This spring marks the tenth anniversary of Ihor Smiliansky’s leadership of the state enterprise «Ukrposhta». His appointment took place in April 2016, and the official contract for the general director was signed in August 2018. During this period, the company underwent a fundamental transformation: by reducing its staff threefold, «Ukrposhta» was able to significantly increase its revenues.
This is reported by Finway
Staff Optimization and Revenue Growth
One of the key areas of change under Smiliansky’s leadership has been operational efficiency. In 2016, the company employed 76,000 staff members, and its annual revenue was 4 billion hryvnias. Currently, according to the general director, the workforce has been reduced to 25,000 employees, while the company’s revenue has increased to 13 billion hryvnias per year.
This result has been made possible through large-scale automation of internal processes. For example, the number of accountants has decreased from 872 to 44, and by the end of 2026, this figure is expected to drop to 37. The increase in financial indicators is attributed to the expansion of the range of services and a review of tariffs, particularly for international shipments, where rates have risen by more than 20%.
Technological and Structural Achievements
Over the decade under Smiliansky’s leadership, «Ukrposhta» has completely transformed its technological profile. The number of sorting centers has increased from one for the entire country to 24 today. Instead of manual processing, which allowed for the handling of only 600 parcels per hour, modern sorting lines now enable the processing of up to 8,000 shipments in the same timeframe.
“Full automation of the sorting of letters, newspapers, and parcels weighing up to 30 kg at ‘Ukrposhta’ will be completed very soon (between March 31 and April 10, 2026)”.
The vehicle fleet has also been significantly updated: the average age of the vehicles has decreased from 18 to 5 years, and most Soviet-era cars have been sold off. The volume of shipments has sharply increased — while previously a single center processed about 5 million parcels a year, the company now handles the same amount of domestic shipments each month. Additionally, another 3–5 million parcels from China are processed each month.
Furthermore, «Ukrposhta» has launched a new business model for entrepreneurs — opening pickup points based on existing businesses. This initiative allows café, supermarket, gas station, or pharmacy owners to earn a monthly income of at least 15,000 hryvnias.