MARIUPOL, Ukraine — Mariupol is still one of the most affected regions by Russia’s war against Ukraine. Lack of proper infrastructure actually disconnects it from other Ukrainian cities, preventing development of local business and not allowing people to conveniently travel.

Last year a delegation from the Infrastructure Ministry already visited Mariupol, a city of nearly 500,000 people located nearly 800 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. The whole trip to the city took us about eight hours. We had to fly to Dnipro first, then we took a car to drive on crumbling roads. The trip by train from Kyiv takes about 18 hours, and the Mariupol airport is closed.