Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund to start work in 2026 - Berezhna
Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Policy and Minister of Culture of Ukraine Tetyana Berezhna predicts that the Ukrainian Fund for Cultural Heritage (UFCH) will begin restoring the first objects in 2026.
"Culture should be financed not only from the state budget. Therefore, we are working on the Ukrainian Fund for Cultural Heritage (UFCH), which attracts foreign funds for the restoration of Ukrainian heritage and the development of Ukrainian specialists… During this year, it will begin to deal with the first objects," Berezhna said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
She noted that in order to attract funds to the UFCH, it is necessary to build clear transparent processes and create trust around the institution.
"Trust is formed through transparent procedures: registering the fund, opening an account, creating management. Recently in France, during the cultural seasons, I presented the newly created board of directors of the Fund. These are the people who will make decisions on which objects we should finance with the funds raised, what is most important, what is the priority. The next step is to elect the director of the fund. The person will represent the Fund in negotiations with other states, raise funds, and report on expenses," the vice prime minister said.
Berezhna emphasized that the ambitions to raise funds for the Fund and restore Ukrainian cultural heritage are extremely high, and after the formation of the UFCS is completed and a transparent project selection procedure is set up, the process will be more active.
When asked whether there are agreements with partners on regular contributions, as some countries do with defense assistance to Ukraine, laying out a certain percentage of their GDP, she noted that talks are currently underway about start-up financing that will launch the work of the Fund.
"When it is fully launched, the entire management will be formed, we will, of course, conduct such negotiations," the vice-premier added.
Regarding which projects the UFCH will finance, Berezhna noted that it will be about objects throughout the country that were affected by Russian aggression.
"We are talking about the Skovoroda Museum and Derzhprom in Kharkiv. And at the same time, we can also mention the Museum of the History of Ukraine in World War II, which stands here in Kyiv and suffered from the blast wave… Of course, clear large-scale projects are important for our partners. Because when the "before/after" is visible, this will indicate the effectiveness of the Fund’s work and will motivate international partners to invest more money," she added.
In addition, according to her, the Fund will also work to strengthen human capital in the field of culture.
"If we are going to restore, rebuild, build, we need people who know how to do it. Without people, we can’t do anything. Therefore, part of the funds that we will collect in the Fund will be invested in people," said Berezhna.
As reported, in July 2025, the Ministry of Culture and partners at the Recovery 2025 Conference in Rome (Italy) presented new international instruments to support Ukrainian culture: the Cultural Resilience Alliance, the Heritage Fund of Ukraine, and Team Europe Ukraine.
In August 2025, Deputy Prime Minister Berezhna announced that it is planned to attract UAH 500 million to the Fund by the end of 2025.
In early November, the second international conference "Cooperation for Sustainability" was held in Copenhagen (Denmark), at which the mechanism of the functioning of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund was presented. Following the Conference, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom announced that they would invest EUR3 million in the newly established Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund.
At the end of January 2026, Berezhna stated that the launch of UCHF activities requires a start-up budget of EUR 10–15 million (UAH 433–650 million), and EUR 3.55 million (UAH 154 million) has been accumulated so far. In particular, the following countries announced their contributions: the Kingdom of Denmark – DKK 10 million (UAH 43 million), the Kingdom of the Netherlands – EUR 1 million (UAH 43 million), the United Kingdom – GBP 200,000 (UAH 10 million), the Republic of Poland and the Kingdom of Spain – EUR 0.5 million (UAH 22 million) each, and the Republic of Estonia – EUR 20,000 (UAH 867,000). She added that in the first year of operation, the Fund plans to attract up to EUR 50 million (UAH 2.17 billion).
At the end of January, the Board of Directors of the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Fund was formed. The next step will be the announcement of an open competition for the position of executive director, whose appointment is scheduled for March. According to the Deputy Prime Minister, up to EUR 4 billion (UAH 173 billion) are needed over the next 10 years to fully restore more than 1,600 cultural heritage sites damaged by Russian aggression in 18 regions of Ukraine.
