Preparation of communities for winter under wartime conditions is among the key topics of dialogue between different branches of government at the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine, which took place in Uzhhorod.
The Congress is an effective platform for interaction between different branches of government, where communities can directly raise pressing issues and receive responses, address them systematically, and at the same time avoid unnecessary bureaucratic procedures.
The meeting of the Congress was attended by Serhii Sukhomlyn, Head of the Agency for restoration.
“After four years of full-scale war, the resilience reserve of the country’s infrastructure has effectively been exhausted. A rather difficult period lies ahead. Therefore, implementing community resilience plans is now, first and foremost, about survival. The main coordinator of this process is the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine. The Agency for Restoration acts as a technical expert and builds physical protection for about 30% of critical infrastructure facilities across the country — primarily large substations. Our experience enables communities to implement such projects more quickly — and, most importantly, efficiently. The facilities built by the Agency have already proven their reliability: transformers withstand dozens of direct hits and continue operating,” said the Head of the Agency for Restoration following the Congress.
Serhii Sukhomlyn also spoke about other areas in strengthening community resilience in which the Agency for Restoration is involved. These include essential services for people — ensuring the supply of heat and water to homes even under difficult wartime conditions.
The Coordination Center for the implementation of resilience plans has tasked the Agency for Restoration with developing a backup heating system for a district heating area of one of the capital’s CHP plants, as well as alternative water intake sources for Ukrainian cities.