On January 1, 2026, Ukraine joined the EU’s single roaming zone Roam like at home: subscribers can call, send SMS messages, and use mobile internet in 27 EU countries at Ukrainian rates — without “international rates,” according to Suspilne.
Similarly, subscribers from EU countries traveling to Ukraine will retain their home rates.
Roam like at home is the EU’s internal market regime for mobile communications. It allows you to use calls, SMS, and mobile internet abroad without roaming surcharges.
As for the internet, the pan-European Fair Use Policy applies. If your tariff in Ukraine includes 20 GB or unlimited data, this does not mean that all these gigabytes will be available in the EU for free. Operators calculate the volume using a special EU formula linked to the cost of your tariff, explains Suspilne.
“Welcome Moldova and Ukraine to the EU zone without roaming! From today, you can ”roam like at home” because we are preparing a home for you in the European Union. The benefits of our Union bring Europeans closer together across the continent – also on the eve of EU accession,” wrote European Commissioner for EU Enlargement Marta Kos in H.
Back in June last year, as reported by Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov, the European Commission sent a proposal to the EU Council to join Ukraine to the Roam like at Home policy from January 1, 2026. The EU Council approved this proposal. In early June, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed Bill No. 12150, which is the final requirement for Ukraine to join the single European roaming area Roam like at home (RLAH).
Since 2022, Ukrainians in Europe have been able to use the tariffs of Ukrainian mobile operators without additional roaming charges, thanks to temporary joint agreements between operators in Ukraine and the EU.
Fedorov himself emphasized on Thursday: “Ukraine is a full member of the European Roam Like at Home policy. Domestic tariffs for Ukrainians in Europe will be standard practice — previously, these were agreements with European operators.”
Roam Like at Home is an opportunity for Ukrainians who are temporarily traveling or staying in EU countries to make calls and use the internet at their operator’s tariffs without any additional charges, Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
“We became the first candidate country to join Roam Like at Home even before joining the EU. Use your operator’s tariffs in Europe without changing your SIM card,” he said.
According to Serbian Economist, the structure of issuance of first residence permits in EU countries in 2024 differed markedly: in Croatia 95.3% of first residence permits were issued for work reasons, while in Ireland and France the most common reason was training, according to Eurostat.
According to Eurostat, the share of “working” first residence permits in 2024 was highest in Croatia (95.3%), as well as in Lithuania (81.8%) and Romania (77.2%).
At the same time, family reasons dominated in Luxembourg (52.2%) and Sweden (49.1%), while “other reasons”, including international protection, had the highest share in Greece (55.4%). In education, Ireland (48.0%) and France (32.8%) led the way.
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Citizens of Ukraine have become the largest group among the recipients of first residence permits in the EU in 2024, according to Eurostat data. According to the EU statistical agency, in 2024 EU countries issued 295.6 thousand first residence permits to Ukrainian citizens, followed by citizens of India (192.4 thousand) and Morocco (188.4 thousand).
Eurostat also indicates that for Ukrainians the most frequent reason for obtaining the first residence permits was employment: 72.5% of permits for Ukrainian citizens in 2024 were issued on labor grounds.
At the same time, Eurostat emphasizes that the above statistics on first residence permits do not include persons who received temporary protection in the EU countries due to the full-scale war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine – such data are collected separately.
Ukraine currently imports electricity from Europe around the clock at a maximum capacity of 1.6 GW during peak hours, which does not cover the maximum allowable import capacity due to grid restrictions.
This was announced by Anatoliy Zamulko, acting head of the State Energy Supervision Inspectorate of Ukraine (Derzhenergonadzor), on Thursday during the “Yedyni Novyny” telethon.
“The peak part of imports, depending on the situation, is 1.5-1.6 thousand MW, which is not yet the limit allowed to us by contracts with Europe. The only problem that remains today is network restrictions to push that electricity to eastern Ukraine,” he said.
As reported, the maximum agreed commercial capacity for imports from the EU from December 2024 is 2.1 GW. On average, in November 2025, the utilization of transmission capacity was 27.4%, but during peak evening consumption hours, it increases significantly.
“If we had the opportunity to restore that network infrastructure more quickly, we would certainly have much better opportunities to provide energy through imports,” said the head of the State Energy Regulatory Commission.
As he explained, with the current drop in temperature and the onset of frost in Ukraine, there has been an increase in energy consumption. To balance the energy system, transmission system operators (TSOs, regional power companies) together with regional military administrations are freeing up additional capacity for consumers by including facilities that were not previously subject to disconnection in consumption restriction schedules.
“We are fighting to mitigate the drop in temperature in various ways, including one of the effective tools that will be used throughout Ukraine, which is to take into account the facilities that are to be included in the schedules and increase the fairness that is being talked about in terms of distribution,” Zamulko said.
He stressed that the Ukrainian energy sector continues to function as a single entity.
“We remain a unified energy system, working in parallel with Europe, carrying out all transfers in accordance with the agreements reached with our partners, using import capacities and, if necessary, using emergency assistance,” said the head of the State Energy Regulatory Commission.
To support exports of Ukrainian goods, the State Customs Service issued 1.5 million EUR.1 certificates for transportation starting January 1, 2016, with exporters of agricultural products being the main recipients, according to the agency’s press service.
The State Customs Service reminded that the presence of a EUR.1 transport certificate exempts Ukrainian goods from import duties when imported into the EU, EFTA, Montenegro, the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Georgia, and Israel.
According to its data, during 2025, Ukrainian producers received EUR.1 certificates mainly for the export of goods of plant origin, sunflower oil, white sugar, chicken meat, and natural honey.
The largest number of such certificates was issued for the supply of products to Poland (24%), Germany (18%), Romania (8%), Italy (5%), and the Czech Republic (5%).
According to Serbian Economist, the next EU-Western Balkans summit is planned to be held in Montenegro on June 5, 2026, Montenegrin media reported, citing sources close to the country’s president’s office.
European Council President António Costa also said he expects the next meeting to take place in Montenegro in June 2026.
According to the Council of the EU, the EU-Western Balkans summits are attended by leaders of EU countries and EU institutions, as well as leaders of six partners in the region: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
Commenting on the plans for 2026, Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović said that there are “high expectations” for the meeting in Montenegro in Brussels and that “it should be a summit of results,” first and foremost for Montenegro itself.
By that date, the European Union intends to begin work on an agreement on Montenegro’s accession to the EU.
Regular EU-Western Balkans summits have been held since 2018; the previous summit took place in Brussels in December 2024.
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