Президент України Володимир Зеленський узяв участь у засіданні Конгресу місцевих та регіональних влад при Главі держави, яке відбулося у Львові.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi noted that the participants of today’s meeting in person and online were all members of the Congress representing both central authorities and regional leadership, heads of cities and villages, including those currently temporarily occupied.
Leaders and other representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers, the Verkhovna Rada, the Office of the Head of State, security and defense forces, as well as representatives of partner states of Ukraine were also present at the Congress session.
“The main task of this Congress session is not only to sum up the key results of the work of state institutions and local authorities during the most difficult year for our state – the year of war, but also to determine solutions to make our state even stronger. At all levels – from the central government structures to the management of the country’s communities,” the President emphasized.
The head of state thanked everyone present for the fact that Ukraine passed this difficult year of war.
“We have preserved the functionality of the state. We made it so that the presence of the Ukrainian flag means the presence of a normal life, primarily social opportunities. And when we liberate our land from the enemy, everyone realizes it – not only in Ukraine, by the way, but also
everywhere,” Volodymyr Zelenskyi said.
In particular, as the President emphasized, the Ukrainian state is returning to people everything they need for life: transport, communication, social benefits, medical care, electricity and water supplies, as well as restoring infrastructure.
According to him, over 1.5 trillion hryvnias were allocated last year to ensure defense, 768 billion hryvnias were allocated to social payments.
“Despite thousands of Russian attacks, we all together ensure the indomitability of Ukraine. And this is a priority. War. Victory. Unbreakable for this victory. All items on our agenda are aimed at this. As a result, our citizens and all people in the world see that Ukraine
is a powerful state. Ukraine knows how to protect life,” Volodymyr Zelenskyi emphasized.
Among the priority issues, the Head of State named security and defense challenges, social protection of citizens, restoration of institutions in deoccupied territories, reconstruction in liberated areas, strengthening the energy capacity of communities and strategic issues of state development, in particular anti-corruption activities
The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, emphasized that the Congress was created for the purpose of strengthening the cooperation of authorities at all levels, discussing the urgent problems of communities and regions, and joining efforts to overcome them. Against the background of the war, all these tasks became even more urgent.
“The events of the last year have proven more than once: the life and health of many of our citizens, and sometimes even the success of our defenders on the battlefield, often depend on the position of specific representatives of the authorities, on the activity, speed and quality of our interaction with you. Therefore, as the President emphasized, the issues of defense and security are the main issues for us today,” Andriy Yermak said.
He also noted that after the victory, the state will face no less serious challenges, including reconstruction and creating conditions for the return of people who were forced to leave their native places due to the war.
“According to the government’s calculations, the aggressor has already destroyed or damaged more than 81,000 objects of civil infrastructure. 3 of them over 62 thousand – housing stock. More than 2 thousand educational institutions. Almost half a thousand hospitals. All this must be restored as soon as possible,” the head of the President’s Office emphasized.
“We don’t just have to rebuild every settlement, housing and all infrastructure facilities. We should use the opportunity to build them at the best world level,” he added.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal emphasized the importance of implementing projects to restore energy facilities, housing, critical infrastructure, humanitarian demining, and supporting small and medium-sized businesses.
The head of the government noted that Ukraine is counting on financial assistance from the USA and the European Union in the matter of rapid reconstruction of important infrastructure, in particular energy facilities. In addition, through the United24 fundraising platform initiated by the President, more than UAH 500 million was collected for quick recovery. The society should see the first results already this year, the Prime Minister emphasized.
“And in the future, the large-scale reconstruction will become a mega-project for many years for the entire vertical of the Ukrainian government, local communities. Our task is to approach this process as efficiently, transparently and qualitatively as possible,” said Denys Shmyhal
The head of the government called on territorial communities to more actively transfer information about objects in need of restoration to the state register.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, noted that regions should play a special role in the issue of formation of compensation mechanisms for damages caused by the aggressor.
“Correct approaches to the registry of damage caused, correct disposal of funds – this is a component of success, transparency, trust,” he is convinced.
Reporting on the security and humanitarian situation in the temporarily occupied and liberated territories of Ukraine, Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko noted that almost 20,000 square meters have already been liberated from the occupiers. km of the country’s territory. According to him, about 30% of the territory remains potentially dangerous from the point of view of mine contamination, and humanitarian demining work may take decades.
Ihor Klymenko also spoke about the implementation of projects that should ensure the protection of civilians, including in educational institutions, public places, etc. The State Border Service carries out measures to strengthen the state border.
The head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk, informed about the security measures implemented in the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. In particular, employees of the special service are engaged in identifying the enemy’s intelligence networks, exposing collaborators, establishing and recording the crimes of the occupiers.
Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, spoke about working with internally displaced persons, organizing the evacuation of citizens and providing them with assistance. According to her, almost 5 million IDPs are registered in Ukraine today, and their actual number is about 7 million people. Another 5 million Ukrainians found refuge outside the country.
Iryna Vereshchuk noted that in the current year, the priority will be the temporary integration of displaced persons in their new places of residence and preparation for their return to their places of permanent residence. According to her, the government has developed the Strategy of the state policy of internal displacement until 2025 and a step-by-step plan for the implementation of this strategy.
Separately, there was talk of helping enterprises with relocation to safer regions. As Iryna Vereshchuk reported, more than 790 facilities were moved within the framework of the government relocation program in 2022, as a result of which it was possible to save 35 thousand jobs and create 7 thousand new ones
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Reconstruction of U Zainy – Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure, reported on plans to restore damaged and destroyed infrastructure and measures to implement such a plan in 2023.
According to him, among the priorities for the current year are the construction of protected objects of the energy infrastructure, provision of water supply in the south of Ukraine, restoration of utility networks in acquired settlements, construction of bridges and railway tracks in key directions and expansion of export potential. In addition, as the government official said, three large housing programs will be launched soon.
The deputy head of the Office of the President, Oleksiy Kuleba, presented the Office of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, which will focus on project work, in particular, the formation of a personnel reserve, the provision of organizational, expert and legal assistance to communities. According to him, the Office will work on a permanent basis, in the future it is possible to open regional offices, in particular where it is necessary, for example, in the acquired territories. The structure and leadership of the Congress Office was approved today.
The following addressed the participants of the Congress session in video format: President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Association of Municipalities of Austria, Mayor of Grafenwer Alfred Riedel, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan Aman and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo.
An extraordinary meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers took place during the Congress session, at which the State Anti-Corruption Program for 2023-2025 was approved.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal called this an important step for the state in expanding the anti-corruption structure. The program defines measures aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the corruption prevention system in priority areas of public life, such as the judiciary, state regulation of the economy, customs and taxation, public and private sectors, construction, land relations, infrastructure, the defense sector, health care, education , science and social protection, etc., as well as a number of other steps to eliminate possible corruption factors.
