How do people in Ukraine pay online?
Cards carry most payments. National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) statistics show that cards issued in Ukraine made 4,707.6 million cashless transactions worth UAH 2,587.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up 7.5% in number and 16.6% in value on a year earlier. Cashless transactions were 96% of all card transactions by number and 67% by value. Payments for goods and services online made up 13.7% of cashless card transactions by number and 16.6% by value.
Many cards are in circulation. By the end of June 2026, 153.2 million payment cards had been issued in Ukraine, and 61.1 million, or 40%, were active that month. More than 56.8% of active cards were contactless.
Phone wallets are common. The NBU counted 21.1 million tokenised payment cards in June 2026, so one in three active cards (34.5%) is stored as a token, as in phone wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. About 99% of cashless payments in shops in the first half of 2026 used contactless or NFC technology.
PROSTIR is the national card system. The NBU describes it as the national card system for hryvnia payments within Ukraine. PROSTIR cards can pay on the websites of Ukrainian companies, and co-badged PROSTIR and UnionPay International cards can also pay on foreign websites that accept UnionPay. Standard PROSTIR cards are not accepted outside Ukraine. For online payments, PROSTIR uses its own version of EMV 3-D Secure, called PROSTIR e-Secure, which can ask the cardholder to confirm in their banking app or with a one-time password. In its second-quarter 2026 digest the NBU said 39 participants issue or acquire PROSTIR cards.
Instant transfers are a newer option. The NBU’s System of Electronic Payments has offered instant credit transfers since December 2024, after amendments to the Law On Payment Services took effect in November 2024. A transfer completes within 10 seconds, can be started from a payment app with a QR code or a link, and needs no card terminal, so the NBU presents it as another way to pay for goods and services.
What rules shape online payments in Ukraine?
Foreign sellers of digital services charge VAT. The standard VAT rate is 20%. Since 1 January 2022, digital services supplied by non-residents to individuals in Ukraine carry 20% VAT. A non-resident must register if those supplies exceeded UAH 1 million in the previous calendar year, and can register voluntarily below that. It files a simplified return every quarter within 40 days of the quarter’s end, pays within 30 days after the filing deadline in EUR or USD, and cannot recover input VAT.
FX rules limit some payments abroad. Under the NBU’s FX restrictions, individuals can pay for goods and services abroad from hryvnia accounts up to a monthly limit, which the NBU raised from UAH 100,000 to UAH 200,000 from 11 August 2026. Payments abroad with foreign currency cards are not limited, except for certain transactions. This matters for sellers abroad that take payment in a foreign currency from Ukrainian cards.
Customer data falls under the 2010 law. The Law On Personal Data Protection (No. 2297-VI) is overseen by the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. Personal data can be transferred to countries with an adequate level of protection, which include EEA member states, or on other grounds such as the data subject’s consent or the performance of a contract. A draft law aligned with the GDPR (No. 8153) passed its first reading on 20 November 2024 and, according to DLA Piper, is still being prepared for second reading.
How would Omno route payments in Ukraine?
A merchant would connect once and set routing rules per method, currency and customer group. In Ukraine:
- Card pay-ins would follow the merchant’s rules by card scheme, issuing bank and amount, with cascading to the next provider in the rule when a provider is unavailable or rejects the request, until one accepts.
- Apple Pay and Google Pay would run on the same card rules through the hosted checkout, since the payment underneath is a card payment.
- PROSTIR cards would go to a provider that acquires PROSTIR online, with the PROSTIR e-Secure step handled on the provider’s side.
- Instant credit transfers could be offered where a connected provider supports them, with the order pending until the provider confirms the transfer.
Webhooks would report the final status of every payment, the record a back office should trust before shipping an order, and the routing-decision log would show which provider handled each payment and why.
What should merchants plan for?
Plan for cards first. Online purchases are 16.6% of the value of card payments, and a third of active cards sit in phone wallets, so a card form with Apple Pay and Google Pay covers most shoppers.
Plan for PROSTIR only with a local setup. PROSTIR cards pay on the websites of Ukrainian companies, and standard PROSTIR cards do not work abroad, so they matter mainly to stores run by a Ukrainian company.
Plan for FX limits on cross-border sales. Shoppers paying a seller abroad from a hryvnia account face a monthly limit of UAH 200,000, which large orders can reach.
Plan for VAT on digital services. A non-resident selling digital services to Ukrainian consumers above UAH 1 million a year registers, files quarterly and pays in EUR or USD.