Ivana Živković, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director for the Regional Bureau for Europe and Commonwealth of Independent States, visited Ukraine in January 2023 to meet with government officials and national partners and to reaffirm existing UNDP commitments to support the country's efforts to tackle the full spectrum of impacts from the war. She also met with most of the 380 UNDP staff who are working diligently in-country in various capacities to support the people and Government of Ukraine.

During her visit, she met with the leadership of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine to discuss the many social services for citizens and displaced persons UNDP has created with the ministry.

With the Minister of Social Policy Oksana Zholnovych they discussed urgent needs and priorities met during the war and in the post-war period.

During the meeting with the Minister for Energy Herman Halushchenko, she reaffirmed UNDP's commitment to restoring war-affected energy infrastructure.

In the meeting with Oleksandr Kubrakov, Vice Prime Minister for the Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, she discussed UNDP's technical assistance to recovery to ensure uninterrupted delivery of power, gas and water, and the infrastructure damage assessments.

Ms Živković also met with senior government officials from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the President's Office, as well as with Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denys Maliuska, Minister of Justice, and late Minister of Internal Affairs, Denys Monastyrsky, who recently died in a tragic accident.

Together with Kuninori Matsuda, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan, Ms Živković and Ambassador Matsuda signed a new of US$95 million agreement – the largest to date to UNDP Ukraine — to help advance recovery and restoration of human security.   The two also took part in a handover ceremony of special demining and protective equipment, including mine detectors, portable and car radio stations, bulletproof vests and helmets to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.

While in the Kyiv region, Ms Živković had productive discussions with representatives of MSMEs on the impact of war on business, and visited the Makariv settlement, where she saw two destroyed kindergartens where work is currently underway to clear debris.