Zelenskyy has changed the leadership of the State Border Guard Service: Vavryniuk becomes acting head

Ukraine is considering the possibility of recruiting foreign workers due to an acute labour shortage, but they must not compete with Ukrainians for jobs. A proposal has been put forward in the Verkhovna Rada to allow the employment of foreign nationals only in those sectors where vacancies cannot be filled by domestic workers.

The Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, is prepared to continue peace talks only once the Russian Federation has seized the whole of Donbas. The Russian Ministry of Defence is assuring him that this can be achieved by 2026, but rank-and-file soldiers disagree.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas has stated that, as the war against Ukraine has not yielded the expected results, the Kremlin may seek a further escalation. According to him, Russia may regard the Baltic states and Poland as its next potential targets.

Major General Ihor Skybyuk is to become the new Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The personnel decisions regarding the reshuffle of the military leadership are due to be formalised on 22 July.

The British company BAE Systems is to begin licensed production of L119 105-mm howitzers directly in Ukraine. The agreement was signed at the Farnborough International Airshow.

Energoatom and Ukrhydroenergo have sold all the electricity volumes offered at the first special long-term auctions. In total, the state-owned companies sold 462,148 MWh, to be supplied between August and December 2026.

The International Monetary Fund has agreed to postpone the introduction of value added tax (VAT) for sole traders operating under the simplified tax system. Instead of January 2027, the new rules are due to come into force on 1 January 2028.

The Ukrainian government is considering replacing the current 5 per cent military levy with a special tax for post-war reconstruction. This option is included in the updated Memorandum of Cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund.

During a retrial, the Kharkiv District Administrative Court quashed a tax penalty of 4,038,423 hryvnias imposed on a business owner following an inspection of a shop in the centre of Odesa. The decision was based on irregularities in the way the inspection was arranged, rather than on a refutation of the tax authorities’ claims regarding the accounting of goods.

The Innovation Development Fund has announced a tender for the purchase of 860 Starlink Internet Satellite Mini satellite modems or their equivalents. The maximum funding amount for the purchase, including VAT, is 17.028 million hryvnias.