Address by the President at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities

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Distinguished guests, respected representatives of our communities, esteemed government officials!

Dear Mr. President, dear António, I am grateful that you are with us today!

I deeply appreciate this visit and thank you for your support. I also know that today we are joined - though we haven't met yet - by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden. Welcome!

The participation of our European friends in this event, in the work of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Ukraine, clearly demonstrates how interconnected these matters are: our Ukraine's domestic policy and our relations with the European Union.

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Ukraine is de facto integrating into the European Union. We are working to open clusters: achieving results and doing it together with the EU. All our cooperation programs are functioning today - primarily in defense, energy, and budgetary sustainability - which are so important for supporting our people. I greatly value all assistance and cooperation at the community level, between cities. European institutions are also working directly with communities. We are deeply grateful for this support and assistance - it is one of the ways to promote local development in Ukraine. Thank you for all of this.

We are now in Zakarpattia, one of the country's key regions and one that currently forms an economic foundation for Ukraine. Relocated enterprises and our new businesses operate here. Today, together with President Costa, we visited some of these enterprises. The example of Zakarpattia, and other regions that are increasing Ukraine's industrial and social capacity during the war, demonstrates the strength of the Ukrainian people. We thank you - all the representatives who are here, everyone who is present offline and online. I thank you all. Special thanks to each community that gives Ukraine its economic strength. I urge the Ukrainian Government to continue actively supporting the "Made in Ukraine" program for our communities, which includes Ukrainian industrial parks, jobs across the country, energy modernization programs at the local level, alternative energy, initiatives to ease access to networks, and lending programs. We also expect the Government to propose effective military risk insurance for frontline communities - a report on this program by the Honorable Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko is expected this week.

We are grateful to every community that supports our defense capabilities, with special thanks to those on the frontline. And I extend my special gratitude and deepest respect to all those living near the enemy and in frontline communities, who every day carry out their work, serve the state, help others, provide jobs, work in those jobs, and ensure that our country continues to live. I would like to personally thank and support every one of you. It is extremely important that, this year, Ukrainian communities continue supporting our troops, contributing no less than 15% of their revenues. This is a realistic target.

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I want to thank all our friends in Europe and in other parts of the world who come to Ukraine, who visit our regions, who really see firsthand - not just through reports - what Russia is actually doing and how important it is to maintain support for Ukraine at a sufficient level. It is precisely the sufficient level of support for Ukraine that provides one of the elements of pressure on Russia. The second element of pressure is sanctions against Russia. We are working together on both of these elements. We are grateful for the EU's sanctions pressure on Russia and, above all, for the alliance between Europe and the United States and their allied efforts to pressure Russia. We ask all of you - every community, every community leader - to be active in this, both at your own level - in sanctions - and in contacts with partners, other communities, with communities of the European Union. Always, please, promote the need to provide further support. Everyone can see that Russia does not stop its attacks. Everyone can see that the consequences of Russian strikes are most devastating, primarily for our ordinary cities and villages, for Ukrainian civilians. Europe is organized in such a way that the voices of communities often carry no less weight than the voices of states. That is why it is important for communities to remain active. And, in addition to such activity, please fully implement agreements with our partners. We ask you to do it. This is primarily a task for Ukraine's diplomatic team. We have many coalitions with partners. We have defense coalitions, coalitions that help protect lives. This includes, for example, the Shelter Coalition. Everything must be filled with substance and produce results - if a coalition is announced, it must be clear to people exactly what Ukraine has accomplished within that coalition. Many countries and communities are ready to help us. This must be directed effectively. A concrete example is funding for school meals for all our children. A program of such free meals must be available in all our Ukrainian schools for all our Ukrainian children. We discussed this today with colleagues and raised this topic with António, and yesterday I spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. We hope to ensure this program. But I would like to see greater leadership from government officials, first and foremost from our ministries: the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must also assist in implementing such programs. This concerns assistance to children, not only meals, but also providing our schools with buses, shelters, which I already mentioned, and necessary equipment. It is also important to note the pace of construction of underground schools in regions that need them - I want to thank communities and each region for their concrete successes. There have indeed been successes. These include the Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions.

And one more thing.

I want to thank all of you who are doing real things to integrate veterans into economic and social life. This is strategic work. Every veteran space, veterans' businesses, and the creation of jobs for veterans - these must be priorities for every community. And it is important to have positive competition among communities in creating such opportunities, so that, by the end of the year, we can determine together which communities truly set an example in implementing veteran policy - the Heroes Policy. I strongly urge the Government and the Office team to coordinate this work with particular focus, and within a month, propose a comprehensive, unified platform with all opportunities for veterans, both at the central level - in relation to the state - and within communities. Programs for veterans, services, documents, opportunities in education and entrepreneurship, employment - everything must be integrated, everything must work for the benefit of our society and the development of Ukrainian communities.

Thank you all for your work, for serving the state.

Glory to Ukraine!

ph	Working Trip of the President of Ukraine to Zakarpattia 5 September 2025 - 13:10