In August, air raid alerts in Kyiv lasted three times as long: how this affected retail sales
In Kyiv, where a significant number of large shopping and entertainment centers are located, the duration of air raid alerts increased significantly in August. While they accounted for 3.3% of working hours in July, this figure rose to 11.6% in August.
Due to more frequent and longer air raid alerts, retail establishments in the capital were forced to suspend operations more often, which impacted their business.
How many air raid alerts were there in Kyiv?
In June, July, and the first half of August, five air raid alerts were declared per week in Kyiv while shopping centers were open; however, in the penultimate week of August, this number rose to 12, and in the last week of the month—to 34 alerts.
At the same time, the trend in the last week of August indicates that air raid alerts are no longer being issued primarily at night, which further impacts the retail market.
Duration of Alarms
From early June through mid-August, air raid alerts sounded for an average of 2.3 hours per week during shopping center operating hours.
However, in the penultimate week of August, their duration more than tripled—to 7.9 hours—and in the last week of summer—to 23.2 hours.
While in previous weeks of the summer, the proportion of shopping centers’ operating hours spent on alarms averaged 3%, in the penultimate week of August it rose to 10.3%, and in the last week—to 30.1%.
August 27 set a record, when the proportion of alarms in Kyiv reached 68% of shopping centers’ operating time, which is a critically high figure for most retail operators.
According to data from the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers, this increase occurred very rapidly—in just two weeks.
The Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions received new shipments of critically important energy equipment from Lithuania. This aid is intended to strengthen the resilience of Ukraine’s power grid and facilitate the rapid restoration of damaged networks.
As a reminder, Serbia will provide Ukraine with a new package of humanitarian aid. It will include support in the fields of medicine and energy.
