Overnight on June 17, the enemy struck Trostianets in the Sumy region. According to local authorities, gas stations in the city were destroyed.

This is yet another crime by the Russian Federation against Ukraine. At the same time, it is further confirmation that the enemy is deliberately targeting not only civilian objects but also the infrastructure that ensures the viability of frontline communities.

The destruction of a gas station is not just a blow to a single business. It is a strike against access to fuel, logistics, mobility, evacuation capabilities, and the essential work of utility services, medics, rescuers, farmers, volunteers, local businesses, and military logistics.

For frontline territories, fuel infrastructure is part of the country’s security belt.

Addressing the Crisis for Frontline Businesses

That is why the Fuel and Energy Business Association (FEBA) consistently draws the government’s attention to the problems of frontline regions and the necessity of a specific approach for businesses that continue to operate under high-risk conditions. 

Our position remains unchanged: frontline businesses that provide critical needs for communities and have suffered from enemy strikes cannot be left to face the consequences of the war alone.

It is particularly important to understand that in many frontline communities, fuel access is provided not by large network operators, but by local businesses. These are local entrepreneurs who do not have the financial resilience of large corporations. They work alongside the community, maintain jobs, and provide fuel to the population, municipal services, farmers, volunteers, and the military—while simultaneously facing the daily risk of shelling, destruction, and loss of property.

When such a gas station is damaged or destroyed, the business effectively ceases to operate. It has no sales, earns no income, and requires funds for restoration—yet it retains its tax burden, including the obligation to pay the advance corporate income tax installment.

Proposed Solutions for Resilience

In such conditions, a temporary suspension of advance tax payments for facilities damaged by hostilities that cannot operate is a minimal, yet crucial step the state must take. For the state, this is not a critical loss on a budget scale. For a local business in a frontline territory, this may be the difference between restoration and permanent closure. 

Despite the obvious nature of this problem and systematic appeals from the business community, the issue of supporting damaged gas stations in frontline regions has not yet received an adequate practical solution at the level of state policy.

We are convinced that this must change. The Fuel and Energy Business Association calls on the authorities to consider an effective support mechanism for gas stations in frontline territories that have been damaged or destroyed by enemy strikes. Specifically, this includes temporarily suspending the advance corporate income tax payment for such facilities during the period they are unable to operate and are undergoing restoration.

This is not a benefit or a preference for a specific business. It is an element of the state’s policy of resilience, support for frontline communities, and the preservation of fuel infrastructure where it is most needed by the country today. Frontline businesses hold more than just the local economy; they hold the logistics, mobility, and a part of the country’s security belt. And that is exactly why they must be supported by the state.