PRESS RELEASE : Andriy Yermak and Kyrylo Tymoshenko presented the project of the Ukraine Recovery Fund to the ambassadors of foreign countries

The press release issued by the President of Ukraine on 13 September 2022.

Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak and his deputy Kyrylo Tymoshenko presented the project of the Ukraine Recovery Fund to the ambassadors of foreign states accredited in our country. The event, held in the format of a video conference, involved more than 80 participants.

“Our ambitious goal is to win the war, liberate all our people and all our territories. That is, to completely restore our territorial integrity. Then rebuild the destroyed country, implement all the necessary reforms and become a full member of the European Union. I am convinced that with your support we will certainly achieve the best results,” said Andriy Yermak during the presentation and emphasized the importance of the participation of various states, organizations and institutions in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.

The Head of the Presidential Office recalled that a number of meetings were held pursuant to his instruction in recent weeks with the vast majority of foreign ambassadors present today. At the meetings, the Fast Recovery Plan was presented both for the country as a whole and for individual affected regions, which was developed by the President’s team. An online system for destruction accounting and calculating the cost of renovation was also presented. Following the meetings, the ambassadors held preliminary discussions with their governments and the leadership of their countries regarding the prospects of involvement in the implementation of the ambitious project of the recovery and modernization of Ukraine.

After studying the recovery experience of various countries around the world, a decision was made about the need to create a special financial instrument – the Ukraine Recovery Fund, the Head of the President’s Office said.

As Andriy Yermak emphasized, the Fund’s activities will be based on the principles of complete openness for donors and citizens of Ukraine, clear and effective control over the use of funds with the involvement of international partners.

“Ukraine does not rely exclusively on international financial aid. We will also be full donors to this fund. Our first contribution will be the funds obtained from the legal confiscation of seized assets of Russia on the territory of Ukraine,” he said and called on other states to direct the assets of the aggressor country seized in their territory to this Fund.

The Head of the President’s Office said that 75% of the Fund’s supervisory board will consist of representatives of donors, and 100% of its management will be appointed by donors. The Fund’s reporting will be publicly accessible, in particular, it will be mandatory to publish complete information on the status of project implementation and the dynamics of funds usage. It is assumed that the Fund will receive financial assistance from governments, agencies and international organizations in the form of targeted grants based on the agreement.

The Head of the Presidential Office announced that next week President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will submit to the parliament a corresponding bill on the activities of the Ukraine Recovery Fund. Before that, the document will be submitted for consideration by the partner countries, and Ukraine will wait for the comments on it.

“It is very important for us that it is transparent, controlled and that we launch this project as soon as possible. As the President noted, there is a difficult winter ahead, and it is important that we come out of it victorious,” he said.

Andriy Yermak emphasized that the support of partners was and remains important for Ukraine, as it was thanks to them that our defense capability was strengthened. And now Ukrainian soldiers can demonstrate success on the battlefield.

As Kyrylo Tymoshenko informed the participants of the meeting, as of today, more than 86,000 objects destroyed or damaged as a result of Russian aggression have been recorded. Objects discovered after the de-occupation of the Kharkiv, Donetsk and other regions will soon be added to this list.

“Unfortunately, we have to admit that Ukraine will not have enough financial resources for such a volume of recovery. It will take us many years to rebuild thousands of destroyed schools, kindergartens, hospitals, energy and transport infrastructure facilities,” he stated.

The Deputy Head of the Office of the President reported that the list of objects whose restoration is critically necessary now has reached 38,000. According to him, due to the lack of funding, the restoration of only 11,400 objects (13%) has been started at the cost of the state budget, and 3,400 objects (4%) have been completed.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko thanked the government of the Republic of Estonia for the quick start of restoration work on selected social infrastructure facilities in the Zhytomyr region and urged the representatives of other partners of Ukraine to join the reconstruction process.

The Deputy Head of the President’s Office assured the participants of the meeting that the entire team – the President, the Parliament and the Government of Ukraine – is ready to demonstrate leadership both in the normative provision of the creation of effective and transparent tools for the implementation of the recovery plan and in the modernization of Ukraine.

“We really count on your support and will do everything in our power to return the usual peaceful life to all communities in Ukraine,” he said.

The participants of the meeting welcomed the idea of implementing the project of Ukraine’s recovery. The aspiration of the Ukrainian authorities to ensure maximum transparency of the Recovery Fund was also positively assessed.

“We really welcome the approach, which involves a supervisory board, transparency in reporting,” said Bridget Brink, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Ukraine.