Industrial production (IP) in Ukraine rose by 1.2% y-o-y in April, slowing from 4.5% in March but narrowing the 4M26 decline to -0.4% from -1.1% in 1Q26. According to statistical office estimates, seasonally adjusted IP dropped by 1.6% m-o-m in April, following a 4.9% jump in March.

President Volodymyr Zelensky published an “open letter” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, proposing to hold a meeting in a third country to discuss ending the war. Addressing the Russian leader, Zelensky said he faced growing opposition to the war inside his country and dwindling resources to continue it, adding that Russia’s battlefield casualties stably exceed 30,000 per month, with an “unaffordable” share of 63% killed. Zelensky said Putin was the first Russian leader to turn to North Korea for help and make Russia fully dependent on China, warning that “you will have to fight much harder for your own existence — not Russia’s, but your own» if the war continues and “Russia grows tired.” The letter proposed organizing high-level peace talks in Switzerland, Turkey or an Arab country, with US and European participation, freezing the current front line as a starting point for negotiations, and declaring a full ceasefire for the duration of talks. Zelensky’s appeal came out shortly after Putin, in a conversation with foreign journalists, said that Russia remained open to a negotiated settlement but reiterated — by referring to his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska last August — his longstanding demand that Ukraine withdraw from the remaining parts of Donbas under Kyiv’s control. “We are certainly prepared and willing to reach an agreement with Ukraine through peaceful means. Specifically, on the basis we ⁠discussed during our meeting with President Trump in Anchorage … The Ukrainian side must also agree to these compromises. Then the conflict will quickly come to a natural conclusion,” Putin said. At the same time, he rejected the idea of European countries mediating peace talks, saying they directly assist Ukraine in the war and therefore cannot be neutral.

Monthly salaries paid to staff workers in Ukraine averaged UAH 30,515 ($697, EUR 597) in gross terms in April, flat m-o-m and up 21% y-o-y, bringing 4M26 growth to +22% y-o-y. Adjusted for inflation, real wage growth slowed to 12% y-o-y in April from an average of 14% in January-March, while 4M26 real growth accelerated to +13% y-o-y from 7.4% in 4M25.

Capital investment in Ukraine rose by 5.2% y-o-y in nominal terms in 1Q26, to UAH 130bn ($3.0bn), marking a sharp slowdown from 14% in 4Q25 and 33% in 3Q25.

Local subsidiaries of Naftogaz have published their 1Q26 financial results under Ukrainian Accounting Standards (UAS), reporting combined EBITDA of $365m, down 24% q-o-q and 10% y-o-y. Their combined cash position declined to $314m by end-1Q26, from $395m at end-2025, while total debt fell to $3.4bn from $3.8bn.

Ukraine’s direct and guaranteed public debt totaled $212bn as of end-April, up 0.6% m-o-m and down 0.6% YTD.

Ukraine’s headline current account (CA) deficit widened to $4.9bn in April from $4.1bn in March, bringing the 4M26 gap to $14bn, up from $9.3bn in 4M25.

Ukrainian Railways (RAILUA) reported curtailed 1Q26 financial results, with revenues down 11% q-o-q to $511m, while EBITDA and net profit turned negative at $35m and $182m, respectively. The company’s end-1Q26 cash balance increased by 11% q-o-q to $302m.

President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, said yesterday that he considered it “realistic” to reach an agreement to end the war with Russia by winter, in line with Zelensky’s latest instructions. He added that a US delegation was expected to visit Kyiv and Moscow in the near future in an effort to revive peace talks. “This is the president's instruction: to try to end this war as soon as possible ... preferably before winter. In my opinion, this is absolutely correct, timely, and realistic,” Budanov said. Budanov’s remarks echoed Zelensky’s statement over the weekend that Ukraine’s improved battlefield position in recent months had created an opportunity for Ukraine and its allies to increase pressure on Russia and seek a diplomatic resolution before winter. Earlier last week, the commander of Ukraine’s Third Army Corps, Andriy Biletsky, told Reuters that growing exhaustion within the Russian army and its inability to achieve major breakthroughs had opened a six-to-nine-month window for Ukraine to seize the battlefield initiative and strengthen its negotiating position. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday repeated accusations that Ukraine deliberately struck a college building in occupied Luhansk region on May 22, which Russia claims killed 21 people. Putin said that “the Kyiv leadership has decided to open a new chapter in the series of its crimes and to give the conflict as a whole a new dimension.” Shortly after these remarks, Russia launched another large-scale drone and missile attack against Ukraine, killing at least 13 people and injuring more than 100 in Kyiv, Dnipro, and Kharkiv. The Ukrainian military reported intercepting 40 out of 73 missiles (including only 11 out of 33 ballistic targets) and 602 out of 656 drones. The strike came a week after the Russian Foreign Ministry officially warned of upcoming “systematic strikes” against military and decision-making targets in Kyiv in response to the Luhansk college attack.

The National Bank’s survey-based business activity index (a PMI-type gauge) stood at 52.1 in May (0-100 scale), up 0.4pt m-o-m and 1.3pt y-o-y.

Baseload day-ahead electricity prices in Ukraine averaged UAH 5,069 (EUR 98)/MWh, in May, down 6.7% m-o-m but up 4.2% y-o-y, bringing the 5M26 average to EUR 139/MWh (+24% y-o-y). Commercial electricity imports declined by 31% m-o-m in May to 0.5 GW, though remained more than double their year-earlier level. As a result, average imports in 5M26 were up 3.8x y-o-y at 1.1 GW. Exports remained modest at 126 MW, but increased 2.7x m-o-m, bringing net imports down 44% m-o-m to 0.4 GW.

Real retail turnover in Ukraine rose by 7.8% y-o-y in April, slowing from 12.8% y-o-y in March and bringing 4M26 growth to 8.7% y-o-y. On a seasonally adjusted basis, retail turnover declined by 1.8% m-o-m in April, following a revised 5.3% increase in March.

• Russian forces lost more territory than they gained for a second week in May, but Russian ground attacks on key Donetsk and Zaporizhya region strongholds are not subsiding. • Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian logistics in the occupied regions continue intensifying.

WSE-listed Kernel Holding, Ukraine’s largest sunflower oil producer and grain exporter, published its 3Q26FY financial results (calendar 1Q26), reporting EBITDA of $156m, up 51% q-o-q and 42% y-o-y, while sales increased 7.5% q-o-q to $1.1bn (+3.1% y-o-y). Kernel’s cash position at end-9M26FY doubled q-o-q to $657m, while holdings of government bonds declined 37% q-o-q to $143m. Net debt fell 65% q-o-q to $157m, implying a Net Debt/LTM EBITDA ratio of just 0.3x, down from 1.1x in 1H26FY, while interest coverage improved to 12x.

LSE-listed MHP, Ukraine’s largest poultry producer, announced signing an agreement to acquire a 70% stake in Greek vertically integrated poultry producer Th. Nitsiakos AVEE in three stages through end-2028. MHP was also granted a put option to acquire the remaining 30% stake in 2030–35, subject to undisclosed conditions. The price paid at each acquisition stage will be determined by a formula linked to the target’s financial performance. Completion of the first stage is expected in 1Q27.

Ukraine’s parliament ratified the agreement with the EU underpinning the EUR 90bn Ukraine Support Loan (USL) for 2026-27, along with the related Memorandum of Understanding setting out reform conditions for EUR 8.3bn in macro-financial assistance (MFA), which forms part of the USL’s EUR 30bn budget support component. Separately, parliament approved in first reading amendments to the 2026 budget law incorporating USL proceeds into the budget, together with smaller amounts of external financing under other programs and additional income tax revenues. Lastly, the European Council approved a seventh tranche of EUR 2.8bn under the outstanding EUR 50bn Ukraine Facility program, paving the way for disbursement. The decision followed Ukraine’s completion of 18 policy and reform benchmarks, including 11 (out of 20) from the 4Q25 agenda, two from 3Q25, one from 2Q25, one from 1Q26, and one from 2Q26 ahead of schedule.