Why Swiss Diplomacy and Innovative Solutions for Recovery Matter to Ukraine
In 2025 we took concrete action to further support Ukraine and its people. The Swiss Government adopted the new Country Program which outlines the strategic priorities of Switzerland's engagement in Ukraine up to 2028. And we designed innovative measures to speed up our efforts by associating the Swiss private sector and its know-how.
The year started in Davos as the President of the Swiss Confederation Karin Keller Sutter welcomed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Switzerland for an exchange. They would meet several more times over the year. Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko came to Bern for a working visit. Our Foreign Ministers met several times as well. Undoubtedly the three-day official visit of the Speaker of the National Council, the lower chamber of parliament of Switzerland, Maja Riniker, was a highlight of the diplomatic year. She met in Kyiv with Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk and President Zelenskyy and then proceeded to Kharkiv and Vinnytsia. She left the country with deep impressions about the bravery of the Ukrainian people.
A strategic partnership based on trust and reliability
The adoption of the Country Program sets the strategic framework for Switzerland's UAH 80 billion (CHF 1.5 billion) engagement in Ukraine until 2028. And it underlines Switzerland's commitment as a reliable partner to support focused, multi-year financed projects that make a real impact. Switzerland's support did not start this year, neither in 2022, nor in 2014. Switzerland has been present in Ukraine with joint cooperation projects for almost thirty years.
The Country Program 2025-2028 envisions interventions at three levels: short-term measures to increase the resilience of the country, medium-term support for ongoing reforms, and long-term support for reconstruction. We are already working across all three levels.
Let us start with the support for reconstruction. The needs are immense and clearly overpass the possibilities of the public sector alone. Switzerland has been a forerunner this year when it came to devise an innovative mechanism to involve the Swiss private sector. We launched a call for proposals with a total budget of UAH 5.3 billion (CHF 100 million), inviting Swiss companies already present in Ukraine to submit offers responding to concrete recovery needs. In turn, the selected companies are expected to contribute to the project through funding, vocational education or the creation of new working places. Together with the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs selected 12 projects in housing, health, mobility and energy. The implementation is about to start. This scheme has generated so much interest that a second call for proposals along similar lines is planned for early 2026, with a volume of UAH 10.6 billion (CHF 200 million).
The next step will be to engage Swiss companies not yet present in Ukraine. For this a new legal basis is required. A Government-to-Government treaty was signed in Rome at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in July and is currently subject to the internal approval procedures in Switzerland. We hope this agreement can enter into force in the second half of 2026, enabling even larger projects with companies new to Ukraine.
On a medium-term level, Switzerland has been supporting key reforms in Ukraine for many years. Decentralization is widely seen as an important reason why the municipalities stayed resilient in the wartime. The demand for quality healthcare, including war trauma rehabilitation and mental health, will only increase in the future. In November, we launched the four-year TRUE project to strengthen the rehabilitation system in Ukraine. An almost unknown fact is that Switzerland was among the first donors to believe in and support the Diia app, and now we are one of the top donors in the field of digital transformation. We also support vocational education and training – these specialists will be crucially needed for reconstruction. And humanitarian demining: an indispensable pre-condition for recovery in affected frontline communities and a key priority for us.
Getting out of the Kyiv bubble: partnering with local authorities and relying on local partners
I am now in my third year since my appointment. The longer I am here the more I am convinced that engaging the country without the capital's lens is hugely important. The challenges and needs differ widely from one area to another. Listening to regional and local authorities, local partners and beneficiaries, allows us to provide an efficient and quick response tailored to the concrete needs of the people on the ground.
Our local partners' vital contribution needs to be recognized. Not only in words, but also through concrete actions. We have been advocating for the provision of a minimal duty of care package for humanitarian workers, including life insurance for volunteers – who help at great personal risk the most vulnerable on the front lines. Equally, we partner with local human rights CSOs to support their powerful voice in the support of reforms, of anti-corruption efforts and in ensuring accountability and justice for victims.
I visited Sumy region twice, one of the regions facing almost daily attacks. We were able to provide quick relief after the devastating Russian missile attack which hit Sumy downtown on Palm Sunday. In Chernihiv, a multi-dimensional intervention on a school left me impressed: besides the rehabilitation of the shelter into a fully-fledged classroom, we supported the school nutrition reform and contributed to an inclusive school governance structure. Overall, we have completed the rehabilitation of 90 shelters since 2023. Switzerland joined the International Shelter Coalition initiated by Finland and Ukraine to underpin our commitment. A spring trip took me west to Rivne region, where I took part in the inauguration of an organic berry farm. Our support for Ukraine's organic and dairy sectors has been running for 10 years. And more generally, we believe that thriving Ukrainian SMEs should be the backbone of a sustainable recovery. Thus, we invest UAH 1.6 billion (CHF 30 million) to strengthen the competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy. In Lviv I joined the first rides of the 34 trams delivered from Berne and Basel-Land. These trams have low-floor access allowing for barrier-free transportation.
Switzerland's mediation profile: assuming the OSCE Chairpersonship at a critical moment
Many certainties which had been shaping the international system for the last 80 years have been questioned if not shattered in 2025. As a small country in size, but with an innovative and strongly export-oriented economy, Switzerland has been relying on an international order based on international law and jointly agreed norms. The multilateral system is facing an unprecedented crisis. As does Geneva, the biggest multilateral hub in the world. Yet, all together, we must strive to keep intact this precious set of rules. We have no alternative to it.
Switzerland has participated in the work of the core group of countries advocating for the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression in Ukraine, and just a few days ago, she was among the signatories of the Convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine.
Our neutrality has not impeded us from taking a firm principled position in support of Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity as well as helping Ukraine in those areas where we can provide real added value. Neutrality, together with International Geneva and our expertise in mediation were probably one of the reasons why the United States and Ukraine chose Geneva as a location for their bilateral talks on the US-proposed peace plan on 23 November. After hosting the Summit on Peace for Ukraine at Bürgenstock in June 2024, we remained in contact with all the parties, including Russia, in line with our good offices. And we are ready to perform this role as long as the parties wish.
Starting on 1st January 2026 we will further step up our contribution to these efforts. We will take over the Chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), for the third time after 1996 and 2014.
We are grateful for the trust that was put in us to hold this Chairpersonship. At the same time, we are fully aware that given the very difficult international context, many challenges lie ahead. But among our foremost priorities as a Chair, we want to support any credible path towards a just peace for Ukraine, based on international law and the Helsinki principles, and to ensure that the OSCE is prepared to contribute to this goal as soon as the circumstances allow. We will also strive to promote efficient and inclusive multilateral diplomacy that effectively ensures security in Europe.
Felix Baumann, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova