Ministry for Communities and Territories Development: The 4th International Summit of Cities and Regions held under the motto “Partnership. Resilience. Preparedness”

The 4th International Summit of Cities and Regions took place in Kyiv under the slogan “Partnership. Resilience. Preparedness.” This is the main event with international partners ahead of URC-2026 in Gdańsk, coordinated by the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine.

The event brought together over 500 participants: 150 foreign guests, including 19 mayors of partner cities and heads of partner regions, as well as over 200 representatives of Ukrainian communities and regions.
Representing the Government and state leadership, the event was attended by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Budanov, and Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko. Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine Oleksii Kuleba also took part in the Summit.

Among the foreign guests were present Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Minister of Funds and Regional Policy of Poland; Mathieu Mori, Secretary General of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe; Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the democratic forces of Belarus; and the mayors of Gdańsk, Le Havre, Budapest, Tallinn, and others.

As part of the Summit, a panel discussion titled “Resilience of Life Support Systems: From Emergency Response to Systemic Transformation” was held, featuring a presentation by Oleksii Kuleba and moderated by First Deputy Minister Aliona Shkrum.

“What Ukraine is building today is a new model, an architecture of resilience that is relevant for all of Europe. Today, Ukraine is sui generis. Most models of post-war recovery around the world were implemented only after hostilities had ended.

We, however, are rebuilding infrastructure while under attack, carrying out reforms during the war, and modernizing the state while simultaneously defending it. We have practical experience, a systematic approach, and expertise. Ukrainians did not seek out this experience, but we have it and are ready to share it,” notes Oleksii Kuleba.
He emphasized that Ukraine is moving from an immediate response to challenges toward a systematic approach to recovery. One of the tools is comprehensive Regional Resilience Plans and strengthening the capacity and resilience of communities.

Comprehensive regional energy resilience plans call for the development of a decentralized system that will ensure the functioning of cities for decades to come, regardless of any challenges. This involves protecting critical infrastructure, developing distributed generation, and ensuring uninterrupted heat, water, and wastewater services.

More than 3,000 critical infrastructure facilities require enhanced engineering protection, and the cost of such work at the regional level alone exceeds EUR 1.7 billion. To date, the Government has already allocated more than UAH 20 billion from the State Budget, and co-financing from local communities and regions is also being secured.

Work is ongoing to expand the distributed generation network, ensure 100% backup capacity for water utilities, and implement modular solutions in heat supply. In total, the implementation of Regional Resilience Plans requires over EUR 5.4 billion in investments.

The panel discussion was also attended by Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Poland’s Minister of Funds and Regional Policy; Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, Mayor of Gdańsk; Olena Shulyak, Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee; Mayor of Le Havre Édouard Philippe, Mayor of Lviv Andriy Sadovyi, Deputy Minister President of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Mona Neubauer, and Chair of the Kharkiv Regional Council Tetiana Yegorova-Lutsenko.

Following the panel discussions, Summit participants agreed on next steps to strengthen interregional partnerships, attract foreign direct investment to communities, and coordinate efforts ahead of the next Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2026).