Ukraine will switch to daylight saving time tonight. When to change clocks

On the night of March 29, Ukraine will switch to daylight saving time — at 03:00, the clocks will need to be set forward one hour.

Modern watches, smartphones, laptops, and other devices change the time automatically, but mechanical watches will have to be changed manually.

How Ukraine tried to cancel the clock change

The transition to summer and winter time is regulated by a Cabinet of Ministers resolution adopted in 1996. Today, almost 60 countries around the world move their clocks forward and back an hour each year. Most of them are in Europe. And in some countries, such as the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Australia, the clocks are not changed throughout the territory.

On July 16, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada finally canceled the transition to summer and winter time. The adopted law establishes a permanent time standard of UTC+2 in Ukraine. If signed by the president, the current clock change should be the last.

However, on July 17, the public organization "Academy of Sciences of Higher School" called on Zelensky to veto the law on the abolition of the clock change. The request was explained by the fact that the transition to winter time will mean that at the end of June in Kyiv it will be dawn at 03:00, and instead it will be dusk at 20:00 (currently at 04:00 and 21:00, respectively).

According to experts, this will significantly increase the costs of institutions, enterprises and households for electric lighting in the evening hours in spring, summer and autumn.

The time allotted for vetoing the law has passed, but Zelensky has not signed it. BBC News Ukraine sources stated that the president will not sign the law. The reason for this decision is that during the discussions of the law, experts "calculated and saw the disadvantages for the economy — losses of several billions have been calculated".