20 ‒ 24 July 2026
Dear friends of Ukraine,
It seems rather strange that public pressure can lead to a general’s dismissal. That aside, General Drapatyi begins his tenure as the new army chief with considerable advance praise. He is regarded as a man of integrity, courage and modern thinking. In this respect, he sounds like the polar opposite of Mykhailo Fedorov, whose return to the ministry was the subject of rumours earlier this week. However, this now appears to be off the table. We are hearing expressions of understanding from German defence industry firms regarding the minister’s dismissal. Under Fedorov, the Ministry of Defence had become dysfunctional, particularly in the area of procurement. Furthermore, Fedorov was largely unresponsive to the requests of commanders, unless they were ordering drones.
In the long term, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is more important to German companies than the Ministry of Defence. We have congratulated the new minister, Oleksandr Kravchenko, on his appointment and will be inviting ourselves to the ministry to present the key issues. Kravchenko is regarded as organised and pragmatic; as a former McKinsey consultant, he is used to helping companies. He studied in Vienna and Konstanz, so he is likely to have an interest in Germany. A great deal of work awaits the new minister. If foreign investment is to flow in, the framework conditions must be improved.
Yesterday, the AHK organised a ‘Members-for-Members’ event at MC Bauchemie. The company, headquartered in Bottrop, has been producing its building materials not far from Kyiv since 2005. MC Bauchemie is planning further investments totalling 1.5 million euros, which are to be funded primarily from the company’s own resources. We wish MC Bauchemie every success with its plans and thank Managing Director Artem Prymachenko for his hospitality in Berezhan.
Kind regards
P.S.: Please send feedback to nataliia.hryshchenko@ukraine.ahk.de and / or reiner.perau@ukraine.ahk.de.
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