KYIV. August 23 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The restoration of the de-occupied communities requires a systematic government approach, which does not yet exist, Tetiana Lukeria, an expert from the Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives, has said.

"The restoration of the de-occupied territories and communities is a long process, but so far we have not been able to build a systemic government policy for the restoration of regions and communities," Lukeria said at the presentation of the study "Restoration of the de-occupied communities of Ukraine: analysis of experience and needs" by the Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.

According to her, the study suggests the need for a coordinated process at the government level, providing an algorithm for assessing the situation on the ground, defining priorities for local authorities, and which can be adapted to a specific situation.

Lukeria said that, according to representatives of local authorities, an algorithm or instruction should contain such indicators as the level of damage on the territory of the community, the actual number of inhabitants and the demographic characteristics of the community, proximity to the border with the aggressor or the front line, weather conditions and the season of de-occupation (for example , in winter, the communities needed the priority restoration of critical infrastructure in the field of heat supply).

At the same time, the expert also said that there should not be a universal approach to the restoration of the de-occupied territories of Ukraine, since the communities have different scales of damage, different human and financial resources, and different time periods under the temporary occupation of Russia.

According to the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, Tamila Tasheva, by the time the Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation are liberated, it will also be necessary to prepare a procedure for verifying documents issued to people by the occupation authorities.

"We understand that in fact people will have millions of documents in their hands, with which they will have something to do... By what procedure should we verify them? It is clear that we cannot accept these documents - they are occupational, we do not recognize them in accordance with the current legislation... Accordingly, we need to think over the specific procedure for the stages of verification of these documents. This issue will concern part of the Donetsk, Luhansk regions and Crimea," Tasheva said.

She said that there will be a lot of challenges after the de-occupation of Ukrainian territories, including those of a humanitarian nature.

"It is clear that we should have a single state Ukrainian language. But we must think about a short but transitional period. Because everything is all at once... it won't work... Our key signal is: don't be afraid, people, we will provide leadership for the process, we will ensure a gradual phased transition," Tasheva said.

The study of the Laboratory of Legislative Initiatives in two was conducted in two stages – the analysis of legal acts of 2014-2023 on the restoration of communities and interviewing 33 representatives of state and local authorities, public organizations and experts (February - April 2023).

The study was prepared within the framework of the project Civil Society for Ukraine's Post-War Recovery and EU-Readiness funded by the European Union.