“You are also our army!” This is what Oleksii Chernyshov, Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, called local self-government in Ukraine, commenting on the competent and efficient response of the municipalities to today’s challenges.

On April 11, a meeting on the activities of local self-governments under martial law was chaired by the Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine with the participation of representatives of central executive bodies, the Association of Ukrainian Cities and heads of municipalities.

“At other times, we would talk about development, about further strengthening of local self-government, which we have persistently implemented with you in the previous 8 years. However, the aggression that Russia has launched against the Ukrainian people has temporarily changed our plans, and we now face extremely difficult challenges. I say ‘temporarily’ because the Ukrainian army and Territorial Defence units with their strength and heroism are not the only ones who give us hope. Local self-governments give us hope too; you, dear heads of municipalities, and your teams have shown with your determination, expertise and unity that you are also a powerful municipal army that can operate under missiles and air strikes. Many of you have sheltered tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people forced to flee the war. You support each other in these tragic days. You have established the logistics of humanitarian aid to municipalities that need it. As well as dozens and dozens of other important points in your daily schedule, each, I’m sure, being a step towards Ukraine’s victory,” the Minister said.

Participants of the meeting observed a minute of silence in honour of Yurii Prylypko, Mayor of Hostomel, Olha Sukhenko, Starosta of Motyzhyn village of Makariv municipality, and her family, thousands of victims in Kharkiv, Mariupol, Bucha, Irpin, Hostomel, Kramatorsk and villages in Ukraine, where Russia has committed mass killings of civilians.

The Minister also thanked the Association and the heads of municipalities for participating in the initiative of the Ministry of Regional Development, the International Marathon “Local Governments Unite for Welfare and Peace”. The aim of the initiative is to bring the truth about the bloody aggression to the international communities.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Association of Ukrainian Cities and many of you who joined the initiative of the Ministry of Regional Development, the International Marathon “Local Governments Unite for Welfare and Peace” where we tried to bring our truth about bloody aggression to international communities and media. We will continue this work, as international support for Ukraine is extremely important. Together with you, we have involved more than a thousand municipalities in more than 30 countries in this dialogue. I believe that many of the decisions made in the world today to help Ukraine were brought, in part, by the International Marathon of Local Self-Government as a powerful united voice of municipalities, which are taken into account in every democratic country,” said Oleksii Chernyshov.

The Minister invited the Association of Ukrainian Cities to organise an international municipality relay.

“At the last stage of the Marathon with the participation of the municipalities of the United States, Canada, Israel and Mexico, a proposal was made for collective written appeals of Ukrainian mayors and mayors of other countries to governments and parliaments to support Ukraine and end the war. This can be implemented in the format of an international municipal relay. The Ukrainian Association of Cities might be its organiser.”