Statement by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at Government session

Dear colleagues! Fellow Ukrainians!

We are starting a regular meeting of the Government.

The financial and economic stability of Ukraine is a matter of national security. This is the foundation on which we are building victory and recovery.

We are constantly working on this.

After long and hard negotiations, Ukraine has agreed with its creditors to restructure its external debt. I am grateful to the team of the Ministry of Finance for this important work.

Thanks to the agreements reached, Ukraine will save USD 11.4 billion on its payments over the next three years.

I am grateful to the team of the Ministry of Finance for this important work.

Ukraine has successfully fulfilled the indicators for the second quarter of 2024 for the Ukraine Facility programme.

We have a positive assessment from the European Commission. We are talking about reforms in the budget, customs, anti-corruption and energy sectors.

We are counting on the next tranche from the EU in the amount of EUR 4.1 billion in September this year.

Today, the Government is also making a decision to attract a USD 3.9 billion grant from the United States. The funds will be disbursed through the World Bank.

The Government will use this money to pay salaries to rescuers, teachers, doctors, and for social support programmes.

We expect to receive this grant in the near future.

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Another resource we expect is the proceeds from frozen russian assets.

The international depository Euroclear in Belgium, where a significant portion of these assets are kept, promises to make the first instalment of almost EUR 1.5 billion this month.

The funds will be used to purchase the most necessary weapons, air defence systems, artillery shells and to develop our defence industry.

Ukraine insists that all russian assets in the West should be confiscated and used for the restoration and defence of our country.

This will be responsible, fair and just.

In this context, we welcome the EU’s decision to change the status of associate member to participant in the International Register of Damage for Ukraine.

Ukrainians are already applying to the Register for compensation for damaged and destroyed housing.

From August, it will be possible to apply under 12 new categories. These include loss of life, internal displacement, and damage to critical infrastructure.

The application mechanism will also be digitalised and available in Diia.

The principle of “russia will pay” will be inevitably implemented.

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The energy sector is another area of our continued focus.

On 20 July, we launched programmes to support citizens and businesses to strengthen energy independence and install alternative energy sources.

These include 0% interest rate loans to households, 5-7-9% energy loans for small and medium-sized businesses, and loans for condominiums under the GreenDIM programme.

We already have successful cases. The first loan was issued to a business for the installation of a solar power plant. The first loans to individuals were issued. We expect that thousands of similar distributed generation projects will be implemented thanks to government support.

We are constantly carrying out restoration work at our energy facilities. We also raise funds for this purpose.

In particular, NPC Ukrenergo received a grant from the EU in the amount of EUR 100 million for the modernisation, restoration and protection of substations. This is part of the European special programme Ukraine Investment Facility. The funds will be channelled through the German state development bank KfW.

Another area of our energy resilience is to increase our own gas production.

Just like in the last heating season, we expect to get through the winter with gas produced in Ukraine.

More than 10 billion cubic metres of gas have already been pumped into the storage facilities. By November, we plan to increase this volume to over 13 billion cubic metres.

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Finally, a few more important decisions on the agenda.

Today, we are adopting a separate resolution to set the start of the new school year in secondary schools on Monday, 2 September. And its completion on 30 June 2025.

Regional administrations have been instructed to ensure the organisation of the process depending on the security situation in a particular territory.

Today we are also approving the Food Security Strategy of Ukraine for the period up to 2027.

We have three key goals.

The first is to stimulate the development of agricultural production and fill the food market.

The second is to ensure the availability of food for all groups of the population.

The third goal is to strengthen the security component and eliminate threats. In particular, this concerns the formation of the state reserve, the restoration of commodity chains, the demining of agricultural land, adaptation to climate change, etc.

Ukraine will continue to be able to feed itself and countries in dire need of food. We retain the status of one of the guarantors of global food security. This will continue to be the case.

We are now in the third harvest of a full-scale war. Farmers have already harvested more than 15 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds.

I sincerely thank Ukrainian farmers for their hard work, especially in the frontline regions.

I am grateful to our defenders, thanks to whom we can plan, restore and develop the economy.

Thank you for your attention!

Glory to Ukraine!