Vitalii Bezghin: 840 mobile shelters will be installed in frontline communities.

Children’s safety and preparations by frontline communities for the new school year are the focus of Congress hearings hosted by the Office of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities under the President of Ukraine.

More than 1770 participants joined the discussion, including representatives of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, members of parliament, the Government, regional military administrations, regional councils, local authorities and communities.

The key decision is to install 840 mobile shelters in frontline communities.

“Without doubt, the most pressing issue is children’s safety. Today, a school route in a frontline community must follow a completely different logic: a place of shelter must be planned alongside the bus stop, road and school.

For this purpose, 840 mobile shelters are planned. We are combining the regions’ capacities: regions farther from the front are becoming partners of frontline regions and helping with funding. This approach will help meet needs more quickly where people live with the risk of shelling every day,” said Vitalii Bezghin, Minister for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine (Vitaliy Bezgin).

The initiative will reach 56 000 children. The total project cost is approximately 1.4 billion hryvnias. A decision to allocate the funding must be made as soon as possible.

The project will be implemented through the joint efforts of the state, regions and communities. Regions farther from the front will help finance the needs of frontline territories.

The Office of the President of Ukraine, the Ministry for Communities, Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine, the Ministry of Infrastructure, the Ministry of Education, regional military administrations, local authorities and communities will work on implementation.

🇺🇦 The state’s task is to do everything possible so that proximity to the front does not deprive children of their right to education or communities of the opportunity to live and develop.

Frontline territories should feel the support of the entire country rather than their distance from the centre.