Honourable colleagues, fellow Ukrainian citizens.

We begin our regular session of the Cabinet of Ministers.

We have a lot of news this week pertaining to collaboration with our allies and international partners. Agreements on support for our state. Among major decisions are as follows:

• The European Union has adopted a decision to remove all tariffs and quotas on exports of Ukrainian products. Almost half of our exports falls to Europe, so this is a rather powerful step to support the Ukrainian economy. Thank you for that.
• Poland, Lithuania, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania. We have already agreed and at the same time are actively negotiating the use of port infrastructure of these countries for the export of Ukrainian products.
• The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a bill allowing for confiscation of russian-linked assets. The proceeds from their sale will be directed to support and rebuild Ukraine.
• The U.S. lawmakers also passed the Lend-Lease Bill to provide military assistance for Ukraine. This is the second time in world history. Again to fight the aggressor in Europe, again to defeat the dictatorship.
• U.S. President Joe Biden has asked Congress for an additional $ 33 billion for Ukraine. I am convinced that this request will find a quick positive answer. After that, the russian army in Ukraine will face even more extremely unpleasant surprises, as most of this assistance is modern weapons.

That is just a small part of what has been achieved on the international front this week. All this brings us closer to victory.

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Such strong international support is translated daily into even greater capacity of our army and the resilience of our economy. We adopt a number of decisions every week to restart the economy, provide the army, and support our people who need it most.

As always, the first and topmost priority is to satisfy the needs of our army. Today at the sitting of the Government we are allocating over UAH 119 billion to the Ministry of Defense. Wages, military equipment, fuel, food, protective equipment, weapons. We try to provide our defenders with everything necessary. We allocate more than UAH 28 billion to the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the same purposes.

The next priority is the economy. In the last week we have fixed certain difficulties and problems with fuel. The main reason is the destruction of part of our infrastructure by the enemy, including the shutdown of the Kremenchuk oil refinery plant. The Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Energy are engaged in constant consultation with fuel companies to address this issue. Today we adopt changes to the state regulation of oil prices, which will allow for solving the issue of fuel shortage at gas stations within 7 days. I will request the relevant ministers to communicate this decision in detail with the public.

Next. Today we will approve a specific plan to ensure food security in Ukraine. This plan provides for the continuation of the program of free distribution of food packages. The state support of agrarians is also taken into account, within the framework of the program "5-7-9" the agricultural sector has already received loans to the tune of about UAH 15 billion. Another important point is the measures to stimulate the processing of agricultural products in our country.

The launch of lending programs at 0% interest has helped not only farmers but also many other businesses to restart their activities. Today we are expanding the program, in particular to enterprises in the area of passenger and freight transportation. In addition, the state financial leasing program will now have the same conditions as the "5-7-9". That is, the most affordable leasing conditions. All these are needed for people and businesses to continue to work.

The following issue is stable operation of the energy sector. Today we take a decision that gas prices for people remain unchanged. No increase. UAH 8 per 1 cubic meter of gas, as it was. The preferential price will also apply to enterprises that perform vital functions to ensure the state's defense capabilities.

By a separate decision, the Government recommends that local authorities and public utilities not raise utility tariffs during the martial law and state of emergency in Ukraine. Tariffs for people should not grow. But we also urge Ukrainians to continue to pay for utilities so that businesses have an opportunity to conduct repair activities and pay wages to their staff.

We also have some critical decisions today in the social sphere. Programs to support IDPs prolong, and for these purposes there have already been transferred over UAH 2.6 billion. A separate issue is housing. Today, the Government will approve a document that will determine which families from among the displaced will be prioritized while providing with housing. These are multi-children families, pregnant women, families with children, people who have lost their ability to work, retirees. The state will purchase housing for temporary residence of such families. We will also renovate the housing stock to accommodate people.

In the Diia, Ukrainians have already registered more than 100,000 applications for compensation for destroyed property. And after the victory we will rebuild everything. Today we are going to expand such opportunities for legal entities. In the near future, they will also be eligible to submit applications through the Diia so that the Government could start compiling a detailed registry of damaged and destroyed property.

And finally. We are opening two new checkpoints on the border with Romania - Dyakivtsi and Krasnoilsk. This will help to further reduce the load on traffic across the border. Besides, Ukraine is negotiating with our European neighbors an issue of the launch of joint checkpoints and conducting joint customs controls, thereby allowing to speed up the customs clearance process.

We continue to work for the sake of our victory. We believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!

Фотогалерея