Ukraine’s economy seems to be growing again

ports were shut by naval threats at the start of the war, farmers were unable to ship their produce. “We were getting phone calls from Milan, crying, saying they didn’t have ingredients for their pasta,” remembers Alla Stoianova, a local official. Since are the main export route for Ukraine—the world’s second-largest exporter of cereals and third-largest exporter of vegetable oils—.The blockade was most painful for Ukrainians, however. Russia’s invasion has dealt a savage blow. Battles are raging on land that last year produced a fifth of . According to the Kyiv School of Economics, shelling has caused $10bn-worth of damage to firms. Workers have joined the fight or fled to safety. Of the 6.2m internally displaced people, a third are unemployed. The reckons will shrink by 35% this year.