Russian invasion or not, Ukraine’s economy is already paying price

Russian invasion or not, Ukraine’s economy is already paying price

KYIV, Ukraine: In his open-plan office in the center of Kyiv, tech executive Dmytro Voloshyn lists off the tricky questions he’s dealt with over the last weeks as fears have soared over a possible Russian invasion. What will happen if things escalate? What to do with foreign staff? What will happen if martial law is declared? What if the banking system collapses? What if the internet gets cut? “We’ve basically had to prepare a contingency plan with answers to all of these questions,” he told AFP, showing a chart on his laptop detailing different options for different scenarios.

Preply, the company co-founded by Voloshyn in 2013, bills itself as one of the main online platforms connecting language students to teachers across the world. It employs some 400 people in Kyiv and Barcelona. With its sleek office design, plants creeping up the walls, cafe for employees, it looks like a Silicon Valley start-up and is considered one of the successes of Ukraine’s high-tech sector. But like the rest of the Ukrainian capital it is currently living a strange double life. Work is going on as normal, people are carrying on with everyday tasks, and nothing seems out of the ordinary.

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