The following is the Nov. 21, 2023 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here.
Persisting protests
Polish protests blocking three major Poland-Ukraine border crossings have now stretched into their third week, negotiations
Not long before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a good friend of mine in Ukraine bought a small 3D printer. In the wake of Russia's invasion, Yulia lost her job. Fruitless visits to the unemployment office and a conversation with an acquaintance brought her to a free consultation at the local Diya Business office in Kremenchuk to set up a FOP — the most common business registration for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as contractors, in Ukraine.
The business news world in Ukraine this week was abuzz with a battle far from the front lines. In the afternoon of Oct. 17, armed employees of Ukraine’s Financial Investigations Service, known here by its Ukrainian acronym BEB, showed up at the doors of the !Fest restaurant group’s office in the western city of Lviv, refusing to let its employees in or out. It claimed the group was massively evading taxes, largely by paying employees under the table.
The Kyiv International Economic Forum, one of Eastern Europe’s largest international forums, is taking place in Kyiv on Oct. 12. The Kyiv Independent will cover the event as a media partner. Last week, I had the chance to spend some time with the Ukraine Business Alliance — a group of American executives brought together by the D.C.-based McCain Institute — that was in town to meet with Ukraine's political leaders and civil society actors.
The war in Ukraine has been one of duality — trench warfare and artillery battles alongside revolutionary drone tactics; cities destroyed and occupied by Russia, and calm(er) ones where life has tried its best to carry forward; references to light and darkness, good and evil. IT Arena, Ukraine’s largest annual tech event, breathed the same dualism, with events, presentations, and panels about topics such as generative AI (ChatGPT is an example) and the role of titanium in revolutionary robotics held in Lviv’s 123-year-old neo-Baroque opera house and just-as-old nearby museums and theaters.