Spatial and structural changes in the entrepreneurial sector of Ukraine in the context of war

The article is devoted to the analysis of spatial and structural changes in Ukraine's entrepreneurial sector under the conditions of full-scale war. Military aggression has led to significant shifts in the distribution and structure of business activity, manifested in a decline in the number of business entities in frontline and occupied regions, alongside a growing concentration of entrepreneurship in relatively safe western regions and the capital. The study assesses quantitative and qualitative changes in entrepreneurial activity, particularly the dynamics of the number of individual entrepreneurs and legal entities, the institutional structure of enterprises, financial performance, and spatial concentration by types of economic activity. To identify regional disparities and evaluate the level of concentration, Shannon entropy is used, allowing the authors to record an increase in unevenness in the distribution of business activity in 2023 compared to 2014 and 2020. Additionally, an approach is applied to assess the elasticity of changes in employment localization relative to changes in the localization of sales volumes, enabling an analysis of the relationship between business dynamics and the labor market at the regional level. Particular attention is paid to types of economic activity with varying degrees of mobility and sensitivity to security risks – agriculture, manufacturing, ICT, education, and trade. The study reveals a decrease in spatial concentration in agriculture and an increase in the ICT and education sectors, largely driven by business relocation, internal migration, and the uneven development of digital infrastructure. In manufacturing and trade, both signs of adaptation to crisis conditions (growth in rear regions) and deep losses in frontline areas are observed. The findings also identify regions where business activity growth is not accompanied by a proportional increase in employment, suggesting a shift toward automation or less labor-intensive business models. The results confirm that the war has triggered a structural transformation of the entrepreneurial sector, intensifying regional asymmetries and calling for a rethinking of policies to support business and economic recovery at the regional level.