Address by Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal at a session of the Government

Igreet everyone, dear colleagues, dear Ukrainians.

We start the meeting of the Government of Ukraine. We thank our defenders for enabling us to hold it in offline. We thank our male and female defenders as for 45 days now, they have been defending the Ukrainian people, liberating our cities and bringing our victory closer.

While the military on the front lines is fighting to destroy the enemy, everyone of

us is doing the job and exerts every effort to provide our defense forces with everything they need.

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Yesterday we had meetings with the EU leadership, as well as with the Prime Minister of Slovakia. We are grateful for the new support for Ukraine and for the new sanctions against russia. We are not going to stop. There is still a lot of work to be done in the two mentioned directions.

Also yesterday, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen handed over to our President a questionnaire that each country must complete in order to obtain the status of an EU membership candidate. We will fill in this questionnaire as soon as possible. Ukraine will be a member of the European Union. I have no doubt about that. It depends on everyone of us, dear colleagues, how prompt this process will be. Therefore, please pay utmost attention to this issue.

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The second priority after the army is to support our people. All over the country. Those who were forced to leave, and those who stayed in their homes. Support with money, housing, food, medicines. We will spare no effort to ensure none is left alone with this trouble.

We are taking a decision to extend the term of receiving assistance by forced migrants. The deadline is April 30. We are talking about a program to pay UAH 2,000 per adult and UAH 3,000 per child.

We have also changed the procedure for providing compensation to an employer for labor costs for the employment of internally displaced persons. It is now possible to obtain a displaced person status after employment.

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The next decision on the agenda is a draft agreement to attract concessionary financing from the Government of Canada to the tune of CAD 500 million. The funds will be directed to the budget to finance the priority needs of the army and our people.

A few hours ago, at the request of several member countries, including Canada, the International Monetary Fund approved the creation of a special administrative account to transfer direct financial assistance from donor nations to help Ukraine. And the Canadian Government will be the first to disburse CAD 1 billion through this account.

Today we are to submit to the President a draft Decree on the establishment of the Ukraine Recovery Fund. The Fund will function as an advisory body to the President and is designed to coordinate the accumulation of financial resources for the postwar rehabilitation of our state.

Within the framework of the Fund, it is envisaged the setting up of 5 working groups responsible for various areas - from communication with international financial organizations, communication with partner countries to fundraising from individuals and large global corporations and companies. Our mission is to consolidate all possible sources for the reconstruction of our state.

Moreover, today we submit for consideration to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a draft Decree on the establishment of the National Council for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, which will be responsible for the devising of a Plan for the postwar reconstruction and buildout of our country.

The plan will comprise not only concrete steps to rehabilitate and build infrastructure and housing, but also to ensure structural modernization and jump-starting the economy in line with European standards and regulations.

Ukraine aspires to join the EU. Ukraine must be the country with strong military and sound economy. Ukrainian social policy must meet the best world standards. The Ukrainian economy must be modern and competitive. Ukrainians have to return home from abroad because of better living conditions here. These are the main goals we set for Ukraine after the war.

I am grateful to everyone who is already сontributing to make this a reality.

Thank you for attention.

Glory to Ukraine!