Economy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukrainian society would not support a peace agreement that would involve the unilateral withdrawal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the controlled part of Donbas and its transfer to Russia. According to him, any decision regarding the territories must be put to a referendum.

Half of the refugees from Ukraine who arrived in Germany in the first six months of the full-scale war were able to find employment within three and a half years of their arrival in Germany. At the same time, the employment rate among Ukrainians remains below the national average due to the war, psychological trauma and the high proportion of mothers who are single parents.

A rare earth element processing plant will be built in Brasov, with the concentrate to be mined by an American company in Greenland. The project will be implemented on a parity basis by Romania and Critical Metals Corp.

The Turkish KAAN fighter jet has received two new platforms, which were presented to the public for the first time. In addition to the P1 prototype for basic flight tests, TUSAŞ has prepared the Iron Bird ground complex, where critical aircraft systems will be tested in parallel with the flights of two prototypes in 2026.

The state agency PlayCity has issued the first licence to issue and conduct lotteries to the Ukrainian National Lottery company, which paid an annual fee of UAH 24.2 million. The government sees this as the first practical step towards restarting a market that has been operating in a grey area for more than ten years.

Swedish Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson said that the European Union should insist on a complete ban on maritime services for Russia's shadow fleet, even if the United States or the G7 countries do not support this move. According to her, Russia's military economy is under significant pressure, and sanctions are proving effective.

Journalists from the Finnish MOT programme have identified at least 175 oil tankers belonging to Russia's shadow fleet with falsified flag state data. Most of them operate in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland, transporting oil worth billions of euros.

Zagreb has declared its readiness to help Budapest and Bratislava transport oil via the Adria pipeline after disruptions to supplies via the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline. At the same time, the Croatian side stressed that it would not support imports of Russian oil, which finances the war against Ukraine.

In January 2026, China increased its imports of Russian oil through the so-called shadow fleet, while India significantly reduced its purchases. Overall, exports of raw materials from Russia by sea decreased by more than 1.4 million tonnes compared to December.

Social media users criticised Oleksandr Tsyvinsky, director of the Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine, who suggested commenting on his idea of pre-trial settlement of tax crimes. In particular, the head of the Economic Security Bureau was reminded of the mechanisms already existing in the legislation and accused of attempting to distract public attention from the bureau's low efficiency with yet another round of "talk."

Tighter sanctions from the US and the EU, reduced purchases by India, and the accumulation of stocks at sea may force Russia to reduce oil production in the coming months. Against the backdrop of the war against Ukraine, this puts additional pressure on the Kremlin's budget, where oil and gas revenues account for about a quarter of its income.

Turkey is launching its first-ever deep-sea drilling mission outside its own maritime zones. The state-of-the-art vessel Çağrı Bey set sail from the port of Taşucu in Mersin to the coast of Somalia, where, after a 45-day voyage, it will begin drilling based on previously collected seismic data.