War Risk Insurance Market Overview for Q1 2026

Product Coverage and Scope of Liability

Basic war risk coverage includes damages caused by:

• missile and drone strikes and their debris — the primary risk by frequency of occurrence;
• operation of air defense systems — both direct damage from the systems and falling downed objects;
• fires, explosions, and shock waves accompanying all the above events.

The scope of coverage is differentiated by the object of insurance and has the following features by category:

• Property. The objects of insurance are the structural elements of a building — load-bearing structures, interior and exterior finishing, and engineering networks. Movable property inside the premises (furniture, appliances, equipment) is included in the basic coverage. Goods in a warehouse can be insured under a separate policy.
• Transport (CASCO). Both partial damage and total constructive loss of a vehicle are covered. War risks are issued in two ways: as an additional option (extension) to a standard CASCO contract or as a separate contract specialized exclusively in war risks.
• Cargo. Coverage applies to damage and destruction of cargo both during transportation and during temporary storage for up to 45 days. The inclusion of the storage period in the coverage is a significant advantage of such insurance products.
• Life and Health. Death, disability, and bodily injuries caused by military actions are recognized as insured events. The payout is made to the insured person or beneficiaries in accordance with the terms of the contract.

Two approaches to structuring war risk coverage have emerged in the market:

Territorial Limits

The geographical location of the object is a key underwriting factor. Territories where the probability of an insured event approaches 100% are excluded from insurance coverage, as the risk loses its insurance qualities (due to the lack of fortuity).

Standard exclusions include:

• Temporarily occupied territories, active combat zones — without exception.
• Frontline territories. Objects located closer than ~100 km from the line of contact are not subject to insurance.
• Border areas with the russian federation. Given the intensity of cross-border shelling, a strip of ~50–100 km from the state border with the aggressor country is excluded from insurance (the specific width depends on the region and terrain).

Restrictions by Type of Weapons

The insurance product is focused on covering the risks of long-range strikes (missile and drone attacks) in rear regions. Weapons typical for the combat contact zone are excluded from standard coverage.

In particular, damages caused by the following are not compensated:

• guided aerial bombs (KABs);
• barrel and rocket artillery;
• small arms;
• actions of sabotage and reconnaissance groups (SRGs).

Artillery and KABs are mainly used in frontline zones, which are already excluded on a territorial basis. Furthermore, the unpredictable nature of such strikes makes actuarial risk modeling and the determination of an adequate insurance premium by reinsurers impossible.

Restrictions by Type of Objects

Underwriting policy implies the exclusion from coverage of objects that are priority targets for the aggressor country or have strategic importance, in order to avoid the accumulation of losses in the insurer’s portfolio.

Such exclusions include:

• critical energy infrastructure objects (generation, distribution networks);
• defense-industrial complex (DIC) enterprises;
• military objects and dual-use infrastructure utilized by the military.

Key Market Performance Indicators in Q1 2026

The analysis is based on data from 15 insurance companies — participants in the PDMA information exchange. More analytical data is available at the link.

Today, the war risk insurance market covers 8 lines of business: personal accident (PA), CASCO, property insurance, cargo insurance, cumulative and risk life insurance products (Life), health insurance (Medical), and travel insurance (Travel).

Insurance Premiums *

Insurance Payouts *

Analysis by Line of Business

CASCO

Distribution of premiums and contracts by approach:

Distribution of payouts by approach:

The CASCO segment demonstrates the most stable development dynamics without significant fluctuations in indicators:

• 66% of contracts are concluded under the comprehensive approach (war risks are included in the main policy).
• The average insurance premium under the comprehensive approach is about UAH 60,000, under the individual approach — UAH 19,000. The difference reflects the scope of liability and the value of the insured vehicles.
• Risks are predominantly retained by insurers at their own retention without significant transfer to reinsurance.
• For most contracts, the liability limit is set at 10% of the sum insured, but not more than UAH 3 million per one insured event.

Property Insurance

Distribution of premiums and contracts by approach:

Distribution of payouts by approach:

Property Insurance for Individuals (Retail)

The retail segment is developing more dynamically than the corporate one, but it also has a number of constraining factors:

• 99% of contracts are concluded under the comprehensive approach.
• Most contracts cover the full value of the housing with the application of a deductible (the share of the loss that remains on the policyholder’s liability).
• The average insurance premium under a war risk coverage contract is about UAH 11,000.
• The conversion of requests into concluded contracts is about 50%.
• The main barriers to scaling are the high cost of policies and territorial coverage restrictions. At the same time, the deterioration of the security situation constantly stimulates additional demand.

Property Insurance for Legal Entities (Corporate)

The corporate segment is the most complex from the underwriting perspective, as the high cost of the contract is combined with limited coverage conditions:

• About 80% of contracts are concluded under an individual approach with a separate assessment of each risk.
• The insurer’s own retention reaches UAH 20 million per contract; taking into account reinsurance coverage, the sum insured can reach UAH 100 million.
• The average insurance premium is about UAH 2.8 million.
• The conversion of requests into concluded contracts is about 20%; annual demand capacity is estimated at 2,500 contracts.
• In 2026, a state subsidy programme for legal entities was launched in Ukraine. Under this programme, legal entities pay only 1% of the sum insured for property insurance, while the State covers the rest of the premium (up to a limit of UAH 3 million).

Cargo Insurance

• The volume of collected premiums is UAH 48,205,851, the amount of insurance payouts is UAH 7,840,903.
• A key feature of the product is the coverage of cargo not only during transportation but also during temporary storage (up to 45 days).
• The development potential of the segment is limited by reinsurance capacity: the available EBRD line is USD 110 million, which acts as the actual limit for portfolio growth.

Personal Accident Insurance

• The segment is characterized by the largest number of contracts in the war insurance portfolio — over 25 thousand.
• All contracts (100%) are concluded under the comprehensive approach.
• War risks are covered within the liability limit established by the contract.

Reinsurance

Structure of Ceded Risks and Market Capacities

According to market participants:

• The total volume of insured sums under contracts ceded to reinsurance reaches almost UAH 8 billion. Actually, over UAH 5 billion was transferred to reinsurance.
• The “own retention / reinsurance” ratio for corporate property insurance contracts remains stable at the level of 10% to 90%, respectively. The reinsurance premium rate correlates with the intensity of shelling and fluctuates in the range of 3.5–12% of the sum insured.
• The total volume of compensation received from reinsurers is about UAH 14 million. **

As of the end of 2025, the nominal supply of international reinsurance capacity exceeds actual demand, no quantitative shortage of capacity is observed. The main limitation for the final policyholder is the cost of reinsurance, which determines the final tariff of insurance protection.

The structure of capacities in 2026 is as follows:

• International market (Lloyd’s of London) — the largest source of capacity with a cumulative limit of ~$350 million. Access is limited by conservative underwriting policy and the high cost of the reinsurance premium.
• DFC — capacity exceeds $125 million.
• EBRD ~$110 million.
• Local market. The own capacity of Ukrainian insurers is about ~$350 million (estimated, based on the results of 2025).

The key problem of the market is the limited availability of capacity at a price acceptable to final policyholders. A significant obstacle in interaction with international markets remains the volatility of pricing. Reinsurance tariffs are sensitive to the information background: massive shelling or resonant events in the combat zone are promptly reflected in quotations, which in peak periods reach 12% of the sum insured.