The September Fest 2026 urban festival, dedicated to urban development, contemporary architecture, real estate development, design, culture, and the quality of urban life, will take place on September 18–19 in Kyiv at the A-STATION complex near the “Arsenalska” metro station.
The festival will last two days—from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. The main entrance to the event grounds will be through the Mykilski Gates.
According to the organizers, approximately 10,000 people are expected to attend September Fest over the two days, and the professional program features more than 150 speakers.
Invited participants include representatives of central and local authorities, mayors of Ukrainian cities, chief architects, developers, investment funds, architectural firms, designers, international experts, and representatives of specialized media.
One of the festival’s key themes will be discussions on the reconstruction of Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, the development of the modern urban environment, attracting investment in real estate and infrastructure projects, as well as new approaches to architecture and urban planning.
A separate component of September Fest will be the VIP program, designed for representatives of state and municipal authorities, mayors, heads of development companies, CEOs, investors, and other professionals in the industry.
Tickets to the VIP area cost EUR250 for one day and EUR500 for two days.
Free registration is available for general admission to the festival. Tickets can be obtained on the September Fest website: www.ubc-ua.info/september-fest.
September Fest 2026 is organized by DMNTR, with A Development serving as the general partner.
Date: September 18–19, 2026
Time: 11:00 a.m.–9:00 p.m.
Location: A-STATION, Kyiv, “Arsenalska” metro station, main entrance—Mykils’ki Voryta
Expected attendance: approximately 10,000 visitors
Speakers: over 150
Standard admission: free registration
VIP ticket: EUR 250 – one day, EUR 500 – two days
Additional information:
Tel. 044 461 91 28, 077 777 25 47
Organizer – DMNTR.
General Partner – A Development.
Open4business – Media Partner
ARCHITECTURE, DEVELOPMENT, DMNTR, KYIV, September Fest, urbanism
Dmytro Lashin, director of Lavina Mall in Kyiv, is leaving Mandarin Plaza Group after eight years in the position.
“Today marks exactly eight years since I started working at Mandarin Plaza Group. And I want to let you know that my contract has ended,” Lashin announced on LinkedIn.
The Lavina Mall, with a total leasable area of 127,000 square meters, opened in early December 2016.
According to the YouControl analytics system, the authorized capital of Lavina Shopping Center LLC (Kyiv), established in 2013 and owner of the Lavina Mall in the capital, amounts to 279 million UAH. As of August 2026, the owners of Lavina Shopping Center LLC are the Cypriot company Ixoria Business Limited (90%) and JSC ZNVKIF “Asborn” (10%), with Marina Dorokhina listed as the ultimate beneficial owner.
According to its 2025 financial results, the company generated 1.5 billion UAH in revenue, a 14.68% increase compared to 2024, with net profit totaling 43,857,000 UAH—238 times higher than the previous year.
As of the end of July 2026, there were 7,865 businesses and entrepreneurs operating in the jewelry sector in Ukraine, 84% of which are registered as sole proprietors, according to data from the Unified State Register analyzed by Opendatabot. The study was published on August 17, 2026.
In total, there are 6,583 sole proprietors and 1,282 companies operating in the market, engaged in the production and sale of jewelry, as well as the repair of jewelry and watches.
However, the trends in these two segments differ significantly. The number of legal entities in the jewelry industry has been growing for five consecutive years, including after the start of the full-scale war. By the end of 2025, 54 more jewelry companies were registered than ceased operations.
Among sole proprietors, the situation is less stable. In 2021–2022, the number of closures exceeded the number of registrations by 498. In 2023, the segment returned to growth, and in 2024, the net increase reached a record 611 entrepreneurs. However, by 2025, the trend had shifted again—there were 169 more sole proprietorships that ceased operations than new ones.
Kyiv remains the main hub of the jewelry business, with 1,365 registered manufacturers, retailers, and other industry participants.
In second place is the Zaporizhzhia region with 679 enterprises, followed by the Kyiv region with 585, the Kharkiv region with 548, and the Dnipropetrovsk region with 484.
Thus, despite the dominance of small businesses, the structure of Ukraine’s jewelry market is gradually changing: the number of sole proprietorships is declining, while the number of companies continues to grow.
entrepreneur, jewelry business, KYIV, Sole proprietorship, UKRAINE
As part of the implementation of the energy sustainability plan, distributed cogeneration facilities with a total capacity of 65 MW have already been built in Kyiv, according to Petro Panteleev, acting first deputy head of the Kyiv City State Administration.
“We have already built cogeneration plants with a capacity of 65 MW and diesel power plants with a capacity of over 16 MW,” he said at a press briefing on Monday dedicated to the progress of the Kyiv City Resilience Plan.
The level of readiness for infrastructure restoration, Panteleev added, has already reached 60%. In addition, the city is working to prepare its housing stock for the heating season.
According to the city official, Kyiv has allocated 800 million hryvnias over the course of the year for the repair and modernization of electrical switchboards. Work is planned this year at 742 facilities; so far, 20% of the plan has been completed.
As Panteleev noted, energy efficiency measures have already been implemented in over 2,000 residential buildings through municipal and state programs.
It was previously reported that the capital’s Resilience Plan allocates 37 billion hryvnias for the restoration and construction of facilities and infrastructure.
Vacancy rate in Kyiv’s warehouse real estate market is at a minimum – Expandia
The vacancy rate in Kyiv’s warehouse real estate market fell by 1 percentage point in the first half of 2026 to 2.5%, and the available supply is unable to meet the demand for large spaces, said Yaroslav Gorbushko, director of Expandia’s capital markets department.
“Demand for warehouses is currently enormous. They continue to be demolished, and all available space is leased out. The 2.5% vacancy rate we see based on the results of the first half of 2026 is structural vacancy. In other words, there isn’t a single large block available. These are leftover spaces of about 1,000 square meters each. If a company enters the market and wants to lease, say, 10,000 square meters, such spaces are not available,” Gorbushko said during the analytical panel “Market Analytics for Construction and Real Estate: First Half of 2026” organized by the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine (CBU).
According to him, demand for warehouse space in Kyiv continues to grow: gross absorption in the market increased by 46% in the first half of 2026, reaching 160,000 square meters. Logistics operators and the wholesale and retail trade segment remain the main drivers of demand, although the forced relocation of companies from damaged warehouses is an additional driver of demand.
In January–June 2026, 98,000 square meters of new supply entered the market, which is 54% less than in the previous half-year and 16% less year-over-year. However, developers remain optimistic about the warehouse market: in 2026, an additional approximately 21,000 square meters of new speculative space is planned to be brought to market.
“Leasing activity and new completions in recent years have been at their highest levels, even compared to the pre-war years,” noted Gorbushko.
However, the losses are also significant. According to Expandia, excluding the large-scale enemy attack on warehouse real estate in early August, Ukraine’s total loss of warehouse supply since the start of the full-scale invasion amounts to approximately 950,000 square meters. In the Kyiv region alone, losses accounted for more than a third of the total supply—650,000 square meters.
According to Expandia, demand for warehouse real estate is likely to center on build-to-suit projects, distribution centers, and multi-temperature warehouses.
In addition, the market’s geographic reach is gradually diversifying to include the western and central regions of the country.
Expandia is the largest commercial real estate company in Ukraine. It was founded in January 2008 under the CBRE Ukraine brand as part of the CBRE affiliate network. Since August 2025, the company has been operating under its own brand, Expandia, and is the sole official representative of CBRE in Ukraine and Moldova. Its portfolio of managed properties totals over 1 million square meters across more than 20 regions of Ukraine and Moldova.
The St. Sophia Cathedral National Reserve has launched an official audio guide in English for foreign visitors to St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC) announced on August 7.
The English-language version of the audio guide is primarily intended for foreign tourists, diplomats, and expats, and introduces visitors to the cathedral’s history, architecture, and 11th-century mosaics and frescoes. The audio guide is also available online.
Andriy Gunder, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, provided the narration for the English-language tour.
According to him, the project aims to make Kyiv’s rich history more accessible to an English-speaking international audience. Gunder invited diplomats, tourists, and foreigners living in Ukraine to visit St. Sophia Cathedral and use the new audio guide.
St. Sophia Cathedral was built in the first half of the 11th century during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise and became one of the main sacred and political centers of Kievan Rus’. UNESCO calls it one of the most outstanding monuments of architecture and monumental art of the early 11th century. The cathedral preserves a unique collection of original mosaics and frescoes from this period.
In 1990, St. Sophia Cathedral, along with the adjacent monastic buildings and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv was one of the first Ukrainian sites to be included on this list.
The launch of an English-language audio guide expands opportunities for international visitors to explore one of Kyiv’s major historical landmarks on their own and creates an additional tourist attraction for foreign visitors to the Ukrainian capital.
St. Sophia Cathedral is located at 24 Volodymyrska Street, Kyiv. The English-language audio guide can be listened to either during your visit or online.
