The Verkhovna Rada passed the “European Solidarity” faction’s bill on shelters in its first reading. 296 deputies voted in favor of the Law on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Measures to Ensure the Safety of Citizens in a Special Period.
“This is an extremely important bill. “European Solidarity” has been proposing to the Verkhovna Rada for several years to take a leadership role in the need to modify and develop a modern shelter system in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine. We see that the Russian Federation is changing tactics today. Because it cannot fulfill Putin’s so-called plans on the front, it is starting to intensify terror in civilian cities. And therefore today, when thousands of Kyiv residents spend the night in the subway, when in Kharkiv the subway has become a huge shelter for tens of thousands of people, when other cities like Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro are forced to set up underground schools, we understand that the issue of bomb shelters, the issue of shelters, is becoming problem number one for the protection of civilians. And it is very bad that only now we are starting to approach this systematically,” said the co-chair of the faction Iryna Herashchenko.
“What is our bill about? We took Finnish experience regarding access to shelters as an example. Secondly, we talk about the need to strengthen the responsibility of both the central and local authorities for the creation of shelters, for the allocation of funds for this. It is very important that we consider this bill on the eve of the budget process. I think these are the things that should unite the hall,” said Herashchenko.
“I think you all know well and have felt what it’s like when you first hear the explosions of ballistics and then hear the air raid alarm sounds. Very often Kyiv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Pavlohrad, and many other cities are awakened by such sounds. We recently saw absolutely horrific footage when several families were running into a shelter and were destroyed by a Russian missile with shrapnel. These are terrible scenes seen by the whole world. Why did this happen? Because in the fifth year of the great war, we still have insufficient shelters. And this is truly a huge shame for both the central and local authorities. Because we shouldn’t have been repaving the cobblestones, but we definitely should’ve built shelters, especially when literally every night people in Kyiv are forced to spend the night in them,” emphasized MP Viktoriya Syumar.
“You see people going to the subway station literally carrying tents with them because the shelters still do not provide even water, not to mention toilets. In this bill, which our team developed two years ago and it lay on the shelf, very clear requirements are specified for what should be in each shelter, starting with water and ending with medicines. A person responsible for the state of these shelters must be appointed. Shelters should be where there are concentrations of people so they can get to them in ten minutes,” said Syumar.
As reported, the “European Solidarity” faction submitted a bill on shelters back in 2023, which was ignored by the authorities all this time. In July of this year, “ES” deputies registered the revised bill №15397 “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Measures to Ensure the Safety of Citizens in a Special Period,” which provides for:
- guaranteeing unhindered access to protective structures during martial law;
- establishing clear requirements for the readiness of shelters, particularly regarding their proper technical equipment;
- introducing regular inspections of their condition;
- strengthening responsibility for the maintenance of protective structures;
- promoting the expansion of the shelter network, including modular constructions.
During a speech from the rostrum of the Verkhovna Rada, Petro Poroshenko called on deputies to consider the bill on shelters. On the eve, Petro Poroshenko identified key tasks for the survival of the state: shelters to protect people, providing the Armed Forces of Ukraine with modern defense technologies, supporting the economy and business, restoring export logistics, and the energy capacity of communities.
