Oleksii Kuleba takes part in the International Transport Forum Summit in Leipzig

Oleksii Kuleba, Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine/Minister for Communities and Territories Development, has kicked off his work on the International Transport Forum (ITF) Summit in Leipzig. This annual event brings together over 60 countries and ministers responsible for transport.

On May 7, the Summit began with a high-level roundtable on supporting Ukraine’s transport system and launching a dedicated Support Fund.

“For Ukraine today, transport is not just about logistics or the economy. It is an element of national security and the state’s resilience. Ukraine is not merely recovering from the war today. We are shaping new approaches to transport resilience, logistics security, and infrastructure management amid unprecedented challenges,” noted Oleksii Kuleba.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, over 5,100 attacks have been carried out on Ukrzaliznytsia facilities, resulting in the damage or complete destruction of more than 26,000 facilities. The maritime sector has also suffered significant losses: over 900 port infrastructure facilities and 177 civilian vessels have been damaged.

In the first four months of this year alone, over 800 strikes by enemy drones on ports were recorded, which is more than ten times higher than during the same period last year.

Despite these challenges, Ukraine maintains the resilience of its logistics routes and remains a guarantor of global food security. In particular, 28 million passengers traveled by rail last year, and nearly 200 million tonnes of goods were transported through the Ukrainian Maritime Corridor, of which approximately 120 million tonnes were agricultural products.

During the Summit, partners were shown fragments of damaged train stations and locomotives so that the world could see the real consequences of russian attacks. Also on display were weapons used by russia to strike civilian logistics and transport infrastructure.

An important milestone was the launch of the Ukraine Transport Support Fund; the next step is to fund and implement the first pilot projects. These projects are intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of this mechanism, strengthen the confidence of international partners, and lay the groundwork for scaling up investments in Ukraine’s transport infrastructure. Sweden, Germany, and Norway have already announced their readiness to contribute to the Ukraine Transport Support Fund. The next step is to move on to selecting projects for funding.

Oleksii Kuleba expressed gratitude to Sweden, Canada, Lithuania, and the International Transport Forum for their leadership in the initiative and emphasized readiness to implement projects that will demonstrate rapid results in the country’s recovery.