Fozzy Group, one of Ukraine’s largest commercial and industrial groups, will lay off some employees from the holding company’s office divisions, the “Silpo” supermarket chain, and its logistics division starting November 1, 2026, due to mounting business losses resulting from Russian attacks.
As the group announced on LinkedIn, employees were informed of the organizational changes during internal meetings. Similar changes had previously taken place at the MAUDAU marketplace, as well as within the IT teams at TEMABIT Software Development and E-commerce & Ecosystem.
“Unfortunately, this means we will have to part ways with some of our colleagues from the holding company’s office teams, the Silpo chain, and the logistics division. Similar changes had already taken place at MAUDAU and within the IT teams at TEMABIT Software Development and E-commerce & Ecosystem. This is a necessary decision stemming from the fact that the war is increasingly affecting our work,” the Fozzy Group statement reads.
Between August 1 and September 25 alone, Russian attacks destroyed or damaged more than 20 of the group’s facilities, including distribution centers, supermarkets, and production facilities.
The company notes that the attacks resulted in the loss of part of its infrastructure and inventory, while ensuring the uninterrupted operation of the business is becoming more difficult and expensive. Fozzy Group is reassessing its priorities, suspending some projects and tasks, abandoning others, and seeking new solutions for the rest.
At the same time, the group continues to open stores, restore damaged facilities, and reorganize its logistics. To support these efforts, Fozzy Group is continuing to hire employees for supermarkets, warehouses, and production facilities throughout Ukraine.
“Our goal right now is to keep the business strong enough to serve our customers and have the resources to rebuild what the war continues to destroy,” the company emphasized.
Fozzy Group is one of Ukraine’s largest commercial and industrial groups and operates more than 825 retail outlets. It includes the Silpo, Fora, Fozzy, Thrash!, “Belaya Romashka,” and E-ZOO chains, as well as logistics, manufacturing, IT, and other assets.
The group’s key retail asset is Silpo-Food LLC. According to data from the YouControl system, the company’s revenue in 2025 amounted to approximately 106.8 billion UAH, up from roughly 93 billion UAH in 2024. At the same time, net financial results remained under pressure from high operating costs, logistics expenses, energy costs, and the consequences of the war.
Another major asset of the group is the “Fora” store chain, operated through Fora LLC. Its annual revenue already exceeds 30 billion UAH, making the company one of the largest operators in the Ukrainian grocery retail sector.
The combined scale of Fozzy Group’s business is significantly larger than the figures for individual legal entities, as the holding company unites dozens of companies in retail, manufacturing, logistics, the restaurant business, e-commerce, and IT. According to publicly available corporate data, the group has traditionally estimated its workforce at approximately 50,000 employees, making it one of Ukraine’s largest private employers.
Fozzy Group is owned by Ukrainian businessmen Vladimir Kostelman, Oleg Sotnikov, and Roman Chigir. The group was founded in 1997 and is now one of the largest players in the Ukrainian grocery retail sector.
The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have launched a 15-month programme worth $5 million to strengthen Ukraine’s civilian healthcare system, according to the UNDP website.
The programme provides for strengthening the capacity of four medical institutions in Kyiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, with a focus on priority needs identified jointly with health authorities. It concerns two institutions in Kyiv region and one each in Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
The support will cover maternal and newborn healthcare, intensive care for children, surgical and trauma care, diagnostics and emergency stabilization of patients. Assistance will include the procurement of medical equipment, its installation and commissioning, user training, warranty servicing and support for safe and long-term operation.
“KSrelief is pleased to sign this important Joint Executive Programme with our valued partner – UNDP – to strengthen the provision of civilian healthcare services in Ukraine. By working together, we can save and improve people’s lives by providing urgent support for the recovery and development of the civilian healthcare system in several regions of the country,” said Adviser at the Royal Court and Supervisor General of KSrelief Dr. Abdullah Al Rabeeah.
The programme will be implemented in consultation with national and regional partners and beneficiary medical institutions, while the scope of equipment and related support will be determined in accordance with confirmed needs, including its installation, staff training, maintenance and long-term operation.
It is expected that up to 900,000 people will be able to benefit indirectly from the programme.
The agreement was signed during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly within the framework of the cooperation agreement between KSrelief and UNDP.
HEALTHCARE, HOSPITALS, HUMANITARIAN AID, KSRELIEF, MEDICAL AID, SAUDI ARABIA, UKRAINE, UNDP, UNITED NATIONS
U.S. President Donald Trump said that he hopes an agreement between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin will be reached before the onset of the harsh winter.
“But you know what I want from Zelenskyy? I want him to make a deal. I want him to reach an agreement with Putin, and I want Putin to reach an agreement with him,” Trump said while speaking with journalists.
Asked by a journalist about Patriot missiles, Trump noted that he had spoken with Zelenskyy a lot, but did not give a specific answer to the question.
“I have spoken with him a lot; the process is moving forward, Putin is acting too, and one day — I hope in the not-too-distant future, perhaps even before the onset of the harsh winter — they will reach an agreement,” Trump emphasized.
As reported, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier emphasized that during a meeting in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, U.S. President Donald Trump said that Ukraine would receive licenses to manufacture Patriot missiles.
“President Trump, during his last meeting with me, emphasized that ‘yes, I have made a final decision — Ukraine will receive licenses to manufacture Patriot missiles,’” the president said at the time.
Patriot, PATRIOT MISSILES, PEACE TALKS, PUTIN, TRUMP, UKRAINE, UN General Assembly, UNITED STATES, ZELENSKYY
Ukrainian businessman, former member of parliament, and one of the most prominent major investors in Ukraine’s metallurgical industry, Vadim Novinsky, has been granted Serbian citizenship, according to the Serbian business portal Parametar.
According to Parametar, the decision to grant Novinsky citizenship of the Republic of Serbia was made by the country’s government on September 24, 2026, and published in the official “Službeni Glasnik.” The document was signed by Serbian Prime Minister Džuro Matsut.
Novinsky was born on June 3, 1963, in Staraya Russa, in what is now Russia, but he has built a significant portion of his business career in Ukraine. He obtained Ukrainian citizenship in 2012.
In Ukraine, Novinsky is best known as the founder of Smart Holding and a long-time partner of Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM Group in the mining and metallurgical group Metinvest. Smart Holding held a 23.76% stake in Metinvest. The group’s business interests also spanned shipbuilding, the agricultural sector, real estate, and other areas.
In late 2022, Novinsky announced that he had transferred his assets to a trust. Metinvest subsequently stated that Novinsky is not a beneficiary of the company and does not exercise actual control over it.
Novinsky was also involved in politics. From 2013 to 2022, he served as a member of the Ukrainian Parliament for several terms, first as part of the Party of Regions faction and later as part of the “Opposition Bloc.”
In December 2022, Ukraine imposed personal sanctions against Novinsky. In January 2025, the State Bureau of Investigations and the Security Service of Ukraine reported that the former People’s Deputy was suspected of high treason and inciting religious hatred. Ukrainian media identified the suspect as Vadym Novinsky. The businessman himself denied the charges against him and called them politically motivated.
In June 2025, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies also reported an investigation into possible tax evasion totaling more than 4 billion UAH involving the former lawmaker, whom the media identified as Novinsky. At this point, these are allegations and investigations, not final, legally binding convictions.
After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Novinsky publicly spoke out against the war.
Serbian authorities have not yet publicly disclosed the specific reasons for granting Novinsky citizenship, nor have they reported on any potential investment projects by the businessman in Serbia.
Source: Serbian business portal Parametar.
According to Experts.news, foreign professionals who have completed a university degree or vocational training in Germany can obtain a permanent residence permit after two years of skilled work in the country.
The current version of §18c of the Aufenthaltsgesetz provides for a special shortened period for those who have successfully completed vocational training or studies at a higher education institution directly in Germany. For such professionals, the required period of residence with a permit for skilled work is two years, and the required period of pension insurance contributions is 24 months.
At the same time, the official German portal for foreign professionals, Make it in Germany, clarifies that this preferential provision is not entirely new: it was already in effect as part of a special regime for graduates of German universities and vocational training institutions and was retained following the reform of immigration legislation. For other skilled workers, the standard period for obtaining permanent residency is three years, not five.
To take advantage of the two-year path to permanent residency, a foreign national must have held a residence permit for at least two years as a skilled worker, researcher, or EU Blue Card holder under the relevant provisions of the law. They must also work in a position that meets the conditions of the residence permit, have paid contributions to the state pension insurance system for at least 24 months, have German language proficiency at the B1 level, possess basic knowledge of Germany’s legal and social systems, and have sufficient living space.
Separate, even faster rules apply to EU Blue Card holders. A permanent residence permit can be obtained after 27 months of skilled work, or after 21 months if the applicant has a B1 level of German.
In recent years, Germany has been gradually simplifying the process of attracting and retaining foreign specialists amid a labor shortage. In particular, the Skilled Immigration Act reform expanded entry opportunities for skilled workers, introduced the Opportunity Card for job seekers, and streamlined a number of procedures for Blue Card holders and their family members.
According to data from Destatis, Germany’s Federal Statistical Office, as of the end of 2025, 14.07 million foreign nationals residing in Germany were registered in the Central Register of Foreigners. Approximately 5 million of them were EU citizens, and another 4.6 million held citizenship of other European countries.
Turkish citizens remained the largest single group of foreign nationals, numbering 1.520 million. In second place were Ukrainian citizens—1.410 million—followed by Syrian citizens—936,000—Romanian citizens—904,000—Polish citizens—840,000—and Italian citizens—629,000. Germany was also home to approximately 450,000 citizens of Afghanistan, 422,000 citizens of Bulgaria, 413,000 citizens of Croatia, and over 311,000 citizens of India.
At the same time, the number of Ukrainian citizens increased by approximately 76,000 in 2025, marking one of the largest increases among individual nationalities. The number of Indian citizens rose by 34,000. At the same time, the number of Syrian citizens decreased by 39,000, while the number of Polish and Turkish citizens decreased by approximately 25,000 each, and the number of Russian citizens decreased by 18,000
If we look at the data by country of birth rather than citizenship, the picture is somewhat different. In 2025, there were 16.4 million people living in Germany who had immigrated to the country themselves. The largest groups were born in Poland and Turkey—approximately 1.5 million people each—in Ukraine—1.3 million—and in Russia and Syria—approximately 1 million each.
These five countries accounted for about 39% of all immigrants living in Germany. In total, about 21.8 million residents of the country had personal experience with migration or were direct descendants of immigrants.
Thus, Ukrainians are currently the second-largest group of foreign nationals in Germany after Turkish citizens and one of the three largest immigrant groups by country of birth.
Ferrexpo, a mining company with assets in Ukraine, ended the first half of 2026 with a net loss of $14.9 million, which is 13.2 times less than in the first half of 2025, according to the company’s report released on Friday.
According to the report, revenue fell 2.3-fold to $196 million due to a decline in sales volume, while EBITDA was negative at $4 million, compared to a positive $4 million in the first half of 2025, reflecting the combined impact of lower sales volumes and selling prices, as well as rising production costs.
Following the morning release of the financial results, the stock rose from 28.9 pence to 32.88 pence and closed at 32.48 pence, representing a 13.33% increase over the previous day’s closing price. The last time the stock traded at such a high price was more than five months ago.
Ferrexpo noted that it deliberately reduced capital expenditures (CapEx) to $10 million from $28 million in January–June 2025, allocating 88% of these expenditures to projects necessary to sustain operations and only 12% to development projects.
Due to prolonged delays in VAT refunds and the resulting decline in financial liquidity, the group was forced to reduce production to a single pellet production line, according to the report.
Total commercial output for the first half of the year amounted to 1.556 million metric tons, which is 40% less than in the previous half-year (ending December 31, 2025) and 54% less than in the first half of 2025.
The production mix in the first half of 2026 consisted of 89% pellets and 11% marketable concentrate, compared to 61% and 39%, respectively, in the first half of 2025, when the higher share of concentrate production provided additional market opportunities during a period of reduced demand for pellets and lower market premiums, Ferrexpo noted.
Interim Chairman of the Board Lucio Genovese recalled that in early September, the company was able to raise $100 million through an additional share issuance, which significantly strengthened its liquidity position and provided additional financial stability and greater flexibility to manage the ongoing operational and financial pressures facing the business.
“However, the additional capital does not resolve the underlying issues arising from the prolonged withholding of VAT refunds, the war in Ukraine, constraints on logistics and energy infrastructure, as well as the need to maintain disciplined cash and working capital management,” he noted.
On Friday Ferrexpo clarified that C1 production costs rose to $81.3 per metric ton from $77.1 in the first half of 2025 due to increased mining and maintenance activities, the impact of higher electricity and fuel prices, and rising personnel costs.
It is noted that the group has made significant efforts to reduce costs in order to maintain financial stability. These measures include reducing employees’ working hours, cutting back on the procurement of goods and services, and suspending all non-critical capital expenditures, overhead costs, and corporate social responsibility expenditures.
In addition, there were no impairment losses in the first half of 2026, whereas in the first half of 2025, they amounted to $154 million.
In the report, Genovese emphasized that the continued suspension of VAT refunds by Ukrainian tax authorities remains a significant financial challenge: as of June 30, the net balance of VAT pending refund stood at $82.7 million, and as of September 24, the State Tax Service had suspended VAT refunds totaling 3.885 billion UAH, or $86.9 million.
The report also notes that during the first six months of 2026, Ferrexpo received news of the deaths of 11 more colleagues who served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, bringing the total number of fatalities since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion to 67, whereas in 2024 and 2025, the number of fatalities was 11 each year.
According to the report, as of the end of June 2026, 804 Ferrexpo employees were serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and 218 had been demobilized, whereas at the end of 2025, those figures were 771 and 194, respectively, and a year earlier—706 and 160.
Ferrexpo owns 100% of Yeristovsky GOK LLC, 99.9% of Bilanivsky GOK LLC, and 100% of the shares of Poltava GOK PJSC.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) suspended trading in Ferrexpo shares in early May due to the company’s inability to publish its annual financial statements on time, but resumed trading on September 7.
In 2025, the company’s revenue fell by 16% to $787 million, its EBITDA dropped 2.5 times to $28 million, and its net loss rose nearly 4.5 times to $223.9 million.
