The Association of Frontline Cities and Communities, led by Ihor Terekhov, has prepared and submitted a package of 130 legislative and budgetary initiatives to the Cabinet of Ministers. According to the head of the AFC, the main priority of state policy during the war should be the well-being of people.
“I believe that along with financing the Defense Forces, one of the main priorities of state policy should be the fight against poverty. The state of the economy is often judged by macroeconomic indicators. But for most Ukrainian families, everything is much simpler: a person goes to the store and sees that they can buy less and less each month. Food, medicine, and fuel are getting more expensive, and ultimately, every such price increase is paid for by an ordinary Ukrainian family. In 2025, the poverty rate in Ukraine was almost 37 percent – significantly more than before the full-scale war began. This means that the fight against poverty can no longer remain just one of the directions of social policy. It must become one of the main criteria for all economic and budgetary decisions of the state,” noted Terekhov.
One of the key blocks of proposals is to improve the living standards of Ukrainians. It is proposed to set the minimum wage at no less than 10,000 hryvnias starting from 2027, increase the minimum pension to 6,000 hryvnias, review social standards in accordance with the real cost of living, and introduce a reduced VAT rate of 5% on socially significant food products, medicines, and other essential goods.
“A person who works should not live from paycheck to paycheck, and a pensioner should not choose between food and medicine. New benchmarks are needed in the policy for minimum wages and pensions. It is necessary to consistently reduce the gap between people’s incomes and the real cost of living. Wages should be sufficient for a decent life, and a pension should be a recognition of a person’s many years of work, not a payment that is insufficient even to meet basic needs,” stated the head of the AFC.
A separate set of initiatives concerns support for internally displaced persons. Ihor Terekhov proposes to legally define the route for IDPs – from evacuation to full integration into the community, to increase the living allowance to 4500 UAH, guarantee its payment during the first six months after evacuation, develop social housing, subsidized rent, and affordable mortgages, as well as introduce a compensation mechanism for actually inaccessible housing.
An important package of proposals concerns veteran policy, as well as education, healthcare, and the social sphere. A separate block is dedicated to people who ensure the life activities of frontline territories.
“All these proposals can be discussed, refined, and improved. But I am convinced that we will all agree on the main point – frontline communities, internally displaced persons, and people who continue to work under shelling need not isolated one-off solutions, but a comprehensive state policy,” concluded Ihor Terekhov.
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