Continued support by the European Union for reforms in Ukraine, support for infrastructure development in the Azov-Black Sea region and the southern Ukraine, prolonging sanctions against Russia are the core issues raised during meetings of Deputy Prime Minister/ Minister for Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Communal Services of Ukraine Hennadii Zubko and members of the European Parliament and the European Commission in Brussels in the framework of his working visit on February 26-27.

"For Ukraine, the EU's support for reform is immeasurable. Despite the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and the election campaign in Ukraine, we see the interest and staunch support by the EU of the decentralization reform. We are talking about the realization of the second stage of the program "U-LEAD with Europe". Moreover, we have the support for an energy efficiency reform: at the talks, we discussed with our European colleagues, apart from the Energy Efficiency Fund, the possibility of attracting technologies that will help modernize the industrial sector, transport and energy. This is a huge direction that Ukraine when implementing the 27th EU Directive kicks start", noted Hennadii Zubko.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that a number of EU decisions adopted on the Kerch Bridge, the results of the EU monitoring assessment mission in Pryazovya were the focus at a meeting with the Vice-President of the European Parliament. "I am convinced that the topic of Crimea has to be raised daily on both the European and the global level. We also count on the continuation and toughening of sanctions against the Russian Federation, in connection with aggression in the Sea of Azov. This, first of all, concerns the imposition of personal sanctions against the military who took part in the attack on Ukrainian ships, as well as judges and prosecutors responsible for the arrest of Ukrainian sailors," the official emphasized.