Day 1

There are very different situations in the 5 biggest and most important cities: Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa and Dnipro. The capital Kiev will see the most investments as the city has seen enormous destruction of housing, offices, retail and infrastructure. Odessa is the most important export-import port city and has had a huge cultural life and tourism. The eastern city Kharkiv is close to the Russian border and was an important technology and industrial center.  Dnipro is an important industrial and distribution area in central Ukraine. Lviv in western Ukraine is close to Poland has had a growing importance as a tech and cultural city, and many people have moved to the city to escape the war.

The housing market has been concentrated in the 5 biggest cities, with a focus on high rise flats and a growing luxury housing sector. The development of housing projects have until now been a private market. The state is transitioning the housing market from a model focused solely onprivate  home ownership to a model with rental housing and social housing mechanisms for internally displaced persons (IDPs). From 2022-25 there has been build 100,000 houses. Central companies in housing development are contractors and project developers such as Kyivmiskbud, Osnovy-Bud, TMM Company, Intergal-Bud and Ukrainian Development Partners (UDP).

There has been office developments concentrated in Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Dnipro following a growing demand for offices before the war began in 2022. It was primarily based on the tech industry and international companies investing in Ukraine. The largest office developers are K.A.N. Development, Ukrainian Development Partner, Dragon Capital Property Management, Mandarin Plaza and M8 Partners.

Ukraine has several large industrial cities. The country has a large industrial base from the Soviet era, especially in the metallurgical industry, machine building, chemistry, energy and food. The most important industrial cities are: Kiev - aircraft industry, high tech and machine industry. Dnipro - heavy industry, rocket and space technology. Zaporizhzhia - aluminium, machine building, energy (nuclear power plant) and military industry. Kharkiv - mechanical engineering, military technology, electronics and transport equipment. Kryvyi Rih - iron ore, mining and steel industry. Lviv - light industry, food production, electronics and pharmaceutical industry. Mykolaiv - shipbuilding and mechanical industry. Odessa - food industry, logistics and oil processing. Kremenchuk - vehicle production, oil and mechanical engineering. Vinnytsia and Cherkasy - food industry, processing and chemistry.

Ukraine had a growing network of distribution centres and logistic hubs, as it is a natural transit country between the EU and Russia. Ukraine is itself a major exporter of agricultural goods, raw materials and industrial products. The e-commerce platform Rozetka had large logistic centres in Kyiv and Brovary. Nova Poshta had regional distribution centres. ATB-Market, which is the largest discount supermarket chain, has regional distribution warehouses. International players such as DHL, DB Schenker, Kuehne+Nagel, Raben Group and FM Logistic also have distribution centres in Ukraine. Kyiv region: Absolute centre of national logistics, Lviv, Ternopil and Rivne are Western hubs for the EU trade and export. Odessa: Main port and distribution centre for sea transport. Dnipro and Kharkiv are the eastern industrial and distribution hubs.

Ukraine is Europe's largest country, so the distances are huge. There are 5 cities with more than 1 million people and new infrastructural developments are concentrated around these cities. There is only 1,000 km of highway in the country. Odessa is the largest port. Chornomorsk is an important container port. Pivdennyi - deep port, coal and metal export. Reconstruction of infrastructure and the energy sector.

Foreigners can buy property in Ukraine, though only city properties such as apartments, houses and commercial spaces. Foreigners have to pay the same property taxes as locals, however selling within 3 years of buying triggers an 18% capital gains tax. Legal due diligence is critical to verify titles, debts, and property rights (can be messy). Some foreigners register an Ukrainian company  (ТОВ) and buy property through that company. Alternatively they acquire a company that owns property. There is VAT for new developments, but no VAT for land purchases. There are special wartime VAT regulations. Notary and state registration fees.

EUs financing programmes for property development and reconstruction efforts are coordinated through the Ukraine Facility, a 50 billion Euro financial assistance programme spanning 2024–2027.  The Ukraine Investment Framework (UIF) is designed to attract public and private investments for reconstruction with 8 billion Euro in loan guarantees and 1.5 billion Euro in blended finance. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) invest 1 billionEuro in 2025 for the energy sector and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The IFC, part of the World Bank Group, has launched a 2 billion USD Economic Resilience Action (ERA) programme to support Ukraine's private sector. The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) has housing projects. There will come huge bilateral investment programmes from Western countries in 2026-2035.

Ukraine has set up a number of institutional bodies in order to lead the recovery works and distribute the funds from foreign and domestic sources. One of them is the State Agency of Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine. Another ones are the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, the Ministry for Restoration and the Ministry of National Unity of Ukraine which is managing the "Fund for the Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression" whose purpose is financing projects aimed at restoring areas affected by the war. The fund uses a digital system, DREAM, for managing and tracking recovery projects.

Day 2

Transfer by bus from Radisson Hotel at 10 am. We visit 2 of the biggest construction and property projects in Kiev. The project manangement will host the sessions and talk about the projects. We will discuss the different perspectives on construction production, economics and property development. 

Bus transfer to the Radisson Hotel arriving at 13.00.