To escape war, Ukrainian factories move west

It's an unusual arrangement for unusual times: above a factory in Lviv, Ukraine, where Volodomyr Mysysk has moved his furniture-making business, he and his 15 employees became roommates. They have brought their children and their dogs, and share a kitchen above the machines where they spend their days reviving a business that could have been destroyed by war.

But Mr. Mysysk, 23, and his workers, who came to Lviv from the bombed city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, benefited from a spirit of solidarity and a government policy aimed at saving industries threatened by an invading Russian army and help them rebuild, piece by piece, in towns along Ukraine's western border.

This region is rapidly becoming the new economic heart of Ukraine, with more than 200 transplanted companies generating just about everything, including paint, construction materials and parts for electric vehicles.

Factories in Russian-occupied areas were embattled tossed and moved in trains and trucks, and are resurrected in the West. Manufacturers are creating jobs and looking for skilled workers. Now closer to Poland, Ukraine's gateway to Germany and Western Europe, resurgent businesses are forging ties with the European Union, which Ukraine hopes to join soon.

< figure class="img-sz-large css-1ef8w8q e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group">ImageVolodomyr Mysysk of Roomio, a furniture company."I tried not to look depressed, because I wanted to encourage everyone," he said.Credit...Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times

"The main motivation for them to come here is that they stay in Ukraine," said Andriy Moskalenko, the deputy mayor of Lviv responsible for economic affairs. "Whether they come from Kharkiv, from Kyiv, from Chernihiv, they are all us ukrainians. We have to support them," he added, "because Russ...