Working in Ukraine as a country under "Martial Law"

Click on pictures to enlarge!

The situation in Ukraine described in three pictures!

1st picture: War situation in Ukraine

 

2nd picture: Daily threat to Ukrainians throughout Ukraine

 

3rd picture: Problems and Challenges doing business with Ukraine

I have been to Ukraine for four weeks in March 2023 as you can see here:

• Teaching at University Lviv (LPU)
• Teaching at University Kyiv (KNUBA)

A major problem under "martial law"

A country under "martial law" is one in which military activities are taking place. The situation in such a country can quickly change from a safe situation to a life-threatening situation (within seconds due to a missile or air strike). Living conditions are unpredictable that is why foreign countries advise their citizens to leave a country that is in a state of martial law. This is the situation in Ukraine.

One problem for foreigners with the state of war is that any insurance loses its validity because the state of war is unpredictable and therefore uninsurable. Insurance policies for travel, health, accident, loss of property ... are no longer valid. Companies doing business in Ukraine suddenly face the problem of not being able to adequately insure and protect their employees, which makes any employment, business trip, business relationship or project implementation difficult or extremely risky.

However, sometimes business activities require information to be gathered locally, which is quite common in the construction industry, making business trips unavoidable. For example a design, construction or consultant company needs information about: 

• (actual) conditions on a (future) construction site
• conditions of existing soils, the shape of the terrain, materials and vegetation on the construction site
• samples for testing → soil, ground water, concrete ... (e.g. important for special foundation works) 
• possibilities to access the construction site
• standards and regulations
• existing and available infrastructure in the area of the (future) construction site (availabilty of energy, water, gas, sewage, telecommunications)
• interfering objects in the area of the construction site (transmission lines, underground cables, sewer systems, buildings on the boundary of the site)
• neighboring buildings and neighbors (e.g. due to noise and dust emission)
• conditions for travel (and accommodation)
• local and regional road conditions for heavy equiment or heavy material transports
• local material and equipment suppliers, local subcontractors
• loading and unloading capacities (e.g. at a local harbour or rail station)
• local or regional authorities
• actual situation at the construction site due to war 
• possibility to mobilize (or demobilize) a construction site

Without this (first-hand) information:

• a construction project cannot be properly designed, tendered, offered, assigned/contracted and executed.
• from reliable people with very good technical background and experiences it is extremly difficult to evaluate business opportunities, to check on and review projects or companies or to establishing business in Ukraine.

On the other hand, the state of war leads to enormous destruction of infrastructure and housing, which should be repaired or rebuilt as soon as possible to avoid migration of local people to other places. Carrying out construction work during a state of war is essential and often requires help from outside or help of foreign construction companies (e.g. by knowledge, manpower, technology, available capacities ...). This is a dilemma for any foreign company: It would like to help and do business, but it cannot send its own staff. But sometimes it is simply necesarry to see and evaluate all this information from a German perspective and not from the perspective of a Ukrainian. 

Which areas are at a special risk in Ukraine?

 

In Ukraine, all areas are at risk from constant air raids. These air raids force staff to seek bomb shelters and to stay in these shelters until the end of the air raid alert, which can take hours.

• Air raid alerta stop work, 
• results in a huge loss of work time and
• leads to stress and dissatisfaction among employees.

 

What can be done to overcome this situation? 

Researchers and universities are well connected all over the world. This network can be used to obtain reliable information from locations in Ukraine that are difficult or risky for a German company to access. I work together with Prof. Khmil from the Lviv Polytechnic National University. He is the Head of the Department of Building Constructions and Bridges.  

I have been teaching on a voluntary basis at the Lviv Polytechnic National University in March 2023 and have a network of researchers I know in Ukraine. Lviv Polytechnic National University (LPU) and Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture (KNUBA) are the two largest Universities for Construction in Ukraine and offer a wide range of expertise in all areas of construction and research.   
 

 

Possibility to gather information from Ukraine during status of „martial law“:
 

 

What are the benefits to do so?

 

You need advise or help for construction business in Ukraine?

Just contact me:

Laurenz Görres

Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Wirt.-Ing. (FH)
Business mediator
Dispute solver (certified by DGA-Bau)
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Located: Rüdesheim/Germany

 

or in Ukraine please contact:

Roman Khmil

Prof. Dr.-Ing.
Head of Department of Building Constructions and Bridges
Email: roman_hl(at)ukr.net
Located: Lviv/Ukraine

 

We can arrange the following service for you:

 

last updated: June 2023

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