Most Ukrainian businesses have kept doing business but have to relocate to the safer areas of the country

Around six in ten companies in Ukraine have kept doing business despite the war, which has already lasted for a whole month.

According to the Gradus Research study of SMEs and large corporations, around 13% of companies have been operating at the pre-war level, 28% have been working partially, and 28% still have been open formally but almost haven’t functioned. The rest of the firms have temporarily closed (38%) or shut down (3%).

A similar though a bit brighter picture was depicted by other surveys of the big and medium enterprises. Some 70% of members of the European Business Association and 88% of members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine currently operate either partially or fully. The rest of the companies haven’t been working temporarily and even have shut down. Though there have been companies that worked on a larger scale during the war compared to pre-war times, 86% of businesses have been loaded less compared to pre-war times. Half of the companies have lacked orders. Also, up to a third of companies have complained about logistics problems. Meanwhile, businesses from the war zone have been relocating to safer regions of Ukraine.

The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine reported that 40 Ukrainian companies have already moved from the area of active hostilities, 18 of them have resumed work at the new location. Another 299 companies will move to new places soon. Government helps to relocate companies’ staff to the west of Ukraine and to settle them there, as well as to find a new location for business and find new employees. The relocation of enterprises is carried out at the state’s expense.