Visitors of state-owned aircraft maker Antonov are greeted by the statue of Vladimir Lenin that overlooks the factory premises in Kyiv. Apple trees and greenhouses for growing cabbages are another relic from the Soviet era here.So is the man effectively in charge of the giant aircraft maker, Dmytro Kiva, who has worked at the company since 1964.

He has held several jobs here since the early 1980s. He was Antonov’s chief designer in 1987-1991, and after a break got the same job back in 2006, before getting appointed the company’s president two years later.