Oleksii Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities and Territories Development, met with the ambassadors of the Group of Seven (G7) and the EU Ambassador.

He introduced the new team of the Ministry and shared the principles and priorities of its work.

The meeting was attended by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to Ukraine Carlo Formosa, Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Martin Harris, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Ukraine Gaël Veyssière, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Canada to Ukraine Sean Boyd, Permanent Representative of the German Ambassador to Ukraine Tim Prange, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of Japan to Ukraine Yuji Tokita.

During the meeting, the parties focused on decentralisation, regional policy, recovery and further cooperation of the Ministry with international partners.

“Dear colleagues, dear partners! Today is a very important day for us, because the President of Ukraine has presented the Victory Plan of Ukraine, and we are starting to discuss it with the society and international partners – all the challenges we have to overcome on the way to victory. I am also grateful for our meeting, and we have joint projects to discuss. It is important to complete everything we have started and show people the results they expect from us,” said Oleksii Kuleba.

Carlo Formosa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Italy to Ukraine, stressed that this meeting was of strategic importance, as it was important to understand the role each country would play in Ukraine’s recovery. At the same time, he stressed that transparency and accountability of projects were also important.

According to Carlo Formosa, it is necessary to keep in mind the decentralisation process when it comes to cooperation. This process is also important for the next Ukraine Recovery Conference, URC2025, to be held in Rome next summer. The conference will also discuss the involvement of the international community in Ukraine’s reconstruction, so that it can be most beneficial for the regions.

For his part, the Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine stressed that the Ministry was working to analyse the capacity of communities and increase their involvement in the submission of public investments. All projects that are being implemented or will be implemented should go through the Digital Restoration Ecosystem for Accountable Management, DREAM.

“As for the capacity of communities, we need a methodology. We need an analysis. Then we can assess the capacity of communities,” he said.

Oleksii Kuleba explained to the G7 ambassadors that due to the war, Ukraine had three types of macro-regions: the areas where active hostilities were taking place, the centre – the main logistics hub, and the part of Ukraine where the greatest economic activity should take place. Therefore, when planning assistance to these regions, it is necessary to take into account all the specifics. For example, communities located near the frontline should receive more grant aid than western communities.

EU Ambassador Katarina Mathernova stressed that the new team of the Ministry was facing a difficult task. The international community, which supports Ukraine’s reconstruction, has high expectations for cooperation. She noted that the European Union had been supporting Ukraine since the first day of the full-scale invasion and was looking forward to the initiative of the Ukrainian side in prioritising investment projects.

Martin Harris, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom, said that his country welcomed the fact that the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development was actively using DREAM. This is a positive signal. He also noted that foreign partners could see all the efforts that Ukraine was making to keep the sea corridor operational. They also welcome the desire to open the airspace and are ready to help Ukraine in this regard.

Oleksii Kuleba took the opportunity to introduce the ambassadors to the new Head of the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, Serhii Sukhomlyn.

“The first priority for me in my new position is Ukraine’s energy security and the construction of defences at energy facilities. We are currently working on third-level facilities. We plan to complete this work next year. The second area is the construction of social housing in the regions of Ukraine, and we have now completed the project documentation. This is a project that will be implemented with the help of communities.

The third area is critical infrastructure and construction of a water supply system in Mykolaiv region. We plan to complete its construction in August next year. Mykolaiv’s sewage treatment plants remain a problem, so I am taking this opportunity to ask our French partners, with whom we have a EUR 200 million agreement, to provide modular treatment systems. At the same time, we will reorganise the Agency’s work. Its work should become more transparent,” said Serhii Sukhomlyn.

Oleksii Kuleba thanked the ambassadors of the G7 countries and the EU Ambassador for the support provided by their countries to help Ukraine overcome the consequences of russian missile attacks. He stressed that the protection of Ukraine’s maritime infrastructure was an important topic on the agenda. In the past week alone, russia has carried out several attacks on seaports and ships, which poses a direct threat to global food security.