“The cemetery is the only thing that unites our country today.”

When I first read this line from a recent interview with Minister for Communities Development Kuleba, it truly struck me. Yesterday, several respected people sent it to me on Facebook, and I couldn’t ignore it. Because I do not believe that this is the only thing capable of uniting us.

A few years ago, I worked with one of the most influential financial families in France. Their name is known worldwide. They had a chief legal officer — a man of cold reason and absolute clarity.

He often repeated one phrase: “I always begin any serious undertaking at the cemetery. Everything becomes clear there immediately.”

At the time, it sounded cynical and incomprehensible to me.Today I understand: it was a method. A cemetery is the place where illusions disappear. Titles, status, positions, and schemes do not work there.

Only one question remains: What truly mattered, and what turned out to be empty?

Today, Ukraine as a nation has begun precisely from this place — from the cemetery. Not because we wanted to. Not because we chose this path. But because there was no other choice. We began with the pain of loss and with names carved into stone. But we have no right to stay there.

I recently rewatched the documentary “2000 Meters to Andriivka” by Mstyslav Chernov. And I realized: Kuleba’s phrase is not a metaphor. It is an exact description of our reality. This is not a film about war. These are the voices of people whose lives remain forever on those two thousand meters of forest belt — on the road to the small Ukrainian village of Andriivka in the Donetsk region, almost erased from the face of the earth.

For those of us living in relatively safe regions, it is almost impossible to fully internalize this reality.It exists alongside us in time, but as if in a different dimension. We know about it. We empathize. But we do not always truly comprehend it.

That is why these voices matter so much. From them emerges a very simple and very bitter thought:the state they defended, and continue to defend at the cost of their health and lives — is obliged to become better than it is today.

Put bluntly: what kind of country is worth dying for?If after this war we rebuild the same system, with the same rules, the same inequality and hopelessness — then what was all this for?

Otherwise, all their wounds, blood, and gazes from the crosseswill turn into a silent accusation, about the price paid,and about the true value of their sacrifice.

We have no right to waste a single second of time or a single opportunity paid for at the highest possible cost.

One of the film’s heroes says that war is a chance to start from “zero.” It is a terrifying paradox. Because war generates new meanings. A new mentality. Energy for decisions postponed for decades. But this “zero” must become the starting point of a new Ukrainian history — not another cycle of pain.

To change this reality, we as a nation must develop a shared vision of the future. Without a common dream, a country is not built — it merely survives. And people just get by.

After my previous post, many influential people in Ukraine with significant resources tried to reach out to me. Some wrote directly. Others through Europeans, intermediaries, third hands — “please tell her we wouldn’t mind meeting Anna.”

And all of them asked the same question, phrased differently:“Is Anna Bon a threat to the political course? To ‘business’?”

I’ll answer everyone at once. I am not going to redistribute existing capital, seize factories or “steamships,” or enter someone else’s schemes.

THAT IS ALREADY THE CEMETERY.

I want to build a new world in Ukraine. A new economy. Something that has never existed here before. And perhaps that is why I seem strange within the Ukrainian political reality.

I am trying to understand why this causes so much fear.Because I understood it clearly in London. In Washington. In California. In Brussels.

Perhaps someone is simply afraid that I will do to them what they once did to others? But I don’t need that. All my life, I have been building — creating new opportunities for everyone.

Previously, big business in Ukraine was built like this:

• access to resources

• proximity to power

• closed clubs

• political protection

• manual control

• “we’ll make a deal”

• profits for a narrow circle

That is the past. I’ll repeat it: the world has changed.And Ukraine will either change with it — or remain on the sidelines.

The new economy works differently:

• value is created by intellect and technology

• profits come from the market, not rent

• business is protected by scale, not connections

• “scary” words appear: cybersecurity, AI, data centers

• the country grows rich together with its people — not at their expense

These are not scary terms or fantasies. This is where new money is created — not old money redistributed.

So why is it that when you speak the language of numbers, economics, and common sense, you are immediately labeled as belonging to some party or oligarch?

More than 2,000,000 Ukrainians read my previous post. Roughly every tenth adult Ukrainian. Not because it contained politics or beautiful promises.

But because it contained hope and meaning.

That is why a conversation about the economy is not just about money. It is a conversation about meaning.

Everyone knows the old economic model:the state borrows, businesses borrow, people pay, everyone is in debt, everyone is afraid, everyone survives.

A loan is money given under fear. Under collateral. Under the obligation to return more than you took — even if it didn’t work out.Sometimes, yes, loans are necessary. But the future is not built on debt. In many countries, lending is restricted or even prohibited by law or religion.

Investment is different. It is about trust. About investing in growth, not in extracting the last drop. If it works — everyone wins. If it doesn’t — the risk is shared.

That is how a country’s new economy must be built:First — energy. Without it, there are no factories, technologies, or jobs.Then — infrastructure that works for decades.Then — technology and data. Because the world already lives not only by hands, but by minds.And only then does money arrive. Because money always flows where there is order — not chaos.

The economy must not be against people. It must work for them.

One more fact. Despite the massive resonance of my last post, not a single major Ukrainian media outlet wrote about me. Zero. (Which, by the way, makes it easy to verify whether “oligarchs stand behind me.”)

Why the silence? Fear. That’s understandable.But instead, I received strong internal support from ordinary people — from you:soldiers, experts, entrepreneurs, engineers, economists, politicians, scientists — and many others who understand that the old model is dead.

Because when people have money, they gain dignity and confidence. And with that — respect in the world. I answer your support with the same commitment.

People want a plan and concrete steps. So I decided to explain in detail — using my own example — how exactly we will build the new economy together. I’ll think through the communication channel (because even AI doesn’t always manage to capture my thoughts fast enough to turn them into clear text).

But the essence is simple:

Energy → Data → AI → Export to Europe and the United States.

We will not take energy away from the population for AI infrastructure.We will not rely on outdated grids.We will not beg for subsidies for the sake of reports.

We will build new autonomous generation for AI loads:

• new hydropower where it is economically justified

• renewables in safe regions

• geothermal resources (Carpathians, Zakarpattia)

• our own energy storage systems

• autonomous energy clusters for data centers and AI

This is how real billion-dollar companies of the 21st century are built. Not on schemes, but on infrastructure that will operate for 20–30 years.

This has never existed in Ukraine. And yes, it creates tension within old structures.But I am always for cooperation — because what I am doing creates political opportunities for Ukraine globally. I am against corruption. And most of all, I cannot stand inefficiency.

There is one more idea many “experts” seem to dislike. I want ordinary Ukrainians — these extraordinary people, women and men who lost husbands, children, parents — to have a stake in the new economy.

Not only jobs and salaries, but profits, ownership, participation. I have already tasked analysts and lawyers with preparing a lawful mechanism within Ukrainian legislation to make this possible.

And you know what people write to me?“If we own a share of the profit, we will fight for this cause to the end.”

That is absolutely right. When a person owns part of the result, they protect it. This is, by the way, the best protection for business. In the past, businesses were protected by parliamentary mandates. I believe the future lies in a different approach.

This is one of the few real ways to avoid a post-war crisis, when more than a million people will have weapons, and instead of fair pay they will be offered “a thousand hryvnias and buckwheat.”

I want world-class companies to emerge in Ukraine — companies admired not because of their owners’ names, but because of their results. And I want to show, by my own example, how this can work in business. And if it works — help scale this approach across the entire economy and the lives of Ukrainians.

Why do I believe in this so strongly? Because people’s reaction showed the most important thing: Ukrainians are ready for the economy of the future.

People may not know the terminology. But they feel perfectly where the truth is. And the truth is this: without a strong economy, there will be no strong country. Without technology, we will always be catching up.

Without major projects, we will remain in the role of those who ask.Ukraine has already proven to the world that it can defend itself. Now we must prove that we can build — and think in terms of the future. Not tomorrow. Not “after the war.” Now.

An economic miracle does not happen by itself.It is created by people.

If we began at the cemetery, we are obliged to arrive at prosperity. Let those two thousand meters to Andriivka become not only a distance of eternal memory, but also a distance of moral maturation of the nation.

I believe Ukraine has everything needed for this.

Ahead of me is the Economic Forum in Davos, and difficult conversations with major players in the United States.

And one more thing: I read every comment. Even critical ones — if they are constructive.So write what you think. Tag those you consider intelligent, strategic thinkers, experts, entrepreneurs — those for whom this matters and who are ready to support Ukraine. I am confident that these very approaches will become Ukraine’s economic miracle.

We can still choose what will unite us next.Let it not be the cemetery, but bold, ambitious economic projects.

The only question is this: Are we ready to stop fearing the new and start creating our own future?

I am ready. Are you?

Anna Bon. January 8, 2026 https://www.facebook.com/bondarenko.ak/