According to “Serbian Economist”, the Serbian company NIS has been granted another month to operate without restrictions from the U.S. OFAC has extended the company’s special license until July 31, said Serbia’s Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka Jedović-Khandanović.
The previous license was valid until July 1. For Serbia, this means that the country’s key oil company will continue its normal operations for the time being, including the operation of the refinery in Pančevo and its network of gas stations.
At the same time, negotiations are ongoing between Hungary’s MOL and Gazprom Neft regarding the purchase of a stake in NIS. Earlier reports indicated that the deal involves a 56.15% stake. Additional regulatory approvals are required to finalize the deal, the most important of which remains approval from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Serbia and MOL have already signed a shareholders’ agreement regarding the future management of NIS. The potential deal structure may also include the subsequent sale of a minority stake held by ADNOC of the UAE and the possibility for Serbia to increase its stake in the company by 5%.
Currently, Gazprom Neft remains NIS’s largest shareholder with 44.85%, while another 11.3% is held by an entity managed by Gazprom Capital. The Serbian government owns 29.87%.
NIS’s problems arose after the company, as a subsidiary of Gazprom Neft, was added to the U.S. SDN List in early 2025. President Aleksandar Vučić stated at the time that the U.S. was demanding the complete withdrawal of Russian capital from the company.
For Serbia, NIS is not just a major business but a strategic asset. The company is the only one in the country engaged in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons; it owns an oil refinery in Pančevo with a capacity of 4.8 million metric tons per year and dominates the petroleum products market. Its network includes more than 400 gas stations in Serbia and neighboring countries.
The extension of the license until July 31 eliminates the short-term risk to the fuel market, but does not resolve the main issue—who will control NIS after Russian capital withdraws, and under what conditions Serbia will retain influence over the country’s key energy company.
On Thursday, May 28, at the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility site, Oleg Korikov, Chairman of the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU), officially handed over the license for the “nuclear facility operation” life cycle stage of the Centralized Spent Fuel Storage Facility to Pavlo Kovtonyuk, Acting Chairman of the Board of NAEK “Energoatom.”
“Obtaining the license to operate the repository confirms the Ukrainian nuclear industry’s ability to implement large-scale and technologically complex projects in accordance with the highest global safety standards,” stated the head of Energoatom during the handover of the licensing documents.
According to him, the facility’s operation over the next 100 years will strengthen the energy resilience of Ukraine’s nuclear power generation, ensure the safe management of spent nuclear fuel, and provide the state with significant economic benefits—currently, Ukraine saves approximately $200 million annually, which was previously spent on transporting fuel abroad.
In turn, as noted by SNRIU Chairman Korikov, the issuance of a license for the “nuclear facility operation” life cycle stage of the CSFSF marks the completion of the process of establishing Ukraine’s own system for the safe management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF).
Prior to the issuance of this license, the storage facility operated under a separate commissioning license.
“From the perspective of the state regulatory body for nuclear and radiation safety, it is important that the operation of the CSFSF ensures compliance with nuclear and radiation safety requirements and IAEA standards,” Korikov emphasized.
He explained that, in accordance with these standards, the spent fuel storage pools of each reactor unit at a nuclear power plant must have sufficient free volume to accommodate the complete unloading of the core at any point during operation.
“The CSFSF is a practical solution to the issue of spent nuclear fuel management following the termination of cooperation with Russia in this area,” added the head of the SNRA.
The decision to issue the license was the result of a state review of the nuclear and radiation safety of the supporting documentation for Energoatom’s application and an inspection of the operating organization.
As Energoatom noted, construction of the CSFSF began in 2017. In 2020, construction of the first launch complex was completed, and in 2021, the special Vilcha-Yaniv railway line was completed, connecting the storage facility to Ukraine’s general railway network.
On the eve of the full-scale Russian invasion, Energoatom completed a series of cold tests of all the facility’s systems, and on April 25, 2022, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate issued a separate permit to commission the CSFSF.
In other words, until May 25, 2026, the storage facility operated under a separate permit and a special license for commissioning. After completing all necessary procedures and inspections, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate issued the CSFSF a permanent operating license.
The stable operation of the CSFSF ensures the continued operation of nine Ukrainian power units in the territory controlled by Ukraine and guarantees the continuity of electricity generation.
Previously, Ukraine shipped spent nuclear fuel from the Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, and South Ukraine NPPs to Russia annually for storage and reprocessing, spending approximately $200 million on this. The creation of the CSFSF made it possible to completely abandon this practice and eliminate critical dependence on Russian nuclear infrastructure.
The repository is designed for at least 100 years of operation and uses the “dry” storage technology developed by the American company Holtec International, which is used in the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, and other countries.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) revoked the operating license of the financial company Vostok Finance LLC and imposed sanctions on Profit Finance LLC, Forward Finance FC LLC, and Growey FC LLC.
According to information on the regulator’s website, Vostok Finance LLC lost its license for factoring and providing funds and bank metals on credit after effectively preventing the regulator from conducting an unscheduled inspection.
In February and March, the National Bank took steps to conduct an inspection of the company; however, the inspection team was not provided with documents or information regarding the subject of the inspection, which made it impossible to carry out the inspection.
As of May 11, 2026, the company is prohibited from providing financial services, entering into new contracts, extending existing ones, or increasing obligations under them; however, the revocation of the license does not exempt it from fulfilling existing contracts.
The basis for imposing this enforcement measure on Profit Finance LLC was the company’s failure to provide, within the established deadlines, information, explanations, documents, or copies thereof at the request of the National Bank.
The company must remedy the violations and bring its activities into compliance with the law by June 2, 2026.
According to the regulator, LLC “FC Forward Finance” and LLC “FC Growway” violated the requirements regarding confirmation of the sources of the increase in authorized capital, as a result of which their activities did not meet the requirements for the provision of financial services.
In this regard, the central bank ordered the companies to rectify the violations and bring their operations into compliance with the law by June 8, 2026.
The decision regarding all four companies was adopted by the Committee on Supervision and Regulation of Non-Bank Financial Services Markets on May 11, 2026.
Odrex Medical Center (Dom Meditsiny LLC, Odessa) has undergone an inspection for compliance with licensing conditions, and the Ministry of Health has confirmed its compliance, according to the clinic’s CEO Tigran Arutyunyan.
“In January 2026, a commission from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health conducted an unscheduled inspection of Odrex Medical Center’s compliance with licensing conditions. Based on the results of the inspection, the Ministry of Health confirmed that Odrex Medical Center fully complies with licensing conditions, operates within the law, and has no violations,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Arutyunyan specified that the inspection lasted three days and covered key areas of the hospital’s activities.
He noted that “Odrex continues to provide medical care as planned.”
As reported, two doctors from the Odrex clinic were accused of causing the death of its 62-year-old patient, businessman Adnan Kivan, who was undergoing treatment for cancer at the Odrex medical center from May to October 2024. He died on October 27, 2024.
During the investigation on October 24, 2025, investigators handed over suspicions to the head of surgical department No. 2, surgeon-oncologist Vitaly Rusakov, and clinical oncologist and chemotherapist Marina Bilotserkovskaya.
The clinic officially expressed its willingness to cooperate with the investigation and called on the media to avoid unproven accusations against its doctors in the patient’s death and to wait for the official conclusions of the investigation. At the same time, the clinic believes that this investigation is of a commissioned nature.
For its part, the Ministry of Health launched an unscheduled inspection of the Odrex clinic after this incident.
Ukrainian athletes have already received 20 licenses in five sports for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy), according to the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOC).
“Exactly one month until the start of the main event of the quadrennium! At the moment, Ukrainian athletes have won 20 licenses in five sports (biathlon — 10, cross-country skiing — 5, alpine skiing — 2, short track — 2, figure skating — 1),” the NOC said in a statement.
It is noted that there are still 12 days left until the end of the qualification period — until January 18.
As reported, at the 2026 Winter Olympics (February 6-22) in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy), athletes will compete for 195 medals in 16 Olympic sports.
The president of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine, Vadym Guttsait, expects Ukraine to perform successfully at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo (Italy), as it did at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris (France). Ukraine won 12 medals and ranked 22nd in the medal count at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Ukraine supports the proposal of Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to establish a truce during the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Minister of Youth and Sports Matvey Bedny expects the “necessary minimum” number of licenses for Ukrainian athletes to participate in the 2026 Olympics in Italy, and also says that there is hope for success in freestyle skiing and biathlon.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has revoked the license of insurance company “Professional Insurance” (Kyiv) to conduct insurance activities due to violations of licensing requirements.
According to the NBU website, the board’s decision to revoke the license was made on December 30, 2025, and came into effect on the same day after its publication.
From the date of entry into force of the decision, the insurer loses the right to conclude insurance contracts and extend the term of existing contracts, as well as to conclude new contracts or make changes to existing ones that lead to an increase in obligations to clients for the relevant classes of insurance.
Earlier that day, the National Bank refused to allow IC “Professional Insurance” to conclude written agreements on measures to eliminate previously identified violations of the requirements for the authorization of financial service providers and the conditions for their activities. The regulator explained its refusal by saying that such agreements do not provide sufficient confidence in the timely and complete elimination of this violation.
In its decision, the NBU called the insurance company’s registration in August 2024 of an increase in its authorized capital from UAH 8 million to UAH 48 million without obtaining the regulator’s consent a violation. The document states that the owners of Professional Insurance, Roman Kuzmenko and Yevgen Vasilenko, bought domestic government bonds, then sold these bonds to other insurers, and used the proceeds to increase the authorized capital. However, the National Bank recognized that the sources of the funds were not confirmed and therefore refused to approve both the increase in the authorized capital and its reduction back to UAH 8 million due to a violation of prudential requirements.
The company’s attempts at the end of 2025 to reach an agreement with the National Bank on the conclusion of written agreements were unsuccessful.
Professional Insurance Insurance Company was established in 2007 and has 44 licenses to conduct insurance activities.
According to YouControl, the company’s net earned insurance premiums for the first nine months of this year amounted to UAH 2.4 million, compared to UAH 0.71 million for the same period in 2024, and net profit amounted to UAH 4.80 million, compared to UAH 0.93 million.
