We invite you to read the eleventh Ukraine Rebuilding Digest with an overview of the recovery news from the Ukraine Rebuilding Alliance for 27 May — 2 June.
Iryna Vereshchuk, Vice Prime Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, said that the Strategy for the Restoration of State Power and Reintegration of the Population of the De-occupied Territories until 2026 will be adopted by the end of June 2024. The Ministry has developed a draft Strategy and an action plan for 2024-2026. Vereshchuk noted that transitional justice with centralised administration could be introduced in the liberated territories.
Ukraine completes talks with Azerbaijan on resumption of ferry service
Ukraine is finalising negotiations to resume ferry services with Azerbaijan. At the Grain Storage Forum conference, Yuriy Lytvyn, head of the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, said that the ferry service from Baku to Ukraine should start operating in the near future. The success of the ferry will depend on the market, crop yields and the functioning of the economy. The ports will operate around the clock, and UAH 9-9.5 billion is needed to restore the infrastructure to pre-war levels.
Lithuania allocates funds to rebuild destroyed schools and kindergartens in Ukraine
The Lithuanian government has allocated €5 million for the needs of education in Ukraine. These funds will be used to restore and adapt destroyed schools and kindergartens, including the installation of bomb shelters and other safety equipment. The Lithuanian contribution will be transferred to an account at the National Bank of Ukraine.
Ukraine: focus on emergency aid, not reconstruction
With Russia’s continued destruction of critical infrastructure and power plants in Ukraine, Kyiv is focusing on defence and emergency repairs ahead of the upcoming ‘Ukraine Recovery Conference’ in Berlin on 11-12 June. Germany has allowed Kyiv to use German weapons against military targets in Russia, following a similar decision by the US.
At the conference, the German government invited 1,500 representatives of countries supporting Ukraine to discuss urgent aid. Russia has intensified its attacks on civilian infrastructure since March, using ‘planning bombs’, forcing Ukrainian energy company DTEK to announce the destruction of 90% of its fossil fuel capacity.
Critical infrastructure, hospitals and military facilities are being targeted. Economist Robert Kirschner warns of possible heating problems in the winter due to the destroyed heating plants, which could lead to new refugee flows.
Turkey to help restore Ukraine’s power grid
Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Galushchenko met with Turkish Ambassador Mustafa Levent Bilgen to discuss the consequences of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy systems. The two discussed cooperation in restoring damaged infrastructure, particularly in Kharkiv and Odesa regions, as well as increasing the flexibility of the energy system and developing mobile generation. Turkish companies expressed their willingness to participate in these projects. Galushchenko stressed that this is a matter of survival in the coming winter.
Earlier, during a visit to Turkey, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Ruslan Stefanchuk discussed the implementation of President Zelenskyy’s peace formula and Turkey’s involvement in Ukraine’s recovery. Russia’s strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have caused more than $1 billion in damage.
Cooperation between Ukraine and Portugal is foreseen for decades
Ukraine and Portugal have signed two ten-year agreements on cooperation in the fields of reconstruction, medicine, demining and other areas. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the use of frozen Russian assets for Ukraine’s recovery would stimulate investment. The agreement provides for military support, including the supply of air defence systems, artillery and armoured vehicles. Portugal has pledged €126 million in military aid and to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
Ukraine has fully restored 512 medical facilities destroyed since the beginning of the war
Ukraine has restored 869 medical facilities damaged during Russia’s invasion, including 512 fully and 357 partially. In total, 1604 medical facilities were damaged, 211 of which were completely destroyed. Russia also damaged 165 ambulances, destroyed 261 and stole 125.
Recently, we published an article in the Left Bank news outlet ‘The issues of the Green Deal and decarbonisation of Ukraine in the context of the restoration of transport infrastructure’.
Recently, we published an article in the Left Bank news publication ‘Issues of Green Deal and Decarbonisation of Ukraine in the Context of Transport Infrastructure Rehabilitation’, in which we tried to describe the whole issue of greening port activities and the production and use of alternative marine fuels in Ukrainian ports and for bunkering international merchant ships.
The Ukraine Rebuilding Alliance conducted a screening of maritime research and educational institutions, which shows that the issues of decarbonisation of sea and river transport and port activities, the development of green transport corridors, and the production and use of alternative marine fuels are practically absent from research programmes.
Books from the destroyed Kharkiv printing house ‘Factor-Druk’ will be brought to the International Conference on the Restoration of Ukraine (URC2024) in Berlin on 11-12 June. This was announced by the acting Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Rostyslav Karandeyev. During a visit to the printing house, Karandeyev said that the conference would draw the attention of international partners to the needs of this enterprise, especially given that much of the equipment was German. The state cannot finance the restoration of the printing house due to budgetary constraints, but hopes for help from international partners.
