Nazarii Volyansky has been appointed director of the “Kyiv Region Regional Development Agency” following a competitive selection process.
According to the Unified State Register, Volyansky has been listed as the agency’s director since July 20. The Agency’s director is appointed for a three-year term by decision of its supervisory board.
In his new position, Volyansky will focus on attracting investment and international technical assistance, developing strategic partnerships, supporting communities and businesses, and implementing projects for the recovery and economic development of Kyiv Oblast.
Volyansky has over 10 years of experience in the fields of international economics, attracting foreign direct investment, business-government relations, and strategic communications.
Since January 2025, he has served as director of government relations in Ukraine for the Polish energy group UNIMOT S.A. From 2024 to 2025, he headed the Ukrainian representative office of the Polish Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers (ZPP), where he focused on developing Ukrainian-Polish economic cooperation, establishing business contacts, and supporting Ukrainian companies’ entry into the Polish and other European markets.
In 2023, Volyansky served as head of the Department of International Relations and Communications at UkraineInvest, the government agency responsible for attracting and supporting investment. From 2021 to 2023, he worked as director of corporate communications at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He was also the creator and host of the television program “Exclusive with Nazar Volyansky” on the Rada TV channel, as well as an advisor to the leadership of the Ukrainian Nuclear Forum Association and the technology company FRDM Group. In October 2025, he was appointed Head of Development and Representative of the National Association of Lobbyists of Ukraine in Poland.
Volyansky earned a master’s degree in journalism from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, studied international economics and economic relations at the Kyiv Institute of International Relations, and completed a training program for specialists in attracting foreign direct investment at the Møller Institute at the University of Cambridge.
The Kyiv Regional Development Agency was registered on June 12, 2018. Its founders were the Kyiv Regional State Administration, the Kyiv Regional Council, the Kyiv Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University, and the non-governmental organization “Society of Researchers of Ukraine.”
The Agency’s main objective is to promote the economic development of the Kyiv region and coordinate cooperation between investors, businesses, local communities, and government agencies. The Agency provides support for investment projects, assists with the registration of industrial parks, helps prepare grant applications, identifies suitable land plots and production facilities, and develops business models and community development strategies.
Among the Agency’s projects are the European GreenGov program for implementing environmental standards, the development of community development strategies for Kyiv Oblast, the “Power of Opportunities” entrepreneurship support program, the development of the region’s biogas industry, and projects to expand rehabilitation assistance.
AGENCY, Appointment, INVESTMENT, Kyiv Oblast, REHABILITATION
One of Ukraine’s largest tour operators, Join UP! has opened its first franchise agency in Poland, the office will operate in Katowice and become the hundredth in the company’s franchise network, its press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
The Join UP! brand entered the Polish market in 2022 as a tour operator and began cooperating with local travel agents. The opening of a franchise agency was the next step in strengthening the travel brand in the market.
“The interest in cooperating with us on a franchise basis in Poland demonstrates the high trust of our partners, which we have gained over more than a year of work in the new market. We try to support entrepreneurs in all the countries where we operate and give them the opportunity to build a profitable business together with Join UP!”, comments Marina Daineko, Head of Sales Development.
In addition, she noted that the development of the franchise network abroad expands access for Ukrainians to the already familiar travel service created by compatriots.
The development of the franchise network is one of the strategic vectors of the brand. Join UP! started this direction more than 10 years ago, and as of March 2024, the network includes 100 travel agencies, 33 of which opened after the start of the full-scale invasion. The office in Katowice became the second foreign office under the franchise program (since 2017, it has been operating in Moldova).
According to Daineko, the average cost of a lump sum (one-time start-up) fee in Ukraine is UAH 60 thousand (depending on the city and region), the highest is in Kyiv, in small towns – about 40 thousand. Royalties (monthly payment) range from $50 to $125 per month, also depending on the region.
In Poland, the cost of a lump sum payment is EUR2500, and royalties are 0.5% of the sales of Join UP! tours and 1% of the sales of tours of other tour operators.
In addition to full franchise support provided by the brand, new cooperation formats are also being introduced to attract new partners.
According to Deineko, with the outbreak of a full-scale war, several dozen franchise agencies in the country closed due to occupation and destruction. In addition, the logistics of traveling in Ukraine have changed dramatically.
“To preserve the Ukrainian tourism sector in such difficult conditions, it is extremely important to support and unite the market. To this end, we have launched the Join UP! program with simplified conditions for joining the Join UP! network for agents with experience,” she said.
Today, the Join UP! brand is represented in eight markets. In 2022, the brand’s companies appeared in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Poland and Romania, and its position in the Moldovan market, where the tour operator has been represented for several years, was strengthened. This year, the company plans to enter the Czech Republic and Slovakia as a tour operator.
Join UP! LLC was established in 2013, with an authorized capital of UAH 72 million 671 thousand. In 2023, revenue increased to UAH 16 million 639 thousand, which is 2.3 times higher than in 2022. At the same time, the company incurred a 1.8-fold higher net loss of UAH 234 million 120 thousand, compared to UAH 129 million 486 thousand a year earlier.
The strategic partner of the tour operators operating under the Join UP! brand is SkyUp, and together they are part of the UPfamily group of businesses, the ultimate beneficiaries of which are Yuriy and Alexander Alba.
Ukraine intends to create an Investment Attraction Agency as a single entry point for investors in the Ukrainian private sector, First Deputy Prime Minister Yuliya Sviridenko said on Facebook.
“To ensure that all investors wishing to invest in the private sector in Ukraine have a single point of entry, we are working on the launch of a single institution – the Investment Attraction Agency,” she wrote following a visit to London, where she discussed its creation, including with the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
According to her, during the meeting, LSE specialists assured that they are ready to provide their expertise and help build this institution.
Sviridenko said she also met with British International Investment, which last summer at a conference on Ukraine’s reconstruction in London said it was ready to allocate GBP250 million to finance the private sector in Ukraine, mainly for post-war reconstruction.
“These funds will be available from April through the Co-investment platform. What can we do together with the private sector already now to get this funding? Prepare quality projects. For this purpose we also attract partners to jointly do feasibility study, “- First Deputy Prime Minister said.
She added that attracting investment and financing to Ukraine was also the main topic of negotiations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the London Stock Exchange and TheCityUK, UK Export Finance (UKEF).
“We are working with UKEF to attract investments in the defense sector. We have also opened a GBP3.5bn limit for Ukraine. Several companies have already received insurance, one of them yesterday during our visit to London. We plan to expand cooperation, in particular, we discussed the possibility of insuring suppliers of equipment in the field of military demining,” Sviridenko wrote, in particular.
Italian export credit agency SACE will allocate EUR1.5bn to support trade and financial operations, particularly in the health care and infrastructure sectors.
According to the website of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, this was discussed during the meeting between the First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yulia Sviridenko and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Italian Republic to Ukraine Pier Francesco Dzadzo, where the Ukrainian side urged SACE to strengthen cooperation with Ukraine and expand the types of covered risks.
In addition, the export credit agency intends to support investments of Italian companies in Ukraine and provide export credits, soft loans and direct investments.
First Deputy Prime Minister noted the importance of supporting Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is the backbone of the national economy. She stressed that the Government also expects to intensify cooperation with the Italian Agency for Cooperation Development (AICS) to promote local economic development, job creation and support SMEs.
In addition, the sides discussed the return of Ukrainians. The provision of housing for Ukrainians remains important.
SACE is an Italian export credit agency and an active participant of the largest international organizations in the field of export credit. SACE’s activities are regulated by European Union legislation and the OECD Agreement on Officially Supported Export Credits.
AGENCY, INVESTMENTS, ITALY, Ministries of Economy, trade support
The State Agency of Ukraine on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving intends to submit for approval by the government a program to support energy efficiency for 2022-2026 with the volume of UAH 10 billion, acting chairman of the agency Kostiantyn Hura has said.
“Since the insulation credit program is coming to an end this year, we have developed the concept of a new target program for 2022-2026 to support energy efficient measures in the amount of UAH 10 billion, which would include not only “warm loans” for individuals, but also apply to industry, the budgetary sector, transport and individual projects for the development of bioenergy,” he said in a comment to the Energy Reform portal at the all-Ukrainian forum Ukraine 30. Ecology.
He said the mechanism of the proposed program for loans to legal entities will differ from the program of “warm loans,” which consists in compensation for their part.
“We are now considering the possibility of launching such a mechanism as lowering the loan rate, in this case – at the double refinancing rate of the NBU, which is currently 6.5%. That is, the bank’s standard rate minus 13% if an entrepreneur takes out a loan for energy efficiency. The banks’ expenses will be compensated from the budget,” he explained.
According to the expert, the agency has coordinated the program with all interested bodies and is now awaiting approval from the Ministry of Energy.
“After that, we will send it to the government. I hope for its support,” Hura said, adding that such a program to stimulate energy efficiency will provide an opportunity not only to modernize housing, budgetary sectors, enterprises, but also have a positive effect on the economy, creating projects, jobs, increasing budget revenues.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine extended until 2021 the state target program for energy efficiency and development of the sphere of energy production from renewable energy sources and alternative fuels, being in effect from 2010 to 2020.
As of Tuesday, June 23, road construction is carried out on 3,000 kilometers of Ukrainian roads, namely, some 224 objects in 23 regions of Ukraine.
The State Automobile Roads Agency of Ukraine (Ukravtodor) said on its Telegram channel on Tuesday that more than 500 kilometers of roads are currently being commissioned.
Ukravtodor said that in 2020, under the Big Construction project, it is planned to repair 4,200 kilometers of public roads. The total budget is UAH 90.2 billion.
“Currently, construction works are being carried out on 2,816 kilometers of roads through financing from the Road Fund, the national budget and loans. Construction works on 189 kilometers are being continued at the expense of international financial institutions. In addition, tender procedures have been announced for repairing 1,413 kilometers of roads, we are awaiting the conclusion of the main number of contracts in the coming weeks,” the agency said.
