The only way forward for Ukraine’s industrial recovery and development is by resuming traditional economic and political ties. Creating new jobs, welfare, security and spirituality is the only possible ideology for Ukraine. Anything else should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

The government has repeatedly reported that it is meeting its targets, that the trends are all positive and that Ukraine is growing and gaining strength.

I can say in all modesty that I am one of the largest manufacturers and employers in the country. Our group has major revenue-generating companies. As is well documented, I have been involved in all aspects of the Ukrainian manufacturing industry for over twenty years. Unfortunately, I see absolutely no positive trends.

Moreover, all the economic indices are not just alarming but disastrous. Ukraine has lost a quarter of the manufacturing industry in just over two years. Gross domestic product has dropped by more than 30%. In U.S. dollar terms, exports have halved. As a result, hundreds of thousands of highly competent professionals have found themselves unemployed and forced to look for work abroad. Millions of households have dropped below the poverty line.

Examples of such an unprecedented downfall, a country’s decimation of its own economy, are isolated in modern history. It is the result of the current government’s destructive economic policy and rabid populism. The country is facing an abyss, from which it will be unable to emerge unless urgent measures are taken now.

I believe economic and industrial recovery is impossible until the undeclared war in Donbass is brought to an end. Therefore, our primary goal is peace at any price. It is also necessary to lift the blockade and resume economic and social ties with Donbass, to restore links with our traditional markets, primarily in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent Countries). This is the path towards economic and industrial recovery. Otherwise, we will transform from a once-powerful industrial state into a third world country, the so-called ‘beetroot republic’!

Frankly speaking, I do not believe that the current government can change the country’s economic and political outlook. It cannot rebuild either the economy or society. The only remedy is holding new parliamentary elections, forming a new government and making changes to the Constitution. Only then can we speak of possible economic improvement, and only then may we hope to put the country in order after two and a half years of lawlessness.