You're reading: Ukraine jointly with EU to work out action plan on liquidation of consequences of conflict in Donbas

Ukraine expects that the European Union will help Ukraine to overcome the consequences of the military conflict in the eastern part of the country an create the conditions for living of the displaced people from the east and Crimea in winter, Vice Prime Minister and Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Hroisman has said.

“Today we have 58,000 of displaced persons, and according to some
data, there are around 100,000 of them, and we expect that the figure
will grow. A roof over their heads should be created, as well as normal
living conditions, social adaptation and employment. The relevant
infrastructure is required for this, maybe, the modernization of the
existing infrastructure,” the press service of the ministry reported,
citing Hroisman.

At a meeting with Jean-Louis De Brouwer, European Commission’s
Director Immigration, Asylum and Borders, Directorate-General Justice,
Freedom and Security, in Kyiv on Wednesday, he said that the displaced
people from Crimea and Donbas are moved to the resort complexes. The
state permanently conducts a stocktaking for the new facilities to move
the displaced people there, but not all of them are adapted for living
in winter.

“The largest problem is that we’re entering the winter period. The
issue of heating the premises appears. We should be ready for this,” he
said.

In turn, De Brouwer highly appreciated the efforts of the Ukrainian
government on the restoration, at least partial, of the conditions for
living and returning people to the towns which were liberated from
illegal armed groups.

“Our experience shows that the best way to survive the winter is to
create the conditions for returning people to their native towns and
settlements. One of the mechanisms which we can use is sending funds for
civil protection. This will help us to gather the required equipment
and give it to Ukraine in the amount it needs. We did this in Serbia and
Bosnia as a part of overcoming the aftermath of a large flood,” he
said.

The sides came to the conclusion that today it is hard to assess the
consequences of damages in the eastern part of Ukraine, as the armed
hostilities are seen there and armed groups deliberately destroy the
infrastructure of the region, but the concrete needs of Ukraine in
restoring the said territories should be determined as quickly as
possible, as well as the creation of the conditions for displaced people
in the winter period.

“We have an artificially created problem. We should understand its
scope and jointly find out what we should do to settle the issue,”
Hroisman said.

He said that it would be better that the technical mission on the
assessment of the urgent needs of Ukraine in overcoming the consequences
of the military aggression which planned to come in October would come
earlier.

“We should be quick and catch the time. The date of the arrival of
the mission is the issue to be decided by the European Union, but we
should assess the situation as soon as possible and draw up the action
plan,” he said.

The sides agreed that they will hold a working meeting in a week with
outlining the preliminary proposals regarding the settling of the
problem of the displaced people.