First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko and Secretary of State for Transport of the United Kingdom Mark Harper discussed the special importance of infrastructure in preserving the resilience of the Ukrainian people.

Destruction of the electricity grid, blocking of ports and other infrastructure damages is a barbaric attempt by russia to harm civilians in Ukraine and around the world.

The UK Government supports Ukraine in its efforts to preserve and rebuild its infrastructure – energy, transport and communications.

It is especially important that political support is reinforced by the interest of UK business to implement infrastructure projects in Ukraine. During the meeting, the focus was on the implementation of early recovery projects in Ukraine.

“In summer, during the UK-Ukraine Infrastructure Summit in London, Ukraine and the UK, as well as representatives of UK business, signed a Memorandum on Infrastructure Rebuilding of Ukraine. The Memorandum opens the way for UK business to fully participate in reconstruction of our country’s infrastructure destroyed by russia,” said Yuliia Svyrydenko.

Ukraine and the UK are currently working on a pilot project to restore destroyed bridges in the de-occupied territories.

Also, Minister of Economy of Ukraine Yuliia Svyrydenko and Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper stressed that sanctions in the transport sector against russia are particularly effective. Ukraine and the UK will continue to work together to develop new sanctions and coordinate sanctions policy towards russia.

For reference

The UK has already imposed the following sanctions against russia:

• banned russian vessels from entering its ports, this restriction also applies to vessels chartered by russia;
• imposed sanctions against russian propagandists and state media that spread false information about russia’s war against Ukraine;
• the UK tax regulator revoked the status of the Moscow Exchange as a recognized stock exchange (the decision came into force on 05.05.2022);
• imposed sanctions against individuals and legal entities, in particular russian military-industrial enterprises (since the russian invasion of Ukraine, the UK has imposed sanctions against more than 1,000 individuals and more than 100 companies; sanctions lists are periodically updated);
• imposed sanctions against the russian aviation sector – Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and Rossiya airlines.