For Ukraine, security and development are inseparable elements of national resilience: Olga Zykova

Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Olga Zykova participated online in the OECD conference “The Future of Development Cooperation: Charting Strategic Directions” held in Paris on 11–12 May, where new approaches to linking development and security amid growing global challenges were discussed. She spoke on the panel “The role of development in an intensifying security landscape.”

During her remarks, the Deputy Minister stressed that for Ukraine, security and development are not competing priorities – they are inseparable elements of national resilience.

“A country under full-scale invasion must simultaneously defend itself, maintain macroeconomic stability, provide essential public services, and lay the foundations for recovery and European integration. Without security there is no development, and without development there is no sustainable security,” Olga Zykova emphasized.

According to OECD estimates, in 2025 Ukraine was the largest recipient of official development assistance provided to a single country. The Deputy Minister noted that Ukraine is not only the largest receiver of international development assistance but also an innovator in development financing during wartime, working with partners to shape a new development architecture in which resilience financing becomes a key component of global security.

She outlined three major transformations in development financing during russia’s full-scale invasion:

1. Security and development are simultaneous, not sequential.

Ukraine demonstrates that the traditional “security first, development later” model no longer works. In modern war, these processes must happen in parallel: destruction of schools affects demographic resilience, attacks on energy infrastructure affect the economy, and weakened public finances affect defense capacity. Investments in development today directly strengthen state resilience, economic continuity, and battlefield endurance.

2. Development financing as a resilience tool during war.

Ukraine has transformed the use of official development assistance from post-destruction reconstruction to maintaining the functioning of the state under attack. This includes decentralised energy generation, mobile power systems during the most difficult winter under russian strikes, protection of substations, rapid municipal recovery mechanisms, and uninterrupted digital public services.

Olga Zykova emphasized that budget support from international partners has become a critical security instrument. It has enabled Ukraine to continue paying pensions and salaries to teachers and medical workers, keep hospitals and municipalities operating, and maintain macroeconomic stability. Since February 2022, international partners have provided over USD 175 billion in direct budget support.

3. Reforms and governance during wartime.

Despite the war, Ukraine continues structural reforms in public finance, anti-corruption policy, digitalisation, tax and customs modernisation, and EU integration. International financial tools have been adapted to wartime realities, including rapid disbursement mechanisms, guarantees, war-risk insurance, direct budget support, and new coordination models between international financial institutions in a challenging security environment.

The Deputy Minister also stressed the need to develop sustainable international mechanisms linking accountability for russia’s aggression with financing Ukraine’s recovery and development – an integral component of wartime resilience. Using frozen russian sovereign assets for defense, reconstruction, development, and compensation is a practical and fair solution that should receive further support at the G7 and EU levels.

“Given the unjustified nature of the invasion and the scale of the damage, directing frozen russian assets to support Ukraine will strengthen its resilience, serve as a shield for Europe, and send a powerful signal of unity and accountability,” Olga Zykova said.

According to the fifth Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (RDNA5), Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction needs over the next decade amount to nearly USD 588 billion.