The resilience and reconstruction of Ukraine at the heart of two conferences in Paris
Odessa, kyiv, Dnipro and four regions in western Ukraine are facing very delicate situations in terms of electricity supply.
AP - Andrew Kravchenko
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
Two international conferences of support for Ukraine are being held this Tuesday, December 13 in Paris.
Objective: to help the Ukrainians get through the winter despite the Russian strikes, and prepare for the reconstruction of the country.
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Since October, Ukrainians have had to learn to live with repeated power cuts which also lead to telephone, Internet, water supply and heating failures.
Russian strikes
continue to target the
country's energy infrastructure, making the situation a little more precarious every day as winter temperatures set in.
According to the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky, Odessa, Kiev, Dnipro and four regions in the west of the country are facing very delicate situations in terms of electricity supply.
Asked by RFI, the deputy of the Odessa city council Lilya Leonidova thus mentions a “
very urgent
” need for generators, and various equipment, ranging from LEDs to solar-powered flashlights.
“
We have around 180,000 displaced people in the region.
These are people who need the most basic things.
But there are also retirees who cannot afford to buy medicine.
We have a lot of businesses that have closed and people are left with no pay.
This is a very large part of the population that needs support
,” she insists.
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To read also: War in Ukraine: "The needs of civilians concern electricity and construction"
The objective of the conference organized this Tuesday at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs is therefore to mobilize the international community, to enable Ukraine to maintain its basic services and get through the winter.
The multilateral meeting will focus on the assistance to be provided in the very short term.
The financial or in-kind support "
must arrive in Ukraine before mid-March
".
These efforts should be directed towards five key sectors: energy, access to water, agri-food, health and transport.
48 States represented
Beyond the promises that will be made, the French executive wishes to set up an aid coordination mechanism.
According to the Élysée, this could take the form of an internet platform on which kyiv could indicate its needs and donors what they are ready to finance.
Forty-eight states will be represented, from the Swiss president to the Cambodian prime minister.
Twenty international organizations and financial institutions are invited to this meeting, which is a joint Franco-Ukrainian initiative.
Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Volodymyr Zelensky (who will speak by videoconference) will kick off the event with the opening speeches.
Also expected are the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Denys Chmyhal, and
the first lady Olena Zelenska
, received this Monday at the Elysée Palace by Brigitte Macron to talk about aid for the reconstruction of hospitals and the reception of Ukrainian children in France.
In the afternoon, the Ministry of Finance will host the bilateral part of this conference, a sequence more focused on the long term.
Evoking the reconstruction was a request from the Ukrainians, explained the Elysée.
Five hundred French companies, of all sizes, will participate and it is not excluded that some contracts will be signed.
To promote the French presence in the reconstruction site, Paris is also relying on its support instruments.
1.2 billion euros in export guarantees are planned.
I think morale is a lot about Ukrainians feeling their cause is right.
Where does the Ukrainian population draw its capacities for resilience?
Anastasia Becchio
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