A hotel in the middle of Kyiv, Ukraine, has sold amid the Russia-Ukraine war that has continued for more than two and a half years.
On Wednesday, the State Property Fund of Ukraine announced the sale of the 363-room Hotel Ukraina for 2.5 billion Ukrainian hryvnia ($60.4 million). The Kyiv Independent reported the buyer, private businessman Maksym Krippa, bid “more than twice the starting price for the hotel that had been set at 1.05 billion Ukrainian hryvnia.”
The Hotel Ukraina is located on Kyiv's Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square. The hotel has been state-owned since it was built in 1961, the newspaper added.
According to the Kyiv Independent, Krippa has “maintained a relatively low profile throughout his career — built largely on gambling, entertainment and IT — this is his second high-ticket purchase over the last year. In 2023, he purchased the Parus skyscraper in downtown Kyiv.”
The sale of the Hotel Ukraina is another step in the country’s so-called “Great Privatization,” the Kyiv Independent said, a project to sell off large state-owned assets that resumed this month, following the abandonment of any business at the state of the Russian invasion.
The Kyiv Independent quoted Vitaliy Koval, chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, who said that “in early 2024 … Hotel Ukraina is heavily under-booked due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and over $1 million in debt.”
The hotel’s homepage states that “we care about your safety. The hotel is equipped with a bomb shelter with free Wi-Fi and amenities.”