Sergey Atamas
Managing Partner, Kreston Ukraine
Interpreneur insights: Business resilience in Ukraine
August 20, 2026
Over four years of full-scale war, business resilience in Ukraine has moved from emergency survival to systematic risk management.
Companies continue to operate amid military threats, damaged infrastructure, labour shortages, power supply disruptions and limited access to capital. Nevertheless, most businesses are not only continuing their operations but are also investing, restructuring their operating models and entering international markets.
The economic scale of the crisis remains significant. Ukraine’s real GDP declined by 28.8% in 2022. The economy subsequently returned to growth, expanding by 5.5% in 2023, 3.2% in 2024 and an estimated 1.8–2.2% in 2025. The recovery is therefore continuing, although its pace remains constrained by the war and the destruction of production and energy infrastructure.
A realistic approach to risk without abandoning growth
According to a survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in May and June 2026, 92% of the companies surveyed remained fully operational. At the same time, 47% reported damage to offices, production facilities, warehouses or other infrastructure. Despite this, 87% of companies recorded stable or improved financial results in the second quarter of 2026 compared with the same period of the previous year. The survey covered 112 company executives, 69% of whom were CEOs.
Research by the European Business Association also indicates a combination of resilience and caution. At the beginning of 2026, 76% of surveyed companies were operating at full capacity, while the remaining 24% were working with certain restrictions. At the same time, 76% stated that they would continue operating in Ukraine regardless of whether hostilities ended during the year. The main constraints remained geographic risks, interruptions to operations during air raid alerts and the need to move business processes online.
How management models have changed
During the first months of the war, companies focused primarily on retaining employees, preserving cash and data, and maintaining basic operations. Over time, temporary crisis-response measures became permanent elements of business management.
The most resilient companies generally use several instruments simultaneously:
- Diversifying suppliers, customers and logistics routes;
- Maintaining backup energy and communications systems;
- Creating distributed teams and duplicating critical functions;
- Regularly reviewing cash flows and investment plans;
- Developing exports and establishing a legal presence outside Ukraine;
- Moving sales, document management and administrative processes into digital formats.
Full relocation, however, has not become a universal model. According to the EBA, 10% of surveyed companies relocated offices or production facilities during 2025: 8% moved within Ukraine and only 2% relocated abroad. Most companies retained their core operations in Ukraine while simultaneously developing foreign sales, trading entities or representative offices.
The National Bank of Ukraine also recorded positive medium-term business expectations. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the Business Expectations Index stood at 102.1%, remaining above the neutral level. Companies expected sales growth and maintained positive plans for investment in equipment and production capacity.
International expansion as a tool for risk diversification
Before 2022, entering foreign markets was primarily a growth strategy for many Ukrainian companies. During the war, exports and an international presence have also become instruments to reduce geographic, commercial, and logistical concentration.
This trend can be observed among companies included in Kreston Ukraine’s publicly disclosed audit portfolio.
- Astarta. In 2025, the group generated export revenue of €294 million, representing 62% of its consolidated revenue. The company retained an integrated operating model in Ukraine covering crop production, processing, livestock farming and logistics.
- Interpipe. The company manufactures steel pipes, railway wheels and wheelsets. More than 80% of its sales are generated through exports, while its production facilities remain primarily located in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Its products are supplied to customers in dozens of countries.
- Kobzarenko Plant. The company exports agricultural machinery to 32 countries and operates a production facility and service centre in Poland. In 2024, its sales exceeded €44 million. After withdrawing from the Russian and Belarusian markets, the company redirected its sales towards European countries.
- Eridon. The group prepares approximately one million tonnes of agricultural products for export each year. In 2024, it launched a second transhipment terminal in Zakarpattia Oblast, expanded its grain storage capacity and continued developing infrastructure for trade with EU countries.
- Arterium. The company’s portfolio includes approximately 175 pharmaceutical products represented across 13 export markets. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, more than two million packages of medicines have been donated to healthcare institutions and charitable organisations.
These examples show that the international development of Ukrainian businesses is generally not associated with complete relocation. The prevailing model involves retaining production and key competencies in Ukraine while developing exports, international sales channels and alternative logistics infrastructure.
Common mistakes when entering new countries
The speed of adaptation is an advantage for Ukrainian entrepreneurs, but during international expansion it can also lead to mistakes. A company may first register a foreign legal entity and only afterwards assess the tax, employment and regulatory implications.
The most common risks include selecting an unsuitable jurisdiction, underestimating the cost of local personnel and compliance, failing to establish an appropriate tax structure, making transfer pricing errors and insufficiently understanding banking requirements.
International expansion should therefore begin not with company registration, but with answers to four questions: where the customers are located, which functions will be performed abroad, where effective management will be exercised and how the foreign entity will interact with the Ukrainian business.
Key lessons from the Ukrainian experience
The experience of Ukrainian companies shows that resilience is not the ability to predict a crisis accurately. It is the ability to maintain control of the business when the original scenario no longer works.
Companies exposed to geopolitical risks need to identify critical dependencies in advance, maintain liquidity reserves, diversify markets and suppliers, protect their data and develop alternative operating scenarios.
The main change in Ukrainian business is that adaptation is no longer a temporary response to the war. It has become a permanent management capability. The most successful companies do not choose between retaining their business in Ukraine and pursuing international development. They combine both strategies, preserving key competencies within the country while simultaneously creating a more diversified international structure.
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