations.
According to the EBRD, a senior loan of up to $200 million has been granted to the Ukrainian joint-stock company AMKR, whose controlling stake is owned by the ArcelorMittal group.
It is specified that the loan was approved on December 3, 2025.
It is noted that the loan will be used to finance the company’s working capital needs to ensure continuity of operations in Ukraine when operations are affected by the war. The project will expand access to market-relevant training and employment opportunities for veterans and people with disabilities in line with the company’s priorities for human capital recovery.
It is also added that the Bank is providing financing in the extraordinary circumstances caused by the war in Ukraine, with a unique set of terms, attributes, and provisions. The project is also gender-additive in line with new commitments to expand access to training for young women through AMCR’s flagship New Factory initiative on youth inclusion.
As reported, on November 26, 2025, the AMCR Supervisory Board approved a significant transaction—a loan from the EBRD.
At the same time, the market value of the property or services that are the subject of the transaction is determined in accordance with the law – no more than $200 million (8480300 thousand UAH at the NBU exchange rate as of 11/26/2025); the value of the issuer’s assets, according to the latest annual financial statements, is UAH 51,725,655 thousand; The ratio of the market value of the property or services that are the subject of the transaction to the value of the issuer’s assets, according to the latest annual financial statements (in percent) – 16.3947658082%.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in the production of long products, in particular, rebar and wire rod. The company has a full production cycle, with production capacities designed for an annual output of over 6 million tons of steel, more than 5 million tons of rolled products, and over 5.5 million tons of pig iron.
ArcelorMittal owns Ukraine’s largest mining and metallurgical complex, ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, and a number of small companies, including ArcelorMittal Beryslav.
In 2025, the mining and metallurgical group Metinvest, including its associated companies and joint ventures, transferred UAH 18.7 billion to budgets of all levels in Ukraine, compared to UAH 19.8 billion in 2024.
According to the company’s press release on Monday, the largest amount of deductions was the subsoil use fee in the amount of UAH 4.6 billion, followed by UAH 3.5 billion in single social contributions and UAH 3.2 billion in personal income tax.
In addition, Metinvest’s Ukrainian enterprises paid UAH 1.9 billion in income tax and UAH 690 million in environmental tax last year. At the same time, value-added tax increased by 18% compared to last year’s figures, to almost UAH 2 billion, land fees increased by 10%, to UAH 1.4 billion, and military tax increased almost threefold, to UAH 916 million.
“The war and global challenges have changed the business reality and forced us to work in a new way. But the role of metallurgy remains strategic: it continues to support the economy, provide foreign exchange earnings, and fill the budget. As the largest company in the industry, Metinvest continues to operate, support the regions, and help the army,” said Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of the group.
As reported, in 2024, Metinvest transferred UAH 19.8 billion in taxes and fees to budgets of all levels in Ukraine. In total, during almost four years of full-scale invasion, the group has supported the country’s economy with approximately UAH 74 billion.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical enterprises. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine – in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions – as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The main shareholders of the holding company are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the managing company of the Metinvest Group.
PJSC Neftekhimik Prykarpattya (Nadvirna, Ivano-Frankivsk region) will hold a remote general meeting of shareholders on February 20, 2026, by means of a survey, according to the company’s announcement.
According to the document, the date of compiling the list of shareholders entitled to participate in the meeting is February 17, 2026. Voting will take place by ballots through depository institutions: the placement of a single ballot is scheduled for February 10 (no later than 11:00), and the ballots will be accepted until February 20 at 18:00.
The draft agenda, in particular, includes the consideration of the reports of the management and supervisory boards for 2018-2024, approval of annual reports and results of financial and economic activities for 2018-2024 (including the procedure for covering losses), appointment of an auditor, and cancellation of the current principles (code) of corporate governance.
The shareholders are also invited to consider a decision to change the name and type of the company, amend the charter (new version), approve updated regulations, and take measures to improve the financial condition. Separate paragraphs include the issue of applying to the commercial court to open bankruptcy proceedings, initiating preventive restructuring and possible liquidation of the company.
PJSC Neftekhimik Prykarpattya is an oil refinery located in Nadvirna (Ivano-Frankivsk region). According to open registers, the State Property Fund of Ukraine with a 26% stake is listed among the owners of large stakes in the company.
The National Bank of Ukraine has expanded the scope of the license for direct insurance activities of Insurance Company Vostok-West LLC (Kiev) on the basis of the company’s application, the regulator said.
Thus, the company has obtained the right to carry out direct insurance under insurance class 13 “Insurance of other liability (except as defined in classes 10, 11, 12)” on the risk of insurance of liability to third parties, other than the liability of the operator of a nuclear installation for nuclear damage that may be caused as a result of a nuclear incident, with restrictions and features that give grounds for the application of a simplified approach for the calculation of solvency capital and minimum capital.
According to the information, the structure of the company’s insurance portfolio for the first nine months of 2025 by client component is as follows: 99% of insurance payments were received from policyholders – individuals, and from legal entities – 1%. Along with insurance of agricultural products (99%), property insurance remains the priority direction.
The volume of insurance premiums in the mentioned period has amounted to UAH 12,838 mln, insurance reserves – UAH 9,649 mln. The volume of insurance indemnities for the nine months of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024 has increased by 40%.
IC “Vostok-West” has been working in the insurance market of Ukraine since 2005.
