Today, with the participation of Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, a meeting was held with more than 50 top experts and representatives of expert organisations that carry out expert reviews of construction projects for compliance with the state building code.

The meeting focused on creating a barrier-free environment in Ukraine and the role of expert organisations in this process.

“The country began its movement towards barrier-free accessibility even before the full-scale invasion, and now one of the main principles of reconstruction is to create a physical barrier-free environment.

Our goal is to have 100 percent compliance of the restored infrastructure with barrier-free standards by 2024. To achieve this, we are developing and implementing new state construction standards, improving control over their compliance, and increasing liability for their violation.

To achieve these results, we need the support of the expert community. It is the experts who have the tools to monitor the compliance of designers with the requirements of barrier-free accessibility and are able to prevent violations at the early stages of project development,” commented Oleksandr Kubrakov.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, the Ministry is also continuing to implement an initiative launched before the merger of the ministries to build exemplary barrier-free spaces at Boryspil International Airport, Kyiv Central Railway Station and Kyiv Central Bus Station.

Oleksandr Kubrakov stressed that all the Ministry’s activities in the field of barrier-free accessibility were carried out in strict accordance with the National Strategy for Creating Barrier-Free Environment in Ukraine until 2030. This strategy was developed and approved as part of the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska and pursuant to a Presidential Decree.

During the meeting, experts were also provided with practical recommendations on how to implement and monitor modern standards of barrier-free accessibility, energy efficiency, civil security, and other relevant issues.