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.
(*Busy Monday? Click here to get to the meat of the newsletter)
Welcome Note From Founder
Dear reader,
Not many newsletters come with an owner's manual. But I feel compelled to offer a few user tips to the readers of The RUB.
We've been planning this newsletter for months - brainstorming, writing, testing, revising, and brainstorming again. The RUB is an idea born of the age of 5G and AI, of yottabytes and quantum computing.
It's an attempt to take the notion of "build back better" and apply it not only to the reconstruction of Ukraine, but to journalism as well. With credibility in tatters, with journalists scoring lower in trust than even politicians, surely now is the time to build journalism back better. Here is, at least, a start.
It is also an attempt, in an age that makes a mockery of the phrase "All The News That's Fit to Print," to maximize value for the reader. In 37 years as a journalist, I have filled hundreds of notepads with information that, for lack of column inches, went unread. They were eventually tossed out forever.
That doesn't need to be the case today. For example, this single edition of The RUB, when counting the attached transcripts, meeting summaries, interview notes, news stories, social media mentions and other accessories, measures more than 120,000 words. In volume, that's the equivalent of The Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby combined - in a single day's output.
Today's technology lets us turn a daily newsletter into something of a "daily snapshot," with a more complete view of a subject than a simple news story will allow. The RUB, as you will see, tries to do that.
Our aim goes beyond, though. We have big plans for our social media coverage and we are preparing what amounts to a quantum leap for our Meeting Notes. But that is costly in both labor and technology.
For that, we will use your subscription fees, with kind thanks, and develop The RUB at least at the speed of technology. And that "daily snapshot" will evolve into a "daily x-ray," and beyond.
After all, the news is not just Zelensky talking over the weekend about his "victory plan" and politicians trading barbs over Energoatom contracts and World Bank number crunching.
It's also about the smaller events that don't make headlines - PwC Ukraine's Lev Holubec orchestrating a professional conversation for the USUBC about legal aspects of the reconstruction, or about influencers on X marveling at a machine that turns rubble to bricks, and about Mustafa Nayyem posting to celebrate his new position, four months after resigning as head of the reconstruction agency.
It's also, ultimately, about the Ukrainian men, women and children who suffer daily and who, individually and in silence, will bear the brunt of the cost of piecing the nation back together. When the "daily snapshot" illuminates their thoughts and deeds, journalism will be much closer to its potential.
For now, please pay attention to the reader instructions peppered throughout The RUB.
Look for the quotes. They're tips and explanations we hope will let the reader make better use of The RUB.
Thank you for your attention,
Adam Brown. Oct 7, 2024.
PS - For all tips, suggestions, complaints, story ideas, event invites and more, message Adam at adambrown@ukrainerebuildnews.com.
Here's The RUB:
Bart Gruyaert, the project director of French rubble-clearing company Neo-Eco, told The RUB a fascinating story about employing veterans on Friday.
While he has often asserted that veterans make better workers than the average person, Friday he told us that he can prove it - with actual laboratory data.
Stay tuned for the Tuesday edition of The RUB for the full story. And the data.
The RUB is scheduled to interview FinnFund, the Finnish development financier, about their Ukrainian activities and outlook tomorrow.
If you subscribe to The RUB and have a good question for them, send it soon to adambrown@ukrainerebuildnews.com.
To tap the considerable knowledge of our reader base and improve journalism in general, The RUB will, when possible, announce upcoming interviews and invite questions from subscribers.
Meeting Notes:
If you've been watching the reconstruction of Ukraine for a while, you know that attending meetings on the topic could become a full-time job. Well, at The RUB, it is a full-time job.
Here are the meetings our staff attended last week, along with exhaustive notes about each event. The links open on their own individual pages on our website.
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.
Discussion focused on vocational training in construction, real estate trends, project updates, shifts in buyer preferences and more. Speakers included Oleksander Chervak, executive director of the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine, Dmytro Zavhorodnyi, deputy minister of Education and Science of Ukraine and others.
Oct 2 - VII Business & Legal Real Estate Forum
Speakers included lawmaker Olena Shulyak, JN Legal partner Serhiy Dakhnovsky, and others, while the topics included diversification of investment, project financing, cultural heritage real estate and more.
Oct 3 - USUBC Legal Series: Rebuilding Ukraine – Legal Aspects
The conference covered various legal aspects of the reconstruction of Ukraine, with speakers including Vitaliy Radchenko, managing partner, CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang Ukraine, Mykola Stetsenko, president of the Ukrainian Bar Association and Lev Holubec, partner at PwC Consulting Solutions.
Oct 4 - AHK Ukraine - German Chambers of Commerce Abroad. Ensuring business energy security.
Topics included technical aspects of ensuring a business's energy independence, legal aspects of energy production for a business's own needs and "how to distribute risks with the contractor." Speakers included Khrystyna Kasianova, green hydrogen business development manager at RP Global, Ivan Bondarchuk, head of energy at LCF Law Group, and Yulia Usenko, head of the All-Ukrainian Agency for Investment and Sustainable Development.
We maintain an Events Calendar on our Ukraine Rebuild Newswire website. Check it out. We can't attend quite all of the meetings, exhibitions, talks and other events yet, but your subscriptions will help us attend more of them. However, if you invite us to a meeting you are organizing, we will likely attend.
The Help
- World Bank working on disbursing $2.8 billion more for Ukraine, for total $42 billion since 2022 invasion
- USAID supplies 10,000 tons of rebar to protect Ukraine energy facilities, Power says in visit to Lviv
- Finnish specialists from IHDA to work with Ukraine to develop hospital design for reconstruction
Peace and War
- Ukraine to present 'victory plan' at Ramstein this week, Zelensky says
- Ukrainian missile strike kills 6 North Korean officers near Donetsk, intelligence sources tell Kyiv Post
Investment
- Ukraine grants 'invest nanny' tax breaks to agro-industry holding Astarta and water park operator Bukovel
- Heavy investment needed in childcare to let women address Ukraine's labor shortage, EBRD director says
Sticking Points
- Energoatom says critics of contracts for protective structures don't understand the work involved
- Polish deputy PM vows to block Ukraine's accession to EU unless it allows exhumation of WWII massacre victims
Longer Reads
- Espreso TV: How Ukraine built 155 km water supply system within a year of destruction of Kakhovka dam
- Financial Times: Ukraine faces its darkest hour
- Al Jazeera: All the proposed peace plans explained
The Help
World Bank working on disbursing $2.8 billion more for Ukraine, for total $42 billion since 2022 invasion
The World Bank has disbursed $39 billion of the $50 billion in support mobilized for Ukraine since the 2022 invasion, and is currently working on disbursing $2.8 billion more, the bank said.
According to numbers released Friday, the PEACE Project, which supports payment of pensions, grants for internally displaced people, teachers' wages, emergency services and other areas, accounts for more than $29 billion of the money mobilized.
Almost $25 billion of the allocations to the PEACE project came in the form of bilateral grant financing, with the US providing $24.1 billion of that. Japan came second, with $470 million.
USAID supplies 10,000 tons of rebar to protect Ukraine energy facilities, Power says in visit to Lviv
USAID has provided 10,000 tons of rebar and 200 miles of steel mesh to Ukraine so it can secure grid-related facilities across the country from Russian attack, USAID Administrator Samantha Power said.
Power made the comment on X after a visit to Ukraine, where she said USAID support for Ukrenergo, the state electricity transmission system operator, has totaled $126 million since the 2022 invasion.
On her trip, she also visited anti-corruption advocates from the media and civil society, and the Lviv IT Cluster, "where USAID helps connect 300+ Ukrainian tech companies with American businesses to create jobs & economic growth in both countries."
Finnish specialists from IHDA to work with Ukraine to develop hospital design for reconstruction
The Finland-based Integrated Hospital Design Alliance (IHDA) is working with Ukrainian officials to develop a standard design for hospitals to ease reconstruction, the Confederation of Builders of Ukraine (CBU) said.
The IHDA, which includes architects, HVAC specialists, structural engineers and construction management professionals, expects to submit a design plan for a state-of-the-art hospital into Ukraine's Unified State Electronic System in the Construction Field.
The work will be carried out with the help of the CBU and the Ukrainian Ministry of Health under the supervision of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), the CBU said on its website.
Peace and War
Ukraine to present 'victory plan' at Ramstein this week, Zelensky says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his government will present its much-publicized "victory plan" at a meeting of allies at Ramstein, Germany on Oct. 12.
"We will present the Victory Plan, clear, concrete steps for a just end to the war," Zelensky wrote on Telegram. "The determination of partners and the strengthening of Ukraine is what can stop Russian aggression."
Zelensky presented the plan to President Joe Biden and other allies in his recent visit to the US but the plan has not been publicly revealed.
An analysis published in Eurasia Daily Monitor says the pieces of the plan that have been revealed suggest Ukraine will ask for more advanced weaponry, the use of frozen Russian assets for its defense, and Western security guarantees before calling for a peace summit.
Ukrainian missile strike kills 6 North Korean officers near Donetsk, intelligence sources tell Kyiv Post
A Ukrainian missile strike against Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk killed more than 20 soldiers, including six officers from North Korea, the Kyiv Post reported, citing unnamed intelligence officials.
The strike also injured three North Korean servicemen, the newspaper added. The North Koreans were watching a demonstration of Russian training for assault and defense actions, according to reports on Russian social media.
Last year, a limited contingent of servicemen from North Korea, including engineering troops, arrived in Russian-held Ukraine, to cooperate with Russia, the newspaper said, citing Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate.
Investment
Ukraine grants 'invest nanny' tax breaks to agro-industry holding Astarta and to water park operator Bukovel
The Ukrainian government will offer a series of tax advantages to agro-industrial holding Astarta and water park operator Bukovel for planned investments under the so-called "invest nanny" program to encourage development despite the ongoing war.
Astarta, which will be exempt from income tax for five years and from duties and VAT for the import of new equipment, plans to spend €76 million modernizing its processing facilities, the government said. It also plans to build a soybean plant with a capacity to process 500 tonnes a day.
"The company is investing more than €76 million in the acquisition of equipment and technologies to better process agricultural products," the government said. "This will create 110 new jobs. In addition, it will contribute to the development of the processing industry in the region and the introduction of new approaches in the cultivation and processing of soybeans."
The government didn't detail advantages granted to Bukovel, which it said plans investments that will create 82 jobs and bring 470,000 hryvnias ($11,400) per month in taxes to the state budget.
The "invest nanny" plan offers incentives to companies planning "significant investments" of at least €12 million. It concentrates on the processing industry, mineral extraction, transport, logistics, education, scientific activity, health care, waste management, art, culture, tourism, sports and electronic communications.
Heavy investment needed in childcare to let women address Ukraine's labor shortage, EBRD director says
Ukraine needs massive investment in child care, elderly care, sick care and skill training to bring women into the workforce and help address the critical labor shortage in the country, a senior official of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said.
"Women are now really required to return to the labor market or to stay in the labor market, because of the large scale mobilization and the need to fill employment opportunities and jobs in sectors where women tended to be underrepresented," said Barbara Rambousek, the EBRD's global director for gender and economic inclusion.
"So there is a lot of upskilling and reskilling that is required, but also investments in care, childcare, elderly care, and care of sick people in order to allow women to play their part in the economy," she added. "That is really vitally important at this particular point."
Rambousek made the comments in a video appearance at the "Business and War. Dialogues about the future" conference organized by the New Voice of Ukraine media outlet in Kyiv on Wednesday.
She also said that gender gaps in Ukraine are "comparable" with gaps in European Union nations but they were exacerbated by the war and the massive outflow of women and children.
*Dear reader: People often say far more than the traditional news format can handle. And those comments are often interesting or carry value for other reasons. When possible, we aim to make those comments available to the reader as well, as in here.
Sticking Points
Energoatom says critics of contracts for protective structures don't understand the work involved
Ukrainian state nuclear power plant operator Energoatom denied suggestions in the media that it is spending an exaggerated amount to build protective structures, accusing critics of not understanding the work involved.
"Protection of nuclear power plants is a highly specialized field, where qualified specialists with many years of experience work," Energoatom said in a communique. "The public cannot always correctly assess the technical aspects or understand the complexity of the measures taken for the safety of nuclear power plants."
The company said it can't describe the protective structures or discuss many of the details involved in the work due to the sensitive nature of the projects, which come as Russia steps up attacks on Ukraine's power grid.
The statement comes after media outlets such as Zn.ua reported that the company is spending "a staggering" 1.7 billion hryvnias on structures to protect the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant, the smallest in Ukraine. It said contracts awarded for protective structures at the larger Rivne plant totaled 509 million hryvnias.
Polish deputy PM vows to block Ukraine's accession to EU unless it allows exhumation of WWII massacre victims
Polish Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz vowed to block Ukraine's accession to the European Union unless it allows the exhumation of victims of the WWII Volhynia massacre of Poles by Ukrainian nationalists.
"Ukraine will not join the European Union, I will not agree if it does not solve the Volhynia issue," Kosiniak-Kamysz said in an interview with online media platform Wirtualna Polska. "I am not changing my opinion, although I see that (Polish) President (Andrzej) Duda has a different one."
As many as 100,000 Poles are thought to have been killed by Ukrainian nationalists between 1943 and 1945. Poles say he massacre was an attempt to drive the Polish minority out of the area of Volhynia, Eastern Galicia.
News outlet Euractiv reported last week that the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced plans to authorize field research into the massacre. The announcement coincided with the first visit to Poland of Andriy Sybiga, Ukraine's new foreign minister.
Longer Reads
*This sub-section contains links to longer stories from other publications that The RUB staff found useful or interesting.
Espreso TV: How Ukraine built 155 km water supply system within a year of destruction of Kakhovka dam
Ukraine's Espreso TV publishes a detailed account of the partial reconstruction of water supply systems after the destruction in June of 2023 of the Kakhovka dam, including the construction in 11 months of 155 km of water mains.
“Typically, the design work for such facilities takes 2-3 years, and construction can also take another 2-3 years," Oleksandr Kolomiitsev, the head of the Service for Restoration in Dnipropetrovsk Region, told Espreso. "So, if we approach it in the traditional way, it could take up to 6 years to establish a water supply system like this.”
"This main water supply system has become one of the most ambitious projects of its kind, with a total cost of nearly UAH 19 billion ($460 million)," the article states. "Once completed, it will be able to transport 550,000 cubic meters of water per day."
Financial Times: Ukraine faces its darkest hour
The Financial Times writes of troop exhaustion, war weariness among the general population and concerns about flagging US support as the country shifts closer to acceptance of the notion that it may have to make some concessions in its stance toward the war.
"Ukraine is heading into what may be its darkest moment of the war so far," the newspaper says. "It is losing on the battlefield in the east of the country, with Russian forces advancing relentlessly — albeit at immense cost in men and equipment."
It says Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ended his recent trip to the US without achieving his main goals of securing US permission to use its weapons to strike deep into Russia and scoring progress in his country's bid to join Nato.
And now Ukraine fears a victory by Donald Trump in next month's US presidential elections could end up with Ukraine forced to make unfavorable concessions to Russia in a forced peace.
Al Jazeera: All the proposed peace plans explained
Al Jazeera outlines four peace plans for the war: the China and Brazil plan, Ukraine's plan, Russia's plan and the Africa Plan.
"Alongside the intense fighting, a parallel battle is fast taking shape – over competing peace plans to try to bring the war in Ukraine to an end," the news outlet writes.
"Analysis by political scientist Masha Hedburg for Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies estimates that between March 2022 and July 2024, at least 25 peace plans were put forth," it adds.
In bullet point format, the article lays out main points of four of the main plans, and covers India's diplomatic involvement in maneuvering for peace.
CEPR: The US should push IMF to scrap surcharges on heavily indebted nations to save Ukraine $3 billion
The US has a chance to ease Ukraine’s financial burden by pushing for the elimination of International Monetary Fund fees imposed on countries with high debt, argues Manasi Karthik, a research fellow at the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).
These surcharges, which are fees added to regular IMF loans to heavily indebted countries to encourage timely repayment, exacerbate financial crises and hinder recovery efforts, Kathik says in the independent online publication Common Dreams.
"In Ukraine’s case, surcharges will add nearly $3 billion to the war-ravaged country’s debt burden over the next decade even as it needs an estimated $9.5 billion in emergency financing for recovery and reconstruction just this year," she writes. "Experts say efforts to relieve Ukraine’s debts could change the course of the war."
She also argues that keeping the surcharges, which have cost Ukraine $621 million in the five years to 2023, would diminish the benefit of Ukraine's recent debt restructuring.
Atlantic Council: Ukraine is slowly but steadily weakening Russia’s grip on Crimea
As Russia shifts military resources, including limited air defense equipment, away from Crimea to bolster its fight in Kursk and eastern Ukraine, it's leaving Crimea vulnerable to attacks that shift the outcome of the war, a former advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense wrote for the Atlantic Council.
"Many analysts believe the war can only be brought to an end by liberating the peninsula from Russian control," wrote Serhii Kuzan, chairman of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Center (USCC) and a Defenses Ministry adviser until last year.
"It is still far too early to speak about the impending end of the Russian occupation," wrote Kuzan, an adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry until last year. "Nevertheless, with the Black Sea Fleet in retreat, logistical connections disrupted, and air defenses depleted, the Kremlin’s grip on Crimea already appears to be significantly weaker than it was when the full-scale invasion began two and half years ago."
Eurasia Daily Monitor: Zelensky's 'Victory Plan' seeks to strengthen Ukraine's bargaining position
The "Victory Plan" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky presented to US President Joe Biden in his recent visit to the US was meant to place Ukraine in a stronger position to engage in potential negotiations with Russia, the Eurasia Daily Monitor said in an opinion piece.
"Zelenskyy envisages a three-month timetable for the delivery of Western military aid that would turn the tide of war in Ukraine’s favor and commence negotiations with Russia in the framework of a world peace summit," wrote Vladimir Socor, senior fellow of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.
"It is designed, in part, to preempt outright defeatist proposals from being tabled by other parties," he wrote in the journal, which is the flagship publication of the Jamestown Foundation.
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."
ETH Zurich researchers publish 'first geo-spatial mapping' of the destruction of the Ukrainian electricity system
Researchers at the public research university ETH Zurich have published what they call the "first comprehensive and geo-spatial mapping of the Ukrainian electricity system and its destruction" in the energy research journal Joule.
The research, they say, has taught them that the reconstruction of the Ukrainian electricity system should meet four main criteria: "fast rebuilding, increased resilience, lowered fuel import dependence, and abatement of polluting emissions."
"Based on an estimation of the country’s wind and solar potential, we argue that these renewables should form the backbone of a future electricity system, as only they meet all four criteria, and we discuss how Ukrainian and international policymakers can facilitate and direct investment," the researchers wrote.
Mustafa Nayyem, who resigned in June as head of Ukraine's State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, announced he has now "joined the Promoting Integrity in the Public Sector Activity (Pro-Integrity) project as a Senior Advisor on Anti-Corruption and Infrastructure Recovery."
USAID Administrator Samantha Power published a series of posts on X about her visit to Ukraine, including a stop at the Lviv IT Cluster, a visit to a substation, and a chat with anti-corruption advocates.
Kostiantyn Koshelenko, Ukraine's deputy minister of Social Policy for Digital Transformation, recaps an "intense week" with a list of achievements, including launching soc.gov.ua, the social services portal.
Valeriya Ionan, Ukraine's deputy minister for Eurointegration, says she met with Grammarly CEO Rahul Roy-Chowdhury during his first visit to Ukraine since the 2022 invasion, and discussed cooperation on developing artificial intelligence in Ukraine.
Kateryna Veremyeyeva, communications manager of JYSK Ukraine, announces the opening of the 100th store in Ukraine and the 20th anniversary of the chain's presence in the country.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko elaborates on the government's support for investments by agro-industrial holding Astarta and water park operator Bukovel.
Sergiy Savchuk, chief investment officer at Vitagro Group, announces the supply of the "first biomethane in Ukraine" to the natural gas network, with the first plant operating at 60% to 70% of capacity.
Numerous influencers on X re-posted an Australian news report of Mobile Crisis Communication's plan to send a machine to Ukraine that can turn rubble into bricks for the reconstruction.
Edem Adamov, general manager of Medical Procurement of Ukraine, which oversees the country's medical supply system, announced Oct 7 that he has been named deputy minister of health.
