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Dominic Culverwell

Business Reporter

Dominic is the business reporter for the Kyiv Independent, reporting on Ukrainian companies, investment, energy, corruption, and reforms. Based in Kyiv, Dominic joined the Kyiv Independent team in 2023, having previously worked as a freelancer. He has written articles for a number of publications, including the Financial Times, bne IntelliNews, Radio Free Europe/Liberty, Euronews and New Eastern Europe. Previously, Dominic worked with StopFake as a disinformation expert, debunking Russian fake news in Europe.

Articles

'It’s a second front line' — The Ukrainian power plant workers battling to make repairs under Russian attacks

by Dominic Culverwell
"It’s an interesting feeling during an air attack. Danger, danger, and again danger," says Yurii, a Ukrainian energy worker, from the control center of a war-scarred thermal power plant. Yurii works for DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy firm, as a shift supervisor of the turbine boiler department. His last name, like the name of the plant and its location, cannot be disclosed for security reasons. The company has suffered six mass Russian attacks since October, including on the thermal po

Under fire, Ukraine becomes Europe's energy defense instructor

by Dominic Culverwell
As Russian drones test Europe's skies, European governments are turning to the one nation that knows this battle best. Ukraine’s state power company, Ukrenergo — which as the chief transporter of the country's electricity has borne the brunt of Russia’s drone and missile attack campaign on the energy system — has been advising and training counterparts in Germany, Poland, and Lithuania since the spring. If Russia’s drone incursions into Europe escalate, "there could be sabotage or hybrid attac
Refugees from Ukraine after crossing the Ukrainian-Polish border in southeastern Poland on March 23, 2022.

Youth exodus — Ukraine's young people are increasingly quitting their jobs to go abroad

by Dominic Culverwell
Young people are quitting their jobs en masse following Kyiv’s decision to allow men aged 18-22 to leave Ukraine, according to a new survey from Robota.ua, a Ukrainian recruitment platform. Ukraine had banned men aged 18-60 from leaving the country at the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, unless they had an exemption, like fathers with three or more children, and disabled men and their carers. That changed in August 2025 when the government partially lifted the ban for 18-22-year-

Popular Kyiv mall to reopen amid legal tug of war

by Dominic Culverwell
One of Kyiv’s biggest shopping malls will slowly reopen this month after a dramatic lockdown shut out hundreds of businesses amid a dispute over the building’s management. The Gulliver shopping and entertainment complex will open up in stages from Dec. 12, starting with the bottom two floors, the mall’s owner, state-owned Oschadbank, said in a statement. The lockdown on Oct. 31, just before the holiday season, shocked Kyiv residents who frequent its 250 stores and rely on its large supermarket

'Expect charges very soon' — Investigators search Zelensky's closest ally in Ukraine's biggest corruption case

Editor's note: Andriy Yermak later submitted his resignation, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) said on Nov. 28 that it was conducting searches at the premises of President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak. Yermak is being investigated by the NABU in a corruption case involving state nuclear power monopoly Energoatom, the biggest corruption investigation during Zelensky's presidency. Eight suspects have been charged in the Energ