What War Risk Insurance Programs Are Active in Ukraine

21.08.2026, 14:58 visitukraine.today

International reinsurance capacity for Ukraine has fallen sharply, and not every type of war risk can still be insured. Find out which war risk insurance programs are currently available and who they are designed for

Several international war risk insurance and reinsurance programs are currently operating in Ukraine. Most of them, however, are designed for businesses rather than individuals.

The international reinsurance market for Ukraine changed dramatically after 2022. Capacity dropped, insurers became much more selective, and many risks that were previously relatively straightforward to insure became difficult or impossible to place.

Still, the market did not disappear completely.

As of August 2026, several specialised programs are operating with the involvement of international brokers, Lloyd's insurers, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. They do not provide one universal type of protection. Each program focuses on a particular risk, such as sea cargo, land transport, commercial property or reinsurance for Ukrainian insurers.

So, what is actually available today, and who can use it?

This solution is for businesses only.

One of the best-known war risk facilities is Unity, created by Marsh McLennan together with the Ukrainian government and the Lloyd's market.

The program started in November 2023 to insure grain and food shipments travelling through the Black Sea. In March 2024, its scope was expanded to include vessels carrying other types of non-military cargo, including steel, containers and other export goods.

Unity combines war risk insurance for the vessel itself with a separate P&I layer. Lloyd's and other London market insurers provide the underwriting, led by the Ascot syndicate. Standby letters of credit from Ukreximbank and Ukrgazbank, confirmed by DZ Bank, provide a state-backed first-loss mechanism.

The cover is intended for shipping through Ukraine's maritime corridor. Marsh also lists Danube river transit, including vessels from non-sanctioned jurisdictions, their crews and shipowner liability.

This insurance does not cover foreign individuals in Ukraine.

Read also: Ukraine’s War Risk Insurance Market: What Travelers Need to Know

Unity is focused on cargo in transit. It does not protect a factory, warehouse or retail premises located in Ukraine. Those assets require a different type of war risk cover.

This is another business solution, aimed at cargo moving by road inside Ukraine.

Once goods leave a port and continue their journey by road, they face a different insurance problem. In May 2024, WTW and the Ukrainian insurer VUSO launched a program covering cargo and war risks during domestic land transportation.

The program is backed by London market capacity, with the Markel syndicate at Lloyd's leading the underwriting. Both Ukrainian companies and foreign businesses transporting goods within Ukraine can access the facility through VUSO and WTW Ukraine.

This is particularly relevant for logistics companies. Standard cargo insurance often excludes war-related losses when goods are travelling through an active conflict zone. This program was created to cover that specific gap.

This insurance solution does not cover individuals.

This is another war risk insurance solution for businesses. It does not provide direct cover to individuals.

Aon and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development took a different approach with the Ukraine Recovery and Reconstruction Guarantee Facility, or URGF. The facility is backed by up to €110 million in EBRD guarantees.

Instead of selling a policy directly to a business, URGF supports Ukrainian insurers that already provide war risk cover. Aon manages the underlying structure, URGF IC Limited, through which international reinsurers take on part of the losses arising from war risk policies issued in Ukraine.

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In practical terms, a Ukrainian business still buys its insurance from a local insurer. That insurer keeps part of the risk and transfers the rest to an international reinsurer working under the URGF guarantee.

MS Amlin was the first international partner to join the scheme. INGO, Colonnade and UNIQA were among the first Ukrainian insurers to issue policies under it.

A Ukrainian insurer can cede up to 90% of the relevant risk through the facility. That gives insurers more room to offer higher limits without putting the entire war-related exposure on their own balance sheets.

The first phase focused on land cargo, vehicle hulls and railway rolling stock. These assets generally have shorter exposure periods than stationary property. According to the EBRD, the mechanism could support around €1 billion in annual coverage as the guarantee capital is used across short-term contracts.

If your business has a warehouse, factory or other stationary asset, this is the type of solution to look at.

Buildings and equipment that remain in one place present a different insurance challenge from cargo travelling across the country. Aon addressed this segment together with the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation.

In 2024, Aon announced a $350 million program. It combined $50 million in DFC reinsurance capacity for Ukrainian insurers with another $300 million earmarked for healthcare and agricultural projects.

The Ukrainian insurer ARX became the first company admitted to the reinsurance scheme.

DFC later provided more details about the arrangement. Its $50 million political risk insurance supports a reinsurance mechanism that allows ARX to write more than $200 million in new cover for stationary assets across Ukraine, with Aon organising the structure.

For a company operating a factory, warehouse or production site, this is much closer to conventional commercial property insurance than the programs designed for cargo and other mobile assets.

This insurance does not cover individuals in Ukraine.

If you run a small or medium-sized business with international cargo operations, this solution may be relevant to you.

In February 2026, Aon and Ukrainian insurer Kniazha VIG announced a new agreement with DFC. The $25 million reinsurance program became effective on February 1, 2026 and supports a portfolio of war risk policies worth up to $100 million.

Unlike some earlier arrangements aimed mainly at large industrial clients, this program focuses on small and medium-sized businesses as well. Vienna Insurance Group says the program is centred on protecting stationary assets against war risks.

There is a broader change here too. Reinsurance capacity is gradually becoming available to more Ukrainian insurers rather than being concentrated in a single market participant. That allows international capital to enter the Ukrainian insurance market while local insurers continue working directly with their clients.

The program is not presented as an individual war risk insurance solution.

For larger stationary assets, McGill and Partners created a separate facility together with FortuneGuard and the Ukrainian insurer ARX.

FortuneGuard provides missile and drone strike data, which is used to assess the potential war risk at a particular address. The insurance capacity comes from London market participants and Lloyd's syndicates.

The program launched in early 2025 with a maximum limit of $50 million for a single commercial property risk. At that stage, the insured property also had to be more than 100 kilometres from the front line.

The conditions changed in February 2026. McGill extended the program for another year, increased the maximum line to $100 million per risk and expanded the number of participating insurers to 14. Their combined capacity for the following 12 months reached $250 million.

By then, more than $100 million in coverage had already been placed for Ukrainian businesses. The insured assets included energy facilities, manufacturing sites, warehouses, food production facilities and solar power projects.

For a company looking to insure an entire factory or a large logistics facility, this is one of the closest options to conventional large-scale commercial property insurance. Even so, a $100 million limit may still be insufficient for Ukraine's largest industrial sites.

There is also a state-backed solution aimed at keeping trade between Ukraine and the EU moving.

In 2025, the European Commission approved a €1.5 billion transport risk reinsurance program connected with the war in Ukraine. The program is particularly relevant to routes through Poland, which has the longest land border with Ukraine among the EU member states.

Poland's export credit agency KUKE provides reinsurance for losses caused by combat, sabotage, terrorist acts and civil unrest. Polish-licensed insurance companies are the direct beneficiaries of the program.

KUKE covers 80% of the war-related risk, while insurers retain the remaining 20%.

Eligible businesses include transport operators registered in Poland, as well as companies registered elsewhere in the EU if they have a Polish branch and the required cargo licence.

The European Commission introduced the scheme because of the shortage of war risk insurance created by Russia's invasion. It is currently scheduled to run until June 30, 2027, with limits intended to maintain fair competition across the EU market.

Read also: Why You Need War Risk Insurance Even for Short-Term Visits to Ukraine

These programs have brought some international capacity back to the Ukrainian market, but they have not solved the wider reinsurance shortage.

The reason is simple: each facility covers a relatively specific type of risk.

Unity is for maritime shipping. WTW and VUSO focus on domestic cargo. URGF initially concentrated on transport and other mobile assets. DFC-backed arrangements support stationary property, while McGill and Partners focuses on larger commercial risks.

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