23 ‒ 27 February 2026
Dear friends of Ukraine,
This week marks the fourth anniversary of russia's invasion of its peaceful neighbour. A lot has changed in Ukraine since then. Above all, defence technology and the companies involved in it have developed massively. Ukraine has become a Silicon Valley for defence technology. All the major Western companies are on the ground, developing with and for Ukraine in the country. After all, anyone who wants to play a role in defence must have access to the most important and largest test laboratory. This helps the West and Ukraine, and is another reason why Ukraine is becoming increasingly capable of defending itself.
The new World Bank report on war damage was also published on the anniversary. The total direct damage now stands at 165 billion euros. The socio-economic losses for the country now stand at €500 billion, three times the economic output of 2025. According to the report, 74 per cent of the damage is in the housing, transport, energy and trade/industry sectors. We link to the report here.
What happens next? The aggressor can neither win nor stop. The russian army is too corrupt and disorganised to win, and the costs incurred so far have been too high and the gains too small to stop. The war will therefore not end in the short term.
This is damaging to the economy, but all in all it remains resilient. We expect 2.5 per cent growth for 2026. Accordingly, Ukraine remains an interesting market, not only for defence technology.
Kind regards
P.S.: Please send feedback to nataliia.hryshchenko@ukraine.ahk.de and / or reiner.perau@ukraine.ahk.de.
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