The war they play: Russia’s militarization of Ukrainian children

Watch documentary now
KI logo
Wednesday, October 29, 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.

Articles

Politics

EU leaders delay Ukraine loan using Russian assets as Belgium stalls effort

by Alexandra Brzozowski, Luca Léry Moffat
BRUSSELS, Belgium —  At a fraught EU summit on funding for Kyiv, leaders asked the European Commission to draw up legal options for a reparations loan backed by Russia's frozen assets, with a final proposal expected by the end of the year. The news follows weeks of political debate over how the reparations loan — which could eventually end up lending up to 140 billion euros to Ukraine, backed by Russian frozen central bank assets — could become a reality. The lack of a breakthrough now pushes
Business

Ukraine wants freedom to use EU loan from frozen Russian assets for US weapons

by Luca Léry Moffat
When Deputy Head of Ukraine's Presidential Office Iryna Mudra suggested to European partners in 2022 that Russia’s frozen assets be used to compensate Ukraine, she says she was met with little enthusiasm. But over the last month, European leaders have begun voicing support for a potential reparations loan for Kyiv — a plan that could provide Ukraine with up to 140 billion euros backed by Russian assets frozen at the start of the full-scale invasion. "It hasn’t been as quick as we would have li
Ukraine's average daily official and market exchange rates.
Business

Chart of the week: Will Ukraine’s central bank weaken the hryvnia?

by Luca Léry Moffat
Editor's note: This chart of the week is part of our Ukraine Business Roundup newsletter, published weekly. Subscribe here. Ukraine's central bank has held the country's exchange rate relatively stable in the last year after the initial volatility caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion. But that might be about to change. Recent reports suggest that the International Monetary Fund wants the bank to weaken its currency, the hryvnia, ahead of negotiations for a new loan program. A devaluation wou
An employee works in an open-hearth furnace shop at Zaporizhstal PJSC in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on Nov. 13, 2024.
Business

Ukraine's embattled steel sector's latest struggle? Polish protectionists

by Dominic Culverwell, Luca Léry Moffat
Ukraine’s metal sector says it is being made a scapegoat for Poland's steel troubles, as Polish groups urge Warsaw to press Brussels to limit growing Ukrainian imports. In the first half of 2025, Ukraine's steel exports to Poland slightly increased. In response, Polish industry associations and trade unions are now complaining about unfair competition and demanding a 12-month embargo on Ukrainian steel. Ukrainian producers point out that export levels remain below pre-full-scale invasion 2021
Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko at the G7 meeting on Oct. 15, 2025 (Ukraine's Finance Ministry).
Business

Ukraine finance minister calls for use of Russian frozen assets from 2026

by Luca Léry Moffat
Ukraine’s Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko called on Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers to make Russia’s immobilized bank reserves available for Ukraine from the beginning of 2026, in a meeting held on Oct. 15 in Washington, D.C. About $300 billion of Russia’s central bank’s foreign reserves were immobilized in 2022 after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The European Commission is currently developing a "reparations loan" initiative that would lend 140 billion euros of th
Russia

Who buys Russian oil and gas?

by Toby Woodall, Luca Léry Moffat
Summary: * Russia has earned 954 billion euros from exports of fossil fuels since the intensification of its war against Ukraine in 2022, 214 billion euros of which came from the EU * Oil and gas account for 30–50% of Russian budget revenue and 20% of gross domestic product (GDP) * China remained the largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in August, accounting for 40% of exports; India was second, followed by Turkey (a NATO member) * A group of five EU states together spent 979 million euros
Business

EU, Ukraine move forward with new trade agreement, deepening ties

by Luca Léry Moffat
The European Council has agreed to reduce and eliminate duties on a range of Ukrainian agricultural products, paving the way for the first significant update to tariffs under an EU-Ukraine trade agreement since it was adopted in 2016. The original agreement, known as the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement, or DCFTA, cut most tariffs and aligned regulations with EU standards. But several Ukrainian agri-food products were subject to tariff-rate quotas — trade instruments that permit tari

Editors' Picks