Table of Contents
- The Reporter's Notepad. Exclusive reporting, observations from interviews and conversations with sources, plus the most comprehensive Meeting Notes you'll likely ever see.
- The Rebuilder's Social. Important, influential or particularly insightful social media posts that illuminate the mood and plans of Ukraine and the rebuilders.
- Just The Facts. This is The RUB's flagship section - All the news fit to read on the reconstruction of Ukraine, verified and originally reported by The RUB staff, unless otherwise attributed.
- Here's What They Think. Summaries of new opinion pieces from influential media outlets, pundits and intellectuals around the world.
- The Sober Second Thought. Reporting on the newest academic and think tank studies related to the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Our Latest Exclusive
A recent conversation with Neo-Eco resulted in our leading story, at the top of the section below, called Just The Facts.
Firstly, Neo-Eco Project Director Bart Gruyaert reveals to URN Daily subscribers the data that demonstrated the superior quality of work performed by the war veterans his company employs.
Secondly, Gruyaert tells an anecdote about a drone attack on a site 400 meters from where a team of war veterans was working that prompted his company to study creating a new type of service.
Meeting Notes
*Below are the latest meeting notes. The links open up into separate pages, available to subscribers only, on our Ukraine Rebuild Newswire site. We will update this section as we cover new meetings.
As organizers and participants send us the slide presentations and other materials we request, we retroactively update these notes. See here and here for examples updated to include presentations.
Oct 1 - Confederation of Builders of Ukraine. Business Day Conference.
Oct 2 - VII Business & Legal Real Estate Forum
Oct 3 - USUBC Legal Series: Rebuilding Ukraine – Legal Aspects
Oct 4 - AHK Ukraine - German Chambers of Commerce Abroad. Ensuring business energy security.
Today in Just The Facts
Exclusive
- France's Neo-Eco says it can prove - with laboratory data - that Ukrainian war veterans make better workers.
Business
- Dragon Capital buys Kyiv's Caravan Outlet Mall.
- Ukrposhta to buy 1,745 e-tricycles with EBRD funding to increase resilience of delivery.
- Oschadbank lends $4.5 million to Suziria to move wet pet food production home to Ukraine.
- USAID launches grant program to help Ukrainian firms buy grain handling equipment.
Foreign Relations
- Ukraine understands Slovakia's 'acute dependence' on Russian gas but vows to stop transit.
- Ukraine's reconstruction can boost Polish-Ukrainian trade turnover, official says.
War
- Ukrainian hackers disrupted Russian state media, sources tell Bloomberg.
- Kyiv Air defenses shoot down all 18 drones fired overnight, city administration says.
- Ukrainian government allocates $413,000 to build underground school in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.
Longer reads:
- Washington Post: No air raid sirens on Ukraine’s tallest mountain, just the promise of a future.
- The Guardian: Ukraine rushes to stem ecocide after river poisoning.
- Atlantic Council: EU should push for more aid for Ukraine regardless of US elections outcome.
- US must preserve post-WWII order as Ukraine war upsets politics across Europe, Quincy Institute says.
- Ukraine's shift to decentralized grid could serve as blueprint for Europe, research paper says.
Exclusive
France's Neo-Eco says it can prove - with laboratory data - that Ukrainian war veterans make better workers
When Bart Gruyaert says the war veterans who work for his company in Ukraine are better workers than the average, he insists he's not just telling a feel-good story. He can back up the assertion - with actual laboratory data.
Lab tests run by Neo-Eco, the French firm famous for turning war rubble into building material for reuse, show the material produced by the contingent of war veterans who work for the company is four or five times better quality than the average.
"For example, you have to be below one percentage of wood in your sorted rubble, so that you don't have organic material above 1% in your future concrete mix," Gruyaert explained in an interview with Ukraine Rebuild Newswire. "We were sometimes above this 1%, but generally we were below."
"But if I look at the war rubble cleaned by the veterans in Mykolaiv, it was below 0.3% or 0.2% of organic material," he said. "That's four or five times below the average."
He attributes the higher quality to an increased level of organization he has seen in the veterans he has employed, including a group of 25 in Mykolaiv who were suffering from mental disorders brought on by their time on the front lines in the war against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
"They came up with a lot of ideas of how they could do the job better, and we gave them the liberty to experiment and test these different methods," he said. "They become more efficient in their sorting because they developed a methodology which is more systematic and less random."
Gruyaert attributes that level of organization to their time in the military, as well as their sense of the importance of the task.
"They also have a kind of patriotism so they want to contribute to this kind of humanitarian projects, less in a commercial sense, but more in a sense of contribution and self-esteem," he said. "They understand the importance of our work, and the potential impact of what we're trying to do, and the benefit for their country in terms of environmental impact. And they try to see how they can do that even better."
Civilian employment of war veterans in Ukraine could be key to the country's future, helping resolve a severe labor shortage caused by the outflow of 6 million refugees at the same time as it helps prevent violence and other problems stemming from the sudden aggregation of masses of unemployed men, many suffering traumas of war.
Gruyaert tells another story of how war veterans have benefited his company, initiating an idea that Neo-Eco is now trying to refine into a new type of operation globally.
"We were cleaning a school building and 400 meters next to it, there was a cultural center that was hit by a drone," Gruyaert recounts. "I saw that these veterans were quite stressed. But I still remember that Friday morning they came in and they said:
Story continues, for subscribers only, at this link.
Business
Dragon Capital buys Kyiv's Caravan Outlet Mall
Dragon Capital, one of Ukraine's most prominent investment firms, said it has completed the acquisition of Caravan Outlet Mall in Kyiv, the city's only large outlet center.
Financial terms of the deal are confidential, Dragon Capital said Monday in a press release.
Caravan Outlet Mall , which opened in 2003 and was renovated in 2019, is Kyiv's first professional shopping mall. The property's total area is 57,321 square meters, of which the gross leasable area covers 42,788 square meters.
The mall's tenants include over 50 international fashion brands, a five-screen cinema, a roller rink, a children’s amusement park, a hypermarket, and a food court, as per the statement.
"We are currently evaluating various strategies for the mall’s further development, considering the current needs of both retailers and consumers," Dragon Capital CEO Tomas Fiala said.
Ukrposhta to buy 1,745 e-tricycles with EBRD funding to increase resilience of delivery
Ukraine's national postal service Ukrposhta plans to buy 1,745 electric tricycles, with a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), to help deliver the mail even as Russia steadily attacks the country's grid.
The firm has launched a tender for the e-trikes, and the closing date for submitting bids is Nov 18, the EBRD said in a notice last week.
In 2020, the EBRD agreed to provide a €63 million ($69 million) loan to Ukrposhta to finance the modernization of the company's logistics infrastructure and operating fleet.
Last year, however, the EBRD switched the allocation of €22.7 million of that loan to Ukrposhta to buy more than 5,000 e-bikes and around 350 commercial trucks to support the company's resilience amid the war with Russia.
The loan was originally meant to help modernize the company's operations, and the switch was made to "increase resilience" of the firm, allowing deliverers to continue to work even amid steady Russian attacks on the company's grid.
Oschadbank lends $4.5 million to Suziria to move wet pet food production home to Ukraine
The State Savings Bank of Ukraine, Oschadbank, said it has agreed to lend $4.5 million to help Suziria Group, a leading Ukrainian pet food maker, transfer the production of wet pet food back to Ukraine after the outbreak of war prompted it to relocate.
Suziria will use the funds to build a new production line for wet pet food in Kalush in the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Oschadbank said in a press release on Monday. Part of Suziria's production capacity in Kharkiv continues to operate.
The company transferred its grain feed production to Kalush after rocket attacks began hitting Kharkiv, and currently manufactures wet pet food at partner facilities in European Union countries, according to the release
"The development of its production in Ukraine will help the company gradually abandon the import of this product category and expand the geography of sales," Oschadbank said.
Suziria plans to start exporting Ukrainian-made wet food for pets to within the European market over the next three years, according to the press release. New production facilities will enable Suziria to produce 10,000 tons of wet food for pets per year.
USAID launches grant program to help Ukrainian firms buy grain handling equipment
USAID's Economic Resilience Activity (ERA) said it has launched a grant program to compensate at least 20 Ukrainian agricultural logistics firms for 30% of the cost of grain handling equipment purchased from local agricultural machinery manufacturer Kobzarenko Plant.
The program is open to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) with annual revenues of less than €40 million ($44 million), USAID ERA said Tuesday in a press release. Ukrainian agro-holding companies and firms that have already received or will soon receive assistance from USAID ERA are not eligible, it added.
Under the program, companies can buy equipment that will help improve the efficiency of grain handling processes at key nodes along the export route, including a mobile wagon packer RVM-180, a ground-based reloading bin BNP-12 Kovcheh, and an electric belt loader SN-25.
Foreign Relations
Ukraine understands Slovakia's 'acute dependence' on Russian gas but vows to stop transit
Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Monday his government understands Slovakia's "acute dependence" on Russian gas, but reiterated Ukraine will not extend the transit agreement with Russia after it expires at the end of 2024.
Ukraine's strategic goal is to impose sanctions on Russian gas, depriving the Kremlin of profit from the sale of hydrocarbons, which it uses to finance the war, Shmyhal said during a joint press conference with Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico following a joint government session near Uzhhorod.
"We call on all European countries to completely abandon oil and gas from Russia," Shmyhal stated. "We understand the acute dependence of some countries, in particular Slovakia, on this resource. But we are counting on the gradual diversification of supplies."
Fico, who has denounced military aid to Ukraine and sanctions targeting Russia, supported Ukraine's EU membership.
Ukraine's reconstruction can boost Polish-Ukrainian trade turnover, official says
The reconstruction of Ukraine represents an opportunity for Polish companies to secure new contracts and can boost turnover of trade between the two countries, Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce President Jacek Piechota said.
"The reconstruction of Ukraine and the prospect of strengthening and developing economic cooperation with Ukraine is a significant opportunity for our economy and for Polish entrepreneurs," Piechota said Monday at the Common Future Congress in Poznań, as cited by Polish news agency PAP.
"Entrepreneurs understand this well. Over 3,000 Polish companies have registered with the Polish Agency for Investment and Trade as interested in participating in Ukraine's reconstruction," he added.
Piechota said the entire Western world will want to show that it is possible to build a modern Ukrainian economy and Polish firms must participate in this process.
War
Ukrainian hackers disrupted Russian state media, sources tell Bloomberg
Ukrainian hackers carried out a cyberattack that shut down online broadcasts of Russian state TV and radio channels on Monday, an unnamed official in Kyiv with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.
At least 20 Russian broadcasters were impacted by the attack including the Rossiya 24 news service, the official said. The incident coincided with Russian President Vladimir Putin's 72nd birthday.
Russia's VGTRK state media holding said it was targeted by an "unprecedented" cyberattack on its online broadcasts early Monday, but noted "no significant damage was caused to the media holding's operations," the Tass news agency reported, citing the company.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said specialists were working to determine who was responsible for the attack on what he called a "critical infrastructure facility," as quoted by Interfax. Gazeta.ru reported that the Ukrainian-linked hacker group "sudo rm -RF" was behind the attack.
Kyiv Air defenses shoot down all 18 drones fired overnight, city administration says
Air defenses in the Ukrainian capital shot down all Russian drones targeting the city in a wave of assaults that lasted much of the night of Oct 7 to Oct 8, city officials said.
About 18 Russian drones were downed, causing no damage, the city said on its Telegram channel. The air raid alarm was sounded three times overnight, lasting more than two hours in total.
The city said it was the fourth wave of attacks on Kyiv so far this month.
Ukrainian government allocates $413,000 to build underground school in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region
An underground school being built in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region will cost 17 million hryvnias ($413,000) and accommodate 200 students in shifts, a regional official said.
The school is one of eight underground schools being built in the region due to the ongoing war against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said regional head Ivan Fedorov on Telegram.
He said seven such schools are already being built in the region and all will be finished this year, allowing more than 6,000 students to study in shifts.
"In 2025, there are no less ambitious plans: 5 more underground educational spaces for more than 4,000 students," he said. "A tender is ongoing for three of them, and project documentation is being developed for two."
Longer reads:
Washington Post: No air raid sirens on Ukraine’s tallest mountain, just the promise of a future
A feature story in the Washington Post spotlights Mount Hoverla, Ukraine’s tallest peak, which it describes as a refuge for both civilians and soldiers seeking solace from the ongoing war.
With air raid sirens absent, the Post writes, visitors can experience tranquility while confronting their grief and hopes for a peaceful future.
"Deep in the Carpathian Mountains, the silence is deafening," journalists Lizzie Johnson and Kostiantyn Khudov write. "Blue-gray clouds scrape the nearby ridges, and evergreens fur the horizon. The wind is a cool caress — a reminder of what peace can feel like."
The allure of Mount Hoverla has intensified since the Russian invasion in 2022, drawing tens of thousands annually, according to the article. Hikers find the climb to be more than just a physical challenge; it's a personal journey that signifies resilience and collective mourning for lost lives and a war-torn nation.
The Guardian: Ukraine rushes to stem ecocide after river poisoning
The Guardian documents mass fish death and other ills caused by chemical waste allegedly dumped from a Russian sugar factory into a river that flows into Ukraine.
The newspaper tells a story of toxic levels of ammonia, magnesium, and other poisonous nitrates causing stench, dieoffs, and devastating hundreds of kilometers into Ukrainian territory.
“The Desna was one of our cleanest rivers. It’s a very big catastrophe,” Serhiy Zhuk, the head of Chernihiv’s ecology inspectorate, told the newspaper. “More than 650km is polluted. Not a single organism survived. This is unprecedented. It’s Europe’s first completely dead river."
Emergency teams have used compressors to pump oxygen into the river to help the remaining fish survive and recent rains dispersed some toxins, the newspaper wrote, but the damage persists.
Atlantic Council: EU should push for more aid for Ukraine regardless of US elections outcome
The EU should push to deepen its cooperation with the US in providing more assistance to Ukraine to defeat Russia, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential elections in November, senior director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and former US ambassador to Ukraine John E. Herbst wrote in an op-ed.
"Transatlantic support for Ukraine has been laudable, but much more is needed, particularly from Europe, given the political uncertainty in the United States," Herbst wrote.
Herbst acknowledged that the EU and the US have successfully cooperated to provide Ukraine with economic and military aid since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 but cautioned the US may take a different stance towards the conflict if Donald Trump is elected president, outlining potential scenarios.
To conclude, Herbst recommended the EU adopt a set of policy changes, including increasing military and economic aid to Ukraine, removing all restrictions on Ukraine's use of weapons, securing Ukraine's electricity grid, as well as giving up on the dream of reviving the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Russia.
US must preserve post-WWII order as Ukraine war upsets politics across Europe, Quincy Institute says
Future US policy toward Ukraine must prioritize preserving the post-World War II peace order in Europe, which is crucial for regional security after the Ukraine war, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft said in a position paper.
The democratic stability of Western and Central Europe has long been a vital U.S. interest, but US support for Ukraine against Russia has disproportionately impacted Europe, both economically and politically, the institute says. The war's second-order effects have destabilized politics across Europe, particularly in Germany, and have fuelled the rise of populist-right parties.
Despite pledges to increase defense spending, European NATO members face financial constraints and weak economic growth, complicating efforts to boost military readiness. There is a tradeoff between continuing to supply Ukraine with arms and focusing on Europe’s territorial defense.
Europe’s economic weaknesses, exacerbated by global protectionism, limit the ability of the U.S. to mitigate these challenges. The Quincy Institute suggests that U.S. policy must prioritize strengthening NATO’s European pillar, promoting Europe from a client to a peer. This would require accommodating Germany’s foreign policy preferences and addressing concerns over the risks of escalation in Ukraine.
Ukraine's shift to decentralized grid could serve as blueprint for Europe, research paper says
Ukraine's emergency shift toward a decentralized grid, although rooted in war, could serve as a blueprint for other European nations trying to establish a greener energy sector, according to a white paper by The Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael and the Ukrainian think tank Dixi Group.
"For Ukraine, the green energy transition is a matter of physical survival, not just economic competitiveness," the think tanks conclude in the 11-page paper. "No other country in Europe is more motivated to transfer and decarbonize its energy system than Ukraine at this point in time."
It says that the ongoing decentralization of Ukraine's grid, with a push to smaller, greener sources of energy to increase resilience against Russian attacks, "could serve as a blueprint for other European countries facing congested grids
running on centralized old-fashioned software and growing electrification needs."
"For this to work, Ukraine’s key partners – particularly the EU and the US – must now take bold actions in committing to Ukraine’s energy recovery and transition. This includes integrating Ukraine into EU strategic plans like the envisioned Clean Industrial Deal and facilitating necessary investments."
Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myoshnychenko posted about the arrival to Melbourne of a Ukrainian delegation to negotiate a tax treaty that will "serve as a solid foundation for the Australian businesses who will invest in Ukraine’s rebuild and reconstruction post-war."
Dmytro Moskalenko, CEO of Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company (UDP), celebrated the upgrade of the ship M/V Kapitan Antypov, which he said makes it "the most modern cargo river vessel on the Danube."
TheCityUK, the body representing UK-based financial and related professional services, posted that it met new Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK, General Zaluzhnyi, and discussed "key issues around the reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine."
Hakan Jyde, CEO of Scania Ukraine, said his company closed the third quarter of the year, with almost 600 new trucks delivered to Ukrainian partners so far in 2024.
The EU Anti-Corruption Initiative (EUACI) posted that the Commission for the External Independent Assessment (Audit) of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau's performance arrived last week for an "intensive" two-week program.
Credit Agricole Ukraine announced its largest-ever charity project, with 45 million hryvnias allocated to a new neonatal intensive care unit of Kyiv Regional Perinatal Center, including repairs and the purchase of "130 units of state-of-the-art medical equipment."
