Christmas and New Year: will Ukrainians have a vacation during the winter holidays?
15 December 2025 06:12
In December 2025, Ukraine will have 23 working days and 8 days off. All days off are Saturdays and Sundays, and additional holidays have been canceled for the period of martial law, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
In anticipation of the upcoming New Year holidays, Ukrainians are actively wondering whether there will be days off for Christmas and New Year’s Eve in 2026. The government has approved an official holiday calendar that can be used to plan winter vacations, holiday trips or family gatherings.
Christmas Day Weekend 2025 in Ukraine
According to the Law of Ukraine On the Organization of Labor Relations under Martial Law, only Saturdays and Sundays remain official days off. Thus, Christmas Day on December 25, which falls on a Thursday in 2025, will be a working day.
New Year’s Eve 2026 holidays in Ukraine
According to the same current legislation, both December 31 (Wednesday) and January 1 (Thursday) will be working days during martial law.
For additional days off, employers may provide employees with time off or vacation at their own expense, or allow them to work a reduced schedule on the days before the holidays.
According to the practice of previous years, if a holiday coincided with a day off (for example, Saturday or Sunday), it could be moved to the next working day. However, this will not be the case in 2025, as December 25 and January 1 fall in the middle of the week.
In January 2026, there will be no additional days off for Ukrainians. Thus, there will be a total of 22 working days and 9 days off. All days off are on Saturday and Sunday, and no public holidays or shortened days are planned, as they have been canceled for the period of martial law.
As a reminder, martial law was introduced in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale war. It was first introduced until March 26, 2022, and has been extended every 90 days due to the hostilities.
