The Ukrainian town of Irpin made international headlines at the outset of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion when local reservists repelled Russian forces advancing toward Kyiv. But the toll was severe for the town Ukraine has now designated a “hero city.” Hundreds of civilians were killed during Russia’s month-long occupation of Irpin, and thousands of buildings were destroyed. Among those was the main campus building of the State Tax University. Now a Bay Area organization is helping to rebuild the university, bringing design and construction ideas that it hopes will be a model for other sites. We’ll talk about the project and the multilayered challenges Ukraine faces as it seeks to rebuild while still at war.

The reporting for this episode was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Women on the Ground: Reporting from Ukraine’s Unseen Frontlines Initiative in partnership with the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.

Zhanna Bezpiatchuk, reporter, BBC Ukraine

Margie O'Driscoll, executive director, Center for Innovation

Eugene Chumakov, design and project architect, Stantec - a sustainable engineering and architecture firm

Yuriy Gorodnichenko, professor of economics, UC Berkeley

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