Prime Minister chairs meeting to tackle rapid recovery in Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal chaired a conference call with heads of Dnipro, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regional military administrations (RMAs) to discuss the implementation of rapid recovery projects in the regions.

The Prime Minister was reported by the heads of the regional military administrations on projects to restore housing and critical infrastructure.

"At present, we already have UAH 17 billion on the special account for recovery. We are also planning to receive UAH 35.5 billion from the NBU's revenues and USD 1.5 billion from the United States by the end of the year. In addition, we have a political agreement with Ursula von der Leyen on EU assistance worth EUR 1 billion. We need to start the rapid reconstruction immediately, so we expect the relevant projects from the regions as soon as possible," emphasized Denys Shmyhal.

The Head of Government named five priorities for recovery: energy and housing, demining, critical infrastructure and business assistance.

According to Energy Minister German Galushchenko, the power supply is being promptly restored wherever possible. In addition, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions are a priority for distribution of humanitarian aid. We have already delivered 600 tonnes of various equipment to restore power grids.

The Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development reported that a mechanism for paying compensation for damaged property should be launched soon. In particular, there is an agreement with UN agencies to raise USD 50 million. In addition, the State Register of Damaged and Destroyed Property has already been launched, with the aim of collecting detailed information about damaged housing. The register will become the basis for making decisions on compensation. The Prime Minister has instructed the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development to inform all the heads of the RMAs of the procedure for filling and maintaining the register for its further use.

Denys Shmyhal also tasked the Ministry of Energy, together with the Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development, to work out the issue of financing the reconstruction of power facilities in order to systematically solve the problem of restoring generation capacity wherever possible.

The participants of the meeting also heard information from Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovych on the resumption of work of social protection departments. According to her, the Ministry of Social Policy has launched a project with UNICEF to help cover part of the salaries of social workers in the de-occupied territories.

The Ministry of Health reported that they were working closely with the European Commission on medical evacuation and had the opportunity to send civilians and soldiers for free treatment in European clinics. Unfortunately, this resource is not fully utilized. Therefore, local health departments should intensify their efforts to inform healthcare workers and patients about the possibility of treatment abroad.

The RMA leaders also reported on the status of construction of fortifications and the deployment of stabilization centers. In order to improve coordination and uninterrupted financing of the construction of defensive fortifications, the Prime Minister instructed the Deputy Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine to develop a relevant program and submit it for approval at a Government meeting as soon as possible. In addition, Denys Shmyhal urged the heads of the RMAs to prepare comprehensive needs for equipping the Invincibility Points with Starlink systems.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk, Minister of Education and Science Serhii Shkarlet, Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Oleksii Kuleba, Head of the Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development Mustafa Nayyem, representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Finance, State Emergency Service and others.