“We need to support Ukraine’s economic healing now”, - Secretary Penny Pritzker

Security angle. The best investment into Ukraine’s recovery right now is ATAMCS, Patriot, and F16s. The more ruZZian missiles Ukraine can shoot down - the less to rebuild. Longer-term security sits in NATO membership. Ukraine expects a clear signal and invitation to join during the U.S. presidency in NATO.

Key Takeaway: The reconstruction is impossible w/o short-term and long-term security measures and guarantees. As simple as this. Vladyslav Rashkovan Lenna Koszarny

Economic war. RuZZian strategy of aggression targets destroying the Ukrainian economy as much as military and civilian objects. “Ukraine should transform itself successfully during the war” - Secretary Penny Pritzker, U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery. “We need to support Ukraine’s economic healing now” she added. Transformation should be funded by both public and private funders. The aspiration is to have a 1/3 to 2/3 split. Mobilizing private capital is a key task of DFIs (IFC, DFC, EBRD, etc.) and the Ukrainian government Penny Pritzker

Key Takeaway: Secretary Penny Pritzker will bring a sense of urgency to the Ukraine reconstruction and transformation. She will press U.S. Govt to mobilize rersources and Ukraine Govt to continue reforms during the war.

Business perspective. Businesses invest money and expand their facilities amidst the war. $500MLN of foreign direct investments and projects started (by Kingspan, Bayer, Carlsberg, Nestle, Cersanit, and others) since the beginning of the war. IFC and EBRD are increasing their capital allocation to Ukraine too. The resilience of Ukrainians and the ability to build new plants under ruZZian missiles are incredible.

Key Takeaway: Ukraine is Open for Business Sergiy Tsivkach  

Human Capital. I liked the reframing provided by Lena Koszarny when explaining that it is futile to guess how many Ukrainians will return to Ukraine after the war. Here it is: Before the war there were 40MLN in Ukraine and 15MLN in diaspora. Now circa 30MLN Ukrainians stay in the country and 25NLN are abroad. And we are all Ukrainians who can do whatever it takes to support the country at its most decisive moment in history.

Key takeaway: we need to work with the same 65MLN of Ukrainians to ensure that they keep on supporting the country from both inside and outside Lenna Koszarny

Energy Life-force. Ukraine is still predominantly in emergency response mode, scambling to get transformers, mobile turbines, spare parts, etc. Planning the energy system of the future without a clear outline of other sectors' future and overall recovery vision is challenging. Creating the National Energy and Climate Plan 2030 (one of the EU requirements to release €50B) presents an opportunity to develop a mid-term vision. The plan should be released in June 2024. This should help to prioritize medium-term actions focusing on the decentralization of energy systems, energy efficiency measures, and new technologies such as geothermal solutions for heating, BESS, etc. Longer-term energy strategy arguably sits somewhere in the Ministry of Energy hidden from the eyes of the general public.

Key takeaway: we need to get out of the firefighting mode and start implementing the non-regret solutions some of which are outlined above. They will relieve pressure on the old energy system and create the backbone/foundation for new one Olena Pavlenko Matteo Patrone Ben Cahill

U.S.Politics. This overview wouldn’t be complete without the main elephant in the room - U.S. politics and support. Most of the Americans need to see the “game plan” and clear articulation of how success would look like. Instead, they are stuck between mashmerizing Trump’s “24-hour solution” and vague Democratic “support as long as it takes” bookends. Most Americans still cannot find Ukraine on the map and suffer from an isolationist mindset. They don’t understand that if Ukraine falls (alongside the post-WW2 order) they will find themselves in a much bigger war (or set of wars) where democratic countries will be the main targets. J. French Hill

Key takeaway: Ukraine needs to work with the US citizens and grassroots movements via diaspora and civil society to educate about what’s on stake, what is the “game plan” and its desired timelines and outcomes.