As of mid-May 2026, nearly 22,000 individual entrepreneurs (IEs) with foreign citizenship are officially registered in Ukraine. This information is contained in the data of the Unified State Register.
This is reported by Finway
Dynamics and Geography of Foreign IEs Registration
The total number of foreign entrepreneurs is 21,967. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion by Russia, an average of 1,896 new cases initiated by citizens of other countries have been opened each year. The highest number of foreign IEs is registered in Kyiv – 5,216 individuals, which accounts for one in four. Following are Kharkiv region with 3,506 entrepreneurs and Odesa region with 3,295. Together, these three regions account for nearly 55% of all foreigners who have started businesses in Ukraine.
Countries of Origin and Main Areas of Activity
Among foreign entrepreneurs, the largest group consists of citizens of the Russian Federation – 4,593 individuals, which makes up one in five foreign IEs. A significant portion also includes citizens of Vietnam (1,994), Azerbaijan (1,635), Uzbekistan (1,469), and Moldova (1,118). Together, these five countries account for nearly half of all foreigners who own a business in Ukraine. The most popular sector for foreign entrepreneurs is retail trade – in this field, 6,346 IEs with foreign citizenship operate.
Overall, as of May 20, there are over 2.1 million individual entrepreneurs working in Ukraine. However, due to the demographic crisis and ongoing war, the country is experiencing a labor shortage.
These artificially created videos and memes aim to provoke internal conflicts within Ukrainian society, incite fears about “loss of identity,” “population replacement,” and “futility of fighting against Russian occupiers,” analysts explain.
At the same time, analysts have recently recorded a new wave of “joking” videos on social networks, which dramatize the future of Ukraine through the involvement of foreign labor migrants. It has been established that such materials are mass-produced and disseminated by Russian channels to stir internal conflicts and sow doubts within Ukrainian society.