Ukraine continues to suffer the human and material consequences of Russian aggression, including the destruction of civilian infrastructure, such as hospitals, energy infrastructure and residential buildings. In 2024, Luxembourg Development Cooperation significantly stepped up its humanitarian and recovery support to Ukraine, bringing its overall aid to €96.2 million since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
A key milestone in 2024 was the signing of the technical and financial cooperation agreement between the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and Ukraine during the visit of Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to Luxembourg on 19 March 2024. In addition, Minister Xavier Bettel and Oleksii Kuleba, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities and Territorial Development, signed a memorandum of understanding for the implementation of support from Luxembourg for recovery in the Kryvyi Rih district. The project has a total budget of €50 million for the 2024-2029 period and targets education, vocational training, entrepreneurship and governance. Several activities were implemented in 2024, including the delivery of laptops for primary school students and teachers in the district.
In view of the energy crisis in Ukraine, Luxembourg has scaled up its support to the energy sector, contributing a total of €8 million. This support targets Kryvyi Rih through the provision of energy equipment to meet the district’s most urgent needs and to strengthen its long-term energy resilience. A contribution was also made to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, managed by the Energy Community.
In addition, Luxembourg continued to support humanitarian demining in Ukraine with a total contribution of €12 million in 2024 for projects with UNFPA, the HALO Trust and NATO. On 9 December 2024, Minister Xavier Bettel also attended a handover ceremony for 110 humanitarian demining kits to Ukraine, alongside Natalia Anoshyna, Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Ukraine in Luxembourg.
In addition, Luxembourg Development Cooperation continued its support for Ukraine’s startup ecosystem, by funding the participation of Ukrainian startups in fairs and events held in Luxembourg, including Venture Days and the Nexus2050 conference. In October 2024, the Ukraine edition of Catapult – an acceleration programme for Ukrainian fintechs – took place, organised by the Luxembourg House of Financial Technologies.