Dear colleagues, fellow Ukrainians,

Today we are holding the first Government meeting in 2025.

We are working to make this year a year of just peace.

We are working to ensure that Ukraine withstands and continues its recovery.

Today, I will announce the main government priorities and directions in which we will move forward in 2025.

First of all, it is the defence and security of our country.

We have a record budget to provide for our army and strengthen the defence industry.

A total of UAH 2 trillion 230 billion has been allocated for defence and security. Every hryvnia of taxpayers’ money from the state budget will be used for these purposes again.

Spending on weapons and military equipment will amount to at least UAH 739 billion. Domestic defence companies plan to increase their existing production capacities by up to USD 30 billion.

As part of the Weapons of Victory project, we will launch long-term contracts with manufacturers for 3-5 years.

We will pay special attention to the long-range component and the missile programme. The task from the President of Ukraine is to produce at least 30,000 long-range drones. Ukrainian enterprises also plan to produce about 3,000 cruise missiles and drone-missiles.

We will develop the Danish model, whereby partners buy weapons from the Ukrainian defence industry for the needs of the Ukrainian army. By 2025, we expect to raise more than USD 1 billion.

In the security sector, we will also pay special attention to the development of a shelter system based on the Finnish model. This is a public-private partnership that involves a large network of reliable shelters. In peacetime, these shelters will serve different purposes.

Our second priority is financial sustainability.

We have a clear understanding of how we are going to get through this year in terms of finances. We will cover all priority expenditures: pensions, salaries and social support.

This year, we expect to receive funds from the EU under the Ukraine Facility, as well as from the IMF under our joint programme. In addition, the G7 countries and the EU will provide Ukraine with USD 50 billion, which will be secured by frozen russian assets.

Our goal this year is to develop and approve a mechanism for the full confiscation of frozen russian assets in favour of Ukraine. These funds should become the basis for financing Ukraine’s recovery and resilience.

Energy remains one of the biggest challenges for this year.

Two key tasks for this year are the restoration and protection of energy facilities.

At the same time, we will continue to develop distributed generation and build infrastructure to enable us to import more electricity from Europe.

The Ukrainian gas transmission system now operates without transit of russian gas, and it is important to implement a new model of its operation this year. We will pay special attention to the development of the concept “Ukraine is Europe’s gas safe”.

The fourth priority is social support.

This year, the Government plans to launch a new social policy reform.

In March, pensions will be indexed to support our pensioners. We are also planning to adopt legislation on a funded pension system to launch it next year.

We will implement a project of basic social assistance. Instead of multiple different payments for families in difficult life circumstances, we will introduce a single, but substantial payment.

The fifth priority of the Government this year is veterans’ policy.

Rehabilitation. Treatment. Education. Employment. Housing. Business. Respect. These are all components of the new veterans’ policy that we will actively develop and implement.

Separately, in 2025, we plan to launch the first veterans’ spaces at the district level. We will continue to increase the number of veterans’ support specialists to help them adapt and receive the necessary services.

In the area of healthcare, we will launch individual examination and treatment plans for veterans, screening for chronic diseases, and expanding psychological support.

We will also start launching veterans’ care offices, and outpatient rehabilitation units for veterans should appear in every community where there is a medical facility.

The Ministry for Veterans Affairs has identified the construction of the National Military Memorial Cemetery as one of its priorities. This year, it should be opened for the burial of fallen heroes.

The sixth priority is education and medicine.

This year will see the largest expansion of the Affordable Medicines programme. We will allocate a record budget of UAH 6.6 billion for this purpose. 30 new active substances will be added, which will help 500,000 additional Ukrainians to significantly reduce their treatment costs.

We also plan to build and fully renovate 15 key medical facilities worth over UAH 2.6 billion. The selected projects include the Kovcheh underground hospital, cancer and rehabilitation centres. Separately, the Ministry of Health has been tasked with restoring Okhmatdyt.

In the education sector, we will continue to implement the School Offline policy.

We are allocating over UAH 6 billion for school shelters. Nearly UAH 1 billion will be spent on the modernisation of school kitchens and canteens. UAH 1.6 billion will be allocated for the purchase of Ukrainian-made school buses. UAH 2.8 billion will be allocated for free hot meals for primary school students.

Such significant amounts demonstrate the importance of modernising education for us, which also includes continuing the New Ukrainian School reform and launching a high school pilot.

We will also work to ensure that every region has a military or military-patriotic lyceum.

In the higher education sector, we will continue the grant programme for students and need to enshrine all this in the relevant legislative framework.

The seventh priority is recovery.

We are launching a completely new approach to public capital investment.

Over UAH 200 billion will be allocated to the state’s highest priority projects, all of which have been assessed based on their economic feasibility and technical readiness for implementation.

We will continue the eVidnovlennia programme. We will increase its funding with the proceeds from the use of russian confiscated frozen assets.

We are also continuing the eOselia affordable mortgage programme. Just this week, we decided to allocate additional UAH 20 billion for its financing.

One of the priority recovery projects this year is to complete the construction of water intakes and main water pipelines to supply water to the city of Mykolaiv. We have allocated UAH 8 billion for this purpose.

Humanitarian demining also remains an important recovery project. We will simultaneously increase the number of private operators and strengthen the capacity of our government units, including the development of the Underwater Demining Centre.

Reconstruction involves not just rebuilding what has been destroyed, but also a new quality of infrastructure. That is why we will continue to modernise checkpoints on the border with our European neighbours.

Customs reform should also be a separate priority. We are preparing many changes at all levels.

The eighth priority of the Government is the adaptive economy and business support.

The key economic philosophy of the Government is the Made in Ukraine programme, which will receive the bulk of state support.

We will actively develop deep processing to increase exports of value-added products.

We are also planning to launch new instruments to attract investment and insure against risks caused by the war.

The Government’s ninth priority is digitalisation.

More protection, more new digital projects, more documents and services in Diia.

This year we plan to launch the Single Platform for Housing and Utility Services. We will improve control over the quality of services and create an effective tool for interaction between consumers, suppliers and the state.

The tenth is Ukraine’s European path.

We must complete the process of screening Ukrainian legislation for compliance with EU law. In the near future, we plan to open negotiations on negotiating clusters.

At the same time, we will deepen our sectoral integration with the European Union and gradually integrate into the EU internal market.

We must do everything possible to extend and permanently consolidate the “economic” and “transport” visa-free regimes, which provide for duty-free trade and transport without permits. We will intensify our work on industrial and roaming visa-free regimes.

We must also intensify efforts to create favourable conditions for Ukrainians to return home. The Ministry of National Unity should present the relevant developments this year.

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Dear colleagues,

Everyone knows their tasks. Everyone understands the high responsibility for the resilience and development of the country.

We expect each ministry and minister to be proactive and to fulfil all their tasks in a quality manner.

I am grateful to our defenders. I thank everyone who works and believes in Ukraine.

Thank you for your attention. Glory to Ukraine!