Business operations during an air alert: yellow and red levels, shelter-in-place and curfew

The Government is introducing a differentiated approach to air threats: at the yellow level, businesses may continue operating provided that safety requirements are observed and employees and visitors have access to a shelter; at the red level, operations must be stopped and people must proceed to a shelter. In Kyiv, differentiated alerts have already been in operation since September 6: the yellow level is the «Drone threat» alert, while the red level covers not only missile or missile-and-drone threats, but also a large-scale drone attack.

The new approach does not cancel the employer’s existing civil protection and occupational safety obligations, does not create any tax or ECR exemptions, and does not allow businesses to ignore local curfew rules. The Government’s recommendation to shorten the curfew to 01:00–05:00 does not change it automatically: for example, in Kyiv, the official curfew remains 00:00–05:00.

Yellow and red air threat levels: what they mean for businesses

The Government’s decision provides for two response levels. At the same time, specific threat indicators are to be determined by the competent military and government authorities depending on the current tactics of attacks. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that the General Staff, the Air Force, the Government, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Emergency Service would determine the relevant threat indicators on a weekly basis. Therefore, a business should not independently decide whether a particular attack is «yellow» or «red»: the official alert should be the reference point.

The Government announcement of September 3 explicitly provides for the possibility of businesses continuing operations during the yellow level and mandatory suspension of operations during the red level. At the same time, the announcement does not contain the number of a separate regulatory act, a detailed list of business activities, a special form of permission to operate, a document confirming access to a shelter, or a separate system of penalties specifically for violating the «yellow-red» regime. Therefore, along with the new procedure, entrepreneurs must comply with the existing civil protection and occupational safety rules, as well as decisions of military administrations and local authorities.

How the new alert system works in Kyiv

Since 06:00 on September 6, differentiated alerts have already been introduced in Kyiv. The following official notifications are used:

• yellow level — «Drone threat»;

• red level — «Large-scale drone threat», «Missile threat», «Missile-and-drone threat»;

• «All clear» means that the listed threats are no longer present.

If the type of threat changes, the new notification replaces the previous one. A separate all-clear signal is not issued between different types of threats. Therefore, after a change from a yellow alert to a red alert, the entrepreneur must respond to the new, higher threat level.

There is also a technical limitation. The differentiated system operates in all districts of the capital except Pecherskyi District, and only partially in Holosiivskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts. In areas where it is technically impossible to separate the signals, the standard siren remains in use without audible differentiation.

Therefore, a store, cafe, salon, service centre or other business should not determine its operating procedure solely by the colour shown in an unofficial Telegram channel. Official alert channels for the relevant community should be used, taking into account whether differentiated alerts have technically been implemented in that area.

Can a store, cafe or other establishment operate during the yellow level

Yes. The Government has explicitly announced that businesses may continue operating during the yellow level provided that safety requirements are strictly observed. The key condition is access to a shelter for employees and visitors.

This does not mean that a business may continue operating under any circumstances. The following requirements, among others, remain in force:

• requirements of the Civil Protection Code;

• the employer’s occupational safety obligations;

• rules for the maintenance and operation of shelters;

• local decisions of military administrations;

• special rules for particular activities and facilities.

The published Government decision does not provide for a separate new licence or permit to operate during the yellow level. Nor does it establish new grounds for revoking entrepreneurs’ existing licences. If an activity is itself subject to licensing — for example, retail sales of certain excisable goods — the relevant sector-specific requirements continue to apply as usual.

What shelter must a business provide

Article 20 of the Civil Protection Code of Ukraine requires business entities to implement civil protection measures at their facilities. Among other things, a business must provide collective protection for all of its employees. For facilities and places with large numbers of people, this obligation also expressly extends to visitors.

A facility with a large number of people includes, in particular, a building, structure or part thereof where 100 or more people may be permanently or temporarily present, or where there is at least one separate room in which 50 or more people may be present at the same time. Such facilities may include retail and shopping-and-entertainment establishments, hotels, entertainment venues and other similar locations.

At the same time, in its new decision the Government formulated the condition for operating during the yellow level more broadly: access to shelters must be provided for both visitors and staff. Therefore, a small store should not rely solely on the fact that it does not formally meet the criteria for a facility with a large number of people. If the establishment intends to continue serving customers during the yellow level, people must have practical access to a shelter.

Is every store required to build its own shelter

No. The provisions cited above do not establish a universal requirement for every Sole Proprietorship or small store to build a separate private shelter.

The Civil Protection Code provides for different types of civil protection facilities: protective structures, dual-purpose structures, primary mobile shelters and basic shelters. The need for such facilities is determined taking into account the need to shelter people at their place of work, residence and, in specified cases, temporary stay.

For an entrepreneur, the key issue is not who owns the shelter, but whether protection is actually accessible to people and whether the selected facility complies with the applicable requirements.

If a shelter is owned, used or held on the balance sheet of the business, special rules for its maintenance, arrangement and operation apply. Order No. 579 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which regulates these matters, remains in force.

What the three-month period announced by the Government means

The Cabinet of Ministers announcement states that where staff and visitors still do not have access to a shelter, businesses are given three months to resolve the issue.

This period should not be interpreted as a general three-month exemption from all existing civil protection and occupational safety obligations. The Civil Protection Code and the Law «On Occupational Safety» remain in force. In addition, the published Government announcement does not establish a separate procedure for calculating this period, documents that businesses must use to confirm compliance with the condition, or a special penalty for missing the deadline.

Therefore, a business planning to operate during the yellow level should not wait until the end of the transition period, but should check the route to the shelter, practical access, capacity and staff procedures.

What internal documents should an employer prepare

The law does not establish a single nationwide standard form of an «order on operations during a yellow alert». At the same time, Article 13 of the Law «On Occupational Safety» requires an employer to establish an occupational safety management system, appoint responsible persons, and develop and approve internal regulations, instructions and other occupational safety documents in accordance with regulatory requirements.

Therefore, for a store, cafe, office or chain of retail outlets, it is reasonable to have an internal document specifying:

1. who monitors official notifications about the threat level;

2. what staff must do during the yellow level;

3. under what conditions customer service continues;

4. which shelter is used and which route people take to reach it;

5. who organises the movement of visitors to the shelter;

6. what happens to the checkout, entrances, equipment and unfinished customer service when the alert changes to the red level;

7. the procedure for employees and visitors with reduced mobility;

8. the procedure for resuming operations after an official notification that the threat has changed or ended.

This does not replace occupational safety documents required by law, but it allows the business to establish a clear procedure for employees and reduce the risk of uncoordinated actions.

Employees: who is responsible for safety

An employer cannot shift all risk to a salesperson, cashier, administrator or waiter. Article 13 of the Law «On Occupational Safety» directly requires the employer to create safe working conditions and ensure compliance with occupational safety legislation.

An employee, in turn, is required to take care of their own safety and the safety of people around them, comply with regulatory requirements and use collective and personal protective equipment.

It is also important that, under Article 6 of the Law «On Occupational Safety», an employee has the right to refuse assigned work if a work situation arises that is dangerous to their life or health or to the people around them. The employee must immediately notify the manager or employer of such a situation.

Therefore, the declaration of a yellow level by itself does not give the employer the right to require an employee to continue working despite a specific dangerous situation.

Red level: sales and customer service must stop

At the red level, the Government has established a clear procedure: operations stop and people proceed to a shelter.

For retail businesses, this means that after receiving the relevant official alert they should not continue admitting new customers, preparing new orders, completing new sales, or keeping people at the checkout simply to finish serving the queue.

The business’s internal instructions should provide for operations to be stopped as quickly and safely as possible and for people to proceed to a shelter. The safety of staff and visitors takes priority over continuing customer service.

Curfew: 01:00–05:00 is not yet a general rule

The Government recommended that local authorities adjust the curfew to 01:00–05:00. This is a recommendation to local authorities, not an automatic nationwide change.

Curfew times should be checked in the official decisions of the relevant military administration or local authority.

In Kyiv, the city’s official portal continues to specify a curfew of 00:00–05:00. During this period, being on the streets and in public places and travelling by vehicle without a special permit is prohibited. Going outside is permitted, among other things, to reach the nearest shelter during an air raid alert.

The general mechanism for restricting movement during martial law is established by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1455.

Therefore, extending the operating hours of a restaurant, store or delivery service because of an expected reduction in the curfew is permissible only after the relevant change actually comes into force in the specific area.

Delivery, couriers and freight transport during curfew

The new Government decisions do not create a general permit allowing any delivery service or any business employee to move freely during curfew.

Local authorities may establish separate rules for certain types of transport. For example, in Kyiv, from 00:00 on September 3, under a decision of the City Defence Council, transit freight transport may travel through the capital during curfew without the relevant time restrictions. At the same time, entry into Kyiv is restricted from 06:00 to 10:00 and from 16:00 to 20:00 for trucks with a maximum authorised mass exceeding 4.5 tonnes, except for vehicles transporting food and drinking water.

This is an example of a local decision that has already been implemented. It does not automatically allow a courier working for a store, restaurant or online store to travel around the city during curfew without the required grounds.

Metro and public transport

The Cabinet of Ministers recommended ensuring full operation of the Kyiv metro during the yellow level and, where necessary, increasing the number of surface public transport vehicles so that people can reach work, hospitals and metro stations.

This is important for entrepreneurs when planning staff shifts, but the Government recommendation itself is not a transport timetable. Before starting a shift, employees should rely on up-to-date information from the carrier and city authorities.

ECR and pECR during an air raid alert

The yellow or red level does not cancel the ECR Law. If a business lawfully continues settlement transactions during the yellow level, it must use an ECR/pECR in the usual manner and issue a settlement document to the customer. The Government has not announced any separate exemption from fiscalisation because of an air raid alert.

During attacks, the pECR mode without connection to the fiscal server is particularly relevant. Law No. 265/95-VR permits a pECR to operate offline when there is no connection:

• for no more than 36 consecutive hours;

• using fiscal numbers from a range previously generated by the server;

• the total use of such numbers must not exceed 168 hours during a calendar month.

If the pECR malfunctions rather than simply losing connection to the server, settlement transactions through it must not be carried out until the malfunction is resolved.

For violations provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 17 of the ECR Law, including a settlement transaction carried out in violation of the established requirements, the financial penalty is 100% of the transaction amount for the first violation and 150% — for each subsequent violation.

At the red level, ECR requirements are not a reason to delay evacuation or continue accepting new payments: the Government requires operations to stop and people to proceed to a shelter.

Do taxes and accounting rules change

The new air raid alert regime itself does not change an entrepreneur’s tax system, tax rates, income determination rules, reporting deadlines or inventory accounting procedures. The Government decision on yellow and red levels does not contain such tax changes.

Sales actually made by the business while it is lawfully operating are recorded and taxed under the general rules of the relevant tax system.

Liability for problems with shelters

The published Cabinet of Ministers announcement does not establish a separate new fine specifically for «operating during a yellow alert». At the same time, administrative liability already applies for violations of requirements relating to civil protection shelters.

Article 175-3 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences provides for:

The amounts of the penalties are established by Article 175-3 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences. For the purpose of calculating the fine, one non-taxable minimum income is UAH 17.

This liability applies specifically in cases where the responsible person is legally required to ensure access to or proper maintenance of a particular civil protection shelter. The mere absence of a privately owned shelter near a small store cannot automatically be treated as constituting this offence.

What an entrepreneur should do before continuing operations during the yellow level

A business should organise its operations so that permission to continue operating does not create additional risks:

1. identify the official sources from which the responsible person receives notifications about the threat level;

2. check whether differentiated alerts operate specifically in the city, town or district where the facility is located;

3. identify an accessible shelter and the actual route to it;

4. make sure that employees and visitors can reach the shelter;

5. approve an internal procedure for the yellow level, red level and all-clear;

6. familiarise staff with this procedure;

7. provide a procedure for people with reduced mobility;

8. at the red level, immediately stop customer service and direct people to the shelter;

9. before planning evening shifts and deliveries, check the actual curfew hours in the relevant community;

10. check that the ECR/pECR is operational and, if a pECR is used, that the lawful offline mode is configured correctly.

How to organise staff notifications and sales accounting in Torgsoft during air raid alerts

Torgsoft has a «Collective Notification» function that can be used to inform employees internally about the procedures approved by the business. An employee can confirm the notification by clicking the «Acknowledged» button, while the manager can see the delivery time, acknowledgement time and response speed. The software also allows employees to be filtered according to whether they have or have not acknowledged the notification. This makes it possible, for example, to send staff separate procedures for the yellow and red levels and verify that they have received them.

Such notification is an internal business tool and does not replace the official state air raid alert system. The threat level must be determined using official sources, while Torgsoft can be used to communicate internal instructions to employees and monitor acknowledgement.

For businesses that are permitted to continue trading during the yellow level but may lose their Internet connection, Torgsoft provides Torgsoft Hybrid. The software help confirms the ability to operate without Internet access with subsequent synchronisation of transactions; pECR operation is also available, as well as printing a fiscal receipt in offline mode, provided that the relevant settings are configured and the required options are activated. At the same time, Torgsoft functionality does not override the pECR offline-mode restrictions established by Law No. 265/95-VR.

Official sources

1. Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine — «The Government adopted new rules for business and transport operations during air raid alerts», September 3, 2026. Yellow and red levels, business operations, access to shelters, three-month period, transport and the recommendation regarding curfew hours.

2. Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine — «Ukraine will update alert systems and introduce a number of response measures due to changes in Russian attack tactics», September 2, 2026. Procedure for determining threat levels and principles of differentiated alerts.

3. Kyiv City State Administration — differentiated alerts in Kyiv from September 6, 2026. List of yellow and red level notifications and territorial technical limitations of the system.

4. Civil Protection Code of Ukraine dated 02.10.2012 No. 5403-VI — Articles 20, 32. Obligations of business entities, collective protection of employees and visitors, civil protection shelter system.
   Civil Protection Code of Ukraine

5. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 10.03.2017 No. 138 «Certain issues concerning the use of civil protection shelters». Definition of facilities with large numbers of people and rules for the use of civil protection shelters.
   Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 138

6. Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine dated 09.07.2018 No. 579. Requirements for the maintenance, arrangement, operation and accounting of civil protection shelters.
   Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs No. 579

7. Law of Ukraine «On Occupational Safety» dated 14.10.1992 No. 2694-XII — Articles 6, 13–15. Safe working conditions, an employee’s right to refuse dangerous work, employer obligations.
   Law of Ukraine «On Occupational Safety»

8. Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences dated 07.12.1984 No. 8073-X — Article 175-3. Liability for failure to provide access to shelters and improper maintenance of shelters.
   Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences

9. Law of Ukraine dated 06.07.1995 No. 265/95-VR «On the Use of Registrars of Settlement Transactions in Trade, Catering and Services» — Articles 3, 5, 17. Fiscalisation of settlement transactions, pECR offline mode and financial liability.

10. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 29.12.2021 No. 1455. Procedure for establishing a special movement regime for people and vehicles during martial law.

11. Official Kyiv portal — curfew from 00:00–05:00.

12. Official Kyiv portal — changes to freight transport rules from September 3, 2026.