As the conflict-torn country considers a ceasefire for the first time, Oleksandr Kamyshin discusses Ukraine’s post-war future

Ed Cumming. 06 December 2024

“The story you need to write is about Ukraine 2.0,” says Oleksandr Kamyshin, President Zelensky’s new adviser on strategic affairs, raising a glass across the table. “Finally, everything is coming together.”

It is a more positive story than most from Ukraine at the moment. The day before, Vladimir Putin had launched a record aerial attack across the country, with 188 drones and missiles shot down. On the ground, Russia is making grinding progress in the east.

In Kursk, across the border in Russia, Ukraine is doggedly holding on to the pocket of land audaciously seized in summer, battling Russian and North Korean troops with the long-range Western weapons they are at last – allowed to aim into Russian territory. The re-election of Donald Trump as US President, who pledged to end the war ‘in 24 hours’, has prompted fears that he will stop US support for Ukraine.

But over dinner at a flat in Kyiv, where a Javelin rocket launcher hangs alongside the coats in the hallway, Kamyshin makes a case for optimism. He describes his job as being a kind of fire-fighter. He and the president have a meeting nearly every day, in which Zelensky gets him to focus on one area of concern or another – it could be healthcare, infrastructure, energy, munitions. With an eye on so many sectors, he presents a compelling vision of a post-ceasefire Ukraine that could be a vital part of Europe, a tooled-up, battle-hardened people who are expert at IT, making drones and getting the trains to run on time.

“Ukraine 2.0 comes with lessons for defence industries, with medicine, with emergency services, with railways,” he says. “It’s not something we wanted to be known for, but we have learned all these lessons. We are open and ready to share what we have learned.”

Tall and charismatic, with a goatee and long Cossack-style ponytail, Kamyshin, 40, has been a distinctive presence throughout the war. Kyiv-born and bred, he had a career in the private sector, first at KPMG and then as an investment manager, before he was made acting CEO of the Ukrainian railways in 2021.

After the full-scale invasion began in 2022, the Ukrzaliznytsia became known as the “Iron Railways”, a source of national pride and a lifeline, carrying refugees and casualties out of harm’s way in one direction, and aid and materiel the other, to the frontlines. At their peak, they were carrying 190,000 people per day, for free, aided by a stripped-back, military-style command structure.

They also ferried a succession of world leaders to Kyiv to meet Zelensky, defy Putin and present a united front. None did so more enthusiastically than the then-Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. “I know he has problems inside [the UK], but for us he was a hero, we loved him,” he recalls. When I interviewed Kamyshin two months after the invasion, he said the railway, along with the defiant figure of Zelensky and the surprising resilience of the army, was one of the three most positive surprises.

“[We] are the organisation that has shown it is stable, reliable and works properly,” he told me. “People trust us. They know that if they can get to the railway station, they will receive tea, food and medical care, and will be safely transported to another city where there is less shelling.”

So successful was Kamyshin at running the railways that in February 2023 Zelensky promoted him to an even more vital role, as Minister for Strategic Industries, responsible for scaling up ammunition production. Like Lord Beaverbrook during the Second World War, who brought his experience as a media baron to bear on producing fighter aircraft, Kamyshin used his experience in the private sector and running the railways to ramp up production of drones, shells and other weaponry.

In scaling up its domestic operations, Ukraine could end its reliance on foreign munitions and create a vital new industry. By 2023, production had tripled on its pre-war levels, by the end of this year, sixfold. As well as increasing production of traditional munitions, under Kamyshin’s leadership Ukraine has developed its own long-range cruise missile system, Palianytsia, which has entered mass production.

“That’s a genuine Ukrainian product. It’s something you’re going to need in Australia, UK, Japan,” he says. “Because one day, China will take over Taiwan. North Korea will try to take over South Korea. I was stupid enough to believe that the Russians would get lost. We would be keen to share what we have learned.”

The other guests at dinner encourage faith in his vision of a bright, energetic, innovative country bristling to help do the jobs Europe hates. By chance many of the men are called Oleksandr (Sasha). There is Oleksandr Pertovskyi, the new railways boss. Like Kamyshin, he came to his wartime job from a private sector gig, working for the logistics company DHL in Singapore. “Once we have finished fighting we will come and sort out your problems with the ‘wrong kind of snow’ and ‘leaves on the line’”, he jokes.

Most impressive of all is Serhii Volynskyi, a polite and charming 32-year-old, the pistol tucked into his jeans the only hint at his career. He joined the military at 15; at the outbreak of war he was stationed in Mariupol. On April 12 2022, he led 500 soldiers out of the Illich steel plant there to join their comrades at the next door Azovstal works. As they desperately held out, Volynskyi issued videos to the outside world pleading for the evacuation of civilians and the wounded. After they eventually surrendered, Volynskyi was held as a POW for four months before being released in a prisoner exchange. On his return to Kyiv, Zelensky appointed him a Hero of Ukraine, the country’s highest decoration.

“Nobody in the UK comes close to him,” says Kamyshin, of Volynskyi. “He has spent 17 years fighting; 10 years of active fighting. He is a military talent, who can train and instruct other military people all over the world.”

“I don’t think the bravado that some officers claim because they went through certain experiences is honourable or commendable,” Volynskyi says. “I think the future leaders of Ukraine should exhibit more humility, rather than bravado, so that’s what I’m trying to do.” Today he is working with veterans, helping to secure better treatment and job prospects for them.

Shortly after we speak, President Zelensky will give an interview in which he suggests for the first time the possibility of a ceasefire that could cede “temporary” control of parts of Ukraine in exchange for a pathway to NATO protection. The Trump presidency looms large.

“Everyone expects the US will step down,” says Kamyshin. “But [Trump] is a deals guy. He wants to make a deal. My president is a deals guy as well. They will make a deal.”

Even war heroes and military leaders have to abide by the curfew. With perfect timing, the air raid siren sounds as the party files out into the freezing Kyiv night. If Ukraine 2.0 is to become a reality, there is plenty of fighting ahead.