Ukrainian local self-government is currently facing its toughest test to date and passing it with flying colours. The key to such success was decentralisation, which strengthened the economic stability of municipalities, empowered and endowed them with resources and, most importantly, gave them the opportunity to take care of their own development and future. But the war disrupted the plans, and each day brings new problems, changing the faces of cities and towns beyond recognition.

This was stated by Viacheslav Nehoda, Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine at the 15th meeting of the European Committee for Democracy and Governance (CDDG), which is currently being held in Strasbourg.

In recent years, at the CDDG meetings, the member states of the Council of Europe have continuously emphasised Ukraine’s experience in reforming its local self-government and territorial organisation of power. Last year, the European Parliament resolved to recognise decentralisation as one of the most successful reforms in Ukraine and called on the European Commission to carefully examine successful decentralisation practices in Ukraine and consider their practical implementation in other countries.

Today, however, Ukraine is forced to share other experiences.

“I just want to show you some examples of what the rashists did to our communities, their streets, squares, buildings, parks — from big cities to small villages — the development of which we were considering just two months ago. Kharkiv, a city of one and a half million, was one of the most beautiful cities in Ukraine before the war, and is now completely destroyed. Mariupol, a city of half a million, where many new innovative projects have been invested and planned, including by our international partners. There is practically nothing left of the city. The invader continues to destroy it. Bucha. The whole world now knows the name of this city near Kyiv. Hundreds of killed, tortured, raped civilians. Genocide of the twenty-first century! Trostianets. Before the war, this city was one of the leaders in the implementation of innovative municipal projects, awarded many international prizes, including the Best Practice Contest by the Council of Europe. The city was destroyed and looted; the occupier stole even numerous awards from the City Council,” the Deputy Minister said.

Unfortunately, according to him, every day brings more and more such destructions and atrocities, and the number of lives taken by this war increases every day.

“However, Ukrainians have been defending their country from the aggression of the second-best army in the world for two months now, defending their communities under constant missile strikes, bombings and shelling, under the round-the-clock sounds of air-raid sirens,” the Deputy Minister said.

According to Viacheslav Nehoda, the situation forces the heads of the municipalities, local self-government officials and municipal services to take on duties uncharacteristic of peacetime: organising defence units, continuously supporting and restoring the functioning of their municipalities and providing at least the necessities for their residents — iterally under shelling—as well as clearing the rubble after the destruction and burying the innocent dead, ensuring basic living conditions for thousands of people who were forced to leave their homes fleeing the war.

“I must say that the heads of most municipalities and their teams have proven their effectiveness and have shown themselves to the best of their ability. Well done!” the Deputy Minister said.

He also focused on the abductions of the heads of municipalities by the occupiers.

“It hurts me to speak about my fellow mayors who found themselves in the temporarily occupied territories. The Russian occupiers are on a real hunt for them: they have kidnapped more than twenty heads of municipalities. Fourteen of them have already been released. However, seven people are still in captivity. The occupiers killed two heads. I want to take this opportunity and ask for your support to protect the representatives of local self-government of these and other municipalities from kidnapping, torture and persecution,” said Viacheslav Nehoda.