Crimea and temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts will be in Ukraine. This will inevitably happen. Therefore, now we have to plan how decentralisation will change the lives of Ukrainians, who were hostage to the Russian occupation on these territories. This is our top priority for this year, announced Hennadii Zubko, Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine.

According to him, it has simply become necessary and extremely relevant after the adoption of the Law “On Peculiarities of State Policy Regarding the Assurance of State Sovereignty of Ukraine on Temporarily Occupied Territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts”.

“We have to prepare plans for the residents of the temporarily occupied Donbas and annexed Crimea specifying the way amalgamated hromadas with new opportunities and resources will be established. We have to plan the prospect of development of infrastructure, kindergartens and schools, show how the reform will change the quality of providing safety and administrative services, educational, social and healthcare services. We have to plan how people’s living standard will change on these territories. For this, and this is my committed position, we now have to develop perspective plans for hromadas’ amalgamation in the temporarily occupied Donbas,” said Hennadii Zubko.

The Vice Prime Minister noted that at yesterday's coordination meeting on discussion decentralisation issues with the experts he instructed MinRegion, in cooperation with the Ministry of Temporary Occupied Territories, as well as Military-Civil Administrations of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts, to jointly work out such perspective plans. “As for the development of perspective plans of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, it is first of all necessary to legislatively determine those to develop such plans and bodies to be involved. But Ukrainians in the annexed Crimea have to clearly understand the prospects and opportunities that open up with Ukraine,” said Hennadii Zubko.