Address of the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at the Government meeting

Distinguished colleagues, fellow Ukrainians.

Over the past week, Ukraine has experienced one of the most intense shelling since the beginning of the year. More than a thousand rockets and drones attacked our cities and civilian objects.

This cynical terror against civilians is taking place in parallel with the russian leaders' statements about their alleged readiness for negotiations.

There is a gap between words and actions. Every missile that hits residential areas is russia's de facto response to any international efforts to find peace.

We are once again convinced of the obvious: russia will not stop its aggression voluntarily. It responds only to force.

That is why the path to a just peace lies through the creation of an effective deterrent force - this is sanctions pressure, this is the expansion of defence assistance to Ukraine, this is the strategic unity of our allies.

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The most recent russian attacks have destroyed and damaged dozens of buildings, including apartments and houses of Ukrainians.

Every family that has lost their home or suffered damage to their home can count on the support of the State.

The eVidnovnennia programme continues to operate in full. We provide compensation of up to UAH 500,000 for the repair of damaged housing, as well as housing certificates for the purchase of a new home to replace the destroyed one.

More than 100,000 Ukrainian families have already benefited from the assistance.

Housing restoration is one of the key priorities in the overall architecture of rapid recovery. But other facilities are being rebuilt in parallel.

Over the past three years, more than 1,000 medical institutions have been restored - from rural outpatient clinics to regional hospitals, as well as more than 800 schools, enabling thousands of children to return to full-time education.

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The fulfilment of social obligations remains a consistent indicator of the state's stability and capacity.

The Pension Fund completed the payment of pensions for May on time. Almost UAH 68 billion has already been paid to Ukrainian pensioners.

We have never delayed social payments during the more than 1,000 days of full-scale war. This will remain in place in the future.

In May, the Government also allocated UAH 3.1 billion for subsidies and benefits. We are helping those in need.

In total, in the first four months of this year, UAH 213 billion was allocated from the state budget for social programmes, which is 14% more than last year.

The Government pays special attention to programmes for internally displaced persons.

Today, we are approving a new procedure for compensating the cost of utilities to institutions that host IDP families. We are making this procedure more efficient. We transfer the function of payments to the Pension Fund. Payments will be made directly to the institutions where internally displaced persons live, and not to the authorities that own these institutions.

The digitalisation of the process will help to avoid abuse, and payments will now be made every month, rather than with a quarterly delay. In this way, the Government is helping those who support the families of internally displaced persons.

Today's agenda also includes a decision to allocate UAH 4.3 billion in support to Ukrzaliznytsia.

The stability of rail transport was a crucial element of national security and defence. Ukrzaliznytsia provides free transportation at the request of the military command, evacuation operations and transportation from the territory of hostilities.

The decision adopted today by the Government demonstrates support for passengers, as despite the increase in all costs, tariffs remain unchanged.

I am grateful to our railway workers who work in these difficult conditions.

I thank everyone who works for a strong, independent and European Ukraine.

I am grateful to our defenders, thanks to whom we can think about the future and plan our recovery.

Thank you for your attention. Glory to Ukraine!