Amid war, Nova Post’s growth connects Ukraine’s large diaspora

The shopfront of the first Nova Post office in Germany which opened in Berlin at the end of June 2023, right next to Checkpoint Charlie. Photo: Nova Post press office

A few metres from the famous and touristy Checkpoint Charlie stands fresh buildings erected on the former no man’s land of the wall that divided Berlin for 28 years. In this historically charged corner, the first Nova Post branch in Germany opened at the end of June 2023. The private shipments firm accelerated its European adventure in recent years, establishing a presence in 13 countries and plans to rapidly expand to numerous others, such as France, Austria and the Netherlands.

Facilitating communication channels with loved ones, the flashy red post offices have received an enthusiastic welcome from Ukrainians abroad. “It’s something special for me because I can send things to my family, my relatives in Ukraine, and they can send me some… special things for my heart that I can’t buy here,” explains Yana from Mariupol. The young war refugee and her co-nationals in the German capital reveal a multilayered story that involves a lot more than just business.

Recent acceleration of development abroad

Nova Post’s creation can be traced back to 2001, paving the way for a gradual rise that has placed it first among Ukrainian postal services. It eventually overtook the public service, an uncommon scenario.

Detailing his company’s size and impact, Serhii Symonov, the CEO of the group’s German branch, alleges that “Nova Post is the biggest economic driver in Ukraine” and “a leader of e-commerce” following the recent online business boom there.

The international adventure started in 2015 when offices opened in Moldova and Georgia (activities in the second country are stopped for the moment). That process accelerated in the wake of the Russian aggression against Ukraine starting on February 24th 2022.

“Simply put, companies follow their employees and their customers, and the war shifted these populations towards the EU,” explains Ljubica Nedelkoska, a Harvard researcher in economics, as well as visiting professor at the Central European University and research scientist at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna.

After more than two years, over six million Ukrainians have fled their attacked country according to the UNHCR, with a majority of them taking refuge westward across the continent.

“When the war started, we thought that we must go to our customers moving to European countries to survive,” states the German branch CEO.

Poland appeared as a principal way out of war-torn Ukraine when fighting broke out, plus a privileged safehold for refugees due to the presence of relatives and cultural closeness. About two million had taken refuge there by the conflict’s first months (today, there are less than one million). As a result, in October 2022, Nova Post opened its first Polish branch in Warsaw.

Later, the parcel transporter went to Germany – another first-choice destination and home to the second largest Ukrainian diaspora community in Europe back in June 2023 (perhaps the biggest now, according to official counts). It then expanded to numerous countries where expat communities increased as a result of the war.

“For the company, this is a rational decision,” notes Nedelkoska. Of course, most of their customers are Ukrainian.

The German scenario mirrors well the Ukrainian firm’s exponential development abroad. Less than a year after the opening next to Checkpoint Charlie, offices popped up in 15 more cities. Around 200,000 shipments were transited between Germany and Ukraine, according to the spokesperson’s numbers. Cooperation with well-established delivery businesses, such as DPD, allowed access to thousands of pick-up points. This helped the group to reach every potential customer outside Germany’s big urban centres.

In Berlin, local Ukrainians consider the brand new branch in practical terms first. They can enjoy a known service and ship packages to desired locations in Ukraine. “For us, it’s pretty normal,” says Jana with a hint of amusement.

Often, economic pride supplements pragmatism, as several put their Nova Post on a pedestal. “It also presents an opportunity to showcase our services to foreigners, demonstrating their functionality and capabilities,” proudly remarks Diana.

For some, as Nastia, any warm feelings towards the company stop there. “Maybe it’s just business.” Yet, on a deeper note induced by the context, many acknowledge a special relationship with the Nova Post establishment in their refuge city.

“Ukraine somehow seems closer”

Beyond the commercial story lies a human one.

“Whether it is acquired taste, national pride or identity, affinity towards known companies from one’s home country is a real thing,” explains the scholar Ljubica Nedelkoska. The inherent connecting nature of postal services, combined with the tragic circumstances of displacement affecting large sections of the diaspora, only further encourage the sympathy shown by Ukrainians abroad for the parcel company.

It represents to them a maintenance of disrupted bonds. As simple as the shipped items can be, from the necessary to the optional, they carry added significance, coming from or going to relatives left behind. Men make up a significant amount of those still in the country, as most between 18 and 60 cannot leave the country under martial law.

In April 2022, Angelina fled Kharkiv.

The second-biggest city in Ukraine was a theatre of heavy fighting in the first months. The ongoing Russian offensive has also brought back combat to the region. Bordering Russia, the urban centre has always been a key target for Russian bombings on civilians. These war crimes have become increasingly recurrent in the past weeks.

As she fled for Germany, the 27-year-old Kharkivite found herself alone since her family stayed. Notably, her father and brother are in the army and many friends are dispersed within Ukraine or across countries. The arrival of Nova Post’s offices in Berlin carried great importance, providing her with much-needed communication lines to exchange “gifts and necessary things” with her own network.

“For me, going to the new post office is always an emotional mini holiday. You are at home as soon as you open the door. When I am particularly homesick, I sometimes go there just to ask something.”

“The basis for nostalgic or nostalgia trade is that people seek products and services that they are familiar with,” explains Nedelkoska. As a result, the famous postal firm’s presence “may help them [diaspora customers] maintain their Ukrainian identity” by intensifying connections and bringing a market option closely tied to home.

When entering Nova Post in Berlin, rather than the German Hallo, one would more likely hear the greeting Pryvit in the seemingly natural language of those offices. “It feels like home. When you come here, everyone speaks Ukrainian,” rejoices Yana.

The now two post offices in Berlin make for a familiar sight in the urban landscape, which is amplified by the shopfronts’ vivid red, not leaving Ukrainian eyes indifferent. A young war refugee from Dnipro picks up a package with her mother. She states that looking at “something you see every time in your country” gives her the feeling of being “still at home somehow”.

Recalling the initial opening in Berlin, local CEO Serhii Symonov mentions: “When we spoke to our customers, some said that the branch of Nova Post is like the Embassy of Ukraine in Germany.” Whether the anecdote resembles a marketing phrase or not, the size, growth and received affection granted the company, in its European extension, a clear representative function and certainly a part to play in the current war context.

A two-way story nestled in the war effort

About a month ago, a sorting depot was hit in Odesa and set ablaze. In October 2023, a strike at a delivery terminal in the Kharkiv region killed six workers. The repeated Russian targeting of infrastructure is evidence of Nova Post’s key economic position, which, in a way, brings on circumstantial imperatives. War has influenced the company’s expansion abroad. Its internationalization has a role to play – as it does for every individual and organization caught in a nation battling against an existential threat – in encouraging communication in both directions.

Nova Post engages in humanitarian logistical assistance from its European post offices, just like it does within Ukraine. The German branch’s CEO notes that the group helps to deliver “some goods, food, and electronics like Starlink” routers to populations stuck near combat zones.

Symonov asserts that “the nearest branches are around 25 kilometres from the frontlines.” Such a setup sees the burden of the war effort dispersed all the way down to the customer level. In Berlin, for instance, members of the Ukrainian diaspora directly support friends and family defending the country by sending packages.

“We can send various items such as clothing, aid, personal belongings, etc.” explains Diana, a war refugee in Berlin. “This act not only aids people practically but also subconsciously strengthens the bond” with soldiers needing moral support on top of material assistance.

In some Ukrainian eyes, the opening of European branches has amounted to an enlargement of channels for strengthening the resistance against the aggressor and not only a connection with home.

Private post flanks the frontlines and also follows it. With each Ukrainian recapture of Russian-occupied territories, more groups are able to see and communicate the impact of war, like journalists, humanitarian helpers or lawyers. On a more economic level, Symonov points out that “Nova Post is the first company which comes”, directly bringing engagement and activities.

Some displaced Ukrainians abroad connect the company’s fate to military progress. According to some of them, new shipment destinations within Ukraine mean the same as de-occupation. “I just wait for when Nova Post will be in Mariupol, so I can send something to my parents,” says Yana on the post office’s doorsteps in Berlin.

The company’s foreign expansion that has incorporated the war effort also goes the other way around.

Besides the “direct economic impact”, explains Nedelkoska, the connections forged by ever-growing European branches create a “whole ecosystem geared towards helping Ukrainians (abroad and at home) economically”. This amounts to a growth in opportunities across Europe in difficult times.

In this bigger picture, Nova Post can be counted among the leading actors helping the already ongoing “reconstruction of Ukrainian cities, economics and companies”, in Serhii Symonov’s words. Attempting to challenge the simple image of a firm transporting small personal packages, he depicts his organization as a “logistic channel helping Ukrainian businesses to come to Europe and helping European businesses to come to the Ukrainian markets.” From this view, it seems like a driving force for growth that is notably entrenched in EU commercial integration.

Be it economically or humanely, Nova Post’s European bridge, although partly encouraged by specific circumstances, echoes Ukraine’s growing gaze westward. This is a dynamic born out of the crumbling Soviet Union, deepened by the Orange and Maidan revolutions, and sealed by Russia’s invasion. Ultimately, this shift will be secured by the country’s business and human entrenchment in a more European future.

Paul Mazet is a French freelance journalist based in Berlin, reporting on the local impacts of international developments. Until last year, he studied History, International Relations, and Social Sciences in Toulouse, Glasgow, Paris, Dublin, and finally Berlin.

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Germany, postal service, Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukrainian diaspora, Ukrainian refugees