On 17 September the Cabinet of Ministers expanded the war-risk insurance programme for business and, for the first time, added to the list of elevated-risk territories: Kyiv and Kyiv region now join the original ten oblasts. The word "risk" in the name of the list sounds alarming, so the main point first: this is not a curfew, not a special regime and not a restriction. The list decides one thing only — where a company can receive direct state compensation for property destroyed or damaged by russian attacks.
What the government decided
The decision was taken at the government meeting on 17 September and announced by the Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of Economy and Environment. There are three changes. First, Kyiv and Kyiv region are on the list of elevated-risk territories. Second, a wider list of property eligible for compensation: fuel held by excise warehouse operators, vehicles used to transport and store it, agricultural machinery, lorries and trailers over 7.5 tonnes, plus movable property that was in transit through such territories.
The third change concerns insurance premiums: the maximum compensation for a single company rises from 3 to 5 million hryvnias a year across all contracts. The mechanism now also covers leased property, and the requirements for contracts, paperwork and the decision procedure at the Export Credit Agency have been simplified. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi explained the reasoning this way.
Serhii KoretskyiPrime Minister of Ukrainerussia deliberately attacks civilian enterprises, warehouses and logistics facilities every day. Business is suffering significant losses and needs support to recover quickly.
The draft state budget for next year has a separate line for war-risk insurance, but the government widened the current programme without waiting for January. This week it also expanded concessional lending for large projects in fuel, logistics, trade and processing: the state will compensate 5.5% per annum of the bank's base rate, with a limit of 1 billion hryvnias per group of related companies.
Minister of Economy and Environment Oleksandr Kravchenko added that fuel infrastructure "remains one of the most vulnerable to war risks", and that farmers can now claim compensation for damaged machinery.
How war-risk insurance works
The programme started on 1 January 2026 under Cabinet Resolution No. 1541; there is still no separate law on war-risk insurance — draft law No. 12372 is sitting in the relevant parliamentary committee. The programme is run by the Export Credit Agency. There are two mechanisms, and this is where confusion starts: the list of elevated-risk territories applies only to the first of them.
| Compensation for property | Compensation of the insurance premium | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it applies | Only in elevated-risk territories: since January — Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson and Chernihiv oblasts (excluding occupied territories); since 17 September — also Kyiv and Kyiv region | Across all of Ukraine |
| What it covers | Real estate and production equipment; after 17 September — fuel, fuel transport, farm machinery, lorries and trailers over 7.5 t, movable property in transit | Part of the insurance tariff under a war-risk policy signed after 1 January 2026; since 17 September — also for leased property |
| Limit | Up to 30 million hryvnias per company over the whole life of the programme (since March 2026) | Up to 5 million hryvnias a year across all contracts (since 17 September) |
| Who is eligible | Private sole traders and legal entities. Not eligible: state and municipal enterprises, non-residents, sanctioned companies and those linked to russia or belarus, tax debtors and bankrupts | |
| Where to apply | The ECA portal pk.eca.gov.ua (e-mail — see the agency's contacts); there is no list of "approved" insurers — the applicant chooses the company |
According to the Ministry of Economy, as of 17 September 323 property claims worth 6.8 billion hryvnias in probable payouts have been approved; 195 premium claims have been filed, and the ECA has already issued decisions on 39 of them worth over 56 million hryvnias. The programme has been widened twice since launch: in January production equipment was added and the valuation report was dropped from the application stage; in March the property cap went up from 10 to 30 million and the premium cap from 1 to 3 million hryvnias.
What it means
Head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko explained the decision the same day.
Tymur TkachenkoHead of the Kyiv Regional Military AdministrationThis is not about introducing any new restrictions or changing the rules of people's everyday life. First and foremost, this decision matters for business.
For residents
- No new restrictions, checks or rules: the list has nothing to do with movement, the curfew or everyday services.
- It is a financial status, not a security one: it defines where the state is ready to pay business for destroyed property, not where it is "more dangerous to live".
- The indirect effect: the company you work for, or the one that delivers goods to your shop, has a better chance of recovering quickly after a strike and keeping its staff.
For business
- Companies in Kyiv and the region are, for the first time, entitled to direct compensation for damaged or destroyed property — up to 30 million hryvnias per company.
- Premium compensation was already available here, but the cap is now 5 million hryvnias a year, and leased premises or equipment can be insured with state support too.
- Fuel depots, hauliers' fleets, farmers with machinery in the field and logistics firms with lorries over 7.5 tonnes — exactly those whose property was outside direct compensation before 17 September.
How to use it
- Sign a war-risk insurance contract with any insurer: claims are accepted for contracts signed after 1 January 2026 and can be filed from the 31st day after signing.
- Apply via the ECA portal pk.eca.gov.ua or by e-mail to the agency (address — see the agency's contacts); according to the agency, a premium-compensation claim carries a fee of 5,000 hryvnias, and a property claim a fee of 0.5% of the declared loss.
- After property damage — a separate claim to the ECA for direct compensation; no valuation report is needed at the filing stage, and after payment the state acquires the right of claim against russia.
Bucha noticed the decision too: Bucha City Council member Vasyl Oleksiuk explained on his Facebook page what the inclusion of Kyiv region in the list means for residents.
Why now
The answer is in the regional administration's reports from the past three weeks. The attack of 16–17 September damaged 33 sites in the Obukhiv, Brovary, Fastiv and Bucha districts, including warehouses and production premises, and on the morning of the 17th another warehouse burned in Brovary district. In Bucha district warehouses were hit on 4 September, 8 September, 10 September and again on the 11th, while firefighters were still putting out the blaze.
Earlier, on 28 August, warehouses burned near the M-06 highway in Myla, and on 12 August a logistics warehouse serving major retail chains burned down near Brovary. On 17 September the Bucha District Administration, congratulating rescuers, acknowledged that the district has suffered a significant number of enemy attacks this year. That is why on 4 September the regional administration opened a round-the-clock "single window" for entrepreneurs, and yesterday petrol stations in the region were given access to the air-awareness system. Insurance is the next step in the same sequence.
Bucha district knows what recovery after a strike looks like from the Vetropack glass plant in Hostomel: the plant was badly damaged in 2022, in May 2023 the company began heating up its first surviving furnace, and in July 2025 it relaunched the second one.
Photo: VetropackAs a reminder, Kyiv region was under attack for almost a full day: 33 damaged sites, Bucha district among them.
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