UKRAINE
Analysts
Vladimir Dubrovskiy
Former Advisor, State Property Fund
Dmytro Boyarchuk
Executive Director, CASE-UkraineDatabanks
Recent Country Insights
IMF Fifth Review: Reform Targets Grow More Demanding
UKRAINE · In Brief · 21 Oct 2024
On Friday, October 18, the IMF reported on the fifth review of the EFF arrangement for Ukraine and announced a $1.1 billion disbursement channeled to Ukraine's budget. The tone of the press release was very positive, highlighting that the authorities met all end-June quantitative performance crit...
Zelenskiy hints at resurrecting nuclear weapons, sending a mild warning to an indecisive West
UKRAINE · In Brief · 17 Oct 2024
Today in Brussels, while presenting the Victory Plan to EU leaders, President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned that during his conversation with Donald Trump in September, he told Trump that Ukraine would either join NATO or pursue nuclear weapons. The narrative about the need to resurrect nuclear we...
Zelenskiy's Victory Plan – no territorial concessions
UKRAINE · In Brief · 16 Oct 2024
There are gloomy expectations across the country, as everyone understands that the results of the U.S. elections could dramatically change our lives—something completely beyond our control. Against this backdrop, Zelenskiy's Victory Plan seems to be an effort to show that Ukrainian leadership is ...
Preparing for resistance through 2025 and beyond
UKRAINE · Report · 08 Oct 2024
Many publications about a potential peace deal have appeared in Western media, sometimes with claims that Ukraine might accept territorial concessions. It's hard to determine who is signaling what with these articles, but from Kyiv, much of this seems out of touch — similar to in 2022, when Weste...
Prime rate held at 13.0% amid rising inflation risks
UKRAINE · In Brief · 20 Sep 2024
On September 19th, the NBU Board left the prime rate unchanged at 13.0% for the second consecutive time, after cutting it by 50 basis points in June. Accelerating inflation (+0.6% m/m and +7.5% y/y in August), the recent turbulence in the FX market, potential tax increases, and rising costs due t...
Budget 2025: back to harsh war reality
UKRAINE · In Brief · 16 Sep 2024
On September 13th, the Cabinet submitted the draft spending plan for 2025 to parliament. The most notable aspect of the proposed budget is the allocation of UAH 2.2 trillion (nearly $53.8 billion at the current exchange rate) or 56% of central budget spending for defense, which is significantly h...
The Cabinet Reshuffle: Changing the Terms Doesn’t Change the Outcome
UKRAINE · In Brief · 05 Sep 2024
There’s a lot of noise about changes in the Cabinet. For external observers, this might look like an effort to refresh the team of Ministers. But in fact, it’s not. Some faces from the same tired deck of cards have simply moved from old positions to new ones. Others, like the Minister of Foreign ...
Interim Results of the Kursk Operation
UKRAINE · In Brief · 22 Aug 2024
More than two weeks have passed since Ukrainian forces began the Kursk operation. The dust has settled a bit, and we now have a clearer picture of what has happened. In short, the Russians have concentrated all their forces on the Avdiivka area (now referred to as the Pokrovsk direction), while U...
Peace talks?
UKRAINE · Report · 06 Aug 2024
There’s been lots of talk about a potential peace deal. Ukrainian sentiments on the issue are murky. While polls show a growing demand for a peace deal, the majority of respondents still reject any territorial concessions to Russia. Moreover, an overwhelming majority—77.3%—would agree to peace wi...