The Government has decided to rename the Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories to the Ministry of National Unity of Ukraine.
This was announced by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
‘From the first day of the Russian invasion, unity has been our main weapon. Unity within the country, unity with our partners, unity of Ukrainians around the world,’ he wrote on Telegram.
Shmyhal reminded that today the Verkhovna Rada appointed Oleksiy Chernyshov as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Unity.
‘The government, for its part, has decided to rename the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories to the Ministry of National Unity of Ukraine. This institutional strengthening will help to create a new quality of work and interaction with the multi-million Ukrainian community from all waves of migration,’ the Prime Minister said.
Shmyhal added that the creation of the Ministry of National Unity will also help to formulate a strategy on how to bring Ukrainians back to live and work in Ukraine. According to him, the new Deputy Prime Minister is to present a clear plan for the development of the ministry, its team and key KPIs in the near future.
As a reminder, in March 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers restored the Ministry of Temporary Occupation and renamed it the Ministry of Reintegration.
Ministry of National Unity
- The Ministry of National Unity of Ukraine does not yet exist. The idea of creating a ministry that would deal with the return of Ukrainians who have moved abroad on an offshore basis was first voiced in August.
- This information was later confirmed by the President. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the idea to create the ministry came from him and that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alone would not be able to cope with the task of returning Ukrainians. The President stressed that if we do not bring all taxpayers out of the shadows and if we do not return Ukrainians home, we will face a serious challenge after the war - how to feed our pensioners.
- The fact that Russia is preparing operations against Ukrainians abroad was recently mentioned by Vadym Skibitskyy, a representative of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. The Russians' goal is to convince Ukrainian refugees not to return.
- On 3 December, former Naftogaz CEO Chernyshov became the head of the Ministry of Unity.