Provision of housing, development of medicine: Ukraine's Ministry of Economy tells how it plans to return refugees

The official said this in an interview with Ukrinform.

"People are the most valuable asset of the country, and, of course, the return of our citizens, as well as the attraction of talent from other countries, are necessary for sustainable growth. To do this, we need to create conditions for people to want to live in Ukraine and to have the opportunity to develop, build a career, raise children and be confident in the future," he said.

Thus, the government plans to restore the destroyed hospitals, provide them with quality equipment and introduce modern methods of diagnosis and treatment.

"It is necessary to develop programs for physical and psychological rehabilitation of the military, as well as systems for their adaptation to civilian life," said Sobolev

As for housing, the government has launched the Restoration program. At the same time, the government is striving to achieve housing standards equal to those of the EU countries, Sobolev noted.

"There are obvious problems in the housing sector - 80% of houses were built in the Soviet era. And although the "panels" are far from an ideal picture of housing, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been left homeless due to Russian shelling. Almost 8% of the housing stock has been destroyed or damaged. The government has already launched the Restoration program to compensate citizens, and we will develop and expand this program. The government will focus on implementing the principles of the EU housing policy, in particular the principle of housing affordability. At the same time, we must bring housing standards and quality to the level of EU countries," the official said.

• Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that over 8 million Ukrainians have become refugees. Of these, over 5 million have applied for temporary resident status in neighboring Western European countries. 

• On September 13, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced further assistance to Ukrainian refugees in the EU.

• On September 28, the EU extended temporary protection for Ukrainians until March 2025.