On July 14, an extended meeting of the Presidium of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President took place, which was attended by ambassadors of foreign countries and heads of diplomatic missions of Ukraine abroad.

The meeting was devoted to the presentation of the Fast Recovery plan - a plan for the recovery of Ukraine from the consequences of Russia's full-scale war against our country.

As Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak emphasized, the most important thing today is to determine how to most effectively take care of Ukrainian citizens suffering from Russian aggression.

"Russia is deliberately shelling peaceful cities, destroying locations where there are no military facilities. Therefore, we need to achieve the 'Phoenix effect' - to restore and improve what was destroyed and burned, quickly and without delay," he said.

The Head of the President's Office noted that the state budget provides almost UAH 3 billion for the restoration of affected Ukrainian villages, towns and large cities. For these funds, debris is removed, roofs are repaired, windows are replaced and work is carried out at the Okhtyrka, Chernihiv, and Kremenchuk combined heat and power plants. Ukrainian business also joined the restoration of the destroyed social infrastructure.

At the same time, Andriy Yermak noted that in the difficult conditions of the war, Ukraine needs international assistance. That is why President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during all negotiations with the leaders of foreign countries raises the issue of attracting investments for the reconstruction of Ukraine, as well as initiated the international donor platform United24.

The Head of the Office of the President is convinced that the case of the reconstruction of Ukraine should become a success story for the whole of Europe.

"Ukraine should become a benchmark for recovery and an example for future generations. Ukraine will be a huge construction and investment platform that can give a boost to the development of European economies," emphasized Andriy Yermak.

According to him, the recovery plan of Ukraine also includes systemic internal reforms that will maximally integrate our country into the European and Euro-Atlantic community.

The Head of the President's Office noted that most of the Fast Recovery plan can be implemented after the war, but there is a necessary minimum that must be implemented now.

As Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal noted, the recovery plan for Ukraine has two key dimensions. According to the first dimension, the reconstruction of the country and the reforms should take place in accordance with the best rules and practices of the EU, because the goal of our state is membership in the European Union. The second dimension involves the regional principle, when foreign partners take patronage over different regions of the country, finance and directly participate in the preparation and implementation of reconstruction projects.

Denys Shmyhal also called on the heads of local administrations, city mayors, community leaders to intensify communication with colleagues from partner countries who intend to participate in the reconstruction of Ukraine, and to negotiate with them on the development of joint projects.

During the presentation of the Fast Recovery plan, Deputy Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Tymoshenko emphasized that the goal of the plan is the rapid restoration of residential, educational, medical infrastructure and housing and communal facilities destroyed during the war.

According to him, today the total amount for the implementation of the Fast Recovery plan is USD 17 billion. It provides for the restoration of 100% of the housing stock in the de-occupied territories, as well as part of schools, kindergartens, hospitals and housing and communal services facilities (a total of over 38,000 facilities).

"It is this number that regional administrations and local councils have identified as critically necessary for reconstruction, so that Ukrainians can return home to the de-occupied territories," he said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko emphasized that in order to ensure transparency and control over the process of receiving and using aid from international partners, the development of a state online system for recording all destructions and the state of restoration of objects is being completed.

"This system provides transparent control over all processes on the way from fixing the destruction of objects to commissioning them, taking into account the amount of funding used and the origin of funding. Every donor will have access to this system," he said.

Deputy Head of the Office of the President Andriy Sybiha emphasized that an active discussion on the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine began at the international level, in particular during the recent conference in Lugano.

"We expect that, based on the results of this discussion, a comprehensive plan for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, similar to the Marshall Plan, will be developed with the maximum involvement of our international partners from all over the world," Andriy Sybiha said.

According to him, the patronage of foreign states over certain regions and cities should become an important tool for recovery.

For example, Bulgaria expressed willingness to help in the recovery of one of the southern regions of Ukraine, the United Kingdom is ready to join the reconstruction of Kyiv and the region, Greece - the reconstruction of Odesa, Spain - certain areas of the capital, Italy and Albania - the reconstruction of Irpin, the Netherlands - the Kherson region, Poland - the Kharkiv region, the Czech Republic - the Dnipropetrovsk region, France - the Chernihiv region and some cities of the Kyiv region.

In addition, Azerbaijan and Morocco are considering the possibility of participating in the restoration of certain facilities in Irpin and Odesa, Turkey - in the reconstruction of Kharkiv.

Andriy Sybiha called on the ambassadors of foreign countries to work more actively together with the leaders of territorial communities to determine priority needs and priority projects.

For his part, Ambassador of the Netherlands to Ukraine Jennes de Mol emphasized that his country is ready to help Ukraine, which today demonstrates extraordinary resilience and protects the values of the whole of Europe. The diplomat noted that decentralization is developed in Ukraine, there are powerful regions, and the coordination of central and local authorities is important during the preparation of recovery plans.