Denis Pushilin, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic, issued a decree that allows legal entities and residents within the republic to accept payments in Ukrainian hryvnia from individuals and corporate bodies. The move has been publicly announced on the DPR’s official channels. When setting prices for goods, works, and services, the decree specifies using an exchange rate of 2.5 rubles for every Ukrainian hryvnia. It also bans the purchase or sale of hryvnia and prohibits exchanging hryvnia for rubles. Payments made in a cashless format must use Russian rubles.
The decree states that the new pricing framework will apply to all relevant transactions and will come into effect on a defined date and remain in force through a specified period. Local banks were instructed to treat hryvnia income as part of trade revenue for tax and duty purposes, with obligations on individuals and businesses staying within the republic.
The document also notes that residents from territories under DPR control will be able to open bank accounts only in rubles, with no commission charged on such accounts. It emphasizes the preference for ruble-based accounts for those populations, aligning with the broader monetary policy stance described in the decree.
In another development, authorities in the Luhansk region restricted operations related to the purchase and sale of hryvnia for rubles, reinforcing tighter controls over the currency exchange framework within the affected areas.
Subsequent statements from regional representatives highlighted how southern parts of Ukraine, now under military control, shifted away from the hryvnia toward the ruble, reflecting changes in daily financial practices and cash handling in the contested zones. The overall effect is a layered economic adaptation in which rubles become the primary medium for many monetary activities within controlled territories, while hryvnia remains present only in limited, regulated contexts. This shift has implications for pricing, taxation, and the financial operations of both individuals and legal entities across the region (DPR decree, 2022).