As War in Ukraine Rages On, Investors Are Flooding Into a Stock Called KYIV

Kyivstar Group, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, went public on the Nasdaq as KYIV on Friday. (Andrew Kravchenko/Bloomberg)

While President Donald Trump was meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, a Ukrainian telecommunications company was making moves in New York.

Kyivstar Group, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, went public on the Nasdaq on Friday through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. It’s already emerged as a trendy play for retail investors looking to bet on a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

The stock, which trades under the ticker KYIV, was climbing 20% on Monday.

The SPAC has been in the works since the beginning of the year, when VEON , Kyivstar’s Dubai-based parent company, signed a letter of intent with Cohen Circle Acquisition to list the company indirectly. The pair pitched Kyivstar as the first pure-play Ukrainian investment opportunity to trade on a U.S. stock exchange.

The company provides mobile services to nearly 23 million customers and also has internet, healthcare, entertainment, ride-hailing, and enterprise-technology operations. Late last year, it signed an agreement to offer direct-to-cell connectivity through Elon Musk’s Starlink, with service expected to launch by the end of 2025.

“Kyivstar is a stellar example of how [the] private sector can accelerate the resilience and rebuilding of a country,” VEON chairman Augie Fabela said in a statement last week.

Talk of Ukraine’s reconstruction might be premature, though. Ukraine remains mired in war more than three-and-a-half years after Russia invaded it, and Trump’s meeting with Putin didn’t yield a cease-fire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a delegation of European leaders arrived at the White House on Monday to discuss the conflict.

Kyivstar seems to have become a trading vehicle for the latest series of Ukraine talks. Investors posting on X argued the stock was a way to support Ukraine and an upside play should the two sides strike a ceasefire.

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Kyivstar hasn’t always had the rosiest relationship with Kyiv. A Ukrainian court imposed a partial seizure of VEON’s corporate rights in Kyivstar in 2023 due to the parent company’s links to sanctioned Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven. Fridman resigned from the board of VEON and both men resigned from the board of LetterOne Holdings, an investor in the parent company, shortly after Russia’s invasion in 2022.

The Ukrainian court lifted its restrictions on the company last November, bringing the case to a close. “This decision is the result of our steadfast commitment to connecting and rebuilding Ukraine every day,” VEON CEO Kaan Terzioglu wrote to investors following the ruling.

Together with Kyivstar, VEON has committed to investing $1 billion in Ukraine between 2023 and 2027.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com