Top notch imageTop notch mobile image

Introducing our new merch collection

“Ukrainian Trident: Through History and Modernity”

Shop now
KI logo
Saturday, December 13, 2025
Back

Team

Luca Léry Moffat photo

Luca Léry Moffat

Economics reporter

Luca is the economics reporter for the Kyiv Independent. He was previously a research analyst at Bruegel, a Brussels-based economics think tank, where he worked on Russia and Ukraine, trade, industrial policy, and environmental policy. Luca also worked as a data analyst at Work-in-Data, a Geneva-based research center focused on global inequality, and as a research assistant at the Economic Policy Research Center in Kampala, Uganda. He holds a BA honors degree in economics and Russian from McGill University.

l.moffat@kyivindependent.com

Articles

Business

EU indefinitely freezes Russian assets, moving closer to financial lifeline for Ukraine

by Luca Léry Moffat
The European Union has agreed to indefinitely freeze Russian central bank reserves, moving the bloc a step closer to securing a financial lifeline to Kyiv as the war heads into its fourth year. "I welcome the decision of the council on our proposal to continue the immobilization of Russian Sovereign Assets," President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter on Dec. 12. The move means that roughly 210 billion euros ($245 billion) in Russian assets will now remain blocke
Ukraine’s monthly energy mix is dominated by nuclear.
Business

Chart of the week: Can Ukraine's nuclear sector move past its Russian heritage?

by Luca Léry Moffat
Nuclear power has always been the bedrock of Ukraine's energy system, consistently providing roughly half of the country's power both before and after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion. But beneath this veneer of stability is a sector in flux. The biggest corruption scandal of Zelensky's tenure, weak governance, and the relentless barrage of drones and missiles targeting the distribution network are just some of the recent woes engulfing the country's state-owned nuclear monopoly, Ener
Business

'The key to ending the war is in Brussels' — Ukrainians react to Belgium's Russian asset loan opposition

by Luca Léry Moffat
Ukrainians say that Belgium's Prime Minister Bart de Wever holds the key to Russia's defeat, after he said that Russia's loss in Ukraine was a "total illusion." De Wever was speaking in an interview with Belgian newspaper La Libre on Dec. 2, the day before the European Commission announced a "reparations loan," a plan that could lend up to 210 billion euros in immobilized Russian central bank reserves to Kyiv. "But who really believes that Russia will lose in Ukraine? It's a fairy tale, a tota
Sabotage operations in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
War

Chart of the week: Ukraine's shadow war behind enemy lines is picking up

by Luca Léry Moffat
Sabotage activity in Russian-occupied territories is picking up after a two-year lull, according to a new report by ACLED, an organization that tracks conflicts around the world. Pro-Ukrainian militias were particularly active in the occupied territories in 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion, the report found — although this declined as Russia consolidated control through suppressing protests, torture, and executions. "In 2023 and 2024, the data shows that Russia's crackdown worked,"

Editors' Picks