Huawei Ukraine has announced the launch of the nationwide Student Tech Challenge 2026 team competition for students majoring in technical disciplines. This year, 152 students representing 42 teams from 18 Ukrainian universities will take part in the competition.
The official opening of the competition took place online on October 6. The participants were addressed by Ma Mingjie, Director of Huawei Ukraine, Roksolana Shvadchak, Director General of the Digital Transformation Directorate of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, as well as the heads of Ukrainian technical universities.
In 2026, the teams will work in three areas: Radio Access Network Planning, Datacom Engineering, and Digital Energy. Participants are required to develop solutions to practical challenges in mobile network planning, data transmission, network technologies, and digital energy.
Work on the projects will be carried out with the support of team coaches and Huawei Ukraine mentors.
“Huawei Ukraine consistently invests in the education of Ukrainian youth. We strive to inspire students to study even harder, gain deeper insight into real business cases, and build careers in their chosen professional fields. In this way, they will directly strengthen Ukraine’s ICT industry,” said Ma Mingjie, Director of Huawei Ukraine.
Student Tech Challenge is being held for the third consecutive year. In 2024, the competition involved 134 students in 32 teams from 10 universities, while in 2025, it brought together 201 students, 48 teams from 20 universities. In 2026, the number of competition categories has been reduced from four to three, with 42 teams from 18 higher education institutions joining the project.
Anatolii Melnychenko, Rector of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, emphasized the importance of closer ties between university education and the real needs of the technology industry. According to him, such initiatives enable students not only to acquire academic knowledge but also to apply it to solving engineering challenges and gain practical teamwork experience.
The competition will run from October 6 to November 6. The semifinal selection will take place on October 26–27, and on November 4–5, the teams will present their projects to an independent expert jury. The final ceremony and awards presentation will take place in Kyiv on November 6.
The winners will receive prizes, as well as an opportunity to participate in a Huawei mentoring or internship program.
Student Tech Challenge is a nationwide technology competition organized by Huawei Ukraine for students majoring in technical disciplines, with the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. Participants develop solutions to practical challenges in telecommunications, network technologies, and energy under the guidance of company experts.
According to Experts.news, Ukraine’s rolled steel market shrank by 13.79% in January–September 2026 compared to the same period last year—to 2.728 million metric tons, according to data from the Ukrmetallurgprom association.
At the same time, the domestic market’s dependence on imported products has increased significantly. Over the nine-month period, Ukraine imported 1.276 million metric tons of rolled steel, accounting for 46.78% of domestic consumption.
A year earlier, the Ukrainian market totaled 3.1645 million metric tons, while imports amounted to 1.2395 million metric tons, or 39.17%. Thus, despite a decline in overall demand, the share of imported rolled metal products increased by 7.61 percentage points over the year.
In fact, nearly every other metric ton of rolled steel consumed in Ukraine’s domestic market from January through September 2026 was imported.
During this period, Ukrainian steelmakers produced 3.729 million metric tons of rolled steel, representing 77% of the January–September 2025 figure.
This decline in domestic consumption follows a significant market recovery last year. By the end of 2025, the rolled steel market had grown by 21.73% to 4.002 million metric tons, with imports accounting for 40.07% of the total.
For comparison: in 2024, the Ukrainian rolled steel market totaled 3.288 million metric tons, and in 2023—3.506 million metric tons.
Source: “Ukrmetallurgprom,” State Customs Service of Ukraine.
Germany remains one of the countries with a high level of positive perception among Ukrainians; however, in August 2026, this figure dropped significantly compared to the previous survey wave. According to the results of a survey by Active Group and Experts Club, 69.9% of respondents have a positive attitude toward Germany, while 5.5% have a negative one, reports the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center.
According to the August survey, 26.8% of Ukrainians view Germany entirely positively, and 43.1% view it mostly positively. A neutral stance was held by 23.5% of respondents. A mostly negative attitude was expressed by 4.9%, a completely negative one by 0.6%, and another 1.2% were undecided.
The balance of positive and negative assessments stands at plus 64.4 percentage points. This keeps Germany among the countries with a distinctly positive perception, although the figure is lower compared to previous surveys. In August 2026, Germany ranked behind France and the Netherlands among Western European countries in terms of the share of positive attitudes.
In March 2026, 77.4% of respondents viewed Germany positively: 32.9% viewed it entirely positively and 44.5% viewed it mostly positively. Negative assessments accounted for only 3.5%, while 18.4% of respondents chose a neutral response.
Thus, over the course of five months, the share of positive assessments decreased by 7.5 percentage points—from 77.4% to 69.9%—while negative assessments increased by 2 percentage points—from 3.5% to 5.5%—and neutral assessments rose by approximately 5.1 percentage points. The balance between positive and negative assessments fell from 73.9 to 64.4 percentage points. However, positive attitudes still outnumber negative ones by nearly 13 to 1.
At the same time, Germany remains one of Ukraine’s largest trading partners. In the first half of 2026, Ukrainian exports to Germany totaled approximately $1.267 billion, imports amounted to $3.208 billion, and total trade volume reached about $4.48 billion. The trade deficit for Ukraine amounted to approximately $1.94 billion. Ukraine’s main exports included cable products, rapeseed, furniture, soybeans, and metal pipes, while imports from Germany consisted of automobiles, pharmaceuticals, petroleum products, and agricultural machinery.
Oleksandr Pozniy, director of the research firm Active Group, commenting on Ukrainians’ high regard for Germany in the previous wave of the survey, attributed it to a combination of factors that go beyond purely economic relations.
“Germany is viewed as a strategic ally in the political and security spheres. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees have found shelter there, and large-scale financial and military aid plays a key role in the resilience of our state. The combination of these factors explains why more than three-quarters of Ukrainians view Germany positively and why this country remains among the undisputed leaders in terms of trust within our society,” Pozniy noted.
The new wave of the survey shows that the level of positive attitudes toward Germany has declined compared to the spring, but there has been no fundamental change in the structure of public opinions: positive responses continue to significantly outnumber negative ones, and the main increase occurred not in the category of negative attitudes but in that of neutral ones.
The survey was conducted in August 2026 using an online self-administered questionnaire via the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older. The sample is representative by age, gender, and region; the maximum theoretical margin of error for indicators at the 50% confidence level is ±3.5 percentage points.
ACTIVE GROUP, EXPERTS CLUB, FOREIGN TRADE, GERMANY, international relations, Pozniy, PUBLIC OPINION, SOCIOLOGY, UKRAINE
Ukrainian steelmakers reduced pig iron production by 22.9% in January–September of this year compared to the same period last year, down to 4.463 million metric tons.
According to information released Friday by the “Ukrmetallurgprom” association, 113,000 metric tons of pig iron were produced in September, 257,100 metric tons in August, 432,200 metric tons in July, 670,600 metric tons in June, in May—634,400 metric tons, in April—554,000 metric tons, in March—690,200 metric tons, in February—561,900 metric tons, and in January—549,900 metric tons.
In 2025, Ukraine’s steel companies increased pig iron production by 11.2% compared to 2024, reaching 7.884 million metric tons.
In 2024, Ukraine increased pig iron production by 18.1% compared to 2023, reaching 7.090 million metric tons. In 2023, pig iron production fell by 6.1% to 6.003 million metric tons, and in 2022, it fell by 69.8% to 6.391 million metric tons.
In 2021, before the war, 21.165 million metric tons of pig iron were produced, or 103.6% of the 2020 level.
Turkey continues to enjoy a predominantly positive perception among Ukrainians: in August 2026, a total of 52.3% of respondents expressed a positive attitude toward the country, while about 7.5% expressed a negative one. At the same time, compared to the previous survey in March, the share of positive assessments has decreased slightly. This is evidenced by the results of the third wave of the Active Group and Experts Club survey, according to the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center.
According to the results of the August survey, 11.2% of Ukrainians have a completely positive attitude toward Turkey, and 41.1% have a mostly positive attitude. A neutral stance is held by 37.6% of respondents. 6.7% view the country mostly negatively, 0.8% view it entirely negatively, and another 2.7% were undecided.
The balance between positive and negative attitudes stands at approximately plus 44.9 percentage points and is the highest among the Middle Eastern countries included in the study. Thus, despite a slight decline in the indicator, Turkey remains a country where positive assessments clearly outweigh negative ones.
Compared to March 2026, positive attitudes have weakened moderately. At that time, 14.5% of respondents viewed Turkey entirely positively, and 40.6% viewed it mostly positively—meaning the combined positive rating stood at 55%. Negative responses accounted for 5.6%, and neutral responses for 36.4%.
Thus, over the course of five months, the total share of positive assessments decreased by 2.7 percentage points—from 55% to 52.3%. Negative attitudes, on the other hand, increased by approximately 1.9 percentage points, while the share of neutral responses rose by 1.2 percentage points. The balance between positive and negative responses fell from 49.4 percentage points in March to about 44.9 percentage points in August. This indicates a moderate cooling of assessments rather than a fundamental shift in attitude.
Turkey remains one of Ukraine’s largest trading partners. In the first half of 2026, bilateral trade volume approached $4.9 billion: Ukrainian exports totaled about $1.78 billion, while imports amounted to $3.12 billion. Turkey was the second-largest single market for Ukrainian goods after Poland, and Ukraine’s bilateral trade deficit stood at about $1.34 billion.
Maksym Urakin, Ph.D. in Economics and founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center, commenting on the relationship between the economy and public perception of trading partners, noted:
“If society sees a massive flow of imports coming into the country but does not see a corresponding flow of investment, technology, or localized production, a sense of imbalance arises. And this directly affects the emotional perception of the partner. That is precisely why countries with a large trade surplus with Ukraine should pay particular attention to the reputational aspect of their presence in the Ukrainian market,” Urakin noted.
In the case of Turkey, the survey results show that a significant trade imbalance is currently combined with a predominantly positive public perception. At the same time, trends between March and August indicate a gradual decline in the predominance of positive assessments.
The survey, conducted in August 2026, used self-administered online questionnaires from the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 Ukrainian citizens aged 18 and older. The sample is representative by age, gender, and region; the maximum theoretical margin of error is ±3.5 percentage points.
ACTIVE GROUP, EXPERTS CLUB, FOREIGN TRADE, international relations, PUBLIC OPINION, SOCIOLOGY, TURKEY, UKRAINE, URAKIN
In Ukraine, 52,200 active companies have filed annual financial statements showing zero revenue—or have not reported any revenue at all—for at least two consecutive years, according to data from the Unified State Register analyzed by Opendatabot.
About a quarter of these companies have reported zero or blank revenue figures for three consecutive years, and 4,600 companies—or roughly one in eleven—have been in this situation for five years.
The largest number of companies with a long-standing lack of declared revenue is registered in Kyiv—15,078, or nearly 29% of the total.
The Dnipropetrovsk region accounts for 3,998 such companies, or about 8%; the Kharkiv region, 3,663; and the Odesa region, 3,471.
The most common sector of activity for these companies is wholesale trade. This sector accounts for 9,894 companies, or about 19% of the sample studied.
Another 5,523 companies operate in real estate, 4,279 in construction, and 3,426 in agriculture.
The majority of enterprises that have long reported no income are registered as limited liability companies—42,383 companies, or 81% of the sample. Another 7,673 are private enterprises, and 1,691 are farms.
Denis Popov, head of the legal department at Opendatabot, attributes the persistence of such a large number of these companies, in particular, to the complexity of the business liquidation process.
“One of the reasons companies remain registered for years without generating any income is the complex procedure for closing them down. To officially terminate a business, one must settle obligations to creditors and the government and complete the required procedures, which takes time and money,” he noted.
According to him, zero revenue does not necessarily mean that operations have actually ceased. Some businesses may have temporarily suspended operations due to full-scale war, the loss of production capacity, employees, or sales markets.
The analysis included active commercial companies of various legal forms that had filed financial statements with zero or blank revenue for at least the last two consecutive years. Nonprofit organizations were not included in the study.
Source: Opendatabot
