Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybiha has called on international partners to invest more actively in Ukrainian technologies. He emphasized that Ukraine is already a technologically advanced country, demonstrating significant achievements in drones, artificial intelligence for the military, cybersecurity, digital services, and banking. According to him, those who invest today will be able to reap substantial benefits from Ukrainian innovations tomorrow. The minister also stressed the need to intensify sanctions pressure on Russia to reduce its oil revenues and block access to critical technologies. In Sybiha’s words, this will deepen the technological gap between democracies and tyrannies, turning innovations into a shield for the entire transatlantic community.
However, behind these ambitious appeals lies a much more complicated economic reality. According to the National Bank of Ukraine, in 2024, the inflow of foreign direct investment into Ukraine decreased by a quarter compared to the previous year, amounting to only $3.3 billion.
“More than 70% of this amount are reinvestments by companies already operating in Ukraine that cannot repatriate profits due to currency restrictions. There are practically no new players,” notes Alona Lebedieva, owner of the Ukrainian multi-profile industrial-investment group of companies Aurum Group.
These figures are clearly reflected in the results of a survey by the European Business Association: Ukraine’s investment attractiveness index at the end of 2024 was only 2.49 out of 5. Businesses continue to prioritize regulatory stability, protection of property rights, and the absence of excessive administrative pressure.
Alona Lebedieva is convinced that investors assess not only the country’s technological potential, but first and foremost the consistency of its rules. “If the state allows dividend repatriation today and then bans it tomorrow without explanation—no international capital will seriously enter. Grand forums and startup presentations work well for image-building, but money comes only where there are guarantees,” she emphasizes.
Without real mechanisms for protecting property rights and contracts, even the largest investment initiatives will remain merely beautiful speeches.
In Alona Lebedieva’s view, a huge reserve for budget revenues today lies in tackling the shadow economy. “Hundreds of billions of hryvnias could flow into the state treasury every year if proper attention were paid to combating smuggling, the illegal tobacco market, VAT fraud schemes, or shadow use of land. But instead, regulatory authorities often focus not on the real problems of the shadow economy, but on creating additional barriers for legitimate businesses,” she underscores. For investors, this is a very telling signal about how the state actually operates: it either protects those who follow the rules or it doesn’t. And it is precisely this that determines whether discussions about investments will turn into real deals and jobs, or remain vivid talking points for conferences.