On Tuesday 9 April, EU High Representative Josep Borrell condemned the “reckless” drone attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, pointing out that it “increases the risk of a dangerous nuclear accident”. “Such attacks must stop (...) Russia should withdraw from the nuclear power plant”, he called on X (formerly Twitter). The Russians and Ukrainians are blaming each other for the attacks.
Preventing destruction and helping reconstruction
With Russian air attacks on the rise, the Ukrainian government is calling on the West to send it anti-aircraft defence systems. Leaders of local communities under attack - such as Oleg Pylypenko, head of Shevchenkove, who met the European Parliament on 10 April - are also requesting such systems. “We need more help from the West, it is essential”, he pleaded to Agence Europe.
Located between Mykolaïv and Kherson, the community of Shevchenkove was able to halt the Russian advance by bombing its bridges and using its irrigation system as anti-tank trenches. The Russians occupied 8 of the community’s 21 villages for 9 months. The entire community was bombed and the energy and water networks destroyed. In March 2022, Mr Pylypenko was captured by the Russians, tortured, held in a military facility exposed to Ukrainian bombardments and then exchanged after three months.
Now that 80% of the population has returned and the community is welcoming people fleeing Kherson (currently 610 out of a population of 12,700), the local leader has called for additional support to build new homes and basic infrastructure.
He says that the EU has already helped with small-scale renovations to enable residents to return. The gas, electricity and water networks have been re-established and 70% of the territory was demined in 2023, thanks in particular to EU support.
Greater private sector involvement
In addition, the members of the Steering Committee of the Donor Coordination Platform for Ukraine, meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday 10 April, agreed to launch a business advisory council on the sidelines of the next conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, taking place in Berlin in June. Its role will be to provide advice and expertise to the platform, improve Ukraine’s investment climate, attract private sector investment and strengthen Ukraine’s small and medium-sized enterprises. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)