Corruption keeps Kyiv from attracting business and IT investors

Kyiv’s chronic corruption and ineffective governance are driving investors and tech companies away from the capital, according to Andrii Dligach, head of the Advanter Group. He warned that the city has squandered its advantages and lost its competitive edge to other regions.

Dligach made the comments on "Kyiv Time" on Friday.

Kyiv has "given away" its IT and business leadership to other regions

Dligach sharply criticized Kyiv’s authorities, saying they have failed to use the city’s status as the capital to attract investment and support innovation.

"Inefficiency and corruption have eaten everything. The city could have long used its capital status to attract business — instead, companies are moving to industrial parks in western Ukraine. Kyiv has given away its IT capital status to Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, and Lviv," he said.

The expert added that while Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) focus on state-level investigations, large-scale corruption schemes persist at the local level.

"If NABU and SAPO started working locally, we’d see ‘Mindykgates’ all across Ukraine," Dligach remarked, referring to major corruption scandals uncovered in Kyiv.

He previously criticized City Hall for the lack of a coordinated system to protect Kyiv from Russian attacks, while other experts — including transport analyst Dmytro Bespalov — have warned of an impending transport crisis in the capital.

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