On Wednesday, the Slovak authorities closed all border checkpoints on the border with Ukraine, according to the Slovak Financial Administration.
“For security reasons, all checkpoints on the border with Ukraine are closed starting today at 3:00 p.m. (4:00 p.m. Kyiv time) until further notice,” the statement said.
Artem Bidenko, president of the Ukrainian Publishers Association (UPA), states that pirated publications account for nearly a third of the book market, and most of them are sold through marketplaces and websites.
“When a Ukrainian book is pirated on the day of its release, legal publishers are physically unable to purchase the rights for an official translation—the rights holder sees that the market is flooded with counterfeits and refuses. This is how legal translation is systematically being killed off. This is how authors don’t receive royalties. This is how translators don’t receive fees. This is how the state loses tax revenue. And this is how readers end up with machine translations ‘on toilet paper’ instead of literature. According to our estimates, nearly a third of the market consists of illegal content,” Bidenko wrote on Facebook.
According to him, most illegal publications are sold through marketplaces and websites that are easily found via search engines.
“And it is Google that is currently the main sponsor of piracy in Ukraine, paradoxical as it may seem. Because the scheme is perfectly designed to bypass local blocks. The SBU blocks a domain—pirates register a new one within a day. The State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting blocks that one—the next one appears. At the level of Ukrainian internet providers, it’s an endless game of cat and mouse. But all these stores thrive on Google—through indexing, through Google Shopping, through ads, through reviews on Google Maps,” Bidenko noted.
In his view, if Google begins to heed official requests from the State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting and the SBU and de-index domains with confirmed piracy, it will become technically unprofitable for networks to launch yet another site, because without search engine results, no one will find them.
“This is a working mechanism. It is already used for the DMCA in the U.S., for child safety, and for sanctions lists. Today, the industry, together with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education and Science, has appealed to Google Ukraine with a request to implement a mechanism for blocking illegal content,” said the president of the UIA.
In the “Medium- and Long-Term Market” section of the UEB, trading continued for May and June 2026 contracts. In total, eight companies placed offers to buy or sell natural gas: VK Ukrnaftoburinnya, GTS Operator of Ukraine, Ukrtransinvest, and others. During the week, 2,600,000 cubic meters of natural gas were sold in the section. Positions by the Ukrainian GTS Operator were successful. Additionally, heat-generating enterprises, namely Cherkasyteplokomunenergo and the “City Heating Networks” Concern, purchased natural gas on the exchange for the first time to generate electricity. Selling prices ranged from 22,050 to 22,700 UAH/thousand cubic meters excluding VAT, with a downward trend.
On the UEB short-term natural gas market, participants placed bids on the intraday market and the “day-ahead” market. A total of 39 deals were concluded, with a total volume of 2,227 thousand cubic meters.
Last week, European gas prices were affected by conflicting news from the Middle East, while in some markets, M+1 gas contracts experienced significant volatility—reaching 3-week highs and 2-week lows over several consecutive days. Geopolitical turmoil, uncertainty over winter supplies, and growing structural demand mean that conditions could change rapidly.
On Thursday, gas prices fell significantly for most 2026 contracts following news of a potential agreement between the U.S. and Iran to end the conflict and ensure the free flow of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz: Following the successful passage of the Liberian-flagged LNG carrier Mubaraz through the strait, it appears that other loaded LNG carriers have also passed through.
On Friday morning, DA gas prices continued this trend. This decline reflects sentiment regarding comments from various news outlets confirming Iran’s readiness to negotiate regarding its nuclear program—the main source of disagreement between the parties—which increases the likelihood of resolving the conflict. This breaking news was partially offset by reduced flows from Oseberg in Norway two days before the scheduled start of a maintenance period, which strengthened the gas system on May 9.
Short-term prices demonstrated their ability to react quickly to weather conditions and system imbalances. Even outside of peak winter periods, volatility remains a defining feature of the market. A colder May forecast is driving additional demand, while wind power generation in Europe is running below average. The decline in renewable energy production is tightening the power system and forcing greater reliance on gas-fired power plants.
Hedge funds have increased their net long positions in the European gas market, according to the latest Commitments of Traders report. With little change in short positions, the funds added another 26 TWh of long positions, bringing the total net long position to 288 TWh.
EU gas storage is at 34% capacity, but gas is being injected at a rapid pace—approximately 10% per month. This has calmed the market in the short term and helped shore up prices, despite broader risks.
Natural gas imports from Europe stood at 0.11 (+0.3) million cubic meters per day. Imports came from Poland and Hungary. There were no exports from the customs warehouse. Ukraine’s storage facilities held 10.33 (+1.48%) billion cubic meters of natural gas. There were no withdrawals from UGS facilities; instead, injections were observed—about 31 million cubic meters per day.
The share of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking sector fell by 1 percentage point to 12.92% during January–March 2026, according to data from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
“The decline in the NPL ratio in January–March 2026 was driven by both an increase in the volume of new, higher-quality loans and the resolution of non-performing debts,” the National Bank noted in a press release on its website.
The banking system’s gross loan portfolio grew by 75.84 billion UAH in the first quarter of 2026—to 1 trillion 435.58 billion UAH—including an increase of 3.66 billion UAH in March.
The trend in the gross volume of non-performing loans during the quarter was uneven: after growing in January, the figure declined in February and March, and the March reduction of UAH 5.55 billion accounted for the bulk of the quarterly decrease of UAH 3.82 billion—to UAH 185.49 billion.
A reduction in the NPL ratio in the first quarter of the year was recorded across all bank groups: for banks with state ownership (excluding PrivatBank)—from 25.07% to 23.86%, at PrivatBank—from 8.45% to 7.74%, at financial institutions with foreign capital—from 6.46% to 6.17%, and at private Ukrainian banks—from 8.37% to 7.75%.
In absolute terms, as of April 1, NPLs increased at PrivatBank by UAH 592.0 million, to UAH 19.41 billion, and at banks with foreign capital by UAH 196.43 million, to UAH 18.76 billion.
The top five banks by NPL volume were state-owned banks: Oschadbank with UAH 44.78 billion (UAH 43.83 billion at the start of the year), Ukreximbank – UAH 25.52 billion (UAH 33.19 billion), Sens Bank – UAH 23.92 billion (UAH 22.46 billion), Ukrgasbank – UAH 21.87 billion (UAH 21.79 billion), and PrivatBank – UAH 19.41 billion (UAH 18.82 billion).
The top ten also included Raiffeisen Bank with UAH 8.17 billion (UAH 8.05 billion), PUMB – UAH 5.04 billion (UAH 4.94 billion), TAScombank – UAH 4.06 billion (UAH 4.08 billion), OTP Bank – UAH 3.71 billion (UAH 3.19 billion), and Idea Bank – UAH 3.52 billion (UAH 3.17 billion).
At the same time, Alliance Bank had the highest NPL ratio among banks with the largest loan portfolios—39.9% (49.6%), followed by Sens Bank with 29.8% (28.5%), and Idea Bank rounded out the top three with 28.8% (28.6%).
State-owned banks took fourth through sixth place: Oschadbank – 26.4% (26.5%), Ukreximbank – 20.8% (25.3%), and Ukrgasbank – 19.3% (20.1%).
The top ten also included TAScombank with 16.3% (16.6%), MTB Bank – 11.6% (9.9%), A-Bank – 10.9% (12.0%), and Radabank – 10.6% (12.3%).
The Central Bank noted that in the corporate sector, the share of non-performing loans decreased from 16.99% to 15.73% in the first quarter, and in the retail sector from 10.78% to 10.32%.
As reported, the downward trend in the NPL ratio has continued since early 2023, when it rose to 38.1%. Prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion, non-performing loans in Ukrainian banks had been declining since 2018: from 55% to 27% as of March 1, 2022.
In December 2025, the NPL ratio fell sharply—from 23.9% to 13.9%—after PrivatBank ceased recognizing approximately 140 billion UAH in old hryvnia-denominated assets as non-performing.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 780,465 lost and stolen firearms have been recorded since the start of the full-scale war. Weapons reported missing during the war currently account for 66% of the total entries in the registry. This year, 149,000 new entries were added to the registry—almost as many as in all of 2025. Automatic weapons, hunting rifles, and carbines are the most commonly stolen and lost. Nearly half of the lost and stolen weapons are in Mykolaiv, Kyiv, and Donetsk regions.
780,465 weapons have been lost or stolen in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion. This accounts for 66% of the total number of lost and stolen weapons—1.17 million units.
The highest number of reports of lost weapons appeared in the first year of the full-scale invasion—266,086 units. In 2023, the number of lost and stolen weapons decreased, but starting in 2024, the figure began to rise again. This year is on track to set a record: 149,760 weapons are already listed as missing this year. By comparison, nearly as many losses were recorded over the entire previous year: 179,315 cases.
The registry saw a significant increase in March: as many as 130,000 entries. However, it is worth noting that 60% of these entries pertain to weapons that went missing during the first year of the full-scale conflict (2022). Currently, the registry records two dates: the date of loss/theft and the date of entry into the registry.
Most cases of lost weapons are recorded fairly promptly—within a week of the disappearance: 512,350 cases. At the same time, 173,980 entries are added with a delay of over a year.
Only 4% of entries concern stolen weapons; the vast majority are marked as lost.
Which weapons are most frequently reported missing?
Automatic rifles (252,369 units), hunting shotguns (210,712), and carbines (102,616) are the most commonly lost or stolen. The undisputed “leader” is the AK-74 automatic rifle: every fourth entry in the Registry pertains to this specific model.
One in five cases of lost and stolen weapons occurs in the Mykolaiv region: 169,172 weapons. It is followed by Kyiv (104,864 weapons) and the Donetsk region (86,188).
Together, these three regions account for nearly half of all lost and stolen weapons in the country.
Since the start of 2026, 135 people have died in water-related incidents in Ukraine, while 74 were rescued, according to Viktor Vitovetsky, director of the Department of Civil Protection and Preventive Activities at the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
“Since the beginning of the year—that is, over the past four months—135 people have died. These are deaths that occurred in bodies of water. Unfortunately, 10 of them were children. Although this is a lower percentage than during the same period last year, you know, that is little consolation, because it is very difficult to measure a life using any kind of statistics,” Vitovetsky said, noting that 44% fewer people died in the water in 2026 than during the same period last year.
In addition, Vitovetsky reported that 74 people were rescued, including 23 children.
