Ukraine has continued trading with Russia to the tune of $4.85 billion in the first four months of 2015, research from World Trade Center Moscow showed.
The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of invading it, although it has yet to suspend trade or economic ties. The existing trends in bilateral trade largely follow Ukraine's own overall economic decline together with its economic blockade of the industrial Donbass region.
"As of yesterday Russia has started an uncovered military invasion of Ukraine," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on August 28, 2014.
Russia's exports of rail cars to Ukraine grew nearly seven times in the first four months of 2015, while the export of buses to the country more than doubled compared to the previous year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin previously noted that Ukraine has been unable to find new export partners for its goods.
"The European Union unilaterally annulled its tariffs for Ukraine. The volume of sales from Ukraine to the European market did not grow. Why? There is nothing to sell. There is nothing that would be demanded for the quality or price on the European market other than that which was sold before," Putin told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera during his visit to the country in June.
Ukraine's industrial output fell by nearly 33 percent in dollar terms over the same period. Roughly 23 percent of Ukraine's exports before the conflict came from the Donbass region, now largely not included in official Ukrainian statistics. Ukrainian exports to Russia fell by roughly 57 percent in the first four months of the year, compared to the same period in 2014. Russian exports to Ukraine fell by a similar amount.
