Estonian entrepreneur Ragnar Sass, who founded the international startup community LIFT99, has assessed the damage from the Russian missile attack that damaged the LIFT99 Kyiv Hub coworking space in late August. When will the space reopen?
Estonian entrepreneur Ragnar Sass, who founded the international startup community LIFT99, has assessed the damage from the Russian missile attack that damaged the LIFT99 Kyiv Hub coworking space in late August. When will the space reopen?
The combined Russian missile attack that hit LIFT99 Kyiv Hub took place on the night of August 28. It reportedly killed 14 citizens in Kyiv alone, and injured 38 others.
The explosion near the LIFT99 building shattered windows, damaged furniture and equipment. The company’s founder, Artem Borodatyuk, reported on his Instagram page that the office of Ukrainian IT company FRACTAL, located in the LIFT99 co-working space near the Olimpiyska metro station, was damaged .
Estonian entrepreneur Ragnar Sass, co-founder of the European Darkstar Foundation and the LIFT99 community, told DOU that the losses of LIFT99 Kyiv Hub are estimated at about 250,000 euros.
According to him, the space used glass partitions instead of concrete ones, and they were the ones that suffered the most. Due to their shortage, the replacement will take two months.
«LIFT99 will definitely resume operations, but it will take time. We expect to open the doors to the Ukrainian startup community in November 2025,» Saas said.
Ragnar Sass previously visited Kyiv, where he attended Future Army Bootcamp 4 and spoke with Ukrainian combat units. He believes that lasers could reduce the cost of intercepting drones by 100 times, but it will take about a year for such a product to appear.
