The Lithuanian Economy and Innovation Ministry has handed over a mobile settlement to Ukraine’s Borodianka, where 36 families who lost their homes will soon move. “This is the first, but not the last development cooperation project implemented by Lithuania to rebuild Ukraine’s destroyed infrastructure,” Economy and Innovation Minister Aušrinė Armonaitė said in a press release. “Support to Ukraine is particularly important at this time, as life is moving forward despite the ongoing war in the country, and those returning have no place to live or to educate their children,” she added.
Tomas Matulevičius, Lithuanian Commercial Attaché to Ukraine, has handed over the settlement keys to the mayor of Borodianka and signed the handover act. “In the near future, our goal is to complete other infrastructure reconstruction projects in Ukraine, which would allow us to at least partially ease the everyday life of the families who have stayed [in Ukraine],” Matulevičius said.
The mobile settlement in Borodianka is focused on the needs of Ukrainian families. A playground has been set up outside for children, and inside the mobile home, there are laundry, kitchen, and recreational facilities. Lithuania is also implementing other infrastructure reconstruction projects in Ukraine, including the reconstruction of a school damaged by explosions. The renovation should provide education for around 700 children. This project is expected to be completed in autumn this year. Lithuania is also working on the renovation of a kindergarten in Irpin. It is also expected to be completed in autumn this year.
The Lithuanian government has allocated more than 11 million euros for infrastructure reconstruction projects in Ukraine.
At a recent World bank round table discussion Lithuanian Minister of Finance Gintarė Skaistė indicated that additional funds will be mobilized in the near future, with allocations for war-affected Moldova as well. Lithuania will be contributing 10 million euros, which will be tripled via a new World Bank instrument.
So far Lithuania has given over 900 million euros to Ukraine in humanitarian, financial and military aid. Current World Bank estimates show that reconstruction costs for Ukraine are estimated at 411 billion US dollars.
