The announcement was made at the conference on “State of Local Self Government: Challenges and Prospects" held in Kyiv on 2-3 December 2024 The event was organised by the Association of Ukrainian Cities SUN4Ukraine empowers Ukrainian cities to seamlessly integrate Climate Neutrality Plans into their recovery strategies paving the way for sustainable and resilient urban development The twelve selected municipalities will receive tailored expert support participate in a comprehensive capacity-building programme and be paired with EU Mission Cities for valuable knowledge exchanges This complements the cities already identified and engaged by the sister project “Ukraine towards Carbon Neutrality” (U_CAN). Coordinated by the Technical University of Dresden U_CAN will work with eight Ukrainian cities to align their reconstruction plans with ambitious climate neutrality goals The cities of Kyiv and Kharkiv are involved in both projects 105 Ukrainian municipalities of all sizes expressed interest to take part in the SUN4Ukraine initiative with the aim of becoming climate-neutral by 2050 at the latest The twelve Flagship Municipalities were selected among the 33 applications from cities with over 50,000 inhabitants that also expressed an interest to develop city-wide and cross-sectoral Climate Neutrality Plans for the 2050 horizon.  “I would like to thank wholeheartedly the many Ukrainian cities that expressed interest in becoming more closely associated with the EU Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission Despite a context of war of aggression against your territory you show a strong commitment for our joint future determination and vision for green and sustainable cities are an inspiration to us We will continue to support you as long as it takes and as much as needed until you win this war.” SUN4Ukraine will channel valuable lessons from the EU Cities Mission to the twelve Flagship Municipalities on the implementation governance and financing of urban climate action This support will be tailored to each city's needs while considering national circumstances especially the recovery challenges posed by the ongoing war.  In the next phase, the Flagship Municipalities will partner with EU Mission Cities transitioning from exchanging knowledge to taking decisive action These partnerships will align expertise with capacity building needs They will also match cities according to similarities and relevance of their climate neutrality challenges.  Further on, all municipalities who responded to SUN4Ukraine’s call for expression of interest will be invited to join the journey toward a climate-resilient and sustainable future through the activities of a Ukrainian Cities Climate Hub share knowledge and promote best practices for Ukraine’s recovery and sustainability.  This article has been reproduced courtesy of DG Research and Innovation. Read the original article.  Launched in May 2024 under the EU Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission and funded under Horizon Europe Sustainable Urban Net Zero Network for Ukraine (SUN4Ukraine) is a four-year project focused on supporting Ukrainian cities in their pursuit of climate neutrality In the wake of the severe disruptions caused by Russia’s war of aggression this project focuses on systemic and efficient recovery aligning with Ukraine’s climate objectives and involving citizens and stakeholders sister project U_CAN will enable Ukrainian cities to align their strategies and standards with EU climate policies. This involves strategic cooperation between EU expert partners and Ukrainian stakeholders to develop comprehensive green strategies and enhance local capacities A fourth batch will be announced in the second quarter of 2025 Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page women experience more stigma regarding substance abuse than men Lutsk is a Ukrainian city of about 250,000 people there are 250 people in the Volhynia region (200 in the city of Lutsk and 50 in other cities) who use substitution maintenance therapy to help with their drug addiction Drug addicts face many stereotypes and prejudices in society She helps addicts fight for their rights and supports them in various ways Iryna is not afraid of telling her story about drugs She works as a paralegal and is the regional coordinator of the Ukrainian organisation VONA Volhynia is located in the country’s western border region where modern drugs first started to appear in the small city of Novovolynsk Iryna was born in Lutsk and she started to take drugs in university the first therapy programme appeared in Lutsk We were the first people willing to join the programme” Iryna’s family spent two years recovering from the effects of years of drug use She had more free time and she started looking for a job Iryna saw a lot of intolerance towards people who use drugs in society She subsequently decided to fight for the rights of other people who deal with addiction Iryna has worked for several organisations and helped people access substitution-maintenance therapy Iryna has been using substitution maintenance therapy for over 12 years Her story can be understood by a lot of people who have experienced similar issues regarding prejudice there are three centres for substitution-maintenance therapy in the Volhynia region street drugs are more prevalent here than in other regions Drug distribution in the region is centred on the city of Novovolynsk a substitution-maintenance therapy centre has not yet been opened in the city they have to go to the neighbouring city of Volodymyr-Volynsk people may need to travel to another city every day for a dose of methadone or buprenorphine Ukrainian legislation demands that patients visit a therapy centre every day for the first three months of their treatment If the person is getting better and follows all of the doctor’s instructions “The centre was not opened in Novovolynsk for a long time because the hospital’s chief doctor was against it. People listened to him there. In the city there are many other narcotics besides opioids There is both street methadone and subutex (an analogue of methadone) In an interview claimed that several dozen new drug-related compounds appear on the streets every year the street distribution of subutex may have proven beneficial to someone in the city the authorities did not open a substitution therapy centre Subutex is used in many countries in substitution therapy many people addicted to drugs have to buy subutex the cost of one tablet of subutex is 60 Ukrainian hryvnia whilst in Ukraine it is sold for 500-600 hryvnia officials spoke again about the opening of the centre which also helps to protect the rights of drug addicts But this will not solve the problem of new drugs used by young people but psychotropic substances (amphetamine for example) and there is no protocol regarding treatment for these drugs in Ukraine who eventually end up at a police station to be fingerprinted and photographed Even when Iryna and other experts organise training sessions for the police to protect the rights of this vulnerable group they have to deal with the fact that many police officers do not treat drug addicts like human beings the police can force addicts to cooperate with them or blackmail them if they refuse It is awful for drug addicts to go to the police station We encourage drug addicts to not be afraid to defend their rights We can help write a complaint to the police or hospital” The organisations VONA and VOLNA work with the human rights ombudsman and the AIDS centre Many patients feel discrimination from wider society changing this situation is one of their most important tasks various organisations can often get in the way of their goals Iryna has noted that her work has been funded by the UN Global Fund This places a great strain on patients and employees at the centres She explains that “They set us a condition that we work for 20 per cent of the necessary pay it is difficult to help everyone who needs it And people with drug addiction suffer as a result of it” drug addicts must receive psychological help in order to return to a normal life there are very few psychologists who are actively working with drug addicts This figure is simply not representative because many women are afraid of going on SMT and continue to use street drugs there is the problem of anonymity within the programme but this does not mean that your data could not be discovered by someone who could reveal that you are a drug addict” She adds that “Ukrainian law also does not protect women There is an article in the Family Code that says that drug and alcohol addicts can be deprived of parental rights There are double standards for drug-addicted men and women but it is more likely to be tolerated by society the man will hide the fact that his wife uses drugs he will give her drugs and do everything to makes sure that no one knows” Iryna communicates with women and supports them She described the situation of one woman she has helped: “One woman works as a clerk and is afraid of going to a SMT centre because they may find out at work and fire her The woman constantly has to look for street drugs so that no one finds out that she is a drug addict” especially when she started to work with politicians and the police You see how medical workers look at us when you talk to them I have been living openly for a long time and talking about my problem for me going to the office and introducing myself to employees was a problem I think that self-stigma is stronger than stigma” Religion has a great influence in the Volhynia region and that is why it is not so easy to carry out educational campaigns Sometimes the group has cooperated with Protestant churches Society does not understand that drug addiction is a disease that needs to be treated they only want to talk about faith and willpower Іryna says that there has been a shift since 2008 because they have organised various meetings with officials and police society is changing and becoming more empathetic This article is part of the Solidarity Academy 2021 – Tackling prejudice an international project supported by a grant from the International Visegrad Fund She has been a Ukrainian journalist for over 6 years Iryna wrote articles about gender equality women’s rights and rights of other groups She investigated the corruption of politicians who worked in the government and city councils Iryna has the experience covering many sensitive topics related to war displaced persons and other groups of people affected by war The consequences of Russia’s invasion are visible not only in Ukraine The Kremlin has set off or exploited a series of crises that face most European countries New thinking is needed in policies towards Russia in whatever form it will take after the war Ukraine’s suffering goes well beyond the front line With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine we now see our western values under siege whether we consciously recognise it or not The invasion by Russian forces of Ukraine from the north south and east – with the initial aim to take the capital Kyiv – has changed our region The situation with Russian threats towards Ukraine once again illustrates the high level of instability in our region Only a year ago we witnessed the second Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan It took at least 5,000 lives and significantly shifted the geopolitics in the South Caucuses This special issue aims to honour the plight of Belarusians whose democratic choice made in August 2020 was shamelessly snubbed by Alyaksandr Lukashenka a lot of work still remains for this country And this is why Ukraine’s story is incomplete 30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union Our societies are more polarised than ever before which makes them more susceptible to disinformation The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed limitations and weaknesses in nearly all countries around the world volatility and the relationship between Russia and the West The Black Sea region is quickly becoming a geopolitical battleground which is gaining the interest of major powers regional players and smaller countries – and the stakes are only getting higher This issue is dedicated to the 10 year anniversary of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership as well as the 30 years since the 1989 revolutions in Central Europe The consequences of the emerging multipolar world This issue takes a special look at the role and responsibility of the public intellectual in Central and Eastern Europe today In the eastern parts of the European continent 1918 is remembered not only as the end of the First World War but also saw the emergence of newly-independent states and the rise of geopolitical struggles which are felt until this day that Belarus remains isolated from the West and very static in its transformation The Summer 2018 issue of New Eastern Europe tackles the complexity of para-states in the post-Soviet space Sign In Register HUMBOLDT — Svitlana Vorona said that when her phone rings at night she gets scared not knowing what’s happening or who's calling Owner and operator of S.V Stylist in Humboldt Vorona immigrated to Canada in 2007 from Ukraine with her husband Vasyl and her two children about 10 kilometres from the Polish border “We’re trying to stay as strong as we can but it is scary It’s scary because people are dying,” Vorona said “There are a lot of different emotions Mostly it’s heartbreaking when you see children in the banks It’s heartbreaking to see that and worry about the family.” Vorona said that since the invasion started on Feb people have been approaching her to ask if it’s true “I think the people here need to learn the truth about what’s going on over there because sometimes people don’t realize how people live in another country but you never know – it can be here too.” Ukrainian officials put the civilian death toll at over 2,000 The nation’s military casualty figures had not been released Russian officials said nearly 500 of their military personnel were killed She said her youngest brother-in-law was lucky When the war began her brother-in-law was in Poland as current Ukrainian rules restrict men aged 18 to 60 it was just a matter of bringing his wife and children across to join him they’re trying to go through the process to come to Canada her mother is travelling to Canada as a visitor on March 5 after opening her visa five years ago to visit her daughter Vorona said she would like her mother to be able to stay in Saskatchewan but doesn’t know if she can with the immigration guidelines Her other brother-in-law stayed to defend his homeland as did her sister-in-law’s husband and sister-in-law’s daughter the Saskatchewan government announced it would be prioritizing Immigration Nominee Program applications from Ukrainian citizens and that the province will open to an unlimited number of Ukrainians affected by the conflict Vorona said that while the Canadian federal government has been supporting the Ukrainian military immigration and refugee status is difficult to obtain The Canadian government has the right to remove someone's refugee status if it believes that the person accepted the protection of their home country after obtaining refugee status in Canada This could happen if a person travels to their home country for an individual to claim refugee status means they can never return home again Vorona said this has caused barriers for her family “You have to really think about the future,” Vorona said “If my husband’s brother will come and they say at the border ‘I want to be a refugee in Canada.’ Then he and his wife and children can never go home and visit family their permanent residence will be taken away This causes particular issues when one family member is within conscription age “If you have a woman with children and they want to be safe they can’t come here because men will have to stay at home.” When asked if there is anything the average Canadian can do Vorona asked them to donate what they can to humanitarian and defense organizations I know some Ukrainian stores in Saskatoon are accepting some donations and asking for some canned food and stuff they can send to the army so boys can protect.” Donations to the Red Cross can be made online on their website at donate.redcross.ca under “Ukrainian Humanitarian Crisis Appeal.” Vorona said she’s been receiving kindness and prayers from those around “All my clientele are such kind people Even people I haven't seen in two years – they moved away from Humboldt – they texted me and everything saying that they’re praying for Ukraine Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.