Minister of Climate and the Environment Mykkänen in Kyiv: Finland will support Ukraine in mapping environmental damages and in reconstruction

On Friday 8 March, Minister of Climate and the Environment Kai Mykkänen visited Kyiv at the invitation of Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets. During the visit, he also met Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Deputy Minister of Energy Svitlana Grynchuk.

In Kyiv, Minister Mykkänen stressed that Finland will support Ukraine in reforming its society. 

“We are here to offer concrete support for the work on the Ukrainian energy system and clean transition and for repairing environmental damages. Finland will be active in helping Ukraine both during the war and in the post-war reconstruction. Together with Germany and Bulgaria, we have the lead in the point concerning environmental law in President Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula, which means that we will help Ukraine in mapping environmental damages in order to hold Russia to account for its actions,” Minister Mykkänen says. 

While in Kyiv, Minister Mykkänen also visited a daycare centre renovated with funding from the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation NEFCO and a residential area damaged by a missile attack.

Finland’s contribution to the international cooperation concerning environmental damages is part of the Peace Formula presented by President Zelenskyy in 2022. The Finnish Environment Institute and Finnish Meteorological Institute will strengthen the capabilities of the administration of Ukraine in assessing and verifying environmental damages caused by the war and in disseminating information on them together with the Ukrainian partner organisations. The Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs is also finalising a decision on assistance for operations in Ukraine under the UN Environmental Programme UNEP. With this assistance, contacts will be created to other UN projects implemented in Ukraine so that the results of the work done by the Finnish agencies can be introduced into wider use. The assessment of environmental damages caused by the war and reducing environmental risks are included in the recommendations of the report of the High-Level Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of the War published in Kyiv in February. 

At the same time, representatives of Finnish companies took part in a visit to Kyiv organised by the East Office of Finnish Industries and in some of the same meetings as Minister Mykkänen. The companies had the opportunity to present their expertise and solutions that would benefit Ukraine in reconstruction and the green transition.

Inquiries

Leevi Hietanen (requests for interviews with the Minister, in Kyiv on 8 March)
Parliamentary Assistant to Minister Mykkänen
+358 50 4751 032

Henna Haapala (in Helsinki)
Senior Ministerial Adviser, International Affairs
Ministry of the Environment
+358 295 250 070