The Ministry of Economy is preparing support for businesses under constant Russian attack — reclassifying Kyiv and its region as high-risk to unlock broader war-risk insurance, and weighing subsidised working-capital loans for retail. Forbes Ukraine reports the details.

In the coming weeks the government is due to approve amendments to Resolution No. 1541 on war-risk insurance, adding Kyiv and Kyiv region to the list of high-risk territories; Forbes Ukraine has seen the document. 

For more than a month, Russia has been deliberately striking the logistics hubs, warehouses and production sites of companies operating in Ukraine, while constant air-raid alerts in Kyiv and other cities sharply cut businesses’ working hours. A second measure under development is subsidised revolving credit for retail, two sources familiar with the concept say; the option was already discussed at a 2 September meeting between business and the president.

How war-risk insurance for Kyiv and the region will work

The key change: Kyiv and Kyiv region will be recognised as high-risk territories — a status previously held only by front-line regions such as Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk. 

Insuring property in Kyiv or the region was already possible, but the new status matters for receiving compensation for damaged or destroyed assets. Under the resolution, compensation will cover property located in — or transiting through — a high-risk area, and businesses will be able to insure leased property, not just their own. 

The list of eligible property is expanded to include fuel tanks, fuel, vehicles for transporting and storing it, agricultural machinery, and freight trucks and trailers over 7.5 t. As before, a single company can receive a maximum of UAH 30 million in compensation over the program’s life; the cap on premium compensation per company rises from UAH 3 million to UAH 5 million a year. 

The Export Credit Agency (ECA) will stop accepting applications once 90% of budgeted funds are used, rather than waiting for full depletion. Eligibility tightens: companies punished for bid-rigging in the past three years, or whose ultimate beneficiaries faced criminal measures for corruption offences, will be barred. 

The application mechanism is unchanged — a firm signs a war-risk policy with an insurer, the insurer notifies the ECA, the firm pays the premium and the ECA reimburses part of it within the set limit — but the ECA will now verify some data itself via state registers, sparing businesses from filing documents already available there.

Credit for retail

After Russian shelling intensified, PM Serhii Koretskyi convened big-retail representatives in early August to discuss support. 

The government has since prepared a preferential program for large business and is close to finalising it, two sources familiar with the concept told Forbes Ukraine, speaking anonymously given the topic’s sensitivity. 

The concept would let large retailers obtain revolving finance at a subsidised 5% rate — „short-term financing, for example to buy goods,“ says an official familiar with it; the Ministry had earlier considered 10%. 

The per-borrower limit is UAH 1 billion; the program would run to the first quarter of 2027 with a total budget of UAH 2 billion. Banks are preparing the program, a senior official at one state bank confirmed anonymously, without details. 

A top manager at another state bank doubted a UAH 2 billion budget could materially help big business: „It’s just a drop in the ocean.“ 

On 11 August, Epicentr co-owner Halyna Hereha proposed extending the „5-7-9%“ program to large business to help it weather the strikes, but the government opted for a separate „experimental project,“ a government source notes: „Extending 5-7-9% to large business is impossible, since the relevant resolution was drafted under the law on support for small and medium-sized enterprises.“ The Ministry plans to submit the new program to the government this month, Forbes’s sources say.

Updated: On 10 September, PM Serhii Koretskyi announced the preferential lending program for large business, noting the idea is to compensate 5% of the market loan rate.

Source: Forbes Ukraine