Rebuilding Ukraine even amidst the war isn't optional. It's the only path forward

In the fourth year following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the relentless attacks continue to cause suffering for the civilian population and destruction of critical public services and infrastructure. "How can anyone, including the UN, even think about recovery while missiles and bombs are still falling from the sky?" is a critical question I hear from time to time. The simple answer is that recovery cannot wait for peace. Investing now keeps hospitals running, electricity stable, local economies alive, and communities anchored.

During my numerous trips throughout the country, I have seen countless examples of Ukrainian people and the authorities investing in recovery as soon as the opportunity arises. I have witnessed families finding hope in the rebuilt houses, children returning to schools, communities getting back clean water, dozens of businesses moving forward, hundreds of displaced people acquiring new professions and young people planning for a better future. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the only response to the sentiment "it is too risky now to invest in Ukraine," is that the real risk is not investing in Ukraine’s recovery now.

We must continue working on a more dignified future for Ukraine

The Ukraine Recovery Conference in Rome on July 10 and 11 is an opportunity to revisit recovery priorities and to recommit to investing in Ukraine’s plans for building back better.  The challenges are enormous, and both humanitarian and development actors must contribute as best as they can.  The people we support do not care whether support comes from a humanitarian or development budget. What matters to them is to have access to health services, to have their children back in schools, to have warm houses with electricity and to be engaged in the life of the community.

With humanitarian funding declining globally, there is even more pressure on recovery action filling critical gaps in service delivery, housing, and decent jobs and livelihoods. Recovery investments into rehabilitating housing, restoring services, or supporting businesses, must both serve urgent, unmet needs while also laying the groundwork for long-term resilience.

While investing in recovery in an ongoing war is not risk free, the real issue is to help affected communities become resilient and to reduce risks as much as possible.

As the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ukraine, I will continue to promote a coherent, complementary and gender-sensitive response, one that should eventually allow for a smooth transition from aid-reliance towards more sustainable solutions and self-sufficiency.

It has been impressive to observe how Ukraine’s leaders and citizens do not wait, but are building the future now

Ukraine has defied the odds and demonstrated exceptional stability and functionality throughout the immense challenges of the war. The ministries are operational, local governments continue to deliver services in war-affected areas, and civil society is vibrant and deeply embedded in communities.

This creates unique recovery opportunities for all of us. Rather than substituting for state systems, international actors can and should work with and through Ukrainian authorities and civil society. This means aligning programming with national plans, reinforcing and further strengthening social protection systems, and supporting local governments leading recovery efforts where conditions allow.

We are already seeing this in action: government-led social protection programmes reinforced by humanitarian cash, institutional reforms continuing even during wartime, local hromadas implementing recovery programmes, and regional authorities in frontline areas, such as Zaporizhzhia or Mykolaiv, demonstrating strategic and operational leadership to deliver impactful humanitarian and recovery results. We in the international community must all be compelled to follow this extraordinary lead.

And we must increase support to civil society organisations which not only deliver life-saving assistance but also play a key role in shaping recovery priorities, promoting inclusive governance, and proposing solutions for people affected by the war, including conflict-related violence survivors, people with disabilities, and veterans’ wives. 

More than a resource mobilisation event, the Ukraine Recovery Conference is a chance to adjust how we work by committing to putting the people affected by the war at the centre of both the humanitarian and recovery response.  Examples I have seen myself of this approach include farmers getting their land demined and then supported with solar panels, grain sleeves or irrigation systems. Another example is communities receiving immediate assistance after attacks and then having their houses, schools and even playgrounds rebuilt more efficiently, more sustainably. Or displaced people evacuated from the frontline, receiving legal support, prefabricated houses, vocational training and business grants. 

The various available financing mechanisms and instruments must become more predictable, risk-tolerant and supportive of localisation and decentralisation objectives to enable longer-term investment, even in unstable settings.

The UN must take inspiration from the experiences in Ukraine to review the way it works 

With the UN80 initiative, launched by the UN Secretary General on 11 March 2025 to reimagine the way the UN serves the world, we are examining how we can be more flexible, coordinated and fit to face the challenges of today, the next decade, and indeed the next 80 years?

We are learning in Ukraine how humanitarian and recovery efforts can run in parallel, how support to people can be channelled through national and local systems, how we can enable not just life-saving assistance, but support people to have dignified opportunities for creating a better future.  This will also help us be more efficient in shaping the response to prolonged, politically complex crises elsewhere. 

The United Nations is determined to continue working closely with Ukrainian counterparts to ensure coherence between humanitarian cash and social protection services, to support early housing rehabilitation while improving access to compensation instruments, moving beyond the distribution of medical supplies to strengthening health systems.  And we will pay particular attention to ensuring that the most vulnerable among the war veterans and their families, women, older people and those with limited mobility, the survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and minorities do not get left behind.

This is the moment to act with clarity and purpose. Supporting Ukraine’s recovery today means investing in people, communities, and their future. Every concrete action strengthens local resilience and helps ensure that progress is made now.

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Follow Matthias Schmale at URC Rome. Panel session: "Working across the nexus to deliver sustainable solutions for those most impacted by the full-scale invasion". 11 July 2025.

A discussion exploring good practice for promoting coherent and coordinated approaches between humanitarian, development and stabilisation interventions, to support economic, social and conflict sensitive recovery activities, to maximise the impact of available funding and to deliver sustainable solutions for people in vulnerable situations, including Internally Displaced People (IDPs). The discussion will include a case study on shock-responsive social protection as an example of how humanitarian and development interventions can support the Government of Ukraine to support vulnerable populations during crises, foster human capital development for Ukraine’s recovery, and social cohesion.