In Other News

• The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) is issuing a new high denomination 2,000 hryvnia (Hr) banknote in September. It commemorates the independence fighter Vasyl Stus, a renowned Ukrainian poet, human rights defender, and one of the most prominent representatives of the Ukrainian dissident movement, who was imprisoned in a Soviet penal colony for his pro-Ukrainian views and died there in 1985.

It is the first new circulating banknote to be issued since Russian’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Commemorative banknotes issued since then have similarly featured Ukrainian patriots and symbols of independence.

The Hr 1,000 was issued in 2019, since when the volume of cash in circulation has more than doubled (from almost UAH 390 billion to over UAH 970 billion as of 1 July 2026), driven in large part by wartime conditions. The Hr 1,000 now accounts for 55% of all notes in circulation and a higher denomination was needed as a result, according to the NBU.