Rada ratifies agreement with EBRD on financing for restoration of safe conditions at Chornobyl NPP

The Verkhovna Rada has ratified the agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) regarding the activities of the International Chernobyl Cooperation Account (ICCA).

In total, 311 parliamentarians voted for the adoption of bill No. 0265, with the minimum required 226, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a Member of Parliament from the Holos faction, announced this on his Telegram channel, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

The project envisages formalizing the decision of the Verkhovna Rada on the ratification of the Framework Agreement between Ukraine and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development regarding the activities of the International Chernobyl Cooperation Account, made on December 28, 2023.

The explanatory note states that as a result of the armed aggression of the russian federation, its troops caused significant damage to the infrastructure of nuclear facilities at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and created a risk of serious nuclear or radiation accidents.

On April 20, 2022, the Assembly of Depositors of the International Chernobyl Cooperation Account, established by the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development at the initiative of the Ukrainian government, approved a decision on the possibility of using the ICCA to finance measures to restore safe conditions at the Chornobyl NPP, the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone and other nuclear facilities and facilities intended for radioactive waste management in Ukraine, as well as for maintaining the long-term safe operation of such facilities.

According to the rules of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide funding on a grant basis from the resources of the European Bank for Financing or Co-financing the implementation of relevant projects.

The ratification of the agreement will create a legal mechanism for managing the relevant activities of the ICCA in Ukraine and will allow the provision of grants from the resources of the ICCA for the implementation of projects in the field of nuclear and radiation safety.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on the 38th anniversary of the accident at the Chornobyl NPP, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that it is the duty of the whole world to put pressure on russia so that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is freed and returned to the control of Ukraine and that all nuclear facilities in Ukraine are protected from russian strikes - only this will guarantee that the world will not experience new nuclear disasters.