Ukrainian business owes Europe a great deal. The political solidarity, the financial support, the weapons, the open markets and the open hearts of European citizens have helped keep our country and our economy standing. On Europe Day, the message from SCM companies starts with a simple word: thanks.
Gratitude, however, is best expressed through contribution. Alongside our thanks, the most useful thing Ukrainian business can offer Europe in 2026 is capability – hard, commercial, war-tested capability of the kind European partners actually need.
Energy capability. DTEK is expanding its renewables portfolio across Eastern Europe, adding generation capacity to a region that is simultaneously decarbonising and rewiring itself away from russian supply. The company is also developing gas transit and storage capabilities that draw on Ukraine's strategic position and infrastructure to strengthen Europe's collective energy security. These are not symbolic projects. They are commercial investments in assets Europe needs.
Industrial capability. Metinvest is investing in steel production and downstream operations in Italy and Romania, embedding Ukrainian metallurgy inside European industrial supply chains. The result is European jobs, European tax revenue and a more secure source of strategic materials for European industry.
Operational capability. Executives from Ukrtelecom and our logistics companies are working with European counterparts to share what Ukrainian businesses have learned about running critical infrastructure under sustained attack. Cyber defence at scale. Network and grid restoration on compressed timelines. Logistics and continuity planning in a war economy. This is knowledge no European business school teaches, because no European business has had to develop it. It is also knowledge Europe may need to draw on more heavily in the years ahead than current planning assumes.
Behind these initiatives is a long-term strategic investment placed by our shareholder Rinat Akhmetov: that Ukrainian expertise and resilience benefit the European economy. That bet was made before the full-scale war and has only deepened since. It treats European integration not as a destination Ukraine is travelling towards, but as a commercial reality SCM companies are actively building, transaction by transaction.
Ukraine's European future will not be decided by declarations alone. It will be decided in factories, electrical substations, and boardrooms – wherever Ukrainian and European businesses choose to build something together.
On Europe Day, the message from SCM companies is one of gratitude for what Europe has given Ukraine, and of commitment to what Ukrainian business is now building alongside European partners.
