Timofey Milovanov was at a conference in San Francisco last February, when flights to Kyiv. During his work in the Board of the Central Bank of Ukraine (2016-2019) Minister of Economy, Agriculture and Trade (August 2019 to March 2020) he taught for two years at the University of Pittsburgh.

Such as indicated in “K”, via Skype, on the day of Joe Biden’s visit, then decided “without thinking twice” to return to the road. He left the US on Sunday the 20th and arrived in Kyiv two days later. “It was the last flight from Munich. It was full of my friends. I felt like everyone was coming home.” A year later, does he think it was the right decision? “Yes, of course. It was one of the most important decisions in my life.”

How did the President of the United States feel in his city? “The fact that he took the risk of coming, regardless of the circumstances, is a clear signal of support,” he replies. “But it’s also a very symbolic visit,” which will take place during the week of the anniversary of the invasion, when Putin is expected to lash out again at Ukraine, rhetorically and operationally.

Mylovanov was the man who put the Kyiv School of Economics on its feet when he became the institution’s president in 2016. “Since 2014 the revolution [του Μαϊντάν] and the annexation of Crimea, by 2016 the School was in a state of virtual bankruptcy: it could not pay salaries, not pay rent, etc. Then we learned that you should be ready to use any opportunity that presents itself.

Three phases of the war

These lessons were invaluable in his new term as faculty president, which officially began in April. “We went through three stages,” says the 47-year-old economist. “The first was the immediate threat that we were concerned about the safety of members of the university community – some students and staff were even temporarily under Russian occupation, which was terrible, although everyone survived. Also, many students and staff were drafted into the army, went to fight, and some were killed. This is a heavy burden for us. More than 7% of students died in one of the school’s entrepreneurship programs.”

The second phase, he says, was the return to (new) normality phase. Online classes for schoolchildren started on March 16. The school’s experts helped the government on the third day of the war, he recalled, with proposals for a set of sanctions against Russia and assessments of the damage caused by the Russian attack. “And we started raising money almost immediately. To date, we have raised $40 million – for militants and for humanitarian causes, including the construction of shelters in schools across the country.”

The third phase began in the summer, “with the realization that the war would continue.” According to him, the university has restructured the curriculum and introduced such subjects as crisis management, wartime leadership, and so on. In addition, “we have established approximately 60 partnerships with international universities, ten of which are active, and we offer dual degree programs and dual degrees… We are very active and ready to respond to new needs.”

According to preliminary data, Ukraine’s economy shrank by 30% last year. How long does it take? And what else can the international community do to help? “The economy this year will have zero growth, maybe slightly positive. “Foreign aid is important to maintain macroeconomic stability, but even if it is cut, we will continue to fight because we are fighting for our survival.” He emphasizes that the main support his country needs is military: “We need weapons to return the occupied territories and end the war. The West gives us what we need, but always with some delay [χρησιμοποιεί την αμερικανική φράση «a day late and a buck short»]”.

Fight against corruption

Regarding the issue of fighting corruption, in which the authorities have been particularly active in recent weeks, he notes: “Ukraine is a democracy, which means that politicians will respond to what the people want. People understand that any form of corruption directly undermines our ability to defend ourselves. So there is zero tolerance for corruption in public opinion, and politicians react to it.”