In 2025, Ukraine increased onion imports by 3.2% compared to 2024, to 23.16 thousand tons, and in monetary terms, imports grew by 18.1%, to $29.71 million, according to the State Customs Service.
The largest suppliers of onions to Ukraine at the end of the year were the Netherlands (34.22% of supplies in monetary terms), China (29.68%), and Egypt (12.89%).
The clearance of vehicles and goods at the Ukraine–Moldova border is temporarily not being carried out due to a failure of the central databases of the customs authorities of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine’s State Customs Service has reported.
“Please take this information into account when planning to cross the border! The resumption of clearance operations will be announced additionally,” the message posted on the Telegram channel on Saturday said.
As reported, according to First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Energy of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, on January 31 at 10:42 a technological incident occurred, involving the simultaneous disconnection of the 400 kV line between the power systems of Romania and Moldova and the 750 kV line between the western and central parts of Ukraine.
The creation of agri-food hubs as a new format for international cooperation in the field of food security was discussed by Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment and Agriculture Denys Bashlyk and Director General of the DIHAD Sustainable Development Fund of the United Arab Emirates Organisation Khaled Al-Attar, according to the press service of the Ministry of Economy.
“Ukraine is already actively working to expand the Food from Ukraine initiative, namely to create food hubs in African countries. This is not just about exports—it is about building local infrastructure for food storage, processing, and distribution. We want to scale up this approach. Together, we can create a network of modern food hubs that will ensure stable food supplies to the regions that need it most, including the Middle East. This is a contribution to global food security and stability,” Bashlyk said during the talks.
The deputy minister stressed that food security and the construction of food hubs, particularly in the Middle East, could become a new strategic area of cooperation, and expressed confidence that the development of such cooperation would contribute to the formation of a new innovative agroecosystem and the deepening of economic and investment ties between countries.
The parties also focused on developing cooperation between the state and business at the B2B and B2G levels, as well as establishing partnerships between scientific institutions. Practical steps include organizing a Ukrainian pavilion at the DIHAD exhibition in the UAE, as well as holding a thematic round table dedicated to food humanitarian aid issues.
DIHAD Sustainable is a specialized platform and international initiative aimed at promoting sustainable practices in agriculture, food, water, forestry, and natural resource management. It brings together government institutions, international organizations, agribusinesses, scientific institutions, and civil society organizations to share knowledge, best practices, and technologies that promote the sustainable development of agricultural sectors in the context of climate change, economic challenges, and growing environmental safety requirements.
The average pension in Ukraine is currently UAH 6,544, according to the Pension Fund of Ukraine. The payment increased by 13% over the year. Every fifth Ukrainian pensioner receives an average pension of about 4,500 UAH. 63,000 pensioners receive payments below the subsistence level, and 261,000 receive payments at the level of UAH 2,361. In total, there are more than 10.1 million pensioners in Ukraine this year, and almost 73% of them receive an old-age pension.
There are currently 10.17 million pensioners in Ukraine. The vast majority – 73% of pensioners – receive old-age payments: 7.4 million Ukrainians. Another 1.5 million citizens (15%) live on a disability pension, about 700,000 or 7% receive a survivor’s benefit, and 5% or 500,000 have a long service pension. Social pensions and lifetime pensions for judges make up less than 1%.
The average pension in Ukraine is currently UAH 6,544. The payment increased by 13% over the year. However, not everyone has such pensions: more than a third of pensioners receive about UAH 3,250. It is worth noting that the share of such pensioners decreased from 44% to 35% over the year.
Another 15% of pensioners – more than 1.5 million people – receive payments of more than UAH 10,000, and the average pension in this group reaches UAH 16,000. Another 30% of Ukrainians on pensions live on an average of UAH 6,860, and one in five receives about UAH 4.5 thousand per month.
At the same time, 63 thousand pensioners receive a pension below the subsistence level, and 261 thousand Ukrainians live on this minimum: UAH 2,361.
Most pensioners live in Dnipropetrovs’k region – 867 thousand, followed by Kyiv (746 thousand), Kharkiv (687 thousand) and Lviv (665 thousand) regions. The lowest number of pensioners is registered in Kherson (202 thousand) and Chernivtsi (203 thousand) regions.
The amount of payments also differs: the highest average pensions are traditionally in the capital – almost UAH 9 thousand, the lowest – in Ternopil region: about UAH 5 thousand. Although pensions grew by 13% across the country, in some regions the growth was much more significant, such as Rivne (+24%) and Volyn (+20%).
The majority of pensioners – over 82% – receive payments through banks, most often through PrivatBank and Oschadbank. At the same time, pensions are not the only source of income for many: one in four pensioners in Ukraine continues to work.
There are 2.8 million such people, and their average pension is UAH 7,160. As of January 28, UAH 3,250 is about 63 euros at the NBU exchange rate.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/pensions-2025-12
Slovakia, Poland, and a number of European countries have agreed on a position to strengthen controls on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products entering the European market, Slovak Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč told reporters after a meeting of European Union agriculture ministers (Agrifish) in Brussels on Monday.
“I can say that at an informal joint lunch, we discussed strengthening controls on imports from third countries, which is a key issue for the Slovak Republic with regard to Ukraine. Of course, for many other countries, this is partly MERCOSUR, but we also have other agreements with third countries,” he said.
Takács noted that during the informal talks, the parties agreed on a common position on the introduction of regular monitoring, in particular audits “in these third countries,” and support for strengthening controls in terms of food safety.
“We have a big problem, for example, on the border with Ukraine, where we need to strengthen these checks in terms of food safety when importing from these third countries,” he added.
According to Takach, the Polish representative presented materials that clearly demonstrate the need to strengthen such measures.
“I am glad that his materials also mentioned that Poland will propose the creation of a special fund for compensation for imports from third countries if farmers or food producers suffer. I am very pleased that they have adopted this rhetoric and the idea that we have been talking about for almost two years – that it is necessary to create such a compensation fund,” the Slovak minister emphasized.
He noted that the import of agricultural products from third countries is a topical issue for many European countries, which are convinced of the need to increase the protection of their consumers and raise the standards of third countries and their products to meet European Union standards.
“When a farmer in Europe has to comply with certain standards—how much he can spray (agricultural crops), how much he can fertilize, what the production process should be—we must demand the same when importing from third countries. And the creation of a special compensation fund and regular monitoring (of agricultural products) on a monthly basis, rather than once every six months,” summarized the Slovak Minister of Agriculture.
As reported, on January 26, the EU Council on Agriculture was to consider the request of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria to strengthen the protection of the European market from agricultural imports from Ukraine. The initiating countries argue that the existing mechanisms of the free trade agreement are not sufficient to protect their farmers, especially in sectors such as sugar, meat, grain, and dairy production.
The main demands are the unification of production standards so that Ukrainian products comply with strict EU standards on pesticides and animal welfare, as well as the creation of a special compensation fund for farmers. Until these measures are implemented and stricter border controls are in place, these countries are calling on the European Union to refrain from further tariff liberalization for Ukraine.
The development of industrial parks in Ukraine in 2026 will include several key areas that have begun to take shape over the past three years, in particular, steady growth in the number of both registered and operating industrial parks (up to 30 registered per year, 15-20 operating), according to Valery Kirilko, CEO of the Industrial Parks of Ukraine group of companies.
As noted in the final report on the development of industrial parks provided by Kirilko, they will develop in the direction of greater specialization, innovation, and environmental friendliness.
“State support, attracting foreign investors, and developing infrastructure will make it possible to create powerful industrial clusters that will become the driving force behind the country’s economic recovery and growth,” the report says.
The report notes that at the end of 2025, there were 118 industrial parks registered in the register of industrial parks in Ukraine (in January 2026, seven parks were excluded, so now there are 111).
At the same time, during the period of wartime from 2022 to 2025, 80 IPs were registered, which is almost 70% of the total number. Last year, 27 parks were registered and eight were excluded from the register.
As reported, by the end of 2025, 37 industrial enterprises had been built or were under construction in IPs, of which 22 plants had been built and another 15 were under construction. These are enterprises in the fields of agro-processing, food production, furniture and woodworking, and mechanical engineering.
According to data provided by Kirilko, Kyiv region became the leader in terms of the number of registrations – four IPs, Zhytomyr, Odesa, and Khmelnytskyi regions have three each, and Vinnytsia, Zakarpattia, and Lviv regions have two each. Eight more regions registered one industrial park each.
“We would like to note the appearance of the first industrial park registered in the Kirovohrad region,” the article notes.
Overall, the leader in terms of the number of registered IPs is the Lviv region, which currently has 20 parks registered, followed by the Kyiv region with 15, and the Zakarpattia region with 12.
“The largest increase during the war was also demonstrated by the Lviv region with 12 parks, the Zakarpattia region with 11, and the Kyiv region with eight parks. There are still no industrial parks in three regions: Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia,” the report says.
Among the initiators in 2025, there were more private initiators (19) than municipal ones (8).
“Among municipal parks, it is worth noting the emergence of a new type of synergy in the creation of parks, the so-called combined industrial parks. These are municipal IPs that are created by a municipal initiator for a specific investor, who then enters as a management company and begins to develop it as an attracted developer or production “anchor” operator. Of the eight municipal parks, at least three were created on this principle,” the material notes.
The largest number of specialized industrial parks are associated with the industrial agricultural sector and food production, followed by the production of building materials, and separately among them, the production of metal structures.
“Next comes warehouse real estate, although this is not a sign of IP, but many parks have recently been registered as transshipment and storage bases with an additional industrial block. And then there are mixed parks that do not have any specialization,” the report notes.
A separate type of participant has also emerged that meets the requirements of the times: energy companies operating solar power plants, gas piston power plants, plants that convert waste into electricity and biogas, energy storage operators, and other combinations of such participants.
“In this regard, questions and problems arise when it is planned to place such electricity operators on industrial land. But gradually, practical cases are adapting the conditions for the implementation of such projects within industrial parks,” experts note.
The article reminds us that the total amount of state incentives for industrial parks in 2025 was UAH 900.681 million, and more than UAH 4 billion was financed by private business – 98% of these investments were of Ukrainian origin.
“Unfortunately, the opportunities for attracting international grants or technical assistance programs for the development of IP infrastructure are currently limited. The main reason is that international organizations and donors are focused on supporting specific enterprises or residents that already operate or plan to operate in the parks, rather than financing infrastructure projects such as communications, road construction, or railway branches,” the article states.
In addition, infrastructure investments are risky for MFIs because they have no guarantee of return.
“The only known case is the Riasne-2/M-10 Lviv Industrial Park in Lviv, which is managed by Dragon Capital. They received a loan from the EBRD for more than $24.5 million, insured against military risks by MIGA. However, these funds were used not only for infrastructure, but also for the construction of facilities for residents,” the article says.
Experts also note that today there are three main types of industrial park initiators: industrial (a private initiator creates an industrial park for its own production projects); municipal (community in the form of a local council, municipality); developer (private owner or tenant of a land plot or industrial zone).
At the same time, they note a sharp increase in private parks in relation to municipal ones—if until 2022, municipal parks accounted for about 80% of the total number, then over the past three years, the share of registered municipal parks has been 35%, and private ones, respectively, 65%.
Among the trends in the development of IPs this year, experts also mention an increasing shift from quantity to quality, increased government support and incentives, active attraction of foreign investors, and environmental friendliness.
In addition, they believe that IPs are increasingly focused on creating technology clusters, and industrial clusters, where residents complement each other, will become more widespread.
An increase in the number of network management companies specializing in IP development is also expected, and foreign management companies, especially from Europe and Asia, will begin to enter the Ukrainian market more actively.
Another important step will be the creation of the All-Ukrainian Association of Industrial Parks, and development companies will become increasingly interested in industrial parks.
