Good afternoon, dear colleagues, fellow Ukrainians.

All week long russia has been carrying out massive terrorist missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. First of all, the enemy is attacking the South. Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. Civilian facilities, residential buildings, infrastructure are being targeted.

russia has first disrupted the Black Sea Grain Initiative and is now destroying Ukrainian ports from which grain has been shipped to dozens of countries around the world. We are doing all we can to prevent this.

We have successfully completed two sowing campaigns under extremely difficult conditions. Ukrainian farmers are even working on mined fields. They are already harvesting the second crop. We are building new logistics on the western border. We have tripled the turnover of goods on the Danube. We are opening new border crossings and increasing the capacity of existing ones.

At such a difficult time, we unfortunately hear statements from our Polish allies that the EU’s borders will be closed to Ukrainian grain.

I would like to address our Polish brothers. Your support during the russian aggression is extraordinary. We will never forget it and will always be grateful. You are always the first to support Ukraine. You understand better than anyone else that Ukraine is now a shield keeping the russian barbarians out of Europe. That is why we urge you not to fall for slogans and populism.

In a situation where russia has disrupted the grain deal, in the face of a possible global food crisis, I urge the Poles to lend a helping hand to Ukraine and thus drive russia into a dead end. We offer cooperation and expert dialogue instead of slogans and short-term political expediency.

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The next issue that needs to be discussed today. The situation with budget expenditures at all levels.

Ukraine is waging an existential war for its survival. As the President of Ukraine clearly said yesterday, “in times of war like this, the maximum state attention, and therefore state resources, should be spent on defence.”

This has always been a priority for the Government, as evidenced by the figures and facts. The Government has allocated UAH 672 billion for defence needs in the first six months of 2023. In the same period, all taxes paid by citizens and businesses totalled UAH 600 billion. This means that every hryvnia and every coin that Ukrainian citizens pay into the budget is immediately spent to pay salaries to the military, buy equipment, weapons, drones, ammunition and other supplies for the Army. Defence and security have been, are and will be an absolute priority of public spending.

The second priority and the main item of expenditure is social programmes. These include pensions, support for single mothers, the disabled, IDPs, subsidies and other benefits. In the first six months of this year, the Government has allocated UAH 264 billion for all these needs, which is almost 20% of the total state budget expenditures for this period.

The third priority is the work of the public sector, primarily the payment of salaries to doctors and teachers, financing of healthcare, and educational subventions.

The fourth spending priority is critical infrastructure. This includes heat and water supply. This includes the railways and the energy sector. These are the things that the whole country and every citizen needs.

The fifth priority is the rapid recovery, which identifies key areas for the next year. Restoration and protection of energy facilities. Humanitarian demining. Repairing and rebuilding people’s homes. Restoration of critical and social infrastructure in the de-occupied and affected areas.

These are the top five priorities for funding. These are the things we need for our resilience, defence, security and survival.

That is why I appeal to the heads of local and central authorities. I ask you to postpone all spending that is not relevant today. This is a matter of common sense and understanding of priorities. Ask yourself: will the decision you are about to make bring us closer to victory or solve a critical problem? If the answer is no, then postpone it until after the war. Or look for other sources to implement it.

We have repeatedly spoken about the need to attract extra-budgetary partnership funding. Today, we have the support of the entire civilised world, which makes it possible to implement reforms and projects without budget funding. Because, I repeat, the main priorities now are security and defence, social, critical infrastructure and reconstruction.

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I have already mentioned today that one of the spending priorities is, and will be, to fund the rapid recovery programme.

This is important. We are bringing life back and restoring everything people need for a normal living. Repairing and rebuilding homes is one of the key processes. The eVidnovlennia programme is already in place, providing targeted funding for housing repairs. Today, we will adopt amendments that will allow us to pay compensation to people who have already carried out repairs at their own expense.

We made a promise and we are keeping it. The Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development and the Ministry of Digital Transformation will communicate in detail what the compensation mechanism will look like. We expect it to be ready in autumn, after which the relevant payments will begin.

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Finally. Yesterday, the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine decided to withdraw SENSE BANK from the market and submitted a proposal to the Cabinet of Ministers to participate in this procedure.

Today, the Government is taking a decision on the state’s participation in the process of removing the bank from the market. The state will acquire full ownership of the bank’s shares. The Ministry of Finance will be chosen as the body managing the corporate rights to the bank’s shares. This will allow the new management of the financial institution to be appointed as soon as possible.

This decision is aimed at ensuring the stability of our banking system and protecting the interests of depositors, as the owners of indirect significant stakes in the bank were sanctioned persons. It is also important that the nationalisation does not affect the bank’s ability to meet its obligations to depositors and customers.

Thank you for your attention.

Glory to Ukraine!