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

Distinguished colleagues, fellow Ukrainians.

The russians have changed their strategy and rely on dragging out the war, on exhausting Ukraine, on depriving it of the support of our allies.

russia's main goal is to destroy the pro-Ukrainian coalition. To destroy unity. To reduce our resources for resistance.

Our response includes four strategic components.

The first is security agreements with our allies. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already signed 7 such agreements. The UK, Germany, France, Denmark, Canada, Italy, and the Netherlands. These are agreements for 10 years. This means long-term cooperation and security for Ukraine.

The second component is the confiscation of russian assets to strengthen our resilience and ability to rebuild quickly now and in the years to come.

The third component is to increase the resilience and self-sufficiency of our economy.

The fourth component is medium-term financial and other assistance programs with our key allies.

This year we have an important victory in this direction. The European Union has launched a program called the Ukraine Facility.

This is a EUR 50 billion program for the next four years.

• EUR 38.2 billion in direct budget support,
• almost EUR 7 billion to attract investment in our economy,
• EUR 4.7 billion of technical and administrative support, including reforms on the way to the EU.

We are grateful to our European friends for this solidarity and assistance.

This year, we aim to receive about EUR 16 billion from the European Union. And while all the approvals for the Ukraine Facility are being finalized, we have already agreed on an emergency financing program from the EU.

Today, the Government is to approve two documents that will enable Ukraine to receive EUR 6 billion in March and April this year.

We are talking about the approval of a draft memorandum and a loan agreement with the EU, which provide for the allocation of up to EUR 4.5 billion in March and up to EUR 1.5 billion in April this year.

Ukraine will have the resources to fight and win. This is our key goal and we are doing everything necessary for this.

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Funds from international partners help our Government to pay salaries to teachers and doctors, to support Ukrainian families and Ukrainian communities.

We are fully financing all these expenses. Without any delays.

In February, we transferred UAH 12 billion of inter-budget transfers to local budgets. In total, this year we have provided subventions and grants for our communities in the amount of almost UAH 191 billion.

The education subvention, which is used to pay teachers' salaries, has been increased to UAH 103 billion.

Today, we will redistribute UAH 128 million of this educational subvention so that our teachers across the country can receive their salaries on time and in full.

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I have repeatedly said that the private sector is the engine for our resilience, for our victory and for our recovery.

And our priority is, of course, to support Ukrainian producers in all areas.

This year, we allocate UAH 1 billion for a partial compensation program for farmers who buy agricultural machinery made in Ukraine.

We will compensate 25% of the cost.

Today we approve the relevant procedure for using the funds and improve some elements of this program.

According to the Ministry of Economy, the program will double the share of domestic agricultural machinery in the domestic market. Imports will decrease by about 10%. 4,500 producers will receive re-equipment. About 1,000 additional jobs will be created, which in turn will bring more taxes to the budget.

This is part of our Made in Ukraine economic strategy, when we support our producers.

We will scale up such projects and launch new ones.

So, we continue to work for victory.

And we thank everyone who defends, works and fights for a better Ukraine.

Thank you for your attention.

Glory to Ukraine!