*Sergiy “Doctor Hemphouse” Kovalenkov, CEO of Hempire, UA, speaks at a Canadian conference in November, 2023. Photo courtesy of Sergiy Kovalenkov*

By Elizabeth Boo Lunt

The new year, Ukrainian hemp builder Sergiy Kovalenkov posted on LinkedIn, is starting with “a new chapter” for Hempire UA, as the building that houses their office near downtown Kyiv, Ukraine was hit by a Russian rocket on January 2.

“Yesterday was the largest Russian rocket/drone attack during full-scale invasion,” he said in his post.

In an interview with HempBuild Mag, Kovalenkov said that people were killed in the building, but that Hempire had been lucky. Nobody from Hempire’s team was in the office during the early-morning attack, and their space suffered only a broken window, along with flooding and smoke damage from firefighting efforts. The rocket hit from the other side of the building, he said, and fire raged only in the upper floors.

Unfortunately, Hempire had completed renovations on the space only a year ago.

“I don’t need your donations or sympathy,” he said on LInkedIn. “Just be kind towards each other. I have seen plenty of miserable people talking lies and bad stuff about other people just in the hemp industry alone. And they are no different from people which are sending rockets into the buildings of a neighboring country.”

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Kyiv bombing attack January 2, 2024 which damaged the offices of Hempire, UA. Photo courtesy of Sergiy Kovalenkov

At the end of 2023 Kovalenkov spoke at Rebuild Ukraine, a business conference hosted by the Canada Ukraine Chamber of Commerce devoted to bringing investment to the war-torn country and to find solutions for recovery. In a November 21 panel called Modernization of Ukraine’s Infrastructure and Real Estate, Kovalenkov shared his vision of rebuilding Ukraine with hemp, noting in a LinkedIn post after the conference that construction will be a big part of recovery as “over 160 000 buildings were damaged or destroyed during the last 21 months of the full-scale invasion.”

“It was an honor for me to speak at the Rebuild Ukraine conference in Toronto, Canada,” he said in the LinkedIn post. “Big ‘thank you’ to an organizing committee from Canada Ukraine Chamber of Commerce by bringing many government officials, ambassadors , bank reps, city mayors, private business owners from both countries. All the parties were heavily networking during two days in order to establish a vision and a roadmap to fruitful collaboration, as Ukraine is facing a tough task in numerous sectors during upcoming years.”
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The message was well received by the Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine, Natalka Cmoc, who also spoke at the conference. In a November 23, 2023 article about her participation on censor.net, she was quoted as saying "Ukraine needs a lot of help, and all problems cannot be solved with state support alone. Therefore, private business has an excellent investment opportunity," The article went on to say that Cmoc expressed confidence that numerous negotiations during the conference will soon bring a tangible practical result.

Kovalenkov said that in a conversation with Cmoc at the conference she had expressed her support for his work to bring hemp building to the recovery efforts in Ukraine. He noted that Cmoc is from the “development sector” and understands sustainable initiatives.

Kyiv firefighters work to extinguish a blaze after an attack by Russian missiles in January, 2024. Photo courtesy of Sergiy Kovalenkov

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On LinkedIn, Kovalenkov said that he is working on his non profit campaign to fund building a residential building for refugees and orphans called Hemp. Ukraine. Recover. “Ukrainian people are resilient just like industrial hemp plant!” he wrote.

In his January post after the attack Kovalenkov stated: “Be grateful for what you have in your life. Because tomorrow it can be all taken away. We continue our mission making this world a greener place !

No rocket will stop us from providing this world with hemp-based solutions!”