Cabinet resolution #593 of June 13, 2023 

Decision-maker: the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine 

Status: in effect since June 13, 2023 

Who is affected: the Ministry for Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development and the ministries and oblast state administrations addressed by the resolution 

Summary of the resolution: 

  • the Cabinet approved the proposal by the Ministry for Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development to introduce positions of a deputy minister in several ministries and of a deputy head in oblast state administrations, responsible for the reconstruction of regions, territories, and infrastructure. Such powers may also be granted to the current deputies 
  • these deputies will have to cooperate with the Ministry for Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure Development 
  • the position of deputy for the reconstruction of regions, territories, and infrastructure was introduced in the following ministries: Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Digital Transformation, Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, Ministry of Social Policy; also, this position was introduced in the following oblast state administrations: Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhya, Kyiv, Luhansk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Chernihiv 
  • the appointment of deputies must be approved by the First Deputy Prime Minister. 

What is wrong: 

  • excessive concentration of powers in the hands of the Deputy Prime Minister 
  • the resolution contradicts the Law on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Law on Local State Administrations 
  • powers regarding the reconstruction of regions are now centralized. All processes related to reconstruction involving other ministries will be under the control of the Ministry of Infrastructure. 

Background information: before the large-scale invasion, the Ministry of Infrastructure was responsible for all construction in the state. That is why now the Cabinet of Ministers decided to create a mega-ministry responsible for the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. To that end, the Ministry of Infrastructure was merged with the Ministry for the Development of Communities and Territories. 

Alternative solution: the reconstruction process needs to be decentralized by involving local self-government bodies in the decision-making process to enable the “build back better” principle.