Today's Contents
Reporter's Notepad:
- 7 tips to keep up staff morale and output amid war, from JYSK Ukraine HR Manager Olena Marinko
Just The Facts:
- Zelensky says ahead of Turkey meeting that he will only negotiate with Putin directly
- EBRD cuts Ukraine's 2025 GDP growth forecast to 3.3% from 3.5%
- US hasn't yet subscribed to the EBRD's €4 billion capital increase for Ukraine’s reconstruction
- Ferrexpo says it was forced to shut down 2 pellet production lines due to Ukrainian sanctions, suspension of VAT refunds
- Ukrainian Parliament gives initial approval for Budget Code amendments to implement minerals deal with US
Here's What They Think:
- Strategic Europe: Europeans should enforce a ceasefire in Ukraine
- The Engineer: Anti-drone technology key to securing lasting peace in Europe
Sober Second Thought:
- Ukraine's poverty rates and income inequality rose in 2024, World Bank says
The Rebuilder's Social:
- Law bans dismissals for absenteeism in war zones, Dragon Capital posts macro forecasts for ceasefire scenario, Amrop leads search for director of new Centralised Procurement Organisation.
Dear subscribers,
For the latest instalment in our Tips for Investors series, which taps the knowledge of companies with deep experience of Ukraine, we're relaying advice to HR professionals, managers and incoming investors from JYSK Ukraine.
For the full series, click here.
Here's today's story:
7 tips to keep up staff morale and output amid war, from JYSK Ukraine HR Manager Olena Marinko
For more than three years, Ukraine has survived a full-scale war with Russia that has killed hundreds of thousands, as well as the flight of more than 6 million people, mostly women and children, in a mass refugee crisis, and a military draft.
Through crisis after crisis, even as Russian drones and missiles hit Ukrainian towns and cities and regular air raid sirens sent worriers dashing for shelter, the economy continued to function. The grid continued to provide the basic necessities of modern life, police continued to regulate traffic, restaurants kept on serving food and, to the point of today's article, retailers kept their doors open.
JYSK, the international home furnishing retailer with Scandinavian roots, has not only remained open for business in Ukraine amid the war - it has added 27 stores in the country since the full-scale Russian invasion of February 2022 and will add another one this week. JYSK now employs 953 people in Ukraine, and 68 have been mobilized into the military.
Olena Marinko, HR Manager at JYSK Ukraine, with over 18 years of experience at the company, offers readers of Ukraine Rebuild Newswire the following seven tips on running an effective HR operation during a full-scale war.
#1 - Leaders Must Be Seen Enduring War with Their Staff.
"In a time of war, teams are not looking for more tasks – they’re looking for support and reassurance more than anything. That’s why in Ukraine we are placing the focus firmly on people and their needs, rather than tasks and processes. The HR function plays a vital role in creating a sense of safety and care through open and transparent communication."
"Daily support from managers and initiatives that strengthen a sense of belonging — mentorship, recognition of achievements, and open dialogue — are essential. The physical presence of a manager is also extremely important during a crisis. A leader must be both mentally and physically close to their team."
#2 Belonging Is the Most Powerful Motivator Amid War
"We've built the grounds for motivation less on bonuses and more on a culture of belonging. Daily support, visible recognition of achievements, and accessible leadership create an atmosphere where every employee feels that their work matters. Investors should remember: when a person feels truly valued in their team, they will give more than what is written in their job description."
#3 Develop Flexibility to Deal With Labor Market Turmoil
"Mobilization and demographic shifts require companies to rethink established approaches. At JYSK, we have adapted our processes so that roles traditionally seen as 'male' can be successfully performed by women — and we already have many proven examples. This is not only about equality — it’s about efficiency."
"Flexible business processes allow us to maintain quality even in uncertain conditions. We continuously revise our traditional formats to meet the realities of a new and unpredictable environment. When entering the Ukrainian market, flexibility must be built into the very management model."
#4 - Consider Employee Reviews as a Tool for Support, Not Control
"Humanity, flexibility, and trust preserve business efficiency — even in the toughest of times. One example of this is our approach to performance evaluation. Yes, key results still matter. But we look deeper: at context, circumstances, effort, internal motivation, and the individual needs of each employee. Evaluation should be, first and foremost, a conversation — regular one-on-one meetings with a manager, a safe space where employees can be heard."
"With us, each employee conducts a self-assessment — analyzing their own results, comfort zones, and challenges. The manager, in turn, does not merely evaluate, but supports: they help identify growth areas, give constructive feedback, and co-create a development plan."
"In wartime, change is constant. We acknowledge this — and adapt accordingly. If external factors objectively affect results, we revise goals rather than punish unmet targets. This approach builds trust — and trust is the foundation of engagement. The real outcome is not in reports, but in people. Performance evaluation is no longer about control. It’s about growth, care, and moving forward together."
#5 - How to Grow Productivity Despite Extreme Crisis
"Our employee productivity has significantly increased in recent years, and the company actively works to support and strengthen this trend. Here are several key elements that influenced this shift and may serve as valuable examples:
- Automation and digitalization — JYSK implements digital tools, including warehouse automation, electronic HR systems, and mobile apps for staff. These reduce routine tasks and allow focus on customer service.
- Clear KPIs and performance feedback — Employees understand their goals, expectations, and receive continuous feedback, which motivates them to be more effective.
- Culture of empowerment — JYSK fosters an environment where every team member sees their impact on the company’s overall results.
How we support productivity:
- Training and development — Ongoing workshops, leadership programs, and the 'JYSK Academy' for both new and experienced employees.
- Motivation and reward system — Bonuses, recognition programs, product discounts, and internal store competitions.
- Team culture and openness — Regular meetings, feedback exchange between management and employees, and a culture of transparency.
- Internal career growth — At JYSK, we believe in 'growing from within, and many store managers began their careers as sales assistants."
#6 - Crisis Reveals New Leaders — Give Them Room to Grow
"One of the most unexpected effects of the war has been the emergence of independent leadership on the ground."
"In difficult circumstances, store managers took full responsibility for their teams, made key decisions, supported colleagues, and engaged in volunteering. They acted without instruction — driven by trust in themselves and in the company. This has shown just how important it is to create an environment where initiative is not only allowed but encouraged."
#7 - After the War, Those Who Invest in People and Teams Will Succeed
"Post-war transformation will require new approaches to leadership, inclusion, and learning. We are already implementing educational programs that allow employees to choose their own growth paths — vertically or horizontally. Leaders are mentors, not supervisors. This builds a culture of accountability and partnership. I would recommend drawing on JYSK’s experience — because such models lead to long-term success."
"Even under extreme conditions, business can not only survive — but grow. But to do so, it must be built on trust, empathy, humanity, and strong teams. This is the true competitive edge of the next generation of investors."
Contacts
For questions related to daily news and story suggestions, feel free to message newsroom chief Valentina Bajic at valentina@ukrainerebuildnews.com.
For sponsorships, the Tips for Investors column, and other general matters, email founder Adam Brown at adam.brown@ukrainerebuildnews.com.
Now moving on to today's headlines …
Zelensky says ahead of Turkey meeting that he will only negotiate with Putin directly
Just ahead of a possible meeting on Thursday in Turkey, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would only negotiate directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin and no other Russian official, according to media reports.
Zelensky told reporters he would not meet any other Russian representatives because "everything in Russia depends" on Putin, CNN reported.
"So I said that on (Thursday) I will go to Turkey and I'm ready to meet Putin and an end to the war was through direct talks with him," he said, adding that anything other than a ceasefire agreement would be a failure.
"We want to agree on a beginning to the end of the war," Zelensky said, as reported by Reuters. "He (Putin) is scared of direct talks with me."
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president would announce his decision in due course. "As soon as the president considers it necessary, we will announce it," Peskov said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Turkey for the talks, and unnamed three sources familiar with the plans told Reuters that senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, representing US President Donald Trump, will also attend.
Trump said he would also be open to going to Turkey, according to CNN and Reuters.
EBRD cuts Ukraine's 2025 GDP growth forecast to 3.3% from 3.5%
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said it is expecting Ukraine's GDP growth to slow to 3.3% this year, from previously forecast 3.5%, as global trade frictions add additional downside risks to already high uncertainty related to the war.
The EBRD's newly published Regional Economic Prospects (REP) document, however, forecast Ukraine's real GDP growth in 2026 will remain at 5%, provided a ceasefire and benefits from post-war reconstruction, the lender said in a press release.
Ukraine's external financing for 2025 is fully secured, helping to ensure fiscal stability despite the ongoing challenges of war, the EBRD said. However, the economy has slowed since mid-2024, with inflation rising due to factors such as electricity shortages from Russian attacks, poor harvests, and a shrinking labour force. Real GDP growth dropped from over 5% in the first half of 2024 to around 2% in the second, ending the year at 2.9%.
While agriculture, energy, and trade have suffered setbacks, other sectors have shown resilience, boosted in part by the reopening of Ukraine's Black Sea trade corridor, the release said. Export activity resumed after two years of steep decline, highlighting the adaptability of businesses operating in wartime conditions. External financing remained stable, supporting the current account and maintaining foreign reserves, even as the hryvnya lost around 10% of its value following the October 2023 currency float.
Inflation reached 14.6% by March 2025, driven by rising energy costs and wage pressures, and is expected to remain high through mid-2025 before easing. In response, the National Bank of Ukraine raised interest rates to 15.5% by March 2025. Meanwhile, steady support from the EU's Ukraine Facility and G7-facilitated revenue from frozen Russian assets will cover Ukraine's external and fiscal deficits this year.
The EBRD, Ukraine's largest institutional investor, has committed over €7 billion since the start of the war, including €2.4 billion for energy, according to the release. Its investments are strengthening vital infrastructure, food security, and the private sector—playing a critical role in maintaining economic resilience and recovery in wartime Ukraine.
US hasn't yet subscribed to the EBRD's €4 billion capital increase for Ukraine’s reconstruction
The US has not yet committed to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's €4 billion capital increase aimed at supporting Ukraine's reconstruction, even though other G7 nations have already pledged their contributions, said EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso.
The lender had approved the capital increase in 2023 to the bank's "paid-in" capital in order to double investment in the country's reconstruction, from around €1.5 billion to €3 billion per year.
Renaud-Basso told reporters on Monday that 63% of the capital increase was already subscribed but the US still has not participated, The Banker reported. She said it was not uncommon for the capital increase to take longer than anticipated, adding the EBRD prolonged the deadline for shareholders to subscribe until the end of the year.
The US is the lender's largest shareholder, with a 10% stake, with the Trump administration initiating a 180-day review in February of all "international intergovernmental organisations" of which the US is a member.
Renaud-Basso said the lender is in "a solid financial position" to support expansion, and its business model does not rely on major US contributions.
Arvid Tuerkner, the EBRD's managing director for Ukraine and Moldova, told The Banker that, while the bank has so far received strong US support through grants and guarantees for its work in Ukraine—and hopes this backing will continue—there is still no "full final clarity" on future commitments.
"Without people coming back and without sufficient energy for the economic rebound, everything will be more difficult," he said, referring to the need for reconstruction investments to start as soon as possible.
Ferrexpo says it was forced to shut down 2 pellet production lines due to Ukrainian sanctions, suspension of VAT refunds
Ferrexpo said it was forced to shut down two of its pellet production lines following a decision by the Ukrainian tax authorities to impose sanctions on Ukrainian oligarch Konstantin Zhevago and suspend VAT refunds.
Konstantin Zhevago, a former member of parliament, is wanted in Ukraine over a case of alleged embezzlement involving Finance & Credit Bank, his former bank that collapsed in 2015.
Ferrexpo, however, said in a post on LinkedIn that Zhevago does not own shares in its subsidiaries Poltava Mining and Yeristovo Mining.
In March, the company accused the Ukrainian authorities of breaching international investment agreements with a series of "discriminatory and unreasonable" asset freezes, management arrests and other actions against the miner's subsidiaries.
Around the same time, the company disclosed that a Kyiv district court had also ordered the transfer of 49.5% of FPM's corporate rights to Ukraine's Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA)
The suspension of VAT refunds has caused reduced production, salary payments, and social spending, and in January and February the VAT refund debt reached about $25 million, Ferrexpo said.
It said via LinkedIn that it has "around two more months to begin at least partially resolving the issue" with the Ukrainian authorities. The company has already filed an appeal with the tax service in Kyiv and met with representatives of the tax authorities.
"Our shareholders are also concerned about this situation. Half of them are the largest and most well-known investment companies, and they have responded very negatively to reducing production," it added.
Ferrexpo said it now invests only "the bare minimum" to maintain key assets, while it has invested more than $300 million in different projects since the start of the full-scale war in 2022.
"We hope to fully resume production and all our projects as soon as possible, so we can continue contributing to the Ukrainian economy," it said.
Ukrainian Parliament gives initial approval for Budget Code amendments to implement minerals deal with US
The Ukrainian Parliament has given initial approval to amendments to the Budget Code needed to implement the recently signed minerals deal with the US in the first reading.
Amendments to the Budget Code are needed to implement the provision on filling the US-Ukraine Investment Fund for Reconstruction, chair of the Verkhovna Rada Budget Committee, Roksolana Pidlasa, said in a Facebook post.
Ukraine will contribute to the fund with 50% of revenue from new royalties, permits, and production-sharing deals once the agreement takes effect, according to Pidlasa and a Telegram post from Yaroslav Zhelezniak, first deputy head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Taxation and Customs Policy.
These funds will go to a special state budget fund and, upon approval by the main spending authority, likely the Ministry of Economy, be transferred to the Reconstruction Fund.
Pidlasa said that, had the agreement been in place since 2019, Ukraine's contribution to the fund could have exceeded UAH 3 billion ($72 million).
Ukrainian legislation has to pass two readings in Parliament and receive presidential signature before entering into force. The second reading will be in early June, according to Zhelezniak.
Strategic Europe: Europeans should enforce a ceasefire in Ukraine
If US President Donald Trump drops support for Ukraine peace efforts, Europe will need to follow through on its promises of security guarantees, Rym Momtaz,
editor in chief of Carnegie Endowment's publication Strategic Europe, wrote in an op-ed.
One strong move would be to impose a partial ceasefire by interdicting Russian attacks over Kyiv and western Ukraine, which wouldn't make European countries part of the war, but would be legal under the UN's self-defense rules, Momtaz argued.
The Engineer: Anti-drone technology key to securing lasting peace in Europe
Anti-drone technology is no longer just a battlefield necessity but a cornerstone of lasting peace and security in Europe. As drones become cheaper, deadlier, and more widely used, defending against them is as essential as cybersecurity, Andriy Dovbenko, founder and principal of UK-Ukraine TechExchange, wrote in an op-ed for The Engineer.
Ukraine's frontline experience has driven rapid innovation in counter-drone systems. With the right commercial support and policy backing, these homegrown technologies can be scaled to safeguard all of Europe, according to Dovbenko.
Ukraine's poverty rates, income inequality rose in 2024, World Bank says
Ukraine faced increased poverty rates as well as rising income inequality in 2024, a survey by the World Bank revealed.
The estimated poverty rate in 2024 has risen to 37%, up from 34% in 2023, while income inequality continues to widen. The Gini coefficient - a key measure of inequality - climbed to over 0.4 in both 2023 and 2024, a sharp increase from 0.25 in 2021, signaling growing economic disparity, as per the survey.
Economic optimism among Ukrainians is fading as the war continues and uncertainty persists, the World Bank said. In the fourth quarter of 2024, only 44% of survey respondents said they were optimistic about the country's economic future over the next two to three years. This marks a sharp drop from 67% who expressed optimism in the second quarter of 2023.
At the same time, financial well-being is deteriorating. In Q2-2023, 60% of respondents reported their financial situation had worsened or significantly worsened compared to before February 2022. By Q4-2024, that figure had risen to 69%, reflecting mounting financial pressure on households across the country.
The burden is heavier in frontline and targeted regions, including Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson, where over 20% of households were unable to pay for utilities in the past 30 days, according to the latest data. By comparison, around 15% of households in western Ukraine reported the same issue, highlighting growing regional disparities in economic resilience, according to the World Bank.
The share of households earning labor income - whether from wages, self-employment, or agriculture - has declined sharply, particularly among the poorest. In 2020, 66% of households in the bottom 20% of the income distribution reported labor income, but by 2024, that figure had fallen to just 35%.
Despite labor shortages and strong demand from employers, employment rates in 2024 remain below pre-2022 levels. This points to a mismatch in the labor market and persistent gender barriers, including unequal household responsibilities, that continue to limit workforce participation, the report reads.
According to the World Bank, the war and the destruction of infrastructure have shifted the population and the economy westward, with more households in urban areas in the West and Central regions in the top 20% of the income distribution in 2024 compared to 2020.
Ukrainian households continue to face widespread hardship as the war continues. Daily aerial attacks have taken a toll on personal property, with 17.3% of households reporting damage to their homes or apartments between February 2022 and December 2024. The impact is far more severe in frontline regions, where nearly 40% of households have suffered housing damage, as per the survey.
Safety remains the top concern for most Ukrainians, even after a rise in utility-related worries in Q3-2024. The persistent threat of violence is also taking a growing toll on mental health. Reports of poor mental health among survey respondents rose from 14.9% in Q2-2023 to 22.9% by Q4-2024, underscoring the long-term psychological strain of living through war.
Law bans dismissal for absenteeism in zones near fighting
Ukrainian law firm Arzinger promoted an article outlining a draft law adopted by Parliament introducing new rules for communication between employees and employers during the martial law period.
Among other things, the draft law "establishes a 10-day deadline for updating contact information and prohibits dismissal for absenteeism if the workplace is located in areas of active hostilities," Arzinger said.
Hryvnia devaluation seen easing if ceasefire achieved
Ukrainian investment firm Dragon Capital posted its macro forecast scenarios for 2025, including an "ongoing war" scenario and a "truce" scenario in which a sustainable ceasefire is acheived in coming months.
"Achieving a sustainable ceasefire will contribute to a slower devaluation of the hryvnia in the second half of the year, as fundamental pressure on prices will be higher, and the balance of payments situation will be better due to a slowdown in private capital outflows and the preservation of external financial assistance."
Amrop leads search for Centralised Procurement Organisation director
Amrop, the Belgium-based executive search agency, has been tasked with finding a Director of the recently established Centralised Procurement Organisation, which was recently established by the Ukrainian government to ensure transparency in the reconstruction.
"The enterprise will manage the entire procurement process, from the receipt of applications to the selection of tender winners, for the regional restoration offices, other entities of the Agency, as well as for external clients," said Amrop Ukraine.
New diagnostic center in Dnipro
Edem Adamov, deputy minister at the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, celebrated the launch of a new diagnostics center in Dnipro opened with cutting-edge medical technologies through a grant from the Ukraine Partnership Facility, implemented by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
The facility is equipped with a helium-free MRI scanner, a CT scanner, a digital X-ray system, a mammography unit,ultrasound systems with AI features and a surgical C-arm, Adamov said.
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