Address by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at a session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

Distinguished Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada!

Honourable Members of Parliament!

Colleagues, friends, fellow Ukrainians!

I would like to start my address with a simple and sincere phrase: “Thank you”.

I thank our soldiers. To all Ukrainian men and women who are defending the frontline and risking their lives to protect Ukraine.

Your strength, your courage, your resilience is what keeps our country alive. Your heroism allows me to speak from this rostrum today. Thank you!

I am grateful to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. I am grateful for his trust, for our joint work, for his leadership and for the unity that has been and remains our greatest strength.

I am grateful to the team of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. I thank every employee, everyone who has been working in wartime mode, without holidays, without days off.

I am grateful to the heads of ministries and departments who adopted the most difficult decisions.

I am grateful to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, respected Speaker, I am grateful to all MPs, and I am grateful to the Servant of the People coalition.

I am grateful for all the laws that were adopted quickly and on time. I am grateful for the dialogue, discussions, and constructive criticism that served to improve our work. I am grateful to the opposition.

I am grateful to the Office of the President of Ukraine and all state institutions with which we were working as a team. This is the only way we could preserve the state in the most challenging times. It was indeed the greatest synergy of the Ukrainian authorities since our independence.

I am grateful to the Ukrainian businesses that have withstood, recovered, developed, preserved and created jobs, and continue to believe in Ukraine.

I am grateful for every hryvnia of taxes paid. This is the resource that helped us to deter the aggressor and give them a proper response.

I am grateful to our international partners. For their military, financial, humanitarian and sanctions support. We have formed a strong coalition of states and international institutions fighting for a just peace and global security.

***

These five years have been the most turbulent in our modern history.

We have survived, weathered the storms of the most severe crises, adapted and laid the foundation for future growth.

We started during the pandemic, which had been a real shock for Ukraine and the entire world. We responded to this challenge with dignity, preserving the health and lives of our people.

The outbreak of a full-scale war was the second big shock.

Thanks to the courage and heroism of Ukrainians, thanks to the leadership of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, thanks to the solidarity of the free world, thanks to the right management decisions, thanks to our unity, we have deterred the enemy and created a system of effective military resistance.

We put the defence forces in the first place. There is no Ukraine without a strong army. Every hryvnia of domestic resources was allocated for defence needs and the army was provided with everything it needed.

We have created a modern defence industry where the most advanced weapons are being tested. Ukraine's defence industry grew 35 times during the full-scale invasion.

Today, Ukraine is one of the world leaders in the production of drones.

We have launched dozens of joint arms production facilities with partners, attracted private capital to the defence sector, and launched the Danish model of financing our defence industry.

No matter how tough the security challenges were, we used to fulfil all the state's social obligations to people.

We paid pensions, all social benefits and subsidies on time and in full.

We carried out six pension indexations. We created new social services and launched comprehensive support programmes for families, children, internally displaced persons and veterans.

Together, we created a system for responding to large-scale crises from scratch. Back in 2020, the state's management capacity to respond to major shocks was minimal. Today, Ukraine is an example of institutional resilience.

Even during the coronavirus pandemic crisis, the Government had introduced targeted payments, such as ePidtrymka. Then, during the full-scale war, we scaled up this programme and helped millions of our people.

We maintained macro-financial stability. In the first days of the invasion, we consolidated the international financial coalition, thanks to which we have attracted more than USD 137 billion in budget support over the years.

We are the first country in the world to not only launch an IMF programme during the war, but also to undergo eight revisions of the programme.

We are making russia pay: the frozen assets of the aggressor are already working for Ukraine, and the mechanism for their full confiscation is a task for the near future.

We have preserved and protected the Ukrainian energy sector. We have withstood hundreds of massive attacks on critical infrastructure. We have gone through three heating seasons under constant enemy shelling. And we have rebuilt much of what was damaged and destroyed.

We have joined the EU energy community and synchronised our system with the European network. This happened in the first days of the full-scale invasion.

We are proud that during this time Ukraine has finally got rid of its dependence on russian energy resources. Electricity, oil products, gas, nuclear fuel.

In terms of European integration, Ukraine has made a historic leap from applying for EU membership to opening pre-accession negotiations.

We have already fulfilled more than 80% of our obligations under the Association Agreement, adopted hundreds of European integration acts, and received seven so-called ‘visa-free regimes’.

Thanks to this work, Ukraine not only has a chance, but also a clear route and a realistic prospect of becoming a member of the European Union in the near future.

We have made Ukraine a digital state. Diia is not just an application, it is a manifestation of a new philosophy of relations between the state and the citizen. Up to 30 services in a smartphone and more than 130 services on the portal.

From being outsiders, we have become leaders in digitalisation and are among the world's top five digital avant-garde.

We have digitised the following services: eMaliatko, eOselia, ePidtrymka, eVidnovlennia, eEntrepreneur and many others. We started digitalising the army - Reserve+, Army+, Veteran PRO. We have transferred the management process to digital.

In the face of the pandemic and then a severe full-scale war, we have managed to preserve the economy.

Ukraine launched a business credit support programme that has never existed since our independence. Under this programme, 5-7-9, we have already issued concessional loans worth over UAH 413 billion.

The Government's eRobota programme of non-refundable grants has helped to create almost 30,000 new businesses.

Business deregulation has been systematically pursued, and more than 2,000 regulatory acts in various areas have been cancelled.

With government support, farmers have conducted 4 sowing campaigns and are now in the process of harvesting the fourth Ukrainian yield. Despite the war, Ukraine continues to feed more than 400 million people around the world.

We have initiated rapid reconstruction. We have restored thousands of critical infrastructure facilities, hospitals, schools and residential buildings.

Through the eVidnovlennia programme, we have already contributed to helping more than 115,000 Ukrainian families rebuild their homes or get new ones to replace the ones they lost.

We have started humanitarian demining and have already returned tens of thousands of square kilometres of Ukrainian land to use. The area of potentially mined land has decreased by 20% since the start of the full-scale war.

We have embarked on a new veterans' policy. This includes the work of veterans' support specialists, support for veteran-owned businesses, provision of housing for defenders, and effective physical and psychological rehabilitation.

We have ensured the continuity of the educational process. Both during the pandemic and during the full-scale war.

The state has invested additional resources in creating school shelters and underground schools, renovating classrooms, purchasing school buses, and providing grants for higher education.

Healthcare has always been a priority for our Government.

The Medical Guarantee Programme has been fully launched, the Affordable Medicines Programme has been expanded to a record level, the rehabilitation component of healthcare has been developed and its capacity has tripled.

We have eliminated the MSEC (Medical and Social Expert Commission - ed.) and created a new efficient system with almost 1,500 expert teams.

We care about the people who will rebuild and develop Ukraine.

***

Dear Members of the Verkhovna Rada!

We are handing over a country with the preserved financial stability, a sufficient resource base and 100% compliance with all obligations.

As of this morning, the Unified Treasury Account stands at UAH 340 billion.

As of this morning, Ukraine's gold and foreign exchange reserves are at a record high of over USD 45 billion.

As of today, we have no social payment arrears and have never had any. Social payments, pensions, and subsidies have always been delivered on time. And even in the first months of the full-scale invasion, we paid pensions in advance to support people.

We have agreements to raise USD 39 billion from our partners this year to cover the budget deficit. The current year is financially secure. We understand how to plan the next financial year.

As of 15 July, the state has transferred over UAH 113 billion to local budgets.

As of today, security and defence are 100% funded.

All the state budget revenues from our taxes are directed to our defence capability.

Inflation in the country is currently under control with a downward trend - 14.3% in June.

***

Distinguished colleagues!

Our team came to the Cabinet of Ministers with one mission - to serve Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

We have been doing our best for that. We have been working steadily, methodically, without days off and holidays.

Making Ukraine a stronger, more successful, European state was not only a managerial task, but also our personal objective.

Thank you for your partnership. Thank you for the synergy at this historic time.

And, most importantly, thank you for your trust. We thank the Parliament, the President, Ukrainian citizens, and Ukraine. Thank you to everyone who protects, rescues, treats, educates, pays taxes, preserves jobs, and to everyone who works tirelessly and persistently for our future victory, for the sake of Ukraine.

We believe in Ukraine and will always serve the Ukrainian people.

Glory to Ukraine!