Esteemed colleagues, dear Ukrainians!

We are starting a regular meeting of the Government.

First of all, I would like to thank our international partners for their ongoing financial support. In January, we received USD 4.2 billion from the European Union and the United States. This month, we plan to raise another USD 2 billion from the United States, the World Bank, and other donors. We need these funds for critical expenditures: financing salaries and pensions, education, and healthcare. Therefore, we are grateful to our friends for their support.

Yesterday in Warsaw, we started a discussion with the IMF mission on the prospects for the preparation and revision of the Monitoring Program. This is the way to a new stage of cooperation with the IMF. We look forward to progress in the negotiation process.

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Ukraine needs more assistance to be economically sustainable and successfully fight the enemy. At the same time, russia should be deprived of the means of warfare.

It is important for us that the sanctions pressure on the aggressor increases. russia must pay a high price for its war crimes. The main sources of financing the war must be cut off. First of all, this concerns russian oil and nuclear energy.

Unfortunately, the enemy continues to profit from this. Last year, russia’s exports of goods increased by almost 10%. rosatom’s revenue grew by 17%. For every dollar that goes to the russian budget, there is the blood of Ukrainians. And this should be remembered by everyone who trades with russia.

We thank our partners for the unprecedented sanctions against the terrorist state. But we insist on including the russian nuclear industry in the tenth EU sanctions package.

For its part, Ukraine has already imposed sanctions on more than 4,500 individuals and legal entities that threaten our national security. Among them are 200 officials of the russian nuclear industry.

The Ukrainian nuclear power industry has made a tremendous leap to overcome its dependence on russian fuel rod suppliers. Energoatom terminated the contract with the russian company and switched to fuel assemblies from an American company, Westinghouse. European countries that have been hooked on russia’s “nuclear needle” should follow a similar path.

Experience shows that russia’s influence is never limited to the economy, but is always converted into aggressive policy. And this is a direct threat to the statehood and sovereignty of many European countries.

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Today, russia is trying to make living conditions in Ukraine unbearable. 14 missile attacks on the Ukrainian energy sector. The last attack on the power system on February 10 lasted more than a day. Missiles and drones were fired at 6 power facilities and 7 high-voltage substations of the main power grids.

Thanks to the professional work of power engineers, after such a massive attack, we managed to quickly supply power to consumers using backup schemes. And for the third day in a row, consumption limits have not been imposed on the regions. Today, only Odesa and the surrounding areas, parts of Kherson and Kharkiv regions have minor power cuts.

But the enemy does not stop. Now the russians are trying to deprive Ukrainians of access to water supply. After the partial destruction and deliberate opening of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant’s gates by the russians, we lose thousands of cubic meters of water every day. As a result, 70% of the settlements that receive water from the Dnipro may be left without access to drinking water.

The nuclear threat is even greater. A decrease in water level in a storage facility could lead to improper functioning of the cooling systems at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. I don’t think anyone needs to be told how this threatens Ukraine, Europe and the world as a whole.

Therefore, the civilized world should not remain silent. Ukraine calls for all available means to put pressure on russia to close the gates and restore the hydraulic structures at the Kakhovka HPP. Or allow Ukrainian specialists to do so. I appeal to our international partners and emphasize that otherwise we will face an environmental disaster that will have countless destructive consequences for the entire continent.

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Another constant threat is massive mining of Ukrainian territories. Due to actions of russian terrorists, Ukraine has become one of the most mine- and shell-contaminated countries in the world. Demining will become one of the top 5 priorities for recovery this year.

We are moving towards establishment of a Humanitarian Demining Center, which will allow us to approach this task systematically. Today, the Government will establish an Interagency Working Group on Humanitarian Demining, which will be headed by the First Deputy Prime Minister. The main task of the working group will be to coordinate all authorities, as well as to actually define the strategy and roadmap we will follow.

In the context of the war and post-war recovery, we must also take care of our natural resources. In particular, minerals that are of strategic importance for the economy and defense. Today, the Government is approving a list of such minerals and their deposits. These are vanadium, lithium, titanium, uranium, and salt. 26 deposits will be made available for use under production sharing agreements. This will create broad opportunities for investors to implement a project, and the state will receive its share, which will be used to develop the Ukrainian economy.

In addition, today’s agenda includes an important document on national security – a draft law on minimum oil and petroleum products reserves. A diversified storage system will be created. In the event of a crisis, we will have reserves covering at least 61 days of domestic consumption. This will allow businesses, citizens, and the entire country to face any challenges in the fuel sector with confidence.

The draft law provides for clear interaction between the state and business, defining the issues of storage, security, monitoring, and reporting. Creating minimum stocks of oil and petroleum products is a matter of national security that is relevant now, but will remain just as important after our victory and the end of the war.

We also continue to develop logistics in the western direction. We are currently adopting a resolution to open a new temporary control point on the border with Moldova. This is the Berezyne railway station, where trains have recently resumed running. This route is important for transportation, particularly for Ukrainian grain. This is how we create alternative routes to compensate for the losses caused by russia’s partial sea blockade.

We work in a coordinated manner, achieve results, and do everything for our victory!

Thank you for your attention! Glory to Ukraine!