Statement by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at Government session

Dear colleagues, fellow Ukrainians.

This week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Ukraine’s Internal Resilience Plan.

10 points that define our movement and priorities in key areas. 10 points that make our country stronger.

The Government, together with other responsible public authorities, is working on annexes to this plan.

One of the points is the “Heroes Policy”.

It is our common duty to create a wide range of opportunities for veterans and to honour their heroism and bravery with dignity. The new veterans policy means attention and respect for every defender.

The Government is actively developing existing veterans programmes and constantly introducing new ones.

Next year, the state budget earmarks UAH 10.5 billion to support veterans.

The new veterans policy provides for:

• service infrastructure and support for the transition to civilian life,
• medical treatment and rehabilitation,
• affordable housing,
• education for veterans and their children.

And of course, it is honouring the memory of fallen defenders and supporting their families.

We have already achieved results in all these areas.

This year, thanks to record funding, we will provide housing for almost 4,500 veterans and their families. And this is just one programme. Veterans also receive preferential mortgages under the Government’s eOselia programme.

Under the eRobota grant programme alone, the Government has already provided funds that have helped to create more than 1,100 new veteran businesses.

The new programme of dental prosthetics and dental treatment has already benefited 7,000 veterans and service members. Next year, we plan to further expand the package of medical services for veterans.

Also, next year, the Veteran’s Assistant service, which helps veterans adapt to civilian life, will become fully operational. Almost UAH 3 billion has been allocated in the budget for this purpose.

Today, we have several documents on the agenda that are also aimed at supporting veterans and honouring the feat of our defenders.

We are submitting two draft laws to the Verkhovna Rada.

The first one concerns a fair approach to determining payments to the families of fallen defenders.

At the beginning of the full-scale war, many Ukrainians took up arms and defended the state as civilians. The families of such fallen civilians are entitled to a payment of UAH 1.9 million.

We propose to increase it to UAH 15 million, and we believe that this is right and fair. This will help support the families of those who died defending our country and future.

The second draft law concerns veteran sports, which we see as one of the key elements for rehabilitation and adaptation.

We are increasing the capacity of the Ministry for Veterans Affairs in this area and the use of the existing network of sports facilities for veterans.

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For the sake of our future, we continue to fight and strengthen our country.

This is exactly what the multifaceted Internal Resilience Plan is aimed at.

Another element of it is the issue of economy and finance.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Government has already attracted more than USD 100 billion in external financing.

We continue this work because macro-financial stability is the foundation for economic recovery.

Today, we have a decision that will allow Ukraine to receive USD 4.8 billion under the World Bank’s PEACE project. This is assistance funded by the United States and development partners.

We are grateful to our allies for this support, which will be directed by our Government to key social and humanitarian programmes.

Also this week, Ukraine and the IMF agreed at the expert level on the sixth review of our programme with the Fund. This will allow us to attract another USD 1.1 billion to the state budget.

The Executive Board of the UN World Food Programme has approved a plan for Ukraine for the next 3 years with a budget of USD 2.1 billion. These are funds to provide humanitarian aid, support our people, continue the demining process and support Ukraine’s export potential.

The Council of Europe Development Bank has approved a project to support internally displaced persons in Ukraine, which provides for the allocation of EUR 200 million to help IDPs in the areas of education, housing, and rehabilitation.

We are working to ensure that by the end of the year a mechanism is put in place to ensure that Ukraine receives USD 50 billion from the G7 countries. These are the funds that will be provided to our country through the use of profits from frozen russian assets.

This will help ensure our resilience and continue our rapid recovery.

I am grateful to everyone who has defended and is defending Ukraine. I thank all those who are working to strengthen our resilience.

Thank you for your attention. Glory to Ukraine!

I am grateful to everyone who has been defending Ukraine.