The Ukrainian government is preparing a financial support and relocation package for businesses to keep essential supplies flowing amid escalating Russian attacks.
Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky announced a preferential lending programme that will provide up to 1 billion hryvnias to individual enterprises or corporate groups to replenish their working capital.
Under the scheme, the state will compensate 5 percent of the market interest rate for the loans. Koretsky said the funds could be used to purchase goods, ensuring an uninterrupted supply of food, medicine and other basic necessities to the public.
The prime minister said the Russian terror campaign against Ukrainian commerce and civilian infrastructure was growing rapidly, meaning the government had to react and take proactive measures.
Priority access to state property
To help companies recover from direct hits, the government plans to simplify access to state assets. Businesses will be given priority rights to rent property auctioned by the State Property Fund, the government agency responsible for managing and privatising state enterprises.
Koretsky said this was necessary so that companies whose production facilities, offices or warehouses have been destroyed can quickly find new premises and resume operations.
Ministers also approved a separate block of measures concerning how businesses operate during air raid alerts, using a differentiated notification system. Sirens frequently sound across Ukrainian cities to warn of incoming Russian drones and missiles.
Koretsky said that if commerce stops every time a siren sounds, the country loses jobs, tax revenue and the ability to provide people with what they need.
Mandatory safety shelters
The government recommendations include a mandatory safety component. Businesses have been given three months to construct shelters or safe spaces at the locations where they provide services to the public.
The disruption to commerce has become highly visible. The Economist magazine reported that Russia is systematically striking civilian logistics networks, leading to empty shelves in supermarkets in the capital Kyiv for the first time since the full-scale war began.
The government lending programme follows earlier interventions by financial authorities. In August, the National Bank of Ukraine, the country's central bank, urged commercial lenders to support real sector enterprises affected by Russian strikes.
The State Tax Service has also prepared a package of measures designed to simplify tax administration for companies that have suffered damage or financial losses due to the bombardments.
