Business

Damage and recovery needs in Ukraine.
Business

Chart of the week: Ukraine's reconstruction needs rise 12% to $588 billion

by Luca Léry Moffat

The total cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine is $588 billion, the World Bank said in a new report published Feb. 23, as Russia's full-scale invasion enters its fifth year. Housing, transport, and energy sectors are most affected, with the total needs amounting to almost three times Ukraine's entire gross domestic product — $210 billion in 2025, according to the International Monetary Fund. The sum needed for reconstruction in those sectors covers damage caused in the 46 months from

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Explainer: Russia disrupts Ukraine peace talks with timed false accusations

Every time negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. appear to gain momentum, Moscow introduces a new allegation — drone attacks, assassination attempts, nuclear plots, sabotage — that threatens to stall or derail the process. Ukrainian officials and Western analysts say the pattern is no coincidence. A high-level Ukrainian official familiar with the course of the negotiations told the Kyiv Independent that the "nonsense" Russia is spreading is intended to influence the talks and dive

Canadian AI software could flip Russia's disinformation war on Europe

A new artificial intelligence (AI) agent could equip Europe to better defend itself against the barrage of Russian disinformation attacks. Cipher is Canadian-developed AI software that has proven to accurately and quickly detect Russian disinformation targeting Canadian networks, on both the far right and the far left of the political spectrum. Now that Cipher has passed the testing stage, the researchers are training the AI agent to distinguish those same narratives in the Russian language.

Red Square in Moscow, Russia, on March 5, 2024 with the Binary Code.

How Russia blackmails the desperate families of Ukrainian POWs

Karina Remez knew her husband — 33-year-old Dmytro Remez — had been captured in 2022 while defending Mariupol. For years, there was no confirmed information about where he was being held. Then, in early February 2025, a man contacted her claiming he had shared a cell with Dmytro and had personal information to pass on. The initial questions soon escalated into direct blackmail. They demanded that she blow up a communications tower and provide Ukrainian military locations. To pressure her, they

People put up portraits of missing or captured relatives and friends in Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine, on June 10, 2025.

About Business

The Kyiv Independent’s Business Desk covers the biggest news in business, economics, and tech from Ukraine, as well as global developments that shape the economy of the region.

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