What international practices should Ukraine borrow for its reconstruction?

Although Ukraine’s actual war losses are twice as high as those of some other countries following military conflicts and global cataclysms in recent decades, it can effectively use these countries’ collective recovery experience and adapt it to its realities.

At the beginning of this year, the sum of Ukraine’s losses as a result of the Russian Federation’s aggression exceeds $480B, while, for example, in the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s, the total damage from military actions amounted to about $200B. In Iraq, reconstruction after the 2003 war costs $220B. In the US, losses after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 amounted to $130B. Drawing upon these previous examples, to rebuild, Ukraine must:

1. actively involve the public and consult on real, local needs, as in Iraq
2. introduce tax preferences in the de-occupied territories, as was the case in Croatia
3. switch from disaster response to a stable management system, as was the case in the US, and is already being implemented in Ukraine within the framework of the Better Than It Was concept
4. strengthen local self-government as much as possible, as was the case in Croatia