Dear colleagues, fellow Ukrainians!

We are starting a regular meeting of the Government.

For more than a week, russia has been terrorising the southern regions of Ukraine. The aggressor’s goal is to intimidate people, destroy Ukrainian port infrastructure, cause maximum damage to Ukrainian agricultural exports, and provoke a global food crisis.

Some 28 architectural monuments were damaged in Odesa. Ukraine is currently awaiting the conclusions of the UNESCO commission that will be working in Odesa.

russia is a threat to all states in the Black Sea region. We call on our partners to strengthen the air shield over southern Ukraine.

The final assessment of the damage caused by russia in Odesa region is underway. The enemy will definitely pay for everything and we will definitely rebuild Odesa and other cities and villages of our Ukraine.

I would like to remind you that residents of Odesa region can apply for the eVidnovlennia programme to receive funds for housing repairs. This is a targeted payment of up to UAH 500,000 to help restore their homes. More than 1,400 Ukrainians have already received around UAH 115 million under this programme. I ask the local authorities to promptly consider people’s applications so that the repair work can start as soon as possible and everything can be done before the cold season.

Reconstruction is taking place in all parts of Ukraine affected by the war. The Government is allocating appropriate funds for this purpose.

Today, we are allocating a further UAH 3.5 billion from the Fund for Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression to the hromadas of Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Kherson regions. The money will be used to rebuild destroyed homes, schools, kindergartens and hospitals. In other words, the most important facilities in any settlement.

Another UAH 3.3 billion will be allocated to implement a pilot project for the comprehensive restoration of settlements this year on the basis of the “build back better” principle. The settlements concerned are Borodyanka in Kyiv region, Trostyanets in Sumy region, Tsyrkuny in Kharkiv region, Posad Pokrovske in Kherson region and Yahidne in Chernihiv region. The total cost of all the projects is almost UAH 10 billion. Work is already underway.

The four main principles for contractors during the reconstruction are: safety, energy efficiency, accessibility and environmental friendliness. The task of the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development is to prepare universal designs of key facilities for each city or village, taking into account optimal costs and modern technologies.

In total, the Government has already allocated more than UAH 25 billion to the regions for recovery.

The next priority for rapid recovery is the energy sector. We are continuing our campaign to rebuild it. Since the beginning of the year, 14,500 kilometres of overhead lines, a number of substations and electrical equipment have been repaired. The protection of energy facilities is being improved.

The national power company Ukrenergo has completed about 60% of the planned work to restore the networks. We are strictly on schedule. As a result, we plan to add 1.7 GW of capacity to the grid. This is the task set for the Ministry of Energy.

At the same time, we are preparing the heat and power sector for winter. Repairs to combined heat and power plants, boiler houses and thermal power plants are being carried out as planned. 11.7 billion cubic metres of gas have already been pumped into Ukrainian gas storage facilities. This is almost 80% of demand. We have 1.5 million tonnes of coal in storage and we plan to reach 1.8 million tonnes.

I urge those responsible for preparing for winter – the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, the Ministry of Energy, Ukrenergo, Naftogaz – to maximise their efforts and mobilise resources.

Finally, I would like to focus on social support for those who need it in this difficult time. We are making it even more targeted and accessible. We are improving the mechanism for the rapid provision of housing subsidies. Last month, the Government established a procedure that no longer requires collecting numerous certificates, but rather a simplified application for a subsidy. In particular, through Diia, the Pension Fund’s website or app. After that, the Pension Fund authorities independently collect the necessary data from official sources. Today, a separate resolution provides for the automatic exchange of information between the Pension Fund and the State Migration Service. All this is part of the efforts to build an efficient and transparent social sphere.

I am grateful to everyone who works for the benefit of Ukraine, for our victory, for the protection of our values and global security.

Together we will stand, win and rebuild!

Thank you for your attention! Glory to Ukraine!