How to return people to the country and prevent Ukrainians from returning to occupation
This was discussed at a meeting of the Section of the Association of Cities of Ukraine (AUC) for the development of de-occupied and temporarily occupied communities, which took place on November 8 in Kyiv. Within the event, the issues of compensation of the damage caused by Russia, the challenges of which are now faced by Ukrainian education, as well as post-war restoration of communities which were affected by war. Deputies, officials, representatives of local self-government and international partners have joined the discussion.
Opening the meeting of the Section, the executive director of the AUC Oleksandr Slobozhan noted that the deputies of Ukraine from all fractions and groups of parliament appealed to the profile vice-prime-minister for the restoration of Ukraine - Minister of community and territories of Ukraine Oleksiy Kuleba on the preservation of reverse grants and 64% of PITs in community budgets. This decision, if made, should help the local authorities in time and effectively respond to military challenges, as well as direct resources to support displaced persons, creating appropriate conditions and programs.
The Association of Cities of Ukraine has addressed the appeals of village, settlement and city mayors to the President of Ukraine and, together with communities of all Ukraine, does everything to preserve the reverse, a single tax and 64% of PITs in local budgets. Therefore, there is every reason to hope that thanks to joint efforts, these issues will be supported by the Parliament of Ukraine
noted Oleksandr Slobozhan
Also, at the session, participants discussed the work of the International Register of Losses, which will become an important tool for restoring justice for people, communities and enterprises that were most affected by the occupiers. RD4U is the first step to implement a compensation mechanism that will be a evidence for courts and international tribunals.
The Register of damage is the foundation for the use of international assistance and frozen Russian assets for the rebuilding of Ukraine. However, its importance goes beyond financial issues - it protects the truth that will be important for future generations. It will help restore the rights of every Ukrainian who has suffered from war. Without this registration, we run the risk of losing the possibility of compensation and allowing the world to forget large -scale tragedies. Justice is not just compensation. It is a memory that won't let the crime repeat
The head of the section of the Association of Ukrainian Cities of development of de-occupied and temporarily occupied communities, the mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko noted that an important task for communities is now to stow Ukrainian and international registers with information about the damage caused to further compensation of losses, as well as the creation of worthy conditions for life. development of people in the territory controlled by Ukraine. Local authorities, together with the government and international partners, should provide people with proper living, work and restore justice for anyone who has suffered from war.
We are now fixing a significant outflow of Ukrainians into temporarily occupied territories. Preferably, this is due to Russian propaganda and lack of their own housing. People have nowhere to live and cannot restore the conditions they had before the start of a full-scale invasion, because of which they are forced to return to occupation. Therefore, a common task for the state and local authorities is to create quality and affordable social housing, which will save people in Ukraine and will become the basis for their return from abroad
To achieve compensation for the damage caused is ready and big Ukrainian business. In particular, Rinat Akhmetov’s SCM and Metinvest Group has already started work.
The SCM and Metinvest Group were the first to begin to sue Russia. And we won the court in Crimea subject. We have a case in the European Court of Human Rights on Mariupol assets, there is an estimate of our losses at the level of $ 20 billion, so that it is clear what amounts are about. We, as a big business, will do everything we can do, and we do not translate this responsibility to anyone, so that evil is punished, but it is impossible to do so if the system is not ready for it. We will not be able to create an exception, we need to change the system. Justice was one of the greatest queries when we created Mariupol Reborn. From there, in fact, the initiative, which is now part of a major initiative about the register of losses that Mariupol should become a separate case in this Register
The meeting also discussed the challenges and ways of solving the problems of the educational process in war. Communities shared the problems of lack of pedagogical staff, safety, support of teachers and returning children to the territories. They also noted the need to do everything to ensure that children who are abroad could receive full education in Ukrainian.
The head of the section of the Association of Ukrainian Cities of development of de-occupied and temporarily occupied communities Vadym Boichenko presented the first results of the Community Restoration Academy and the next steps of the project. He said that the first training course "Community Restoration Manager" has gathered more than 110 participants from 37 communities from 14 regions of Ukraine. The speakers were international experts in 3 areas of management and misstalling. From 2025 it is planned to start a series of special courses in conjunction with the strategic partners of the project.
The Community Restoration Academy was founded by the Association of Cities of Ukraine and NGO Mariupol.Reborn. The project is implemented with the support of the UK government under the UK International Development and the International Republican Institute (IRI UKRAINE) in partnership with Metinvest and SCM.
