Ukrainian government to create Ministry for Occupied Territories

Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk has said that the Cabinet of Ministers has decided to create the Ministry for Occupied Territories, the press service of the head of state has reported.
"This will allow us to work much more effectively on the issues of Donbas reintegration and the issues of working with people who have stayed in the occupied territories or moved to government-controlled areas and are temporarily displaced persons," Honcharuk said.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Volodymyr Borodiansky, in turn, noted that work was underway on the launch of a Ukrainian TV channel broadcasting in the occupied territories.

The possibility of strengthening the area of sport in the said ministry is also being studied, in particular, through the creation of a respective agency.

Honcharuk spoke about measures to strengthen cooperation between the government and the Verkhovna Rada, as requested by the president during a previous meeting with the prime minister.

Honcharuk also promised that the Cabinet of Minister is ready to report on its work.

"We have agreed that we will hold a strategic session with the government and the heads of parliamentary committees in the near future so as to have a serious talk on the country's strategy. This week, ministers will also make presentations in the relevant parliamentary committees on what has been done in the last five months and what has to be done this year," he said.