Death came in a dream, as it often does in this war. On the night of Sunday, July 31, Mykolaiv, in southern Ukraine, suffered one of the heaviest bombardments since the beginning of the Russian invasion. Aleksey Vadatursky and his wife died on the spot when a projectile hit their home.

The bombing has long become commonplace for Nikolaev, who has been on the front lines for more than a month. Most of the inhabitants left the city, once half a million. There is no drinking water at the taps and often there is no light.

One of the pioneers of the market economy in Ukraine

Alexey Vadatursky was one of the richest Ukrainians. His fortune is estimated at around 1.5 billion euros. However, he remained in his hometown under the bombing and ran the business there. After his death, many remember Vadatursky as a hero.

“He could have had a carefree old age, like many other wealthy Ukrainians, in a village in Vienna or Geneva, and not under Russian bombs. But he was not like that: he was brave and modest”, such words are heard again and again from those who knew Vadatursky personally. He took care of seven thousand employees of his company. It is said that he could often be found in the company canteen, and this despite the fact that businessmen of his size tend to like to demonstrate their condition to others. Palaces and personal planes Vadatursky were not interested.

The 74-year-old businessman was one of the pioneers of the Ukrainian market economy after the collapse of the USSR. Vadatursky was what in business circles is called a “self made man”. He made his fortune in the grain trade. In 1991, the son of collective farmers from southern Ukraine created the company “Nibulon” together with partners from Hungary and Great Britain. 30 years later, Vadatursky’s company is one of the three largest Ukrainian grain traders, exporting 4-5 million tons of grain annually. Before his tragic death, Vadatursky personally led Nibulon in recent years, along with his son Andrey.

A brave man with a big vision and big plans

In implementing ambitious business development plans, Alexey Vadatursky was greatly facilitated by his reputation. Major institutional lenders such as the World Bank or the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars, for which the grain tycoon increasingly built elevators as well as grain terminals at ports. . But Vadatursky’s vision for developing the grain business went far beyond trade and transshipment.

The businessman began to revive shipping on the Dnieper and began building bulk carriers at the shipyard in Nikolaev to deliver grain from central Ukraine to the south for export. “He invested every euro in business development. There was no doubt that he would not withdraw money to the left to secure a beautiful life,” says a former employee of one of the western development banks who worked in Ukraine.

Vadatursky’s directness was also legendary. When, in 2011, people close to former president Viktor Yanukovych pressured him, according to the businessman, demanding that he sell control of Nibulon to one of the businessmen close to power, he reported pressure in the media and turned to Western creditors for political support. Such courage and public struggle for their own affairs under Yanukovych was an exception.

Fought for grain exports in defiance of Russian invasion

With impressive determination, Oleksiy Vadatursky fought to keep his business alive after the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, when Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea were blocked. “Nibulon” from the early days of the blockade was looking for alternative routes for the export of grain.

In April, long before the signing of an internationally brokered agreement to unblock ports, Vadatursky and his partners agreed to build grain transshipment facilities in Izmail, at the mouth of the Danube, to export raw materials to Central European countries or to the Romanian port of Constanta on the Black Sea.

The businessman, however, was never destined to live to see the day when Ukrainian grain was once again exported by sea.

Many in Kyiv consider Aleksey Vadatursky’s death to be the result of a Russian-directed attack. Ukraine’s Attorney General also talks about premeditated murder as one of the versions. His death could weaken the position of Nibulon, a direct competitor to Russian grain traders in international markets.

Furthermore, the businessman, as evidenced by the exultant comments of some propagandists close to the Kremlin, seems to have been a bone in the throat of those in power in Moscow. In February 2021, Nibulon signed a preliminary contract with the French shipbuilding company OCEA. According to the contract, patrol boats for Ukrainian border guards on the Black Sea are to be built at the shipyard in Nikolaev.

Outside of agricultural business circles, Alexey Vadatursky was little known to the general public before his tragic death. After his death under Russian bombs on Nikolaev’s front lines, he is considered a hero in Ukraine. For many, he became an example – not just for his resistance to Russian aggression, but also as a businessman who was guided by high moral values.