The Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, in cooperation with EU4Reconstruction, is developing a pilot programme for restoration and frontline territories, which will operate based on the EU programme model.

This was announced on social media by Oleksii Riabykin, Deputy Minister for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine.

According to the Deputy Minister, the key difference will be the transition from financing individual projects to achieving strategic goals through a portfolio of interrelated decisions.

‘Its main difference is the programme model: funding is directed not at individual projects, but at achieving clearly defined goals through a portfolio of interrelated decisions. The programme has measurable results, a transparent management system, partnerships between levels of authority, and a clear monitoring and control mechanism. This is how the EU Cohesion Policy works,’ said Oleksii Riabykin.

This approach is part of a broader philosophy of territorial development, which the official also discussed. He stressed that public policy must take into account the realities of each community, as conditions of life, security risks, and economic challenges vary from place to place.

‘Each territory has different conditions of life, security risks, economies, and daily challenges. Therefore, state policy must take into account the reality of each community. This is how the territorial approach works. Each functional type of territory receives its own development tools and targeted programmes for specific conditions,’ explained the Deputy Minister.

Oleksii Riabykin also summarised the interim results of the current work: in 2025, support was already provided to 244 communities with a population of over 7 million people. The next step should be to combine this experience into a coherent system.

‘This is part of our path to the EU and, simultaneously, the basis for further programmes. We will develop similar approaches for other functional types of territories so that each community receives the development tools that meet its real needs,’ Oleksii Riabykin wrote on social media.