Air Raid Alerts During Shopping Center Operations in March Reached 18.6% - URTC

In March 2026, the share of air raid alerts occurring during the operational hours of shopping centers (SCs) in Ukraine reached 18.6%. This figure marks a decrease of 0.1% compared to February, yet it remains at an extremely high level. For context, in March 2025, this figure was only 11%. This information was reported by the Ukrainian Council of Shopping Centers (URTC), which monitors the situation in this sector.

Unfortunately, other metrics related to air raid alerts have shown deterioration in absolute terms. Specifically, the number of alerts, the number of alerts during the working hours of SCs, the duration of alerts, and the duration of alerts during working hours have all set anti-records since the beginning of the full-scale war. This indicates that the security situation in the country remains critical, and shopping centers continue to suffer significant losses due to forced operational interruptions.

According to the data, the top five regions where shopping centers were most frequently compelled to interrupt their operations due to air raid alerts included Donetsk Oblast with a rate of 85.5%, Sumy Oblast at 79.7%, Zaporizhzhia Oblast at 49.2%, Kharkiv Oblast at 41.7%, and Chernihiv Oblast at 33.8%. This highlights that the eastern and northern regions of Ukraine remain the most affected by air threats, where the security situation continues to be tense.

On average across Ukraine, the time of forced downtime for shopping centers due to air raid alerts has reached 142.4 working days since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. In March 2026, this figure amounted to 4.8 working days. This signifies that businesses in this sector continue to incur serious financial losses due to frequent operational interruptions caused by alerts.

The URTC, established in 2020, is a non-profit organization that unites key players in the retail real estate market. Its members include owners and developers of shopping centers, as well as companies related to the construction and maintenance of shopping centers. Since February 24, 2022, the URTC has been publishing an interactive map detailing the duration of air raid alerts in various regions of the country, which is updated monthly. This information is crucial for understanding the market situation and for planning further actions in the realms of security and business.