In the wake of the Russian-led war in Ukraine, the postal and parcel industry has faced unprecedented challenges. From infrastructure damage to shifting geopolitical dynamics, navigating this difficult landscape requires resilience, adaptability and strategic foresight. In this article, we delve into key considerations and strategies adopted by the country’s dominant CEP operator to effectively offer a last-mile parcel service to citizens amid the conflict in Ukraine.
Nova Post is a leading Ukrainian express delivery operator founded in 2001. The company delivers next day throughout the country via 11,570 branches and 16,315 automated parcel machines (APMs), making it the second largest APM network in Europe, according to Last Mile Experts’ Ukrainian CEP Report 2023. Every day, Nova Post delivers 1.5 million parcels throughout Ukraine and abroad. As you can see from the chart below, Nova Post is a dominant player and is responsible for providing over 85% of parcels in Ukraine.
Non-stop operations
Despite operating in a war zone, Nova Post has increased its network in Ukraine by 20% in the past two years, opening 2,242 branches and installing 1,853 new parcel lockers to offer 27,885 service points in over 10,000 settlements across Ukraine, even in frontline cities. This has partly been achieved by implementing ‘mobile access points’. The post has two types of these – shipping containers with solar panels and generators, or just ordinary delivery vehicles. Nova Post’s work is critical, as there are often no shops or pharmacies in the area, so Ukrainian civilians receive humanitarian aid through its branches.
Another important war-related benefit for its customers is that 60% of Nova Post parcel lockers operate inside residential complexes, so customers can receive and send parcels through them 24/7 even during curfews, which occur on a daily basis.
But the company has another goal, which is to link Ukraine to its citizens who have been forced by the war to emigrate. To this end, 35,000+ international service points, including 88 Nova Post branches, have been set up in 12 European countries. Now, Ukrainians can order from international online stores and remain connected with the world and Ukrainian businesses have easy access to European markets as well.
This is an important part of the company’s strategy, which is more related to social responsibility than to short-term economics, according to Nova Post co-founder, Volodymyr Popereshnyuk. “For a week after the invasion, I was in a daze,” he says. “I thought our company could disappear. Despite the fear, we made a bet on Ukraine. We continued to develop our business here and actively engage in supporting our country. We knew people needed us here, as well as in Europe. Thus, our business development abroad was made a priority to help those who left Ukraine. We always put customers first and do everything we can to provide better service for them. Moreover, a lot of our activities are done to help our country.”
Nova Post has been operating every day since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The company management and staff understand the importance of the services provided, knowing that they connect the most remote corners of Ukraine and families separated by war, delivering vital items to where they are needed most. At the beginning of the war, there were many difficulties: curfews and the inability to work 24/7, checkpoints, destroyed highways and infrastructure. None of this stopped the Nova Post team: in fact, before the war, Nova Post delivered parcels in 26 hours but since 2022 it has devised new ways to deliver in 24 hours even to the most remote cities in the country, which can be up to 1,300km away.
Supporting staff and civilians
During autumn and winter, Ukraine faces blackouts caused by missile attacks on its civilian infrastructure, so Nova Post provides branches with power generators and Starlinks to maintain connectivity and ensure uninterrupted delivery. Nova Post branches also enable customers to recharge their cell phones or dry their hair, teachers can hold online lessons, and parents can use electrically powered medical devices for their children.
Unfortunately, eight out of 133 sorting hubs were damaged or completely destroyed by the Russian aggressor. However, terminals in Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Odesa and Kyiv have been newly commissioned or rebuilt. There are still four sorting centers and over 1,000 branches in the occupied territories that are currently unavailable to Nova Post. Bombs and drones have damaged over 100 branches and parcel lockers but the company has still been able to increase coverage across Ukraine.
Indicative of the unique situation in which it operates, last year the company installed bomb shelters at its branches, sorting hubs and frontline cities so that employees, customers and residents can feel as safe as possible.
Nova Post has a strong feeling of social responsibility, so even as far back as 2014 it offered Humanitarian Post to enable charitable foundations and volunteer organizations to send humanitarian shipments for free. Currently, over 2,000 charities cooperate with Nova Post and the number of parcels delivered without charge exceeds 1.5 million.
Moreover, when the Russians blew up the Kakhovka dam on June 6, 2023, Nova Post was one of the first to provide assistance to residents in the affected region. For three days, it delivered 1,500 tons of humanitarian aid to the Kherson region without charge.
What is important to bear in mind is that logistics infrastructure in Ukraine has been under constant enemy attack for two years. One of the most tragic examples was the missile attack on the Nova Post sorting hub in Kharkiv, on October 21, 2023, when 24 people were killed or injured. At the time, this terminal was primarily sorting personal items and humanitarian aid for the residents of the Kharkiv region, who were living under constant shelling. It took only 15 seconds from the moment the air raid was announced to the explosion, so the hub employees did not have time to run for cover.
The company provided medical, psychological and financial assistance to each employee who was on shift and, incredibly, all the parcels that survived were still sent to the recipients. Damaged items were reimbursed despite the extraordinary cause of their loss. Moreover, since this tragedy Nova Post has taken additional security measures and situated all the shelters in such a way that employees can take cover in only 30 seconds.
European growth
Despite everything, Nova Post hasn’t stopped its development in Ukraine and abroad. After the full-scale war, a significant number of Ukrainians fled the country, many of them with a minimum of belongings. In April 2022, Nova Post launched the Things from Home Abroad service, whereby a parcel from home can be sent to 25 European countries with discounts of up to 80%.
In October 2022, Nova Post opened its first branch in Warsaw and expanded this by 10 new branches in March 2023, bringing the company up to 30 branches in 18 Polish cities. Nova Post is now present in 12 European countries so that customers can benefit from fast and easy delivery between Europe and Ukraine, but also within the EU – so while people are divided by borders, they can be united by Nova Post.