The Kyivstar operator expects the profitability of the mobile industry in Ukraine to continue falling amid ongoing hostilities.

"There was a growth trend over the first or second month [of the year] until February 24, then there was a strange, situational, crisis slide. And after that we start to go down. Unfortunately, in my understanding, we are in a long-term downtrend and I will be very happy if we bottom out by the end of this year. So far, we are just moving down," Alexander Komarov, president of the Kyivstar mobile operator, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

At the same time, he noted that the situation with margins is much worse, since the structure of income has changed a lot: low-margin international income has increased, the impact of inflation and devaluation has increased, and social initiatives and free services provided to Ukrainians during the active phase of the war has put an additional burden on the company.

"You need to understand: a margin of about 10% in a business that reinvests more than 20% is, in principle, a negative result at the level of net financial flow," Komarov stressed.