The "Unified Investment Portfolio" from the government is not a guarantee that Ukraine will receive 750 new facilities across various sectors, from energy to housing. Instead, it serves as an invitation for governmental bodies, municipalities, and businesses to engage in a significant investment endeavor, where the principle of "first come, first served" will apply in certain areas.
It is evident that the Lviv region, due to its distance from the combat zone, may begin its recovery sooner than frontline areas like Kharkiv or Donetsk, which are under constant shelling.
Various ministries, state-owned companies, and local authorities will have the opportunity to compete for the implementation of their recovery projects, opening the door for intense competition that includes both political and business elements.
“The main principle is to rebuild better than it was before,” says Olha Zykova, Deputy Minister of Finance. “Public investment projects aim to restore people's lives, bring them back home, and revitalize the most critical sectors of the economy.”
4The Ministry of Community Development, Territories, and Infrastructure submitted the most projects to the government's recovery plan—97 in total, amounting to 434 billion hryvnias. However, the Ministry of Energy is vying for the largest recovery budget, seeking 1.14 trillion hryvnias for its 44 projects, nearly half of the overall recovery budget.
Among regional administrations, the largest financial requests come from Chernivtsi, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Khmelnytskyi, Zaporizhzhia, Transcarpathia, and Lviv regions. This is likely to spark discussions about the feasibility and fairness of these requests, as the scale of destruction in Chernivtsi and Donetsk regions is not comparable. Nevertheless, the government encourages competition among recovery projects.
Another area of debate is the determination of priorities—currently, energy, infrastructure, and housing recovery are competing for primacy.
Among energy projects, attention should be drawn to the construction of the 3rd and 4th power units of the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant costing 134.1 billion hryvnias, which could add an additional 2 GW of capacity to the Ukrainian energy system, especially in light of the approximately 9 GW destroyed by Russia just in 2024.
This involves a request from "Energoatom" for the purchase of two reactors and equipment of Russian origin that are currently located in Bulgaria.
“It is still unclear whether credit resources will be involved, whether any financial instruments or Energoatom's own funds—which currently generate no income—are in play,” comments Daria Orlova, an analyst at Expro Electricity.
“Does Ukraine need more nuclear power units? Most likely, yes, because the prospects of regaining control over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant are bleak,” says Hennadiy Ryabtsev, an energy expert and professor at the Kyiv-Mohyla Business School. “However, there are better applications for the funds that will flow into Energoatom. For instance, strengthening the protection of electrical distribution nodes and the installation and commissioning of small energy units is required.”
A separate item in the energy recovery plan is the rehabilitation of hydropower plants under the state company "Ukrhydroenergo," with a cost of 15.3 billion hryvnias. Additionally, there is a pilot project for the construction of hydrogen energy facilities (413 million).
However, announcing plans is one thing; finding a construction company capable of building a modern hydropower plant or a facility for producing "green hydrogen" from scratch is another. Are Ukrainian builders equipped to handle this?
“It should be noted that Ukrainian builders were constructing very high-quality and complex projects even during the Soviet Union. These include power plants, bridges, overpasses, nuclear power plants, subways, airports, and stadiums,” reflects Marianna Bigunets, sales director at Gazda construction company. “The purely professional expertise has not disappeared, and the school of complex construction has not been lost. At the same time, the need for improvement is a crucial element in modern business, which applies not only to the construction sector.”
The transport sector, on its part, has planned projects worth 248 billion hryvnias.
“We need to finish the concrete bypass around Zhytomyr, which is 45% complete, as this route is crucial for military logistics,” says Viktor Dovhan, an infrastructure expert. “And Krakowiec should be developed as the primary phase of the connection to the highway in Poland.”
Thus, the project list allocates 2.4 billion hryvnias for the construction of border road infrastructure at the Ukrainian-Polish border—this area includes Krakowiec, Rava-Ruska, and Yavoriv in the Lviv region.
5This process may involve Polish companies—over 3,000 Polish firms have already registered to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, according to Pavel Kowal, a representative of the Polish government.
Furthermore, in the transport sector, the Ukrainian government plans to develop the metro in Kharkiv and Dnipro, develop seaports in Kherson and Odesa, and undertake the expensive task of restoring civil aviation. This primarily concerns the reconstruction of airports in Boryspil (32.8 billion hryvnias), Lviv (1.2 billion hryvnias), and Chernivtsi (1 billion hryvnias).
“This is not about airport reconstruction right now, but about developing investment proposals,” explains aviation expert Kirill Novikov, a member of the “Lviv Defense Cluster.” “There will be a prolonged transition period to peaceful life; the war will not end in one day.”
“As soon as the security situation allows, the first civil airport will resume operations, and then there will be a chain effect, with others following suit,” adds Novikov. “Protocols for safety will need to be developed, setting an example for civil aviation throughout Europe.”
But let's look beyond energy and infrastructure. The creation of the National Military Memorial Cemetery will cost 7.4 billion hryvnias. For providing housing for war veterans, nearly 20 billion is allocated, and similarly for IDPs—1.7 billion, centralized repair of war-damaged housing—35 billion, and repair of the "Okhmatdyt" hospital—14.8 billion.
Many educational initiatives that are now part of the state recovery concept were proposed by western Ukrainian regions and Mykolaiv region—schools, gymnasiums, their repairs, and equipment. The Kyiv-Mohyla Academy aims to restore the Old Academic Building of the Brotherhood Monastery for 155 million hryvnias.
Among the less obvious projects, numerous plans for the reconstruction and construction of prisons and detention centers are in place, including a new pre-trial detention center in the Boryspil district of Kyiv region with a budget of 1.6 billion and the repair of a prisoner-of-war camp in Lviv region costing 112 million hryvnias.
In response to the international trend, the government has allocated 6.7 billion for adaptation to climate change, as well as plans to build dozens of waste recycling plants across the country for more than 124 billion, including water purification systems.
It is worth mentioning a rather abstract project "Development of the Economy and Innovations of the Lviv Region" costing 2.2 billion, as well as an attempt by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to install a new pipe and shut-off valves in its own office for 700 thousand hryvnias. According to them, when else to repair the pipe in the Ministry building if not during the large post-war recovery.
6While announcing 750 public investment projects for the massive recovery of Ukraine at 2.36 trillion hryvnias is one thing, finding the funds for it is quite another.
So far, the government has determined that as of 2025, it can provide direct funding for recovery from the state budget amounting to 141.1 billion hryvnias and an additional 115 billion hryvnias in state guarantees—this will allow for attracting funds for long-term construction from foreign partners, albeit at low rates, since this debt will be guaranteed by the state. In total, this covers about 10% of the declared post-war recovery costs—the remaining funds will still need to be found.