Oleksandr Komarov, the president of the Kyivstar mobile operator, believes that even under the best scenario, Ukraine will develop like Israel, becoming a country always ready for war.

"My vision of the future is this: even in the best scenario, Ukraine will develop like Israel, becoming a country always ready for war. And this factor should be taken into account in planning. We do not invest for a year, our horizon is 7-10 years. And therefore, all these factors must be taken into account. And therefore, there is a logic to investing in Western Ukraine. But this does not mean that we will not invest in the east. We will. Moreover, if we look from the point of view of CAPEX, we will make the largest investments in the east," he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Komarov noted that in the short term, investments in the west of Ukraine are indeed safer.

However, according to him, as a telecom operator, Kyivstar is responsible for critical infrastructure: it must not only be maintained, but also returned to those territories that Ukrainian troops liberate from the invaders. In addition, the telecom infrastructure needs to be developed.

Kyivstar is the largest Ukrainian telecommunications operator. It provides communication and data transmission services based on a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 3G. By the end of 2021, its services were used by about 26.2 million mobile subscribers and about 1.2 million fixed Internet customers.

Kyivstar's shareholder is the international group VEON (formerly VimpelCom Ltd.). The group's shares are listed on the NASDAQ (New York) stock exchange.