Kyiv, 20 February 2025 – The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine has handed over equipment and supplies to the regional offices of the State Environmental Inspectorate (SEI) so that it can conduct fieldwork aimed at assessing the environmental damage caused by the war.

The equipment, which includes water and soil samplers, refrigerated containers, and other necessary materials, was distributed to the SEI's regional offices. The provision of the equipment and supplies was facilitated by the team of the UNDP’s Environmental Damage Assessment project, which is funded by Sweden

In addition to supplying equipment, the project is supporting the Coordination Centre for Environmental Damage Assessment, which includes a gender mainstreaming working group. Following the group’s recommendations, UNDP organized a series of two-day trainings sessions titled “Actions of SEI Inspectors in Emergency Situations: Environment and Safety in Conflict Zones.” The training sessions, held in Dnipro, Poltava, and Kyiv Oblast, equipped 152 SEI specialists (90 women and 62 men) with essential skills.

The training focused on ensuring safe operations in areas affected by hostilities, covering critical topics such as mine safety, first aid, and psychological support for victims.

Viktoriia Kyreieva, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, emphasized the need for coordinated efforts of many stakeholders to receive fair compensation for environmental damage through the international compensation mechanism. “I‘m grateful to our international partners, in particular UNDP and Sweden, for their support, which will allow Ukraine to more effectively assess the environmental damage caused by the war,” Kyreieva said.

Olena Kryvoruchkina, Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management, underlined the importance of establishing an efficient environmental control institution in Ukraine to collect evidence of environmental damage.

“The handover of equipment and supplies, as well as providing training sessions from UNDP, is a significant contribution to strengthening the institutional capacity of the State Environmental Inspectorate,” Kryvoruchkina noted.

Roman Shakhmatenko, Team Leader of the UNDP in Ukraine’s Energy and Environment Portfolio, also stressed the importance of reliable data collection on war-related environmental damage.

“These data will be essential for making informed decisions on Ukraine’s green recovery,” Shakhmatenko noted.

“UNDP will continue to act as an integrator, working with all stakeholders to ensure the implementation of a ‘build back better’ approach in post-war recovery,” he added.

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Yuliia Samus, UNDP Ukraine Head of Communications; e-mail: yuliia.samus@undp.org