Two years of full-scale war, 10 years of annexation of Crimea. Public opinion leaders on changes in society.

CES Director Hlib Vyshlinsky for Detector Media (in ukrainian):

1. How have you and the organisation changed since the beginning of the war and how have you changed since the beginning of the full-scale war?
2. Continue the sentence: “The three main lessons of this war for me are…”.
3. How do you see the problem of reintegration and restoration of the temporarily occupied territories, including Crimea, from the perspective of your organisation’s work?
4. Continue the sentence: “The priority for Ukrainians in the coming year is…”.

1. The Centre for Economic Strategy has more work to do. To the “usual” issues of economic policy, the economic problems of the war were added, in particular, the maintenance of financial stability, as well as the possibility of rapid European integration. Fortunately, the expansion of tasks was accompanied by additional assistance from international donors. The number of CES employees has more than halved over the past two years, and the number of external experts we engage in projects has also increased significantly.

2. The three main lessons of this war for me are:

• Ukrainians are a cool nation.
• A friendly team is the main asset in a crisis.
  
• Organisations (and people) need to have a resilience buffer and invest in it in the “good times».

3. I see the main problem as the development of high-risk military areas – all those close to the border with the enemy and the frontline. They are both more risky for the lives of citizens and further away from the borders with EU countries with which economic cooperation will grow. There is a lot of physical and human capital in these areas, particularly in the large and industrialised cities of Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. A sophisticated and thoughtful policy is needed to ensure that this potential is not lost and that these areas do not become depressed.

4. The priority for Ukrainians in the coming year is to support the state!