Ukraine tends to talk about reconstruction in the language of grants and loans. Entrepreneur and international trade expert Seyar Kurshutov argues that the real foundation of the postwar economy will be laid not by aid, but by the country’s own exports.
The conversation about rebuilding Ukraine, according to Seyar Kurshutov, too often starts from the wrong end. “We are used to counting how much we will be given, and far more rarely ask how much we can sell ourselves,” says the entrepreneur and investor, who has spent years working in international trade and customs regulation. The second question, he is convinced, matters more than the first.
Seyar Kurshutov does not downplay the help of partners, but he gives it a clear place. “Aid is critically needed, but by its nature it is scaffolding, not a foundation,” he explains. Scaffolding holds a building up while it is being built and is eventually taken down, whereas the foundation of an economy remains what a country produces and sells to the world. Exports bring in hard currency, support the hryvnia, fill the budget and provide jobs for millions, and entire regions, from the agricultural south to the metallurgical east, rest on them. His conclusion is blunt: an economy that lives on grants stays dependent, while an economy that exports becomes self-reliant.
Seyar Kurshutov does not gloss over the scale of the losses. Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine sold around 68 billion dollars’ worth of goods abroad each year; in 2025, exports came to about 42 billion. He calls the gap of more than twenty billion the true cost of the war for the economy: blockaded ports, destroyed plants, lost capacity. Yet the main point, he stresses, is not the figure itself but the direction of travel, because despite the war, exports in 2025 did not fall but grew by roughly 5%.
Join The European Business Briefing
New subscribers this quarter are entered into a draw to win a Rolex Submariner. Join 40,000+ founders, investors and executives who read EBM every day.
That is why the expert Seyar Kurshutov urges treating exports not as one sector among many, but as the basis of the entire recovery. Roads, bridges and factories can be built with someone else’s money, he notes, but only an economy that sells something to the world can maintain them and repay its debts. “Ukraine will rebuild not when the world pities it, but when the world starts buying from it,” the expert concludes.
Seyar Kurshutov is a Ukrainian entrepreneur, investor and expert in international trade, import-export and customs regulation, of Crimean Tatar origin. A patron and a consistent supporter of Ukraine, he systematically backs the country’s Defence Forces and volunteer funds.
