The Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine approved a number of draft agreements on international territorial cooperation initiated by local governments and regional state (military) administrations by Order No. 139 dated 27 January 2026.

The resolution was adopted pursuant to the Law of Ukraine ‘On International Territorial Cooperation’ and the Procedure for Approving Draft Agreements, taking into account the positions of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

In particular, the Ministry for Development approved the following draft international agreements:

• Memorandum of cooperation between the Andrushivka City Council of Zhytomyr region and the municipality of Råde (Kingdom of Norway);
• Agreement on international territorial cooperation between the Vyshnivets Settlement Council of Ternopil region and the city of Mordy (Masovian Voivodeship, Poland);
• Agreement on international territorial cooperation between the Chudei Village Council of Chernivtsi region and the commune of Botoșani (Suceava County, Romania);
• Memorandum of Understanding on partnership between Zaporizhzhia City Council and Orange City Council (New South Wales, Australia);
• Memorandum of Understanding between the Budzhak Settlement Council of Odesa region and the Primary of Tvardița (Taraclia district, Moldova);
• Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of partnership between the Kyiv Regional State (Military) Administration and the Southwest Finland Region (Finland).

The Order was published on the Ministry’s official website. Deputy Minister Oleksii Riabykin is in charge of overseeing the implementation of the Order.

International territorial cooperation remains one of the key instruments for the development of Ukrainian communities. Based on data from the Monitoring of the Reform of Local Self-Government and Territorial Organisation of Power, which is published quarterly by the Ministry for Development, as of 1 January 2026, Ukrainian communities had concluded 2,119 international partnership agreements. A total of 487 communities are involved in international cooperation, with partnerships covering 64 countries around the world.

The most developed network of international partnerships is in the communities of Lviv, Zakarpattia, Kyiv, Volyn, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. These indicators confirm that international cooperation for communities is no longer a one-off diplomatic exercise, but rather a systematic tool for development and an important component of European integration of local self-government of Ukraine.