Orest Matviychuk, former Senior Legal Counsel at Engelhart Commodities Trading Partners, has joined CMS in Kyiv, where he will be working on the Banking & Finance team as a Senior Associate.

Former Sayenko Kharenko Counsels Denis Krokhmalyov and Oleg Klymchuk have joined together to open a boutique intellectual property firm in Kyiv: Brandsfield Brand Care.

Upon lifting of the quarantine rules, many companies start to resume their activity. All of them intend to renew activities with minimum expenses and maximum comfort for their employees. Many companies will look for optimisation options. Below the INTEGRITES team summarises the main solutions available under the effective laws of Ukraine.

“Ukraine is gradually returning to normal operations,” says Valentyn Gvozdiy, Managing Partner at Golaw in Kyiv, but he admits the preceding period has been difficult. “Most companies had to face many challenges of finding new ways to work in a short time span. Closing of industries and venues, self-isolations and lockdowns, strict bans on business activities, and public events were important measures needed to prevent and fight this virus. However, experienced managers understand the situation and fortunately knew how to cope with the issues that arose with the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Asters has advised the EBRD on financing provided to Lantmannen Axa, a producer of breakfast cereals in Ukraine that is owned by Sweden’s agribusiness cooperative Lantmannen.

Ilyashev & Partners has successfully protected the interests of Ukrainian Match Factory LLC in an anti-dumping investigation on the importation of matches originating in the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation into Ukraine.

Peter Teluk, the former Managing Partner of Squire Patton Boggs' Kyiv office, has joined Sayenko Kharenko.

Former CMS Cameron McKenna Ukraine Managing Partner Daniel Bilak has joined Kinstellar as Senior Counsel to the firm’s regional management team.

The International Trade Practice team of Ilyashev & Partners has secured the introduction of provisional anti-dumping duties on imports to Ukraine of steel fasteners originating in the People’s Republic of China.

AGA Partners and Avellum have announced that the two Ukrainian firms, which merged almost two years ago, will officially separate, continuing their relationship as an alliance.

In the European Commission’s January 8 Report on the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights in third countries, Ukraine was identified as a Priority 2 country. This category includes countries with systematic problems in the area of intellectual property protection and enforcement, causing significant harm to EU countries.

As of November 2019, certain RES producers have been intermittently forced to reduce their output or halt production of electrical energy altogether under the commands of Ukraine’s transmission system operator, NEC Ukrenergo. DTEK, along with several other large market players led the call for limitations. Many of the country’s RES producers have become alarmed.

Before being elected President of Ukraine last May, Volodymyr Zelensky had virtually no experience in public office. Despite his inexperience – or perhaps because of it – over 73% of the electorate concluded that the comedian and entertainer was the right man to replace Petro Poroshenko, the previous President, and now Zelensky finds himself, at 41, leading an entire nation.

Quarantine restrictions implemented by the Ukrainian Government due to the COVID-19 pandemic had a sensible impact on the business in Ukraine, which can’t disappear without any trace. A lot of companies tried or are still trying to find a reasonable solution in order to reduce expenses on staff, as well to optimize their business processes and revise organizational structures.

Integrites has advised Sibelco on the acquisition of Ukrainian clay producers Euromineral LLC and Kurdyumovsky Plant PrJSC. The seller was advised by in-house counsel Yana Petrova.

Ukraine's Esquires law firm has successfully defended the interests of Diezelmashservice KR LLC in the first-instance Dnipropetrovsk District Administrative Court and then the Third Administrative Court of Appeal in a VAT dispute with Ukraine's tax authorities.

Ukraine's Antika law firm has successfully defended the interests of the Persha insurance company in a dispute involving the recovery of funds by subrogation.

Kinstellar has advised UMG Investments on the acquisition of a minority stake in Feednova LLC, a Ukrainian company focusing on the production of feed additives for farm animals and pets, and the subsequent establishment of a joint venture with Effective Investments Group and other stakeholders of Feednova.